[Game] Kings @ Suns 2/14/2023 6pm Pacific 9pm Eastern

[SLAB]

Sir and thats why this 3rd place talk scares me.

Third place is long gone. Pacific division is gone. We play to stay above the play-in.

 

[Kingz19]

The Kings bench sucks.

Davion and Metu were terrible. Lyles was 1-7 and missed two easy lay ups when the Kings were making a move. TD, who to that point was having the only passable game off the bench, then went into hero ball mode and turned it over on three straight possessions. That was the last the Kings really threatened. Just trading baskets after that.

That pretty much sums up this game. We need all the starters to be cooking when the bench is that bad.

The starters weren’t all cooking. Barnes was weak. Keegan only 21 minutes and didn’t shoot well, though
I didn’t think Keegan was playing poorly though.

I especially liked 6 assists for Keegan. Attacking the mismatches. He’ll learn the right time to stop his dribble. Take a shot or pass it off. You see him getting better and better driving to the basket.

oh well, good position heading into the break. Kings didn’t play that well and could’ve won.

 

[NewArena]

Bench really **** the bed tonight

Missing Monk for sure

 

[Rob-The-Great]

We weren't overmatched. They just shot lights out and we failed to box out. Simple as that. We need HB do regain his form though.

Barnes aint comin back! Hes gone. He does this every time

 

[QWERTYLICIOUS]

Fully healthy Subs without KD are out of our league. It’s laughable with him.

I wouldn’t go that far

I mean...If a group of fully healthy SUBS are out of our league, then we better get working on figuring out our "group of fully healthy" STARTING FIVE...

Just sayin', @SLAB, just sayin', my friend...

 

[NewArena]

Suns played super hard because they took us seriously. Says a lot about where we are and how much better we've gotten, not much to be down about IMO.

 

[Rob-The-Great]

Third place is long gone. Pacific division is gone. We play to stay above the play-in.

I wouldn't say all that sir. Relax

 

[SacTownKid]

Who we can get from a buyout list? Would like a backup PG because Davion is not having a great time running the team, shooting the ball. Basically everything we need from him.

There's been a guy out there all year that can run Browns offense in his sleep. Demarcus something.

 

[KF8]

Dude’s terrible. Lol

We could have drafted sengun instead

 

[The_Jamal]

Suns are the best team in the league now most likely..

Those banking on Ayton fumbling their chances at the title are probably the same who thought Wiggins would jinx the Warriors.

They have both a devastating attack from 2 n 3 pt range and Aytons shooting means they can move ya all over the court as they please.

Yeah I kind of forgot they collected a bunch of tough, gritty, no offense wings like Okogie, Craig and Wainwright. Lee has been one of the best shooters in the league and Warren gives them another scoring punch. Once Cam Payne gets back along with KD, they have every facet of team construction covered.

Assuming health, I don't think anyone beats them in a 7-game playoff series. Too much elite offensive firepower and a sneaky amount of good defensive role players still left over.

 

[Tetsujin]

We can’t be too mad. I think the suns may be the best in the west when Booker is back to 100% and KD is fully implemented.

I think it's going to take a little more time for the Suns to integrate KD into their system than people think. Sure, KD has experience playing with stars or whatever but Paul and Booker are far more ball-dominant than Steph or Klay or even Kyrie ever were and it's been a good five plus years since he played with Russ. Plus, he's coming back from a fairly significant injury and him playing heavily in the midrange is probably going to make their spacing worse than it was tonight where the Suns were mostly playing five out with Ayton setting picks at the top of the key.

 

[The_Jamal]

TD was still a plus 5. It was combined stretches of that and others. The Lyles/Metu combo went down quick and buried it too. Davion being a literal nothing lately is also hurting big time. He's hit the year 2 wall for sure.

Eh TD +5 is super mis-leading. That 3rd quarter stretch shifted this game to PHX and they never let up. Dude just needs to find some sort of a middle-ground with his play. Way too streaky.

 

[KF8]

Well if we're going to lose to any of the top 6 seed teams it might as well be Phoenix. They will probably overtake not only the 3rd seed but possibly the 2nd.

 

[LoungeLizard]

We can’t be too mad. I think the suns may be the best in the west when Booker is back to 100% and KD is fully implemented.

I feel you. CP3 just frustrates me to no end. He got Ayton so many easy buckets and we were just helpless.

 

[kingdivac]

Well, even as losses go that wasn't fun to watch.

There have been much worse losses than tonight. The first Mavs game comes to mind most recently.

 

[SacTownKid]

Barnes aint comin back! Hes gone. He does this every time

Barnes as a 4th guy is awesome. Doesn't look to score enough to be the 2nd or 3rd option. Ideally you keep him, and make another ground shaking move. Playoffs looming. 1-2 against the new bar in the last 3 games.

 

[Rob-The-Great]

I think it's going to take a little more time for the Suns to integrate KD into their system than people think. Sure, KD has experience playing with stars or whatever but Paul and Booker are far more ball-dominant than Steph or Klay or even Kyrie ever were and it's been a good five plus years since he played with Russ. Plus, he's coming back from a fairly significant injury and him playing heavily in the midrange is probably going to make their spacing worse than it was tonight where the Suns were mostly playing five out with Ayton setting picks at the top of the key.

Yea sir thats where we disagree. I think out of all the superstars Durant can fit in the best with any team. Hes the least ball dominant

 

[QWERTYLICIOUS]

Third place is long gone. Pacific division is gone. We play to stay above the play-in.

Gotta have faith, my friend. Especially this season...

 

[The_Jamal]

The Kings bench sucks.

Davion and Metu were terrible. Lyles was 1-7 and missed two easy lay ups when the Kings were making a move. TD, who to that point was having the only passable game off the bench, then went into hero ball mode and turned it over on three straight possessions. That was the last the Kings really threatened. Just trading baskets after that.

That pretty much sums up this game. We need all the starters to be cooking when the bench is that bad.

The starters weren’t all cooking. Barnes was weak. Keegan only 21 minutes and didn’t shoot well, though
I didn’t think Keegan was playing poorly though.

I especially liked 6 assists for Keegan. Attacking the mismatches. He’ll learn the right time to stop his dribble. Take a shot or pass it off. You see him getting better and better driving to the basket.

oh well, good position heading into the break. Kings didn’t play that well and could’ve won.

Yeah at the end of the day, absolutely no one expected the Kings to be the 3 seed heading into the all-star break/7 games over .500 and hold it for over a month as we've done thus far. We're starting to get very nit-picky in terms of our play, but the reality is this squad is so far ahead of anything we've seen in the last 18 years, it's not even funny.

The goal remains to avoid the play-in and get a 7-game playoff series. That would be an incredibly successful season and probably near the ceiling of our expectations. Kings control their destiny to do so, which is all we can ask.

 

[SacTownKid]

Eh TD +5 is super mis-leading. That 3rd quarter stretch shifted this game to PHX and they never let up. Dude just needs to find some sort of a middle-ground with his play. Way too streaky.

What was the other option though? He's probably the only guy that can actually go out and make a play on the ball outside of Fox. Barnes can, but Barnes won't get his front row seat to the buffet if he's not hungry. It is what it is for the rest of this season at least.

 

[Tetsujin]

Yea sir thats where we disagree. I think out of all the superstars Durant can fit in the best with any team. Hes the least ball dominant

He's tenth in the league in USG%. That's pretty damn ball dominant.

 

[Rob-The-Great]

Barnes as a 4th guy is awesome. Doesn't look to score enough to be the 2nd or 3rd option. Ideally you keep him, and make another ground shaking move. Playoffs looming. 1-2 against the new bar in the last 3 games.

Barnes is that girlfriend you wasnt expecting. Like you never wanted to.date her, but she was all over you. Then she starts doing all these nice things so you give her a shot, then as soon as you do she plays hard to get.

 

[The_Jamal]

What was the other option though? He's probably the only guy that can actually go out and make a play on the ball outside of Fox. Barnes can, but Barnes won't get his front row seat to the buffet if he's not hungry. It is what it is for the rest of this season at least.

That's like asking us why did we drive into the tornado when we could have driven into the ocean? Neither is particularly a good option.

The answer is Sabonis needs to be more aggressive and like Fox, understand when he needs to take the scoring load. Too damn unselfish for his own good.

 

[SacTownKid]

I think it's going to take a little more time for the Suns to integrate KD into their system than people think. Sure, KD has experience playing with stars or whatever but Paul and Booker are far more ball-dominant than Steph or Klay or even Kyrie ever were and it's been a good five plus years since he played with Russ. Plus, he's coming back from a fairly significant injury and him playing heavily in the midrange is probably going to make their spacing worse than it was tonight where the Suns were mostly playing five out with Ayton setting picks at the top of the key.

We'll see but the reason I'd be concerned is that KD pretty much just feasts on the pick and roll and that's all they run anyway. They have a PG known for being glue and Booker. They can just run a take your turn offense at this point.

 

[KF8]

Gotta have faith, my friend. Especially this season...

I don't know but I kind of agree with SLAB here. The Suns are just too good with durant and it's hard to see them not overtaking the third seed. Still our goal is to be at minimum no lower than 6th seed which is still an amazing achievement.

 

[Rob-The-Great]

He's tenth in the league in USG%. That's pretty damn ball dominant.

Not for a superstar

 

[NewArena]

Suns won’t be some huge power for many years. Ayton is just OK without CP3

 

[QWERTYLICIOUS]

Yea sir thats where we disagree. I think out of all the superstars Durant can fit in the best with any team. Hes the least ball dominant

It's quite obvious, by your comment, that you're watching something COMPLETELY different than most NBA fans. Especially if you're going to make that claim...

 

[SLAB]

I wouldn't say all that sir. Relax

You really think the Suns don’t catch us? It’s a forgone conclusion. They’re a juggernaut. Just two games back. Playing out of their mind… and KD hasn’t even joined the fray.

 

[SacTownKid]

That's like asking us why did we drive into the tornado when we could have driven into the ocean? Neither is particularly a good option.

The answer is Sabonis needs to be more aggressive and like Fox, understand when he needs to take the scoring load. Too damn unselfish for his own good.

Sabonis was more aggressive. But it's the same with Sabonis, is it going to happen? I mean, this is basically the teams PG who in his career is going to average 10-12 shots per game. We've been over this a million times. Now it's starting to show more and more and will likely continue to do so. Playoff ball isn't everybody gets their turn. It's, we're going to make your stars beat us, whether that's making plays for others or scoring. This is why Monte has to be aggressive to find that next option.