Kings going down and fast these days. With the 15-26 record Kings are 7th worst team in the NBA. Kings have lost 5 in a row, 10 of the last 11 games (thanks Nuggets). With only 3 road wins Kings are one of the worst road team in the NBA (Charlotte & Minnesota (3), NJN (1)). Kings are 0-4 on the 6 game road trip in the East with back to back set coming up in Orlando and Miami. Kings are 1-9 in the first game of the back to back sets.
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Too many changes are never good especially for a young team. Having 18 different lineups in 41 games (only GSW has had more) will affect even the experienced teams. At some point you have to stop and decide to go with something and stick to it so people can get acustomed to those roles. For young players sometimes it can get very "confusing" when they don't know what to expect night after night.
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Matin & Evans or Martin vs. Evans or whatever you want to call it. Can it work in the long run ? - I don't see how. Is it our biggest problem ? - Not even close. Hypothetically speaking , if Kings lose more and get lucky in the lottery and pick John Wall - is that going to work any better than Martin and Evans. Defensivelly I think it will but there would be the same problem - one ball and 2 players that need to have it and 5 players total on the floor. Would I like to see Evans $ Wall back court - You bet. Would we have similar discussions - definitely.
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Our problem is that our shady trees are short and don't cver too much and that our tall trees don't provide any shadow. Why is it a problem ? - because we live in Arizona and it is summer all year long in the NBA. Hell, I would settle for another cactus in the desert. How do we solve the problem? - with great difficulties because no one will just give you a nice tree with a large shade. It will take time.
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You can't teach toughness and you can't teach stupid. In other words - Hawes and Spencer are what they are. They won't change too much in the future. Neither one is an all star and neither one is a bum bur together - they can't coexist. Well, they can but they won't be a part of a winning starting lineup. Spencer can pass and shoot but he can't defend. JT can rebound, shoot little bit but he can't stop fouling, turning the ball over. Not very smart defender or decision maker. Kings will not be in the playoffs until this issue is solved
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Kevin marting is 'back.' Played 9 games this season in which Kings are 1-8. Only game we won - he had to score 48 points. He is shooting 41% from the field. Still plays no defense. Kevin is still a good player. Neot good enough to be the main guy on a winning team but good enough to be the "Robin" for a real Batman if the team is constructed properly meaning you have to have someone to cover his defensive lapses all the time. It looks like Kings will have to part with him in order to progress. It isn't Martin's fault. Sometimes things just don't work. Put Kevin on a team like Boston, Orlando or Cleveland and they get pretty scary.
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While John Brockman is starting only because his alternative sux - he still deserves it. Things will change now assuming that the decision is permanent (permanent - by Westphalian definition - 2 games). He will have to deal with main guys for more time meaning foul trouble mening he will get beaten too. Ofensively, it is a drop off but defensively it is an upgrade which gets us to the "positive zero." What we need is someone who will start and Brockman backing him up. Everything else is just killing time, losing games.
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No matchups from the previous game but a chance to revisit the poll that I had before the start of the trip
Spencer wil average double double - he lost not only his starting job but even Hilton is ahead of him now
Kevin will be leading scorer in at least 4 games - with 2 more games he still has a chance
Casspi will find his shot - didn't happen
Evans will finally get his triple double - he was fairly close in Washington
Thompson will average less than 3 turnovers per game - he needs to have less than 9 TOs in the next couple games to achieve the goal
Udrih will average double digits - not happening
Brockman will rock !!! - most definitely
Sergio will be DNP-CD - so far so good
Noc will be a hero - could have been one in Charlotte
Hilton will get a chance to aggrivate us and he will take advantage of it - others are worse than him but he has shown potential to aggrivate us.
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One good half wasn't enough to win in Atlanta but one bad quarter was enough to lose there. The vintage Muss Kool-Aid 3rd quarter cost Kings the game in which we were better team for at least half of it. We let them shoot over 505 again and we let them outreabound us which was enough. we didn't take enough advantage of Bibby being on the floor. Crawford finished us up.
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AWARD TIME
TDM - Crawford cought fire - we got the loss
LW-VC -Zaza used to burn us many times before. Not last night.
JHA - Thompson is falling apart
MIKKI - Noc came in, first touch, first missed three. Too boring, too predictable.
SAR - Metuselah - Udoka
RA&1 - Mike Bibby has nothing left
Jax/Walk - Kevin was 2-7 from three guarded by Bibby Just drive and flop man
WTF moment of the game - nice inbound Spencer !
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Magic are next and they haven't beaten us in 10 days. Assuming that our players can't wait for the trip to be over and assuming that they will take advantage of things Orlando has to offer at night - not a good starting position for a matchup. Magic have been struggling and we just might become what doctor ordered for them. We need to have a good game for 48 minutes and hope that D12 misses his free throws. Every streak has to end sometimes.
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my matchups:
Evans vs Orlando back court - can reke penetrate anough to get D12 into foul trouble ?
Barnes, Anderson & J Will vs TDM - Who gets it?
Brockman vs D12 - this will be fun. can john do anything else but foul out ?
Vince Carter vs Kevin Martin - who will miss more ?
Nocioni vs bad shot on his first possesion in the game - can there be something else ?
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Evans - keep it up
Thompson - fugly realoded
Greene - wake up !
Martin - try harder on defense
Brockman - good luck
Casspi - now do it again before garbage time
Hawes - Not hawesome at all
Nocion - go away
Udrih - not too bad
rest = mateen
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Magic are 4th in the East with the 27-15 record and 15-4 at home but they have lost 7oit of their last 10 games. With Carter back - their bench improved some. If they make shots - we lose because we will have to doubleteam all game long. anderson gets the TDM. LW-VC goes to Lewis. I just don't think we have enough to win this game.
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Too many changes are never good especially for a young team. Having 18 different lineups in 41 games (only GSW has had more) will affect even the experienced teams. At some point you have to stop and decide to go with something and stick to it so people can get acustomed to those roles. For young players sometimes it can get very "confusing" when they don't know what to expect night after night.
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Matin & Evans or Martin vs. Evans or whatever you want to call it. Can it work in the long run ? - I don't see how. Is it our biggest problem ? - Not even close. Hypothetically speaking , if Kings lose more and get lucky in the lottery and pick John Wall - is that going to work any better than Martin and Evans. Defensivelly I think it will but there would be the same problem - one ball and 2 players that need to have it and 5 players total on the floor. Would I like to see Evans $ Wall back court - You bet. Would we have similar discussions - definitely.
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Our problem is that our shady trees are short and don't cver too much and that our tall trees don't provide any shadow. Why is it a problem ? - because we live in Arizona and it is summer all year long in the NBA. Hell, I would settle for another cactus in the desert. How do we solve the problem? - with great difficulties because no one will just give you a nice tree with a large shade. It will take time.
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You can't teach toughness and you can't teach stupid. In other words - Hawes and Spencer are what they are. They won't change too much in the future. Neither one is an all star and neither one is a bum bur together - they can't coexist. Well, they can but they won't be a part of a winning starting lineup. Spencer can pass and shoot but he can't defend. JT can rebound, shoot little bit but he can't stop fouling, turning the ball over. Not very smart defender or decision maker. Kings will not be in the playoffs until this issue is solved
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Kevin marting is 'back.' Played 9 games this season in which Kings are 1-8. Only game we won - he had to score 48 points. He is shooting 41% from the field. Still plays no defense. Kevin is still a good player. Neot good enough to be the main guy on a winning team but good enough to be the "Robin" for a real Batman if the team is constructed properly meaning you have to have someone to cover his defensive lapses all the time. It looks like Kings will have to part with him in order to progress. It isn't Martin's fault. Sometimes things just don't work. Put Kevin on a team like Boston, Orlando or Cleveland and they get pretty scary.
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While John Brockman is starting only because his alternative sux - he still deserves it. Things will change now assuming that the decision is permanent (permanent - by Westphalian definition - 2 games). He will have to deal with main guys for more time meaning foul trouble mening he will get beaten too. Ofensively, it is a drop off but defensively it is an upgrade which gets us to the "positive zero." What we need is someone who will start and Brockman backing him up. Everything else is just killing time, losing games.
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No matchups from the previous game but a chance to revisit the poll that I had before the start of the trip
Spencer wil average double double - he lost not only his starting job but even Hilton is ahead of him now
Kevin will be leading scorer in at least 4 games - with 2 more games he still has a chance
Casspi will find his shot - didn't happen
Evans will finally get his triple double - he was fairly close in Washington
Thompson will average less than 3 turnovers per game - he needs to have less than 9 TOs in the next couple games to achieve the goal
Udrih will average double digits - not happening
Brockman will rock !!! - most definitely
Sergio will be DNP-CD - so far so good
Noc will be a hero - could have been one in Charlotte
Hilton will get a chance to aggrivate us and he will take advantage of it - others are worse than him but he has shown potential to aggrivate us.
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One good half wasn't enough to win in Atlanta but one bad quarter was enough to lose there. The vintage Muss Kool-Aid 3rd quarter cost Kings the game in which we were better team for at least half of it. We let them shoot over 505 again and we let them outreabound us which was enough. we didn't take enough advantage of Bibby being on the floor. Crawford finished us up.
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AWARD TIME
TDM - Crawford cought fire - we got the loss
LW-VC -Zaza used to burn us many times before. Not last night.
JHA - Thompson is falling apart
MIKKI - Noc came in, first touch, first missed three. Too boring, too predictable.
SAR - Metuselah - Udoka
RA&1 - Mike Bibby has nothing left
Jax/Walk - Kevin was 2-7 from three guarded by Bibby Just drive and flop man
WTF moment of the game - nice inbound Spencer !
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Magic are next and they haven't beaten us in 10 days. Assuming that our players can't wait for the trip to be over and assuming that they will take advantage of things Orlando has to offer at night - not a good starting position for a matchup. Magic have been struggling and we just might become what doctor ordered for them. We need to have a good game for 48 minutes and hope that D12 misses his free throws. Every streak has to end sometimes.
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my matchups:
Evans vs Orlando back court - can reke penetrate anough to get D12 into foul trouble ?
Barnes, Anderson & J Will vs TDM - Who gets it?
Brockman vs D12 - this will be fun. can john do anything else but foul out ?
Vince Carter vs Kevin Martin - who will miss more ?
Nocioni vs bad shot on his first possesion in the game - can there be something else ?
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Evans - keep it up
Thompson - fugly realoded
Greene - wake up !
Martin - try harder on defense
Brockman - good luck
Casspi - now do it again before garbage time
Hawes - Not hawesome at all
Nocion - go away
Udrih - not too bad
rest = mateen
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Magic are 4th in the East with the 27-15 record and 15-4 at home but they have lost 7oit of their last 10 games. With Carter back - their bench improved some. If they make shots - we lose because we will have to doubleteam all game long. anderson gets the TDM. LW-VC goes to Lewis. I just don't think we have enough to win this game.
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