[Game] Kings @ Nuggets - Wednesday, Feb. 13 - 6PT/9ET

[kb02]

Agree with many of the comments thus far. The officials sucked last night. Denver had four fouls at around the 9 minute mark in the 4th and didn't commit their fifth foul till under 2 minutes. There were a number of fouls that could've been called in between. And Denver straight up walked two times. No calls.

That was a physical game. Bags and Giles need to up their physicality this off season.

I love Barnes, I hate Barnes. He shows signs of being a black hole. But does enough little things, plays enough team ball, looks enough for his teammates to let that go. Improve your 3 point efficiency, please.

I wouldn't mind it at all if the Kings go after Milsap this off season. Pretty certain Denver declines his $30M option.

 

[Entity]

Best thing about Bagley is he knows he needs to bulk up and knowing him he will do everything he can to do so. work ethic is not an issue with him. I think Harry is the same way. Although that would have been easy to do while sitting last year.

 

[John Galt]

Comments here and on twitter were interesting to me. I was watching the game completely beside myself - so pissed at refs, at missed layups - my furniture barely survived - dogs cowered... wife left the room at times. And the consensus from MOST of the fan base was really positive like "we hung in there great - never quit".

I love it. I felt most of the season like I was like a frustrated positive salmon swimming up a negativity river and now the tide has turned. I'm pretty excited that most fans have positive perspective being over .500 at the break and in the hunt. I feel like the home-stand maybe won some people over.

I hated watching my speedy athletic team lose to a couple of plodding NFL offensive tackles, but I'm over it now. Can't wait to see how we play out of the break.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

The refs were garbage but we did lose his on our own. And still, it's a big time game playing 48 minutes in Denver against a team trying to gain home court advantage because it really, really matters for them.

But damn, there was a stretch where it seemed every time the Nuggets came down the court they got bailed out by a whistle for the most ticky tack stuff while their guy could just do whatever he wanted. Meanwhile I saw the same stuff go uncalled most of the 3rd quarter. I'm glad that our guys generally aren't letting it get to them but you'd think maybe by now they'd have earned some respect to get an evenly called game.

 

[ppine]

The Kings played well especially in the back court. The guards and HB had good games.

The Kings' front court had all of their weaknesses exposed by Jokic, Milsap and Plumlee. Those are three meaty physical guys that keep coming at you. They are good position players and great rebounders. They made Bagley and Giles look like rookies on many occasions. The Kings got outrebounded and that is the game right there.

Jokic had 20/18/11. Milsap was 25/13. None of our big men came close to that. Willie had 7 rebounds. Barnes had 11.

The Kings play fine against the finesse teams because that is their style. The Kings' need to watch the video of this game several times. Then they need to commit to getting stronger and working on their technique and desire for rebounding. Bagley, Giles and Willie are no match for Denver's big men. At least not yet. This game was close. The Nuggets came out in the third and played great Malone defense after no doubt getting a thrashing by their coach. That got them in the game and then they just out muscled the Kings in the fourth.

 

[Kingster]

When you play Denver, the 2nd best team in the West, in Denver, of course it's going to highlight every weakness the Kings' have. That's how it works. And that's how they get better. I don't know if the Kings are going to the playoffs or not, but this last stretch of games is going to be fantastic for them in learning how to win against elite competition under pressure. Every little mistake is huge. Every weakness in their game is huge. It's going to be seared into their memories going forward. It's the perfect crucible for molding this young team into an upper tier team next year.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

We saw last year how keeping all games close and getting meaningful experience in the clutch has paid dividends this year and it will only multiply with every game having playoff implications this year. I think the playoffs is a huge ask but it would be so nice if we can do it.

 

[New Era]

I don't think I watched the same game as many others. The officiating was dreadful. One of the worst I've seen all season.

How can the officials miss so many blatant travels and push offs right in front of them? I mean, Alec Burks gets called for a carry -- and it certainly was, but still almost never gets called and happened multiple other times in the game w/o a whistle -- but Paul Milsap can pick the ball up on the break late in the game and take several steps before passing the ball off right in front of the official? Also, the very next time Milsap doesn't push off when he drives to the basket in an effort to create space will be the 1st time.

Nikola Jokić might travel more often than James Harden, which is saying a lot. How many times does that guy shuffle his feet or leave his pivot foot to get to his spot and it is not called? Forget triple-doubles, the dude should have regular quadruple-doubles with double digit turnovers.

I'm not gonna list them all, but when the KINGS were trying to maintain their lead from late Q3 to mid-Q4, they were doomed by a stretch of obvious missed calls that just shouldn't happen. It changed the flow of the game and allowed Denver to create points that weren't otherwise there.

• Q3 01:15 Plumlee wins jump ball; obvious violation stealing & redirecting the toss; resulted in 3 points
• Q4 11:10 Milsap picks up dribble in transition & takes steps before passing off; obvious travel violation; resulted in 2 points
• Q4 04:53 Jokić tips in his own missed shot; obvious 3 sec violation, as he possessed the ball for over 4 sec before shooting; resulted in 2 points

I know, I know, the KINGS got calls in the game too. But it sure didn't seem that way ... specifically down the stretch when it mattered most.

I agree with those questioning Coach Joerger's decision to insert Kosta Koufas late in the game. I also agree that the KINGS killed themselves per usual on the defensive boards. Though I thought a few got away from them due to push offs, but whatever. They still sucked at securing rebounds.

But none of that is going to cause me ignore the blatant missed calls. All of which occurred in plain view of an official and not one of them was subjective. They were as obvious as it can get and they helped cost this team a much needed W.

I remember being upset with the officiating a few times this season, but I don't recall being as consistently irked as I was tonight. I'm sure many of you disagree, but that's how I saw it.

I know you spent a lot of time on your post and I didn't think the officiating was that great either but 2 of your 3 referenced plays were not incorrect calls. I just went back and reviewed them. Also, if you are going to complain about officiating, then you have to look at the Denver side as well. Prior to Malone being ejected, there were literally 3 no-calls that probably were all fouls against the Kings. If you're a Denver fan, you'd look at that and say you were screwed.

On your plays:

Jump ball play: Clearly a missed call!

Milsap travel play: While this looked ugly at first glance, it was not a travel. When he gathers the ball, his right foot is his pivot foot. He then steps with his left foot, and then lifts his pivot foot but releases the pass just barely before that pivot foot returns to the floor. You can lift your pivot foot to shoot or make a pass. It looked ugly because he was moving quickly down the floor.

3-second play: He's barely in the lane for 3 seconds while he makes a move to the basket and shoots the ball (and even that is debatable), which he misses and then tips back in. Once you shoot, the 3 second count resets. Not a violation here.

 

[TaxMan]

When you play Denver, the 2nd best team in the West, in Denver, of course it's going to highlight every weakness the Kings' have. That's how it works. And that's how they get better. I don't know if the Kings are going to the playoffs or not, but this last stretch of games is going to be fantastic for them in learning how to win against elite competition under pressure. Every little mistake is huge. Every weakness in their game is huge. It's going to be seared into their memories going forward. It's the perfect crucible for molding this young team into an upper tier team next year.

Just look at the experience the Nuggets had last year, just missing out on the 8th seed and where they are now. These types of games matter, even in close losses (some would say more when you lose a big game at the wire, but I'm not sure I agree with that). As you say, this is all really good stuff for a young team to go through.

 

[Cojc]

I thought we had another timeout at the end and if we did after we saw the defensive setup call the timeout. It’s nice shooting those 3’s for a win but with good shooters on the floor a open two might of been a better option than a contested 3.

Oh well we were there and I know we are not winning out so let’s get the new guys some practices before we get back to the grind.

 

[regularkingsfan]

The Kings played well especially in the back court. The guards and HB had good games.

Buddy and Barnes scored on pretty low percentage. Buddy missed a lot of open shots. Barnes missed a lot of layups.

Buddy and Fox combined for more than half of the team's turnovers.

No one is especially good or bad in this game. Well except for Giles who is pretty bad.

 

[Kingster]

Just look at the experience the Nuggets had last year, just missing out on the 8th seed and where they are now. These types of games matter, even in close losses (some would say more when you lose a big game at the wire, but I'm not sure I agree with that). As you say, this is all really good stuff for a young team to go through.

Yes. And maybe the icing on the cake will be getting the same great learning experience in the playoffs this year. When you have guys like this who are extremely competitive and extremely talented, well coached, with good chemistry, there's no way to go but up.

 

[Kings_of_California]

One of the knocks on Barnes when he was on the Mavs was his inefficiency. He has shot poorly over the last 3 games since he arrived.

3-9
3-9
7-19

Fortunately, he brings other good qualities to the table like length, defense and rebounding. It hasn't been brought up much since he's new to the team, but if he hits one or two more shots last night, we win the game.

19 shots is a little too much for him. He needs to take less shots and hit for a higher percentage. We have other scoring options on the team (Buddy, Fox, Bogi, maybe Bagley) who should be priority.

 

[regularkingsfan]

19 shots is a little too much for him. He needs to take less shots and hit for a higher percentage. We have other scoring options on the team (Buddy, Fox, Bogi, maybe Bagley) who should be priority.

The game plan called for it. Denver is a very good defensive team but defending iso scoring small forward is a weakness.

Barnes actually took good high percentage shots. They just did not fall.

There was one sequence when Barnes missed a point blank layup and Denver came back in transition and hit a 3 (I think Monte Morris hit that).

Devastating 5 point swing.

Nevertheless, having a small forward that we can turn to to exploit mismatch is nice.

 

[kingdivac]

In all fairness, had he not rushed it there's a good chance the shot wouldn't have counted anyway.

Point taken, it was an eyeball test, but a decent effort.....they had played hard with the whole team turning in a good offensive performance; even FTs were above 80% collectively. They need to beat the Warriors now. 1-5 or even 2-4 on this 6-game horror show would moderately ding their playoff chances.

 

[kingdivac]

One of the knocks on Barnes when he was on the Mavs was his inefficiency. He has shot poorly over the last 3 games since he arrived.

3-9
3-9
7-19

Fortunately, he brings other good qualities to the table like length, defense and rebounding. It hasn't been brought up much since he's new to the team, but if he hits one or two more shots last night, we win the game.

19 shots is a little too much for him. He needs to take less shots and hit for a higher percentage. We have other scoring options on the team (Buddy, Fox, Bogi, maybe Bagley) who should be priority.

With such a close loss, you can really pick and choose any couple of plays that were the difference . Yeah all of the players missed shots. Barnes was rebounding very well though so he made up for it to some degree,; yeah he had a bit poor shooting, but not 1-9 which is what Shumpert was in probably 4-6 games earlier. For me, I mentioned the final shot looked a hair rushed. You could make a strong case rebounding costed them I thought. At 1 point, Fox didn't react to a defensive board I thought, that the Denver player scooped up and scored on with ease. There were alot of close in shots for the Nuggets. Nuggets were afforded 6 more FG attempts thanks to their rebounding activity, and that's the difference in a close game.

 

[lawlman91]

Barnes is just a good basketball player.

there were some plays that barnes made that i couldnt see jackson or shump doing. truly, acquiring barnes was more of a "win now" kind of move, probably with good reason: divac wants our guys to taste the playoffs, as said yesterday by divac himself. he thinks that tasting the playoffs leads to a better offseason.

 

[KingsFanSince85]

I know you spent a lot of time on your post and I didn't think the officiating was that great either but 2 of your 3 referenced plays were not incorrect calls. I just went back and reviewed them. Also, if you are going to complain about officiating, then you have to look at the Denver side as well. Prior to Malone being ejected, there were literally 3 no-calls that probably were all fouls against the Kings. If you're a Denver fan, you'd look at that and say you were screwed.

On your plays:

Jump ball play: Clearly a missed call!

Milsap travel play: While this looked ugly at first glance, it was not a travel. When he gathers the ball, his right foot is his pivot foot. He then steps with his left foot, and then lifts his pivot foot but releases the pass just barely before that pivot foot returns to the floor. You can lift your pivot foot to shoot or make a pass. It looked ugly because he was moving quickly down the floor.

3-second play: He's barely in the lane for 3 seconds while he makes a move to the basket and shoots the ball (and even that is debatable), which he misses and then tips back in. Once you shoot, the 3 second count resets. Not a violation here.

With respect, I also reviewed the plays multiple times to ensure what I saw was correct. So I don’t understand how you can even argue with me on it. The Milsap play most certainly was a travel. Even DC says something during the play. And go back and count when Jokic sets foot in the paint. It is over 4 seconds after he makes his slow Charles Barkley-seque back down until he actually shoots the ball. I actually used the stop watch on my iPhone to be sure my eyes and count weren’t deceiving me! And they weren’t!

Regarding looking at the KINGS, I acknowledged that already, didn’t I? I also said none of those plays happened down the stretch when it mattered most. During the stretch when Malone was ejected, they missed calls on both teams. Hence another reason it was an awfully officiated game. But I’d switch places with Denver in a heartbeat if it meant getting the calls late in the game when it matters more.

 

[New Era]

With respect, I also reviewed the plays multiple times to ensure what I saw was correct. So I don’t understand how you can even argue with me on it. The Milsap play most certainly was a travel. Even DC says something during the play. And go back and count when Jokic sets foot in the paint. It is over 4 seconds after he makes his slow Charles Barkley-seque back down until he actually shoots the ball.

Regarding looking at the KINGS, I acknowledged that already, didn’t I? I also said none of those plays happened down the stretch when it mattered most. During the stretch when Malone was ejected, they missed calls on both teams. Hence another reason is was an awfully officiated game. But I’d switch places with Denver in a heartbeat if it meant getting the calls late in the game when it matters more.

I know basketball and I know refereeing. It was NOT a travel and I explained why. Makes no difference what DC said. You can lift your pivot foot and make a pass. If you have watched NBA basketball for long enough, you'll know that they are NEVER going to call a 3 second violation when a player is barely in there for 3 seconds AND is in the process of making his move to the basket. It NEVER gets called. They call it when a player is planted in there and doing nothing or not making a move/shooting.

 

[KingsFanSince85]

Agree with many of the comments thus far. The officials sucked last night. Denver had four fouls at around the 9 minute mark in the 4th and didn't commit their fifth foul till under 2 minutes. There were a number of fouls that could've been called in between. And Denver straight up walked two times.

The penalty situation in the 4th was one of things I neglected to mention, but you’re spot on. Staggers the imagination, doesn’t it?

And Denver walked more than twice, believe me, but some were more obvious than others. Milsaps was ridiculous. It was as easy to see as the carry called on Burks.

 

[KingsFanSince85]

I know basketball and I know refereeing. It was NOT a travel and I explained why. Makes no difference what DC said. You can lift your pivot foot and make a pass. If you have watched NBA basketball for long enough, you'll know that they are NEVER going to call a 3 second violation when a player is barely in there for 3 seconds AND is in the process of making his move to the basket. It NEVER gets called. They call it when a player is planted in there and doing nothing or not making a move/shooting.

I know basketball and refereeing too. And I disagree completely. I could explain why it was most definitely a travel but you wouldn’t agree so we’ll just have to go on living with our own opinions. And over 4 seconds isn’t ‘barely’ 3 seconds in any universe, but nice try.

 

[gunks]

Good to see that most of the frustration of last night has given way to a general attitude of "we played them tough"!

It always sucks when we lose after having a big lead, but the Nuggets are a great team with an insane home court record. It was a disappointing loss for sure, but not one to get angry over!

Well, I think we can all get a little angry over friggin IT killing us!! Even though I saw that coming.

 

[ESP47]

Agree with many of the comments thus far. The officials sucked last night. Denver had four fouls at around the 9 minute mark in the 4th and didn't commit their fifth foul till under 2 minutes. There were a number of fouls that could've been called in between. And Denver straight up walked two times. No calls.

That was a physical game. Bags and Giles need to up their physicality this off season.

I love Barnes, I hate Barnes. He shows signs of being a black hole. But does enough little things, plays enough team ball, looks enough for his teammates to let that go. Improve your 3 point efficiency, please.

I wouldn't mind it at all if the Kings go after Milsap this off season. Pretty certain Denver declines his $30M option.

Denver hit 3s on both obvious travels and then hit a 2 on Plumlee's illegal jump ball. That's 8 points right there.

Giles and Bagley with 3 boards in 35 minutes is unacceptable.

Barnes doesn't seem to be taking too many bad shots but he's just not that efficient. Needs to defer more but I am impressed with his perimeter defense. He stays in front of his man better than just about anyone on the team.

 

[ppine]

There is more, a lot more to this game than shooting.
I thought Barnes was our best player last night.
You have to think of the officiating as part of the floor. There is nothing you can do about it.

 

[JCTNKINGFAN]

I thought WCS played well especially considering he is a Sickle Cell carrier playing at altitude. I have seen other players not even travel.

I’m a huge Giles fan but the fact is Giles got pushed physically and over reacted and drew stupid fouls. He will get stronger and learn. But this game isn’t about WCS it’s about playing small ball with your only other rebounder at 41 minutes. Even Jokic played only 36.

I thought Willie played well other than the foul trouble. I suspect the Sickle Cell trait affects his stamina some, more than he lets on, but I’m not sure that is was as much of an issue in the game as the foul trouble. I’m not going to comment on the officiating, don’t want to get fined or suspended.

Willie only played around 22 minutes total. Jokic is a beast, he played right around 36 minutes total (and only managed to commit 1 foul!). He and Jokic shared the court for a little less than 20 minutes. Their stats during that shared time were surprisingly close.

Jokic’s line: 8 pts (3-9 FG, 0-2 3 Pt, 2-2 FT), 6 Reb (2 Off, 4 Def), 5 Ast, 1 Stl, 3 TO, 0 PF

WCS line: 8 pts (3-5 FG, 2-2 FT), 6 Reb (3 Off, 3 Def), 3 Ast, 5 Stl, 1 TO, 4 PF

For what it’s worth, Jokic’s line in the 16 minutes on the court without WCS:

12 pts (4-8 FG, 4-4 FT) 12 Reb (3 Off, 9 Def), 6 Ast, 0 Stl, 1 TO, 1 PF

WCS was actually more efficient than Jokic during those shared 20 minutes. I also believe he stole the ball from Jokic 3 times.

 

[New Era]

I know basketball and refereeing too. And I disagree completely. I could explain why it was most definitely a travel but you wouldn’t agree so we’ll just have to go on living with our own opinions. And over 4 seconds isn’t ‘barely’ 3 seconds in any universe, but nice try.

Explain to me why that was a travel. The 3 second call we don't need to argue. By rule, yes it was 3 seconds, but nowhere in the NBA universe does that EVER get called there....so let's just talk about the travel. Tell me when he gathered, and what he did with his pivot foot afterwards. You can't just say, "DC said it's a travel!" as an argument. You have to use facts that are based off the rules of the game.

 

[Bosnian Diehard]

Explain to me why that was a travel. The 3 second call we don't need to argue. By rule, yes it was 3 seconds, but nowhere in the NBA universe does that EVER get called there....so let's just talk about the travel. Tell me when he gathered, and what he did with his pivot foot afterwards. You can't just say, "DC said it's a travel!" as an argument. You have to use facts that are based off the rules of the game.

If you wanna say 3 second violations are never called, why did they call carry on Burcs earlier in the game? Carries are never called either.

 

[Kings_of_California]

If you wanna say 3 second violations are never called, why did they call carry on Burcs earlier in the game? Carries are never called either.

Speaking of Burks, what's the deal with him? He only got 7 minutes yesterday. Hield and Bog did all the heavy lifting.

Also, in those 7 minutes he didn't take a shot. He took one shot over a 21 minute span the game before too.

Isn't he supposed to be a scorer? Hopefully he's providing some good defense if he's not shooting.

 

[reptilexcq2]

The Kings are losing way too many close games. I am talking about close games where if they just rebound the ball and secure the ball, they could have won. The problem is they're constantly giving the other team 2nd chance shots. Here's what they need to do next year to improve on this area. They need to throw all the $22 mil at Vucevic and not bank anymore on Cauley-Stein. He is a weak defender and a poor help defender and only show spark occasionally. Did you see him running back playing defense while a Nuggets player was attacking the hoop? He was like 10 feet or so behind the player and have the best angle to stop the drive and STILL couldn't prevent him from driving. Not only he failed to cut him off but he even commit a foul. His defense is just bad. When you're 7 feet tall and still giving layup even though you're way in front of the ball handler, it speaks on how bad your defense is as a player. His help defense and awareness is non-existence. I am upset because I feel the Kings record could have been better than just 30 wins. They should be at least 35 wins by now if they just secured a rebound or not giving the other teams a 2nd chance shots in crunch time. They should have beaten Golden State at home.

So my solution is sign Vucevic!! Start Marvin Bagley at the 4 and Barnes at the 3. Then we're set to dominate next year!!

Edit: I forgot to mention....De'Andre Jordan ain't bad either! Could be the perfect piece! All you need is someone that can defense those BIG buys in the West and then rebound and be a force inside as far as defense. I am talking about stopping Jorkic, Steve Adam, Marc Gasol, Harrell, and even Cousins.

 

[burekijogurt]

The Kings are losing way too many close games. I am talking about close games where if they just rebound the ball and secure the ball, they could have won. The problem is they're constantly giving the other team 2nd chance shots. Here's what they need to do next year to improve on this area. They need to throw all the $22 mil at Vucevic and not bank anymore on Cauley-Stein. He is a weak defender and a poor help defender and only show spark occasionally. Did you see him running back playing defense while a Nuggets player was attacking the hoop? He was like 10 feet or so behind the player and have the best angle to stop the drive and STILL couldn't prevent him from driving. Not only he failed to cut him off but he even commit a foul. His defense is just bad. When you're 7 feet tall and still giving layup even though you're way in front of the ball handler, it speaks on how bad your defense is as a player. His help defense and awareness is non-existence. I am upset because I feel the Kings record could have been better than just 30 wins. They should be at least 35 wins by now if they just secured a rebound or not giving the other teams a 2nd chance shots in crunch time. They should have beaten Golden State at home.

So my solution is sign Vucevic!! Start Marvin Bagley at the 4 and Barnes at the 3. Then we're set to dominate next year!!

The Kings are ranked pretty high in all close game measures. For example, on NBA.com Stats Page they are ranked 6th by win percentage in "clutch" games and 3rd by number of wins. Incidentally, Denver is ranked number 1 in both categories.