Tetsujin
The Game Thread Dude
Kingsfans.com Official Gameday Thread
Game 62
Sacramento Kings at Toronto Raptors
By Stephen Tetsu, Why aren't there more hours in the day?Game 62
Sacramento Kings at Toronto Raptors
IT, Rudy, and Reggie look on in awe as the Bucks actually manage to get near the hoop.
Don't really have much time to write today since I have to be up and at 'em in 7 hours for work. I'll just say that it's pretty clear the Bucks are in a different class of bad than the rest of the league. While adding Ramon Sessions may have helped them at least not get blown out of the water every night (which is a statement about the lack of talent on that team as is), they still need a lot of help from the opposing team to really have a chance to win games, no matter how high the league is on Giannis Unpronounceable. Factor in a terrible arena situation and Seattle hungrily smacking its lips at the prospect of snatching up an NBA franchise and things aren't really looking all that great up for the Bucks fan base (speaking of which, how many people were at the game against the Kings? The place couldn't have been more than half full.)
For more on the Bucks situation and the movie character that is Giannis, check out this article from Grantland: http://grantland.com/features/milwaukee-bucks-giannis-antetokounmpo/
Observations:
- Best Freudian slip of the night: Upon B-Mac having his block on Zaza in the first half, the Bucks announcer accidentally called him Ben Blacklamore. And then almost called him it again the next time he touched the ball.
- Aside from that, the Bucks announcing team did a pretty good job considering their team is mind numbingly bad and our team isn't exactly the most exciting collection of players ever. It's hard to be homers when your team only has 12 wins on the season but I thought they were very fair with their criticism and analysis and were probably the first people to not follow the typical Rudy Gay is a ball hog narrative that everyone still seems to believe. They also have difficulties saying Giannis's full name, a problem to which I can relate.
- Speaking of promising rookies, Ray McCallum continues to improve as his minutes increase. Possessing a fairly well developed defensive game for a rookie (already the best defensive guard our team has), good athleticism for his side, a solid shooting stroke, and an absolute inability to turn the ball over, the rook is making my summer league prediction of an Andre Miller-like career look less and less crazy with every passing game.
- Reggie Evans continues to prove himself more valuable to the team than Marcus Thornton was all season with his gritty play off the bench. We all knew he could rebound and generally beat people up but I'd be lying if I said that I knew that he was as good in the post as he's been with us. He's by no means Kevin McHale but he pretty much has been the player Geoff Petrie told us that Chuck Hayes would be when he threw money at him.
- Between Reggie Evans, Quincy Acy, and Demarcus Cousins, the Kings may have the meanest frontcourt in the NBA. Also the beardiest.
- The Kings signed Royce White to a ten-day contract but if some of your reactions are to be believed, you'd think that the Kings just announced they've signed Vladimir Putin to a lifetime contract. It's a ten-day contract to a very talented guy with well documented problems. If it doesn't work out, too bad. If it works out, Petey D continues to amass talented young chips to help shape the roster we need.
Tonight's Game
Finally, something that might be worse than sleeves.
Tonight we face the Raptors, who we all know have been very good since the trade. We beat them before but that was at home and of course featured a fairly controversial ending. Also last time, we still had Marcus Thornton and Jimmer on our team.
This time around, we face them at their place in frigid Canada and with Reggie Evans and Orlando Johnson in our bench rotation.
Last time, Kyrie battered our backcourt. Will the new addition of someone capable of playing defense to our backcourt rotation help change that story? Tune in to find out.
My prediction? Kings fall short but things don't look all that terrible. Demarcus drops 30-10-5 on their lethargic frontcourt. Reggie Evans eats a baby during pre game warmups.
