[Game] Kings @ Lakers, 11/11/2022 7:30pm Pacific 10:30pm Eastern

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Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
#1
Finally, a game against a bad team! *knocks on ALL the wood*

Previously On...

Awards Time
Tony Delk Memorial Award
- Caris Levert. Was tempted to just go with the obvious choice and give it to Donovan Mitchell but I had to go with Caris Levert instead, a former Domas teammate who's been sorta rough at times since coming to Cleveland during the trade deadline in February/

The CoJo - No one! Mike Brown shortened his rotation and everyone he played play good for once!

Mikki Moore - Darius Garland. I know the dude's coming off an injury and still trying to figure out how to play off of Donovan Mitchell but the guy somehow was able to miss eight shots despite being largely invisible the entire night.

WTF Moment of the Game - Harrison Barnes is clearly fouled while taking a shot, somehow has the and-one wiped away AND the call is unchallengable for some reason, which we only learn after Mike Brown has burned a time out to challenge the bad call.

Random Internet Kings Tweet of the Day

Random Bill Simmons KANGZ Take of the Day

We're Talking Basketball
So just maybe we don't completely suck?
But first, a special message from a special Kings friend!

That's right! It's a game against the Lakers coming after a rough week in which spectacularly bad reffing cost the Kings two games and quite nearly derailed another one, which means a cameo appearance by Tim Donoughy! Thankfully, of all the games the Kings have played this season, the refs somehow figure to play the least into this one against the Lakers, who have looked every bit one of the worst teams in the league to start the year even with Lebron playing, which he probably will not be in the game tonight.

What happens when you surround two incredibly ball dominant players with players who cannot shoot and/or also require the ball to be effective and foist them onto a first year coach? The 2022-2023 Lakers. While moving Russ to the bench has helped the team look at least slightly less dysfunctional over the last week or so, that hasn't actually led to an increase in wins AND Lebron got injured in their last game against the Clippers.

It's still hard to write off a game against the Lakers as a trap game/one that the Kings should win but that's pretty much what this game is at this point. AD is still very very good. Russ can still put up stats with the best of them. Lonnie Walker is kinda fun. Troy Brown Jr. looks like an effective bench wing! PatBev exists! And that's pretty much the entire extent of the Lakers depth at this point. You do kind of have to feel for Damian Jones, who left the Kings for a minimum contract in LA under the impression he'd get more minutes there only to wind up at the end of the bench as Wenyen Gabriel plays all the backup big minutes on their team.

You know who the Lakers could really use? Malik Monk.

It's pretty much impossible to feel sorry for the Lakers but you do kinda get the feeling that they were blindsided by their best role player taking a plain MLE deal to play with his best friend in Sacramento rather than "chase rings on a contender" with them. And yet, that's what happened and Malik has looked freaking great in the right shade of purple and rocking a rad bandaid on his cheek.

Much continues to be made of the whole "The Kings must be regretting the Haliburton trade" narrative but the combined production of Monk//Huerter/Sabonis all probably outweighs what Tyrese would be putting up for the Kings this season (even if you do include a stat boosted Buddy in the equation). There's plenty of time and places for that discussion but the Kings backcourt is all 25 or younger and locked up under team control for the foreseeable future (or, in the case of Monk, we have their bird rights). They just aren't doing as many podcast appearances.


Injury Report
Kings
No reported injuries

Lakers
Lebron James - OUT (ducking Fox)
Thomas Bryant - OUT (at the DMV)
Dennis Schroeder - OUT (Strained pride)
Lonnie Walker - Day-to-day (daydreaming of Namor)


Final Prediction
It's hard to predict a third consecutive thirty point blowout against the Lakers even if they are missing their bonafide GOAT candidate star. That said, I'm more confident in Mike Brown keeping the Kings from having a let down game than I have been with pretty much any coach the Kings have had since Adelman. Russ rocks the baby. AD has a nice night. Kings still win.
Kings 122, Lakers 109
 
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#3
I will say that at 4-6, they are 1 game better than I predicted. I said at the onset of the season, while i think they will have a shot at the playin/playoffs, I expected a slow start given the beginning of the season schedule. I was anticipating a 2-8 or 3-7 start.

This game has me worried without Lebron (westbrick usually discovers his stroke against the kings).

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#4
At least people other than Kings fans are starting to notice the blatant mistreatment of the Kings when it comes to how their games are officiated. This has been going on for up to two decades now and was at its worse during the Cousins era if you don't count the beginning of this year.

The Kings shot a ton of FTs against Cleveland and it was pretty obvious they were getting the benefit of most the calls there. Make up game by the refs?

When the Kings go up by 10, pay attention to how the opposing team usually gets back in the game. It's normally because all the sudden they start going to the line for about 3 possessions in a row. This seems to happen any time the Kings build themselves a lead. The same exact looking plays that the refs allowed the teams to play through previously are all the sudden officiated under the microscope when a lead is built. Pay attention when it's whistle after whistle after whistle because that almost never happens when the Kings are down by 10 but it certainly happens when they're up.

 

hrdboild

Hall of Famer
#6
Finally, a game against a bad team! *knocks on ALL the wood*

Previously On...

Awards Time
Tony Delk Memorial Award
- Caris Levert. Was tempted to just go with the obvious choice and give it to Donovan Mitchell but I had to go with Caris Levert instead, a former Domas teammate who's been sorta rough at times since coming to Cleveland during the trade deadline in February/

The CoJo - No one! Mike Brown shortened his rotation and everyone he played play good for once!

Mikki Moore - Darius Garland. I know the dude's coming off an injury and still trying to figure out how to play off of Donovan Mitchell but the guy somehow was able to miss eight shots despite being largely invisible the entire night.

WTF Moment of the Game - Harrison Barnes is clearly fouled while taking a shot, somehow has the and-one wiped away AND the call is unchallengable for some reason, which we only learn after Mike Brown has burned a time out to challenge the bad call.

Random Internet Kings Tweet of the Day

Random Bill Simmons KANGZ Take of the Day

We're Talking Basketball
So just maybe we don't completely suck?
But first, a special message from a special Kings friend!

That's right! It's a game against the Lakers coming after a rough week in which spectacularly bad reffing cost the Kings two games and quite nearly derailed another one, which means a cameo appearance by Tim Donoughy! Thankfully, of all the games the Kings have played this season, the refs somehow figure to play the least into this one against the Lakers, who have looked every bit one of the worst teams in the league to start the year even with Lebron playing, which he probably will not be in the game tonight.

What happens when you surround two incredibly ball dominant players with players who cannot shoot and/or also require the ball to be effective and foist them onto a first year coach? The 2022-2023 Lakers. While moving Russ to the bench has helped the team look at least slightly less dysfunctional over the last week or so, that hasn't actually led to an increase in wins AND Lebron got injured in their last game against the Clippers.

It's still hard to write off a game against the Lakers as a trap game/one that the Kings should win but that's pretty much what this game is at this point. AD is still very very good. Russ can still put up stats with the best of them. Lonnie Walker is kinda fun. Troy Brown Jr. looks like an effective bench wing! PatBev exists! And that's pretty much the entire extent of the Lakers depth at this point. You do kind of have to feel for Damian Jones, who left the Kings for a minimum contract in LA under the impression he'd get more minutes there only to wind up at the end of the bench as Wenyen Gabriel plays all the backup big minutes on their team.

You know who the Lakers could really use? Malik Monk.

It's pretty much impossible to feel sorry for the Lakers but you do kinda get the feeling that they were blindsided by their best role player taking a plain MLE deal to play with his best friend in Sacramento rather than "chase rings on a contender" with them. And yet, that's what happened and Malik has looked freaking great in the right shade of purple and rocking a rad bandaid on his cheek.

Much continues to be made of the whole "The Kings must be regretting the Haliburton trade" narrative but the combined production of Monk//Huerter/Sabonis all probably outweighs what Tyrese would be putting up for the Kings this season (even if you do include a stat boosted Buddy in the equation). There's plenty of time and places for that discussion but the Kings backcourt is all 25 or younger and locked up under team control for the foreseeable future (or, in the case of Monk, we have their bird rights). They just aren't doing as many podcast appearances.


Injury Report
Kings
No reported injuries

Lakers
Lebron James - OUT (ducking Fox)
Thomas Bryant - OUT (at the DMV)
Dennis Schroeder - OUT (Strained pride)
Lonnie Walker - Day-to-day (daydreaming of Namor)


Final Prediction
It's hard to predict a third consecutive thirty point blowout against the Lakers even if they are missing their bonafide GOAT candidate star. That said, I'm more confident in Mike Brown keeping the Kings from having a let down game than I have been with pretty much any coach the Kings have had since Adelman. Russ rocks the baby. AD has a nice night. Kings still win.
Kings 122, Lakers 109
I love to see us stacking up on ways in which we are better than the Golden State Warriors so let me add these to the list:

Offensive rating: KINGS 114 (10th of 30) WARRIORS 112.8 (13th of 30)
Defensive rating: KINGS 115.2 (25th of 30) WARRIORS 116.1 (27th of 30)

The offense has arrived ahead of schedule thanks to the addition of shooters in the off-season (Monk, Huerter, Keegan), growth in that area from Fox and Lyles, and an offensive game plan that gets everyone involved instead of leaning heavily on one or two players to create everything. The defense is coming along more slowly and we still have some personnel issues to iron out there, but it's encouraging that we've been as competitive as we have been and still have a lot of room for improvement on that end. The last time we had a defensive rating that ranked better than 20th in the league this team was still coached by Rick Adelman. I think that's a good goal for us this year: let's get to at least 19th in our defensive rating by the end of the season.

I also can't help but highlight this... the Warriors had the #1 defensive rating in the league last season. It's not all Mike Brown, they also lost Otto Porter, Gary Payton Jr., and Damion Lee from their rotation and it's early in the season so small sample size is still a factor. They do still have the same core group in place though and 1st to 27th is an eye-opening drop whatever the circumstances.
 
#10

If AD does miss, makes this a must-win game. Can't lose to the worst team in the league to start the year missing Bron/AD
i would’ve been angry if they lost to them with LeBron and AD. That’s how cooked I think the Lakers are and how well I think the Kings match up with them.

I’ll be disappointed if this game is even close in the 4th quarter if neither of them are playing.

It will tell me that it doesn’t matter if the Kings are playing the best or worst team in the NBA. Every game is a toss up if the Kings play up or down to the competition. It’s extremely hard to get on a good streak that way.

so, please whoop their ass
 
#11
To me, this is a huge point in the season. As others mentioned, we have to win these types of games if we're going to get to the next level. It would push us to 5-6 and, all things considered, that's pretty good especially considering the 2 games that potentially we could have won if we didn't get an incorrect call at the end of the game. 4-7 just sounds so much worse than 5-6. I'm anxious to see how this one plays out.
 
#16
Does anyone really believe with us as the favorite by what 4 1/2 in LA that the league and refs will allow us blow them out?
I truly hope so but it will most likely go like this domas as will be in foul trouble within the first 6-7 minutes. And the Lakers will miraculously go to the line in the 27 to 30 shot range with us lucky to get the line for 20 shots With Fox being bounced around like a pinball

I hope we blow the scum out.

But the other news another team in LA tonight will also blow out the Buffs. I plan on hearing conquest tonight. I think I will play my TUSK album before the game.
 

Kingster

Hall of Famer
#17

If AD does miss, makes this a must-win game. Can't lose to the worst team in the league to start the year missing Bron/AD
If AD misses it .means that he 1) doesn't want to bang with Sabonis, 2) doesn't want to run with Fox, 3) doesn't want the pressure of playing without LBJ, and 4) is seriously thinking about doing a Bengay commercial for a lifetime supply.
 
#18
I don't usually like to jinx the team (even though logical analysis tells me a jinx isn't a real thing....) but there is no way we should lose this game tonight. Anything less than a 10 point win has me in a somewhat sour mood for the weekend.
 
#22
I absolutely believe 'superstar' teams get whistles just like superstar players unquestionably do - while teams and players at the other end of the reputational spectrum (like the kings) sometimes don't when they should, maybe especially at crucial junctures. Refs have biases.

I absolutely do NOT believe that there's anything like an explicit, league-wide conspiracy to screw the Kings or unfairly help the marquee teams.

In re tonight's game, certainly should be a game the Kings win. By around the 20-game mark, it'd be REALLY helpful if the Kings were .500 or better w/good health. Especially after the 0-4 start, that'd be plenty of validation for Mike Brown's approach and for the talent on the team. I suspect that the guys already know there's real potential to do something special - by Kings' standards, certainly - this year (and I don't mean simply making the play-in).

And I'll say it again: the single best way to attract a star player is to be a team that star can imagine putting over the top (in terms of possibly making a deep playoff run) and having staying power at the top. This Kings team has that potential. Sabonis, Fox, Keegan, Monk, Huerter, and Davion is a helluva long-term base on which to build. And it sounds a LOT like the whole league is noticing.
 
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#23
This game absolutely terrifies me. I honestly wish the Lakers were fully healthy, but, if we’ve truly turned the corner, we’ll find a way to take them seriously and beat ‘em good. I pray.

Go KINGS!!!
I agree wholeheartedly about being terrified. I've been wooed by this team, I'm all in and so excited for the game tonight - but I'm trying to keep myself in check. Hoping the script gets flipped tonight!
 
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