[Game] Kings v. Celtics in Mexico City 12/03/15 7pm PT/ 10pm ET

[PurpleHaze]

George Karl: "We were never at their level, Boston punched us pretty hard from the get go and we were never able to recover." "Boston played great, we didn't."

 

[ShastaKingsFan]

Certainly we made this bed (depending of course on whether we should be extended to include front office personnel who are now working for other teams) but about Karl having the ear of our two main guys... I'll respectfully disagree on that one. From what I've read there's some kind of a dialog going on there but I'm not sure how two-sided it is.

Also, just because there's "dialog" and meetings going on,...by no means does that mean that its motivating in the needed positive way

 

[ShastaKingsFan]

George Karl: "We were never at their level, Boston punched us pretty hard from the get go and we were never able to recover." "Boston played great, we didn't."

That's what I keep hearing. "we got punched" "they punched us" etc etc. The mindset and reaction is not working

 

[Bricklayer]

Certainly we made this bed (depending of course on whether we should be extended to include front office personnel who are now working for other teams) but about Karl having the ear of our two main guys... I'll respectfully disagree on that one. From what I've read there's some kind of a dialog going on there but I'm not sure how two-sided it is.

I don't think you have been reading the same articles I have. Its been there for while, between the lines, recently its gotten more explicit. So...we settle on in I guess. You can go a long way on buy in from your best players. Even further if maybe you are listening back the other way.

 

[PurpleHaze]

That's what I keep hearing. "we got punched" "they punched us" etc etc. The mindset and reaction is not working

I agree, he actually used word punched or punch several times. Maybe trying to give hint to his team that they are not physically or mentally tough enough - or at least not consistently the aggressive tougher team.

 

[Blob]

I know Karl fiercely rejects the notion that he just does not have the energy to coach anymore but listening to his postgame with him breathing extremely hard, like out of breath, for a man just sitting there got my attention. Then on top of that he shows no energy on the sideline anymore either. A few more performances like this and I really think canning him is on the table, if boogie and rondo are on board eff whatever the media reaction will be and just let the man go.

How can you get the attention of your entire team in a huddle or locker room when your voice does not project past 2 feet? It's a legitimate issue.

 

[ShastaKingsFan]

I agree, he actually used word punched or punch several times. Maybe trying to give hint to his team that they are not physically or mentally tough enough - or at least not consistently the aggressive tougher team.

Yeah, lets address why we keep starting out in a position to get "punched" first, in most games. A lack of urgency would be a cause

 

[hrdboild]

That's what I keep hearing. "we got punched" "they punched us" etc etc. The mindset and reaction is not working

The problem for us is often that when we do "punch back" the increased aggression generally results in players fouling out or (in some cases) even being ejected from the game. The one thing that I've seen pretty consistently for us that has nothing to do with George Karl is that we respond very very poorly to the officiating. If it's fair and unbiased, no problem. If it feels one-sided we just tear ourselves apart. And in that first quarter Boston did come out with more energy but every time we attempted to respond we'd get clobbered. Which leads you to think the refs are going to allow physical play but then our entire frontline is quickly in foul trouble.

The two offensive foul calls against us in the second quarter of this game were as bad as any I've seen. Rudy is dribbling up the court and I think the defender was Jae Crowder, he simply slipped and fell in front of Rudy and we get called for the foul. Two plays later Ben dribbles into traffic, there's a little bit of contact (the kind of contact that is usually a no-call but sends James Harden to the line 10+ times per game) and somehow Ben is called for the offensive foul. Those are the kinds of fouls which drive you crazy because there's nothing you can do to prevent it. But still, they happened. We have to be strong enough to take those situations and play even harder. Don't let any external factor throw you off your game. Once the refs see you losing your composure, they're not suddenly going to reverse course and start giving you the benefit of the doubt. It just starts an avalanche.

 

[hrdboild]

I don't think you have been reading the same articles I have. Its been there for while, between the lines, recently its gotten more explicit. So...we settle on in I guess. You can go a long way on buy in from your best players. Even further if maybe you are listening back the other way.

I'm pretty sure we're both reading the same articles, but that doesn't mean we're both seeing the same thing between the lines. That's why I said that I respectfully disagree. Personally, I think Cousins and Rondo are more motivated to win than 99% of the players or coaches in the league and they will do anything to make that happen, even sit in a room and talk for two hours with a somnambulant coach who's coasting on his past reputation. So long as Vlade sends the message that Karl is here to stay they're going to try and make it work because the alternative is admitting defeat and that's not an option. And Coach Karl does have basketball knowledge that is valuable to them. The way he's managing the rotations though and his defensive game plan, these are team crippling issues and while there may be friendly back and forth right now, if we don't see any tangible results soon that friendly back and forth is going to get ugly again. If it's infuriating to us as fans just watching these games, imagine how infuriating it is for ultra-competitive athletes who's sense of self is tied into their ability to win basketball games? Ultimatums and trade demands are coming. The time to be proactive is now. I haven't entirely given up on George Karl yet, but the way he's coaching right now he deserves to be fired.

 

[lawlman91]

To me, being respectable is more important than winning or losing. I saw a little bit of energy come out of the players in the late 3rd or the 4th, but that was about it. The main rotation generally sulked after Boston gained a huge lead, and the loss of confidence from previous missed shots created even more missed shots. These guys need to have more faith in the hours of practice that they put into the gym, and start running what caters to our apparent strengths, which is the post-up, whether or not it works. Or run whatever the team has practiced over and over. More importantly, the team needs to practice defense, a lot. It's embarrassing to have a defense so full of holes as the Kings defense is. The constant switching is killing us, especially with our lack of size. We're getting beat with size and perimeter shooting from taller shooters. We need the team to practice defense. Karl can make all of the strategic rotations he wants but if the players don't practice defense, teams will keep scoring 100+ on the Kings every single night. It doesn't look like they practice defense enough, or even recognize that some of the guys they are doubling in the post might not even be good with a hook shot or a turnaround jump shot.

 

[mac]

Well, when the players keep having to call meetings and ask the coach to, well, coach them...... there might be an issue. I think the schemes are a large part of the problem, what IS the scheme??? Does anyone know? You can't call him 'our beloved Cousins' when all you do is ***** about him and his passion for the game, then turn around and ***** about him not caring. It's hypocritical.

Please point out where I said anything about his passion for the game and then talked about him not caring. The point about Cousins' performance can be attributed to effort or simply bad play. I did not say which it was. My point was that Cousins completely sucked out there, shooting terribly on offense and on defense every single player was getting burned because we weren't even close to guarding a shot. That doesn't happen every game, that's not a coaching thing. But of course, as typical on this board, say something bad about Cousins and defend Karl and it's called being hypocritical. I intentionally said "Our beloved Cousins" for the very reason that you just demonstrated. One simply isn't allowed to call out his bad play on this board without receiving criticism. No, whenever he plays well it's to his credit but when he plays badly it's someone else's fault.

 

[206Fan]

Cousins played like crap tonight. He was probably the main reason why we lost.(He's also the main reason why we've even won any games this season)

Celtics don't have a great roster, but they have chemistry. I still think we need to decrease Cousins' usage in order to get things really rolling.

 

[Bricklayer]

Cousins played like crap tonight. He was probably the main reason why we lost.(He's also the main reason why we've even won any games this season)

Celtics don't have a great roster, but they have chemistry. I still think we need to decrease Cousins' usage in order to get things really rolling.

Your're being silly.

The more Cousins we have, the better we've done.

Tonight we just didn't have any Cousins. At least no version we've had for years. Might as well have been another DNP. Doesn't work at all for us without him being a full fledged Top 5 player.

 

[DeMoN]

Give credit to Boston's interior defense. Purely a matchup counter for us. Didn't help that everyone in the stands was wearing Boston gear. Good thing we only have to play this team one more time. Clearly gave Cousins trouble on great defense. But i also feel Cousin didn't get the calls he's used to.

 

[KingsFanGER]

Outcoached, outplayed, outworked and outhustled. Watching this game was outright embarassing.
We tried to play Cuz on the perimeter. Didn't work.
We tried to forcefeed him inside. Didn't work.
And everytime we missed or turned it over the Celtics got an easy look from 3 in transition.
Bad offense leading to bad defense.
Not that our defense in the halfcourt was any better. Giving Kelly open 3's all night. Never had an idea, how to stop the ball movement and volume 3point shooting from the Celtics.
Celtics act as a team. Celtics play defense.
We don't.

 

[CelticsFan]

I'm watching the Celtics feed, trust me, it dont get any better lol

Scal is doing the broadcast with Gorman. Scal is great and will probably be doing national games sooner then later.

You start producing red blood cells as soon as you get to higher elevation. But they probably only acclimated around 1500 ft so far and would need a few more days to ready for a game. In fact when I go to high elevation, the first thing I notice is that I don't sleep as well. Would have been better to let them sleep well at a lower elevation somewhere and then fly in for the game. Whoever thought of putting this in the middle of the season really wasn't thinking.

Stop enabling and making excuses for this team, hold them accountable. Kings actually traveled to Mexico City before the Celtics so if you bring up elevation then Kings had more time to adjust to it.

Always an excuse for these guys, they have no heart

 

[VF21]

Stop enabling and making excuses for this team, hold them accountable. Kings actually traveled to Mexico City before the Celtics so if you bring up elevation then Kings had more time to adjust to it.

Always an excuse for these guys, they have no heart

If you actually look up information on playing at altitude, you'll find out you're wrong. Period.

Explaining part of what may have happened last night is not making excuses. It's discussing why something may or may not have happened. And, in this case, altitude sickness is REAL. I can speak from personal experience, as have a number of others in various threads.

WE ARE KINGS FANS. We are holding our team responsible, but we are also looking into reasons for unusual behavior.