Kings @ Sonics Game Thread

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piksi

Hall of Famer
#1
Winning ugly beats losing ugly.
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In 2003-2004 Kings player much prettier basketball. On February 10th 2004 Kings won a shootout in Milwaukee. The game ended 124-117 for the Kings who improved to 36-13 for the season. Kings shot 58%, had 39 assists on 45 FGs and only 9 turnovers. Pedja lead the Kings with 31/7/4/3, Bibbt had 24/4/11/2, Brad had 21/8/2/1, Vlade had 14/3/11, DC had 13/4/9. Peeler scored 10 pts off the bench.

There are many similarities between the Sacramento Kings and Milwaukee Bucks. One big difference is the Kings' ability to win on the road. Peja Stojakovic scored 31 points and teamed with Vlade Divac to make big plays down the stretch as the Kings outgunned the Bucks, 124-117, for their sixth win in seven games.

"They're a high-scoring team," Stojakovic said. "Going against an Eastern team and seeing 120 points was amazing."

"It was strange. The teams are very similar," Divac said. "They're running our plays and we're running their plays. You'd think you'd be able to stop them, but it was a shootout."

"Winning here was about focus and matching their energy," said Stojakovic, who made 9-of-18 shots. "They're an energy team and they made their run in the second quarter. We came back in the third and fourth and were abkle to come up big when we needed to."

Mike Bibby had 24 points and 11 assists, Miller scored 21 points and Doug Christie added 13 and nine assists for the Kings, who shot a blistering 58 percent (45-of-78) and had an astounding 39 assists.

"It's amazing the way the other team shot and passed the ball," Porter said. "You can see why they have probably the best passing and shooting team in the league."

"Those guys execute their plays so well, they shoot extremely well," Jones said. "Everyone was making shots tonight. Those guys did a fantastic job. ... "They're definitely the best team in the league."
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Kings are on the roll winning 4 straight and last 5 at home. Also Kings started February 3-0 which is nice. Overall Kings are 21-26 which is only 2 games behind the 8th PO spot. Kings don't seam to be interested in the lottery for now but they are entering a stretch of 7/9 games on the road which can turn things around both ways. Also since the 5 game streaks are the best in the league right now and Kings are at 4 - if we didn't know better - we might think that Kings are one of the hottest teams in the league right now.
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New Muss brilliant invention is Brad Miller - the 3pt shooter. We either don't have enough of those or we don't take enough bad shots as it is. Maybe we are just winning way too much so Muss is trying harder to stop that trend. My first thought was - who is going to get a rebound but never mind that because we can't even get a defensive rebound. Brad is a good shooter but we don't need more shooters. Pretty soon our go to play will be Bibby setting the screen and handing the ball over to Brad:eek:. On the other hand - I would love to see Brad's crossover three in transition. Bizarre.
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this is the new team rule book designed by Muss to make sure that the players go on with the "program"

- 10$ fine for entering the paint
- 20$ fine for offensive rebounding
- 10$ fine for a blocked shot
- 15 $ fine for taking a charge
- extra playing time for 3 consecutive missed layups
- reduced PT for shooting above 50%
- extra PT for 3 or more attempted transition threes in the first 5 seconds of the shot clock unless hitting more than 50%. In that case - reduced PT.
- 50$ fine for making the 4th pass in one possession
- 10$ fine for setting a good screen
- extended PT for turnovers leading to the opponents past break unless opponents role ankle and miss the layup
- reduced PT for positive +/- ratio.
- every player is required to play outside his natural position for a stretch of each game.
- 20$ for cheering Your teammates from the bench.
- 30$ fine for paying attention during a time out
- 50$ fine for calling a timeout to stop an opponents run
- extra PT for calling a time out and breaking the momentum in case that Kings go on the run
- 75$ fine for reading the scouting report.
- 100$ for declining to drink kool-aid during the half time
- 200$ fine for winning the 3rd quarter.
- players who put extra effort will be placed on inactive list
- extra PT for additional knowledge concerning power point, charts, tables, stats etc
- starting job for failing to pass the drug test immediately after the suspension expires
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Zone defense is created to protect horrible individual defenders and to beat teams who can't shoot the ball. With Mike and Kevin in the back court we don't have much choice. However zone will expose all Your weaknesses in a bad way especially if the team lacks size. Zone works great if You have enough tall/athletic people that can fight for rebounds on their own. If You are short, slow and immobile - playing zone is suicide. Bulls had 12 more rebounds and 30 more FGAs vs. 15 less FTAs (most of the at the end of game). If they were able to hit any shots - we would have lost the game. Playing 40 minutes zone per game in the NBA is plain and simple insane and it will go bad in the long run.
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John Salmons is not and never will be a PG. Asking him to play that position is pretty incompetent. Making him play that is insane. Becoming a decent PG takes time. You start as a child and keep playing it trough Your whole career and if You lucky enough - You might even become decent. Slamons will never be a decent PG and it will never be his fault. If You want a PG - draft one, trade for one - do something other than try to create an emergency one. It doesn't work and it looks ugly and pathetic.
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More than ever - I am convinced that Kenny Thomas will be a King for a long, long, long time. No one wants him and who can blame them ? I am not even sure what Kenny can do to help Your team if Your goal is to win and be successful. Sure he can miss layups with the best of them and he can occasionally be on the right place at the right time to grab a rebound but can that really warrant the playing time or even a starting job. KT wouldn't even start on an average Euroleague team.
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Coach's corner - I think the Muss coaching career peaked during the 2 games that he was suspended. His comeback ended in a win but it was the worst game that I have seen in a long time. He tried everything to lose the game including extensive minutes to KT and Salmons. Fortunately for him - Bulls played bad enough to even lose in Boston. It was also mentioned whow he likes Cisco bu he just can't find him minutes:rolleyes: . That sounds like he is looking for weapons of mass destruction at least. The minutes for KT are always there. Why is it so hard to find minutes for someone playing well, but so easy to find minutes or even to start someone who sucks ? What is wrong with people ? Can we just have a decently competent coach if we can't have a decent team. Double whammy.
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As it was mentioned before - Kings survived Bulls in a game that was so ugly - even rims have filed a complaint for excessive abuse. Kings finally found a team that they couldn't out suck despite trying really hard. Both teams combined missed 109 shots and had 35 turnovers. Bulls performed so bad that it was almost "showing off" Kings suck but not that much. Kevin Marting on one side and Deng on the other side made sure that audience is able from time to time to still recognize the game of basketball.
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AWARD TIME

I am going to give Deng the TDM award for the last time. From now on he isn't eligible anymore.
LW-VC award - Ben Gordon - Thanks Ben and keep it up.
JHA award goes to KT who wasted 18 minutes of everyone's life.
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Sonics are next and that is home and home matchup in the next 2 games for the Kings making a split very possible. Sonics also suck and they don't hace Lewis. They are 13-12 at home. They don't play any defense but that are very athletic and might cause us problems especially if Allen plays well. There is a good chance for Brad to jack up bunch of threes. Danny Fortson is available.
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Mike - let's hope that the ankle is fine
Ron - put Ray in Your pocket again
Kevin - stay away from Fortson
Brad - let the fly Brad !
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rest - mateen
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Muss - groundhog day
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Sonics aren't really any good. saying that - Ray Allen can beat us up - pretty bad. They are pretty tall and athletic. DFF is dangerous. LW-VC award will go to the one of the Frenchman probably Gelabale just because no one on the Kings team has eve heard of him. Luke Ridnour might have a good game too. If Ron can keep Allen to 5-21 shooting night like he did last time - Kings will win or at least almost win.
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#4
I think the Kings are eventually going to have to just buy out Kenny and waive him. Just pay him to leave... It's unfortunate but it's a scenario I see happening within the next few seasons...
 

SLAB

Hall of Famer
#6
And is Shareef really a better option? I know he is the better player, don't get me wrong, but there is probably a reason why he was 20/10 on perenial 25 win teams.

He doesn't rebound, he doesn't hustle, his offense clogs everything else as he just goes down low and eventually turns it over to the double team.

Kenny isn't great, not by a long-shot, but if he is our only line of rebounding on the entire team, releasing him would be downright stupid.
 
#7
Kenny isn't great, not by a long-shot, but if he is our only line of rebounding on the entire team, releasing him would be downright stupid.
Last I heard we had a very promising and energetic rebounder sitting on the bench. If winning were a good thing right now, I'd think that Justin should be getting 15 or 20 minutes a game. And, after we're done tanking, I'd be happy to see KT waived too. Being an underperforming veteran may be forgivable, but not if you demand a starting position. Underperforming vets belong on the bench, and if they can't deal with that, then they don't belong in the NBA.

For the curious, here are the PER ratings for Kings players on the active roster:

Martin: 21.35
Artest: 18.46
Williams: 16.21
Bibby: 15.86
Miller: 14.13
SAR: 13.53
Williamson: 13.14
Salmons: 12.76
Douby: 10.89
Thomas: 10.48
Price: 10.25
Garcia: 8.74
 

SLAB

Hall of Famer
#8
Well if an underperforming vets belong on the bench 3/5ths of our starting lineup should be benched.

Honestly, Justin should get some minutes, because he probably could do all Kenny could, but as of right now he is out of the equation leaving it at a SAR/Kenny battle.

SAR has done absolutly nothing for me, while Kenny at least can grab some rebounds when he wants to...Sadly, at this point thats really all we can ask of our power forwards.
 

Entity

Hall of Famer
#10
Totally agree on the Justin thing. If your PF is not going to be any kind of assett on offense and can't stop anybody on defense and all he can do is rebound pretty well. Why not go with a taller guy that can rebound, defend, and block shots better as well as being faster. He don't even have to shoot. Hell 0-0 is better than 0-5 anyday of the week.
 

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
#15
Coach's corner - I think the Muss coaching career peaked during the 2 games that he was suspended. His comeback ended in a win but it was the worst game that I have seen in a long time. He tried everything to lose the game including extensive minutes to KT and Salmons. Fortunately for him - Bulls played bad enough to even lose in Boston. It was also mentioned whow he likes Cisco bu he just can't find him minutes . That sounds like he is looking for weapons of mass destruction at least. The minutes for KT are always there. Why is it so hard to find minutes for someone playing well, but so easy to find minutes or even to start someone who sucks ? What is wrong with people ? Can we just have a decently competent coach if we can't have a decent team. Double whammy.
Another priceless assessment, piksi.

 
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#16
Another priceless assessment, piksi.

And so completely true!

Here are the efficiency ratings of our youngsters, other than Kevin Martin, as mentioned above (don't want people to have to scroll up...)

Justin Williams: 16.21
Quincy Douby: 10.89
Ronnie Price: 10.26
Francisco Garcia: 8.74


Total minutes played:

Justin Williams: 39
Quincy Douby: 196
Ronnie Price: 267
Francisco Garcia: 590

Almost creepy, isn't it? Do stats never lie, Muss?
 
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#17
Well if an underperforming vets belong on the bench 3/5ths of our starting lineup should be benched.

Honestly, Justin should get some minutes, because he probably could do all Kenny could, but as of right now he is out of the equation leaving it at a SAR/Kenny battle.

SAR has done absolutly nothing for me, while Kenny at least can grab some rebounds when he wants to...Sadly, at this point thats really all we can ask of our power forwards.

I think Shareef is above average on offense, mediocre at best in every other area.

I'm with you on Justin as wel, why shouldn't this kid be getting 10 minutes a night until at least he shows he CAN'T play. I realize just 40 minutes of time isn't going to be an accurate depictor as to how productive he would/could be, but at this point, why not play him?
 
#18
ha i can totally watch this game.

and if i didn't have to be at work tomorrow at 6 am, i would have driven up to seattle to watch the game live :D

next year ;)
 
#21
I'm sure someone has mentioned this before. But does anyone find it weird that Kenny Thomas doesn't run... He sorta... Prances? He like runs on his tippy toes almost. It's kind of funky... Anyways Brad's out... Bring in J-Will!
 
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