[Game] Kings @ Spurs 1/15/2023 4pm Pacific 7pm Eastern

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When it comes to playing defense, the Kings are victims of their collective stellar offense. I can only imagine being in the huddle and Coach Brown preaching defense. The players probable reaction is"why bother playing defense when we know we can outscore them? Their offense is that good.
True, just don't want certain habits to settle in when we take on the better teams that we can beat, simply with more effort. They've shown flashes on defense so we know they can do it when they buckle down
 
These last 4 games were a huge test. An incredibly easy stretch that can put the team in a cherry position for the 2nd half of the season. Which is also a stretch where you *need* to take care of business, because failing to put these games away against the bad teams puts you in a spot to spiral out of the picture when the good teams come calling

and we did had had to be done and finished 4-0 winning by an average margin of 20.75 points. Sitting on first round home court today and - far more importantly - we’re 3 games ahead of the 7th seed TWolves for a clean shot at the playoffs avoiding a play-in game

also currently 1st in the league in scoring which is pretty cool too!
 
These last 4 games were a huge test. An incredibly easy stretch that can put the team in a cherry position for the 2nd half of the season. Which is also a stretch where you *need* to take care of business, because fWe'ailing to put these games away against the bad teams puts you in a spot to spiral out of the picture when the good teams come calling

and we did had had to be done and finished 4-0 winning by an average margin of 20.75 points. Sitting on first round home court today and - far more importantly - we’re 3 games ahead of the 7th seed TWolves for a clean shot at the playoffs avoiding a play-in game

also currently 1st in the league in scoring which is pretty cool too!
It's weird to care about the standings again, but you really do see how your whole season can be dictated by making sure you take care of business vs the bad teams and do your best to split games vs the good ones. Let's say the Kings crumbled and went 1-3 on this stretch; we'd be a 0.5 game up on Warriors and Blazers for 9th in the conference and only a game up on the Jazz, Suns and Thunder who are in 10th-12th. Instead, we're building a bit of breathing room; 3.5 games ahead of that cluster, 1.5 game on the Mavs, 2.5 games on the Wolves.

No matter where we end up, I'm pretty sure we'll be able to point to this stretch and say it mattered a ton to the standings at the end of the year. Amazing progress.
 
It's weird to care about the standings again, but you really do see how your whole season can be dictated by making sure you take care of business vs the bad teams and do your best to split games vs the good ones. Let's say the Kings crumbled and went 1-3 on this stretch; we'd be a 0.5 game up on Warriors and Blazers for 9th in the conference and only a game up on the Jazz, Suns and Thunder who are in 10th-12th. Instead, we're building a bit of breathing room; 3.5 games ahead of that cluster, 1.5 game on the Mavs, 2.5 games on the Wolves.

No matter where we end up, I'm pretty sure we'll be able to point to this stretch and say it mattered a ton to the standings at the end of the year. Amazing progress.
That Charlotte loss still haunts me...Every game will likely matter a ton at the end for Kings
 
It's weird to care about the standings again, but you really do see how your whole season can be dictated by making sure you take care of business vs the bad teams and do your best to split games vs the good ones. Let's say the Kings crumbled and went 1-3 on this stretch; we'd be a 0.5 game up on Warriors and Blazers for 9th in the conference and only a game up on the Jazz, Suns and Thunder who are in 10th-12th. Instead, we're building a bit of breathing room; 3.5 games ahead of that cluster, 1.5 game on the Mavs, 2.5 games on the Wolves.

No matter where we end up, I'm pretty sure we'll be able to point to this stretch and say it mattered a ton to the standings at the end of the year. Amazing progress.
We did care about the standings earlier too: for draft position :)
 
When it comes to playing defense, the Kings are victims of their collective stellar offense. I can only imagine being in the huddle and Coach Brown preaching defense. The players probable reaction is"why bother playing defense when we know we can outscore them? Their offense is that good.
There are 5 pages of every single Kings game thread this year bitching about their inability to play defense. And 60% of them end up with a positive outcome. That SacKings PTSD
 
Yeah Kings are just good. The defense still needs a ton of work, but when you're a top 3 offense in the NBA, you're going to be a 45+ win team.

Probably the only hurdle left to really clear is how they'd respond if Domas, Fox or Barnes missed for 2+ weeks. The Kings have largely been pretty lucky with injuries so far this year and outside of a couple few games stretches for various guys, they haven't had a key core guy go down for an extended period of time.
 
It's weird to care about the standings again, but you really do see how your whole season can be dictated by making sure you take care of business vs the bad teams and do your best to split games vs the good ones. Let's say the Kings crumbled and went 1-3 on this stretch; we'd be a 0.5 game up on Warriors and Blazers for 9th in the conference and only a game up on the Jazz, Suns and Thunder who are in 10th-12th. Instead, we're building a bit of breathing room; 3.5 games ahead of that cluster, 1.5 game on the Mavs, 2.5 games on the Wolves.

No matter where we end up, I'm pretty sure we'll be able to point to this stretch and say it mattered a ton to the standings at the end of the year. Amazing progress.
Ar the end of the day they could have gone full on Denver #1/2, current Sac Kings #4, or regressed to the mean expected NBA wide at fighting for 8/9. To be where we are shows our current level as a team.

Don't sleep.
 
Probably the only hurdle left to really clear is how they'd respond if Domas, Fox or Barnes missed for 2+ weeks. The Kings have largely been pretty lucky with injuries so far this year and outside of a couple few games stretches for various guys, they haven't had a key core guy go down for an extended period of time.
Considering their history with injuries, it's about time they had some good fortune go their way.

Let's hope that good fortune continues.....
 
They took care of some business they needed to. Now they need to beat the Lakers on the road to insure they have the season series. We have to play better defense to beat the top teams.
 
Spurs ended the game at 52%. Which sounds awful from a Kings perspective until you remember that they were shooting 69% at halftime.
Yeah I think there was about a 10 minute period in the 2nd quarter where the Spurs only missed one shot.

The Kings can out score the bottom dweller teams but they've gotta get back to play some defense quickly.
 

Kingster

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When it comes to playing defense, the Kings are victims of their collective stellar offense. I can only imagine being in the huddle and Coach Brown preaching defense. The players probable reaction is"why bother playing defense when we know we can outscore them? Their offense is that good.
It's good enough for Houston, Orlando and San Antonio. Not so much for the better teams. One would hope that they would work on their defensive habits on the bad teams so they would be ready for the good ones, but I this SA game was very poor defensively.
 
Well, hopefully the Sixers and Lakers have a triple overtime game
I could’ve sworn I kept hearing the Kings and Lakers were playing tonight. I thought they even mentioned it on the broadcast. That’s why I was hoping for a triple overtime game between LA-Philly. Lakers are playing Houston tonight. Kings will play them on their 3rd game and 4th night. That usually doesn’t mean anything with our D but good Kings will be rested.
 
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