[Game] Kings v. Nets 11/13/13

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
#1
KingsFans.com Gameday 2013-2014 Edition
Game 7
Sacramento Kings v. Brooklyn Nets

By Stephen Tetsu, Kingsfans.com Resident Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Another loss but this one brings with it hope. Coach Malone is going to replace the quitters in the rotation with fighters. Whee.

By the way, Wiggins and Parker are impressive.

Stat Watch 2013
I’m just gonna post a link to an interesting post about our team and rebounding:http://kingsfans.com/threads/fun-with-the-new-stats-nba-com.54187/


Observations
  • Demarcus Cousins was clearly the best player on the court. Despite starting off slow, Boogie simply dominated the game in the fourth quarter as the team made the game interesting. Showcasing two new additions to his arsenal (the Duncan-esque bankshot and his absolutely killer half-hook), when he gets into a groove, Demarcus is the best offensive big man in the league by a large margin (excluding Kevin Love, who spends a lot of time out on the perimeter anyways).

  • More importantly, Demarcus was a leader out on the court, constantly cheering on teammates during deadballs, and more importantly communicating on the defensive end. If anyone still needs proof that he’s maturing, that’s all they need to know.

  • Jimmer Watch, Game 6: After languishing at the end of the bench to start off the season, Jimmer found his way onto the court against the Blazers purely because of how much MT sucked and had an adequate if not unspectacular outing, which on our team is probably MVP-worthy considering how bad some of our players have been. While his numbers aren’t great,

  • Copy and pasted from the last four -FIVE -SIX games: Patrick Patterson must really not want to start because he has done just about as much as the starting power forward of the team as I have, which is to say, absolutely nothing. We shall see whether or not that changes tonight.

  • From now on, Marcus Thornton shall be referred to as the Factory of Sadness. Seriously, watching him makes me want to cry tears of blood

  • For some reason, a few people have really latched onto the notion that Isaiah Thomas is playing comparable to players such as Damian Lillard and Kyrie Irving, citing his numbers extrapolated out over 36 minutes per game and their close proximity to those of the aforementioned players. What those people tend to forget is that (a) Isaiah is a half a foot shorter than those guys and (b) Isaiah can be pretty poopy at defense. Everyone loves a good underdog story but that doesn’t mean IT becoming a superstar is in the narrative.
The View From the Other Side
The Always Fantastic Blazer's Edge

Other Coverage

Tyreke Watch 2013
New feature here to keep track of one of our most contentious points of debate over the last four years. Even though he’s no longer with our team, Reke remains a key point in many arguments about the new regime and its vision for our beloved squad.

Listed as questionable due to, stop me if you’ve heard this one before, an ankle injury, Tyreke played significant minutes in New Orleans’ game against the Lakers and had one of his better performances as Pelican, posting 11 points, 4 rebounds, and 6 assists to one turnover in 30 minutes. However, his shot certainly still is not all that right as he went 4-13 from the field (0-1 from 3pt range) and 3-7 from the free throw line. Not quite the dominant game he used to pull off during his rookie year but certainly not terrible.

The Pelicans got blown out, by the way.


Awards Time
Tony Delk Memorial Award: Robin Lopez
The “bruiser” of the Lopez Twins, Robin hasn’t exactly been known for his offense throughout his career. This of course meant that he was going to put up a double-double against our feeble interior defense. Figures

Spencer Hawes “Big” Man of the Game: Lamarcus Aldridge
While undeniably talented, Lamarcus Aldridge is probably better classified as a giant small forward than a power forward/center. Mostly reliant on his outside game, Lamarcus is rather deficient when it comes to rebounding on most nights. That said, he's still considered an all-star, so what do I know?

Thomas Robinson of the Game: Thomas Robinson
Take a rookie Gerald Wallace and make him even stupider and you’d probably wind up with Thomas Robinson. While his athletic talent cannot be denied, the former Jayhawk displayed the lack of control and finesse that so frustrated Kings fans in his brief stay in Sacramento. Attempting random jumpers and generally flailing about the court like a beached whale, T-Rob pretty much was the same exact player that we remembered.

WTF Moment of the Game: Our starters are crap. Not surprising. But still. WTF

Tonight’s Game

Tonight’s opponent made among the biggest of splashes in the offseason by essentially trading for the Celtics core minus Rondo to add to their already aging lineup. Despite all the hype, the team only has one more victory than us on their record and absolutely no future to look forward to.

Once among the best players in the league, Deron Williams may be going down the Steve Francis/Stephon Marbury route of All-Star PG flameouts, essentially playing fourth fiddle on the team to Paul Pierce, Joe Johnson, and Brook Lopez. When your coach is probably a better PG than your former all-star, you might have a problem.

Were this three or four years ago, the Nets roster would be flat out awesome. But as this is now, the Nets are just a sad collection of over the hill players and two young-ish bigs who are afraid of rebounding. Kevin Garnett is now old enough for the Early Bird Special. Pierce is on the downward slope of his career but probably the best player out of all the old dudes on their roster. Joe Johnson was a ball dominant player which makes the fake the Nets even acquired him all the more puzzling. Oh yeah, and he’s old too. The sixth man is Jason Terry, who quite frankly has lost all of what made him such an explosive scorer off the bench. Other elderly folk on the Nets bench include Shaun Livingston, Andre Kirilenko, and Reggie Evans

The Brooklyn youth movement is spearheaded by Brook Lopez, the team’s leading scorer by a nice margin. While he seems to be afraid of rebounding, his block numbers are a good companion to his offensive game. Andre Blatche will back him up unless he does something stupid first. And their youngest player is one of the Plumlee brothers, born in 1990, so they’re only kind of young.

Matchups
Demarcus versus Brook: How many times will the announcers get their names mixed up?
Our starters not named Demarcus versus not sucking: There’s hope!.
Malone versus a nervous breakdown: If our effort is lackluster once again with this new line-up, things could get even uglier.
Kings fans versus the desire to tank: Parker and Wiggins make it hard to resist.
Empty seats versus Kings fans: Will Kings fans be able fill them in respectable numbers?

Predictions and Closure

I’m going to be a blind optimist and say the new lineups work. Kings 90- Nets 83

Go Kings.
 
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#2
Great writeup as always, Tetsujin.

No idea what happened with Deron Williams. I joked with some friends after he whined his way out of Utah that Deron was going to New Jersey but the Jazz were going to keep his game out of spite. I didn't expect it to come true.

I'm hoping to see a lineup of Vasquez/McLemore/Outlaw/Thompson/Cousins. I would put Mbah a Moute in for Outlaw to slow down Pierce, but I don't know if he is in game shape yet. I hope that Salmons and Thornton get DNP-CD's tonight and for the rest of the season.

Sadly, I am not as sanguine about the likely outcome of this game. I think the Nets are going to come in on a mission. The slow start would become embarassing if they lost to the Kings. I think the Nets win this one in a close game, 97-94.
 
K

KingMilz

Guest
#3
Nets have been awful this season so it should give us hope + AK47 I don't think is playing and they are a team we athleticlly could be able to out run, on talent alone we stand no chance but the fact they have been terrible and are old means we got a good shot.

Isaiah Thomas should be able to have a good game if you took every Nets player and combined there foot speed they probably still could not stay in front of him.

Hopefully we see the Captain Hook version of DMC again, rather than the Josh Smith version

Vasquez might be able to stay in front of someone

KG/Brook have not been that good on the boards so maybe we can win that as well

Imo this game is probs more winnable than the Atlanta one plus I doubt the Nets get up for a team like the Kings anyway.
 
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#5
I'd say the one thing the kings really need to be cautious about is Garnett bating Cousins into technical fouls. You know Garnett will do his damndest to throw Cousins off of his game.
 
#6
Great write up again Tetsujin, and while I know a good amount of your post is meant to be entertaining and not factually accurate....

"While undeniably talented, Lamarcus Aldridge is probably better classified as a giant small forward than a power forward/center. Mostly reliant on his outside game, Lamarcus wouldn’t grab a rebound if it came right no me."

Doesn't exactly describe a guy who got 14 rebounds, 2 more than Cousins... He's currently 26th in the league, behind Kenneth Faried, Shawn Marion and Roy Hibbert. Also somewhat ironic that the award's namesake is currently 6th in the league in rebounds per game.

Also, for accuracy's sake Kevin Love doesn't hang out at the 3 point line as much as he's made out to be. He has an inside game as well. I would also add Anthony Davis into the mix (but to a lesser extent) for most offensively skilled big.

But please, take no offense to my little points, because it's a great writeup as usual! I was just in a nit-picky mood :)
 

Kingster

Hall of Famer
#7
The Kings got the snot beat out of them on the boards against Portland. Let's see if they can manage to stay even in that regard against the Nets. (I think you could start Jimmer ahead of Salmons and he'd get more rebounds at the 3).

The only chance for the Kings is if the oldsters of the Nets take a nap or have nostalgic visions of what it was like to wear the Boston green. Maybe they will watch video games on the bench. (Oops, I forgot; Portland did that and it didn't go so well).

McLemore could start against Joe Johnson. I'll say a pre-game prayer for you, my son.

This might be one of the few games in which Vasquez can match up defensively against the opposing starting point guard, that is unless Deron Williams plays like he used to play.

This is definitely a game in which you want the Kings to run, and run, and run. But to run, you've got to play defense. And rebound. Hmmm.
 
#8
brooklyn has certainly disappointed so far this season. then again, i didn't think it was a very good idea to acquire an over-the-hill pierce-and-garnett in the first place. an 82-game season is one helluva grind, and by the time those two dinosaurs are able to give you the best of their veteran poise and experience in the playoffs, you could be a seven- or eight-seed that has to tangle with the likes of indiana or miami in the first round. beyond that, joe johnson's always been overrated, and you have to squint just to see the shadow of the player deron williams used to be. they're a mess, with little in the way of financial flexibility when it all inevitably collapses...

even if they eventually start to put it together, the nets are a very vulnerable team in the here-and-now, and the kings would be wise to bring the effort at home, after a few days' rest and reflection. in the wake of the shake-up that's been so heavily advertised, it could be a useful win for coach malone's credibility...
 

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
#9
Oh boy. I should probably write these things when I'm awake and alert rather than in the dead of night. Sorry for all the typos and stuff, guys and gals.
 
#12
Nets have not looked good up to this point and that's to be expected considering they did a roster overhaul. Chemistry will come for them as the season progresses but they are still a pretender in my opinion. Pierce and KG just look like they lost a step and they are relying on Brook to carry them through the season. Brook will dominate us and probably get Cousins into foul trouble so this could be another long night. I hope to see Ben starting tonight and just let the youngin play through his mistakes and learn along the way.
 

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#14
I'd say the one thing the kings really need to be cautious about is Garnett bating Cousins into technical fouls. You know Garnett will do his damndest to throw Cousins off of his game.
Garnett and Evans both. My largest concern in this game. Two of the dirtiest/smack talkingest guys in the game. Its so critical Cuz does not allow his calm to be damaged by them.
 
K

KingMilz

Guest
#15
Garnett and Evans both. My largest concern in this game. Two of the dirtiest/smack talkingest guys in the game. Its so critical Cuz does not allow his calm to be damaged by them.
Cousins easily took care of Evans last year, Reggie never really seems to bother him in anyway and in general from what I seen they seem to respect each other on the court, KG on the other hand could try do something.
 
#18
according to Aaron Bruski, the new starting lineup is
GV
Ben
Salmons
JT
DMC


honestly something i never even considered. i though Salmons was out for sure and i wasnt sure if PPat was out. all i care about is Ben starting, i want to see this guy flourish!
 
#19
One of the greatest mystery in Sacramento is exactly what Salmons has on his coaches. Maybe instead of caring about contributing to the Kings, he runs a high level private investigative agency and digs up horrible dirt on the staff.

At this point, I'm not sure how Coach can leave him in the starting lineup while making statements about effort and effectiveness. Unless Luc is simply not ready for consistent minutes.
 

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
#20
according to Aaron Bruski, the new starting lineup is
GV
Ben
Salmons
JT
DMC


honestly something i never even considered. i though Salmons was out for sure and i wasnt sure if PPat was out. all i care about is Ben starting, i want to see this guy flourish!
Makes sense. A lot of accounts about the team seem to indicate Salmons is something of a leader on the team
 
#21
the Luc thing plus Bruski said the other day that if McLemore starts, he would assume Salmons would too because you need 2 ball handlers on the court. ( i don't personally agree with this because the LAST thing we need is John Salmons handling the ball at all)
 
#26
As poorly as PPat shot/rebounded, he appeared to be trying. So if Salmons continues to start, was that rant pretty much a dig at MT?
I'm starting to think it was more of a motivational thing, and an excuse to start Ben (as if MT sucking wasn't enough).
 
#27
As poorly as PPat shot/rebounded, he appeared to be trying. So if Salmons continues to start, was that rant pretty much a dig at MT?
I'm starting to think it was more of a motivational thing, and an excuse to start Ben (as if MT sucking wasn't enough).
I don't care what the real reason was, all I care is that:
a) MT is not starting
b) We will see if Ben can handle the pressure (I really think that if he can this may make a hell of a difference for our season)
c) We have a better mid range shorter that may make some open shot of GVs passes (if we are lucky)
 
#28
As I stated in my thread just before, I really hope that GV keeps up the intensity today, and asks for the ball again after his firs pass. We get much better shots when the ball goes through his hands twice in a possession, and I really hate when he passes the ball early in the possession and then moves to the left wing and stays there looking at the play and waiting for a never coming pass for him to take a 3 pointer.
 
#29
Ok I just can't get over this. What on earth has John Salmons shown that suggests he deserves minutes? Not just this season but for the last two as well! He may be some sort of team leader, but if he is he's the leader of 25 win teams and a leader of a 1-5 team.
 
#30
Ok I just can't get over this. What on earth has John Salmons shown that suggests he deserves minutes? Not just this season but for the last two as well! He may be some sort of team leader, but if he is he's the leader of 25 win teams and a leader of a 1-5 team.
Look I am not sure exactly why Malone is doing this, but I will give him the benefit of the doubt. Lets wait and see how it goes