[Game] Kings vs Celtics, 3/21/2023 7pm Pacific 10pm Eastern
- Thread starter Tetsujin
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Nobody said that, but moving on something has to be reworked on defense. I'm sure Brown will figure it out at some point whether it's personnel change or playing more to his players strengths. This team has shown when they even play average on defense it might be enough to contend but that indeed usually comes with changes on that end.
It's not a high bar absent the context. When you factor in how many times we've had the rug yanked from under us though, it makes sense why a lot of fans are reluctant to believe and/or ride out what's looking like a sure loss. We can cut them some slack though. right? It grates on me too at times but I assume people mean well.. they're just venting in their own way.
It's not that simple. Back to back doesn't equal straight road games, you still get time to rest in road games.
We were in good shape then the refs hurt our momentum and we let them get ahead. The Boston Celtics coming straight from the Final last season isn't a team you can let get ahead and easily catch back up by chaining up a few good defense sequences (which we didn't).
We are bottom half defensively but that can hardly be true if you have watched this season. Trust your eye test. We don't suck, we are only inconsistent.
We were in good shape then the refs hurt our momentum and we let them get ahead. The Boston Celtics coming straight from the Final last season isn't a team you can let get ahead and easily catch back up by chaining up a few good defense sequences (which we didn't).
We are bottom half defensively but that can hardly be true if you have watched this season. Trust your eye test. We don't suck, we are only inconsistent.
Sortof. We were matching them point for point until we just got hosed on four consecutive possessions with calls at the end of the half. Our one chance was to come out hot in the third but Boston punched first and we didn't, then they smelled blood and turned up their aggression. It doesn't help that we don't have one of our best shooters in Huerter which also means we couldn't bring Kessler off the bench as an energy guy.
This game got out of hand quickly -- in retrospect we needed to try and slow it down early in the third and focus on executing our offense but our go-to move is to push the pace so slowing it down is not something that comes naturally. My own feeling is that we need personnel changes more than a scheme change. Monk as the sixth man remains problematic because of his defense. We played him a lot in the second half instead of Davion which might have been a mistake. And I don't see how we can afford to go another full season without a real backup C (who Brown is willing to play). Also... having an elite wing defender is too important to rely on guys like KZ Okpala and Kessler Edwards in tough matchups like this. But all that is really a result of us arriving at 50 win territory a year or two ahead of schedule.
This game got out of hand quickly -- in retrospect we needed to try and slow it down early in the third and focus on executing our offense but our go-to move is to push the pace so slowing it down is not something that comes naturally. My own feeling is that we need personnel changes more than a scheme change. Monk as the sixth man remains problematic because of his defense. We played him a lot in the second half instead of Davion which might have been a mistake. And I don't see how we can afford to go another full season without a real backup C (who Brown is willing to play). Also... having an elite wing defender is too important to rely on guys like KZ Okpala and Kessler Edwards in tough matchups like this. But all that is really a result of us arriving at 50 win territory a year or two ahead of schedule.
Funny, if we were on a long east coast trip playing the Celts coming off a back to back, we would blame all the travel and being tired from hopping from city to city.
Truth is our defense is bottom 5. My eyes tell me that and so do the stats. Now we’ve improved a bit with Kessler, but there’s a big gap in our D vs. Celts/Bucks/76ers. Not a criticism, just the reality we have that we either need to find a different scheme or wait offseason to upgrade. Utah is a good example of going zone after Markannen and others pushed Hardy to make the change last week.
Truth is our defense is bottom 5. My eyes tell me that and so do the stats. Now we’ve improved a bit with Kessler, but there’s a big gap in our D vs. Celts/Bucks/76ers. Not a criticism, just the reality we have that we either need to find a different scheme or wait offseason to upgrade. Utah is a good example of going zone after Markannen and others pushed Hardy to make the change last week.
I hear that. Bad, disappointing night but the Big Picture remains sweet: 50 wins and a top-3 seed still look very likely - and they remain pretty healthy with the playoffs looming (Huerter should return in plenty of time). One could argue that if these last two games, in particular, pppush them to ratchet up the intensity, that's a good thing.
If the Kings use their hands that much, they'll get called for sure. In watching last playoffs it was pretty much a given, if you want to defend with what little defense they allow anyone to play anymore you switch into the other team. Even with that the games mostly turned into shooting contests and the Celtics lost game 7 largely because Udoka tried to fight the Warriors offense with his defense before ditching it and trying to out offense them.
Back to back straight horrid games from Lyles and Monk. They've been two key pieces why we've been so good the last month. And a complete no-show from Fox, I'm guessing something was up with him though. Injury, exhaustion, something. Just never got into the game and didn't have the same energy that Domas brought to keep up with Tatum and Brown cooking us.
Oh well. 6 in 8 nights, Refs were crap, we lost all the momentum in the third quarter and basically just gave up after that. Don't blame the Kings either, refs took over this game and the Celtics are just too good to really fight them and the refs at the same time.
Also, whose brilliant idea was to book-end the 2 best teams in the East at home with a 4-game road trip in between in 8 days? Do other teams really have that kind of a nonsense schedule quirk?
Oh well. 6 in 8 nights, Refs were crap, we lost all the momentum in the third quarter and basically just gave up after that. Don't blame the Kings either, refs took over this game and the Celtics are just too good to really fight them and the refs at the same time.
Also, whose brilliant idea was to book-end the 2 best teams in the East at home with a 4-game road trip in between in 8 days? Do other teams really have that kind of a nonsense schedule quirk?
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