[Game] Kings v. Clippers - Thursday, Nov. 29 - 7:30 PT (TNT coverage)

Bagley not returning was basically the death knell for any comeback, although I don't think we would have pulled it off regardless. We made some runs but Clips always put a stop to the bleeding, either with some big shots/plays or due to mistakes on our part. I don't really care about Willie's numbers tonight, I'm generally not very critical of him but he got absolutely abused by both Gortat and Harrell tonight whenever matched up with them. Just not good enough. As soon as Bagley wasn't returning, I knew it was over. It didn't help that Hield absolutely sucked tonight. Not too worried about him, everyone has bad games, just hurt that it had to come tonight as that was a winnable game.

On the bright side, Marvin is continuing to get better. And he's making it more attractive to flip WCS for a SF before the deadline.
 
I'm not the one claiming that a well-known truth is bogus and BS. You said it, not me.

You're wrong so I suggested doing some research so you'd discover it for yourself. You don't have to go back that far in history. But you certainly have to look at a much larger sample size than one freaking game and not cherry pick the best teams in the league.

On average, teams playing on back-to-backs don't perform as well (or as consistently) as with a day or two of rest. Claiming that notion is BS because the Clippers managed to win one tonight is silly.

You'll also discover that young teams like our KINGS fare even worse on back-to-backs than veteran teams such as the San Antonio squads of the past decade.
As I said: "Biggest BS in NBA is constant back-to-back WEAK excuse." And I stand by it. It's a weak excuse, even more so tonight, completely irrelevant. And of course, Kings would never want to moan about something irrelevant being very well rested, not on a back-to-back. It was their opponent who played last night in Phoenix, had back-to-back excuse if they somehow needed one - but obviously they didn't need to play the back-to-back loser card.
 
What's a poor excuse? The KINGS didn't play a back-to-back tonight, so I made no excuse. I simply said they haven't been playing well lately and the Clips have. Peaks and valleys happen over 82 games.

But speaking on the topic, the KINGS aren't usually good on back-to-backs. That's not an excuse, it's the truth. For the most part, sub .500 teams generally struggle when playing back-to-back. Add 'young team' to the mix and it's even worse. While teams over .500 fare much better, there still is a noticeable dip in their performance and winning percentage. This isn't new information. It has been and continues to be the norm. It's one of the reasons the NBA has tried to cut down on the number of B2B's.

Give me a break with the 'poor excuse' crap.



Never claimed they were a good/top team.



I said the same thing.



It's not an excuse. It's reality. I really don't understand how you and the other guy are contesting something that is universally well-known.

Yes, good teams win on B2B's more than bad teams. That's not rocket science. Good teams also win more home and road games. (DUH!) But most every team sees a decline in play and win % in B2B situations when you average it out.

A juggernaut like the Warriors probably have excellent B2B numbers since they don't lose all that often regardless of where or when the game is played. But w/o looking it up, I'll bet if you look at their win% on B2B's over the past 4-5 years, it's lower than when they have rest. That's the point. Surely elite teams handle it better than mid-tier or sub .500 teams. I don't believe anybody would argue that point.

It's quite humorous to me that we're going down this rabbit hole simply because one dude declared B2B situations bogus because the Clippers beat the KINGS tonight.

Good. Great. Wonderful. Grand.
i didnt mean you made a poor excuse. i mean losing because it's a b2b is a poor excuse for a loss in my opinion. teams that arent good lose, teams that are good win. in my example (tho its a small sample size) all the teams had winning percentages even on b2b. the warriors were in a slump during november and still won their 2 b2b games. im sure no one here wants to dig through all the stats but though i agree the win % might be less on the 2nd game of a back to back, it probably wont be as huge as one might think. a good team will win their games whether its a b2b or not and a bad team will lose. i will never assume we will win a game against a team cuz they are on a b2b no matter what the stats say
 
Certainly some questionable coaching decisions:

Extended minutes for Jackson and Williams
No minutes for Giles after a good start
Only 5 shots for Beli on a night he was hot.
Fox frozen on the bench

Williams should never have more minutes than Bjelica.
The Kings need to stagger minutes to allow Bjelica to start at PF and than get the all the back up SF minutes and play him with Marvin/Harry, I don't want to hear this crap he's to slow to play SF when last year he started as one and did well against starting SF's , the guy unlike Jackson or whoever other than Shumpert won't be bullied strength wise at the SF spot and will still space the floor while providing high IQ it's simply stupid imo not to play him @SF with Giles/Bagley/WCS manning the PF/C after the initial start.
 
This year reminds me somewhat of last year in the following way. We have to do something about the starters following behind 10 to 15 points and expect the the reserves to bring us back.

The last 10 games have been predictable for me and saw it last night again cold outside shooting from the same players and then trying to dig out of a hole the rest of the game. And that weak interior defense is not going to help win many games.

Now do we continue this path and wait to make some changes after the season is shot? I see most teams playing their best players at the beginning of the game and they will still get their 30 minutes or so every game.

If the problem is we need to even the roster out to stay in games then its creeping towards the time to make some roster moves while a few players may have better value before their normal stats start to catch up to them.

Like it or not I just don’t think you bring in bench players or roll players and expect them to be consistent productive starters. We need to shake it up and get rid of 2 players right off the bat and that’s JJ and WCS.
One is useless and the other gets played by most teams because he can’t defend or hit a shot past 6 feet.

Sorry for the ranting but I am frustrated!
 
The Kings got beat by a team that is more aggressive than they are. I really like the Clippers. Their inside/out game is tough to defend. They run. We gave up 42 points in the first quarter. That is the unacceptable part. Every time the Kings clawed their way back into the game, the Clippers responded. Our defense underneath was weak. The Clippers are a good shooting team which opened up the middle. The Clippers are the type of team the Kings want to become. They are aggressive and hard-nosed. Harell and Gortat gave us a bad time. Willie had good numbers, but his defense was crummy. The Kings outrebounded the Clippers, but gave up too many layups.

You don't bench a guy like Buddy because he missed a few shots.
 
The Clippers play stellar defense. Bradley, Beverly and Shai were on the Kings Guards all night. The Clip Bigs owned the paint. Their size on the Wing with Harris and Gallinari is tough to overcome. Then Sweet Lou and crew shot 12 for 28 from the 3 point line for 42.8 %. 55.6 % overall.

Seem like that Jerry West guy is at it again as he assembled this squad.

The Kings will be alright. Just keep working and improving and run, run, RUN!
 
So this was the first Kings game I was actually able to record and watch since it was on TNT and I don't get the games locally. I had to force myself to go to sleep after the 3rd quarter so I wouldn't wake up tired for work. A few observations:

General: This team is SO FUN to watch. The young guys are amazing to watch with their incredible athleticism and alley-oop dunks. The fast pace of play and the level of energy is impressive. They just seem to have fun out there.

1) De'Aaron Fox is absolutely incredible. This kid is going to be a superstar. He is incredibly fast and fluid. He made some impressive shots - most notably an acrobatic layup that had super high arch to it, and an intentional bank shot from midrange. He is able to pull up and hit the jumper, which is great because his biggest concern coming out of Kentucky was his shooting ability. His passing is also fantastic, he clearly has great basketball IQ and tossed a few picture perfect lobs to WCS and Bagley for the easy finish.

A couple negatives I saw that he needs to work on...
- He's so fast he sometimes plays a little too out of control. I love his energy, but he needs just a tad more restraint.
- He bit on a few pump fakes which led to his many blowing by him for an easy bucket. This should improve in time with experience.

2) Willie Cauley-Stein is an interesting player to watch. It's clear that he has amazing athleticism and quickness for his size, but it's almost as if he doesn't know what to do with it. He's very capable of high flying dunks and catching lobs for the throw down, but his ability around the basket when he has the ball in his hands needs work. I noticed his layups lack finesse and he's erratic so he has trouble finishing around the basket. With that said, I'm happy to see he can hit the occasional jumper...I was not expecting that of him. In regards to his defense, he seems slow to react at times. There were instances where a guy would pull up for a jumper, and he was slow to contest. Fortunately, he has the length to be disruptive, but still...he needs to react quicker. Also, his man to man D in the post was lacking. He just couldn't stay in front of his guy at times. What's strange is that, coming out of college the scouting report on him was all about defense. Somehow that script seems to have flipped, which is something I did not expect to happen at all. Overall, his game just needs refinement in most aspects. He's still young enough that I'm hoping he can get it all together.

3) I'm loving what I saw from Bagley. He's got amazing hops and he possesses some solid moves in the post. There was one instance where he performed a nasty spin move on his man, popped up and hit the basket. (I believe it was against Gortat - could be wrong). He's still really young so his offensive repertoire should expand even more. His rebounding is also really good - late in the game there was a shot that bounced pretty far off the basket and he fought hard for the board, beating out two other guys to pull it down. I like his hustle. On defense, he was beat a few times but looked OK overall. I'm really excited to see what he can bring in the future.

4) Bogdanovic is a good playmaker and shooter, but he needs to reign it in on offense a bit. There were a couple times where he dribbled down the court and heaved up contested threes. It was a little too hero ball-esque for me. I can see why people are so excited about him however, there's definitely some potential there. He's a great piece to have off the bench and can score in bunches when he gets hot.

I could say a lot more, but frankly I need to get back to work.
 
Too inconsistent, and poor effort for being well rested. Another 120pt+ game by an opponent. Kings defense is $%^t....take some pride at home for Christ-Sake.
 

SLAB

Hall of Famer
I haven't had much of anything negatively to say about Joerger this season but what was the reasoning for Giles only playing a few minutes? He was awesome in the 5 minutes he played in the first half.
That was the most irritating thing of the entire night.
 
Clippers are a better team right now, no doubt. They play tough D, hit shots, and are 9/10 guys deep. Harrell is a force, Tobias/Gallo always kills us and I'd take any of their guards on our team in a heartbeat....wouldn't mind Gortat either... That being said, they shouldn't score like we let them. 130+ is ridiculous, no matter the foul calls, or the "pace", and it happens with almost everyone we play against. Something needs to change. Does not help that something is clearly up with Fox...he looks like he hasn't slept since season began
 
Kings lost last night because they played terrible defense especially on the interior. Guards/wings were constantly getting beat. WCS and Bagley offered almost zero resistance on the inside. The middle of the paint was often open like a runway.

It didn't help that the Clippers were shooting lights out from the outside either but you can withstand that a little more when you're not playing matador defense down the middle. One thing is for sure when you are getting killed on both the inside and the outside at the same time you are going to lose.

Does make you wonder if Kosta Koufos had played if the Kings only give up 115-120. He may be slow and sometimes cringe-worthy on offense fumbling passes down low but one thing Kosta does is clog up the lane. He also puts a body on his man and makes it tough to score inside. Harrell would not just run roughshod over Kosta.
 
Obviously the other teams have adjusted to the Kings playbook and are making it harder on us. The Kings themselves are not helping as you point out. Joerger's move.

I don't think Joerger should just pick and roll teams to death but he has to find a better blend of trying to add calls and sticking to what works. I don't think there should be more than 2 consecutive plays where they don't run a pnr. Their best motion comes from pick and roll too. Teams aren't afraid to ram 10 straight pick and rolls at the Kings. Do the same.
 
Kings lost last night because they played terrible defense especially on the interior. Guards/wings were constantly getting beat. WCS and Bagley offered almost zero resistance on the inside. The middle of the paint was often open like a runway.

It didn't help that the Clippers were shooting lights out from the outside either but you can withstand that a little more when you're not playing matador defense down the middle. One thing is for sure when you are getting killed on both the inside and the outside at the same time you are going to lose.

Does make you wonder if Kosta Koufos had played if the Kings only give up 115-120. He may be slow and sometimes cringe-worthy on offense fumbling passes down low but one thing Kosta does is clog up the lane. He also puts a body on his man and makes it tough to score inside. Harrell would not just run roughshod over Kosta.
This absolutely has to be addressed in the offseason. Opposing teams can just walk into the paint whenever they want against us. If we can't land a free agent that can address this we should absolutely trade into the first round and try and get Charles Bassey.
 
So this was the first Kings game I was actually able to record and watch since it was on TNT and I don't get the games locally. I had to force myself to go to sleep after the 3rd quarter so I wouldn't wake up tired for work. A few observations:

General: This team is SO FUN to watch. The young guys are amazing to watch with their incredible athleticism and alley-oop dunks. The fast pace of play and the level of energy is impressive. They just seem to have fun out there.

1) De'Aaron Fox is absolutely incredible. This kid is going to be a superstar. He is incredibly fast and fluid. He made some impressive shots - most notably an acrobatic layup that had super high arch to it, and an intentional bank shot from midrange. He is able to pull up and hit the jumper, which is great because his biggest concern coming out of Kentucky was his shooting ability. His passing is also fantastic, he clearly has great basketball IQ and tossed a few picture perfect lobs to WCS and Bagley for the easy finish.

A couple negatives I saw that he needs to work on...
- He's so fast he sometimes plays a little too out of control. I love his energy, but he needs just a tad more restraint.
- He bit on a few pump fakes which led to his many blowing by him for an easy bucket. This should improve in time with experience.

2) Willie Cauley-Stein is an interesting player to watch. It's clear that he has amazing athleticism and quickness for his size, but it's almost as if he doesn't know what to do with it. He's very capable of high flying dunks and catching lobs for the throw down, but his ability around the basket when he has the ball in his hands needs work. I noticed his layups lack finesse and he's erratic so he has trouble finishing around the basket. With that said, I'm happy to see he can hit the occasional jumper...I was not expecting that of him. In regards to his defense, he seems slow to react at times. There were instances where a guy would pull up for a jumper, and he was slow to contest. Fortunately, he has the length to be disruptive, but still...he needs to react quicker. Also, his man to man D in the post was lacking. He just couldn't stay in front of his guy at times. What's strange is that, coming out of college the scouting report on him was all about defense. Somehow that script seems to have flipped, which is something I did not expect to happen at all. Overall, his game just needs refinement in most aspects. He's still young enough that I'm hoping he can get it all together.

3) I'm loving what I saw from Bagley. He's got amazing hops and he possesses some solid moves in the post. There was one instance where he performed a nasty spin move on his man, popped up and hit the basket. (I believe it was against Gortat - could be wrong). He's still really young so his offensive repertoire should expand even more. His rebounding is also really good - late in the game there was a shot that bounced pretty far off the basket and he fought hard for the board, beating out two other guys to pull it down. I like his hustle. On defense, he was beat a few times but looked OK overall. I'm really excited to see what he can bring in the future.

4) Bogdanovic is a good playmaker and shooter, but he needs to reign it in on offense a bit. There were a couple times where he dribbled down the court and heaved up contested threes. It was a little too hero ball-esque for me. I can see why people are so excited about him however, there's definitely some potential there. He's a great piece to have off the bench and can score in bunches when he gets hot.

I could say a lot more, but frankly I need to get back to work.
Bogdan didn’t shoot enough last year. I think he’s struggling to find that right balance.
 
The Kings need to stagger minutes to allow Bjelica to start at PF and than get the all the back up SF minutes and play him with Marvin/Harry, I don't want to hear this crap he's to slow to play SF when last year he started as one and did well against starting SF's , the guy unlike Jackson or whoever other than Shumpert won't be bullied strength wise at the SF spot and will still space the floor while providing high IQ it's simply stupid imo not to play him @SF with Giles/Bagley/WCS manning the PF/C after the initial start.
Harder for him to defend small forward with the rules change. He gets called for impeding a lot.