Kings are .500 and on national TV, baby!!!!!!!!!
BREAKING BANDAID NEWS
Awards Time
Tony Delk Memorial- This spot was reserved for Donnie DiVincenzo, the former King (albeit briefly) turned only good bench player for the defending champions, but the man ended up being largely invisible for the entire evening save for one chase down poke away and a drained three. No other Warrior really had an outlier performance so I guess the TDM just gets to go unawarded for the night. Good job, Kings!
The CoJo- Trey Lyles but only because he played 30 more seconds than the incomplete threshold. Trey only saw five and a half minutes of action and didn't really contribute much in his stint but it's hard to say that he was actually bad. Didn't see any time later in the game as Brown shrunk his rotation and gave Trey's minutes to TD, who was contributing on both ends of the court, instead.
Shareef Abdur-Rahim- Klay Thompson.It brings me no joy to report that Klay Thompson's days of torching the Kings for 37 point quarters may be over. Klay looked like a total shell of himself on both ends of the floor. On offense, the man had a couple of flashes of his old self, at one point hitting what felt like ten threes in a row but he also closed out the game shooting like the ball weighed thirty pounds. On defense, the poor guy got absolutely torched by De'Aaron Fox in the fourth quarter, giving up eleven points including a stretch where Fox hit a three, then a two, then almost made another two that wound up getting rebounded and put back by Sabonis. Recovering from two consecutive major leg injuries is a process, I'm sure, but games like these aren't very encouraging for whatever Klay ends up being for the rest of his career.
WTF Moment of the Game- Refs try to engage REF MODE in the fourth quarter. It doesn't stop the Kings from winning anyways.
Random Bill Simmons Kangz Take of the Night
(I honestly didn't want this to become a regular thing but the dude just can't stop tweeting about the Kings)
Random Internet Kangz Tweet of the Night
We're Talking Basketball
And soooo for the first time in seemingly half a decade, the Kings are playing a national game on TNT (Former Magic coach and Sacramento area Kinko's expert Stan van Gundy is the color commentator) and not seemingly just as the throw-in team for a big team to beat up on for 48 minutes, not that TNT wouldn't be thrilled if the Nets simply wiped the floor with us to help boost their stock for the remaining four billion games on their national TV schedule.
The Brooklyn Nets come into tonight's game on a bit of a hot streak that may or may not have corresponded with Kyrie Irving getting suspended from the team for... reasons. They also poopcanned Steve Nash the game after he became a meme for getting ejected in a game and tried replacing him with a guy who may or may not be a sexual predator only to get enough blowback that they decided to go with Additionally, Ben Simmons's knee is hurting him again and he's missed most of his games of late and has looked extremely bad even when he has suited up. So why are the Nets winning?
Kevin Durant. Yes, one of the most annoying basketball personalities in the NBA is currently on fire, averaging 30.6 points, 6.6 rebounds, 5.5 assists, and 1.9 blocks in 37 minutes per game to move the Nets to four wins over their last six games. KD remains, despite being 'old' for an NBA player, one of the most prolific scorers in NBA history and Kyrie being out and Ben Simmons being bad has only helped the 6'11" scoring machine shine.
With two thirds of the Nets' "Big Three" out for reasons, the collection of role players around KD has had a chance to breathe and contribute. Nic Claxton has seized the starting center position with aplomb ( it helps that he's literally the only big man on the Nets' roster) and is blocking two shots a game while also shooting an astonishing 37.5% from the free throw line. Royce O'Neale has being a steady 3-and-D presence on the wing since being traded by the Jazz for a first round pick. Formerly anointed by some as secretly better than De'Aaron Fox Edmond Sumner has been solid-ish filling in for Kyrie in the starting lineup.
More importantly, the absence of Kyrie and Seth Curry (who is probably for tonight's game after missing some time with an ankle injury) has helped the Nets not be terrible on defense, letting KD's monster nights shine on their own rather than being necessary to not get blown out by 30 like earlier in the season.
This isn't going to be an easy game for the Kings by any means. The wing position is the one area where the Kings roster lacks any form of depth and defending KD is a tall task for anyone, let alone a 22-year-old rookie currently dealing with family health issues. That said, the Nets lack size beyond Claxton and Durant and neither guy is particularly bulky, which means that Domantas Sabonis could be on track for another huge game or should be if the Kings stand any chance of winning.
With the slew of potential DNPs from the Nets, the Kings bench could have a strong showing. At the very least, Malik Monk could see some success going down hill against a Nets bench unit that has asked Ben Simmons to play minutes at center because they have no one else even when healthy.
With a national TV audience, this game could either serve as a coming out party for the Beam Team or yet another example of the Kangz Kangzing. I know which option I'm rooting for.
Injury Report
Kings
No injuries reported
Nets
Kyrie Irving - SUSPENDED (Nuff said)
Nic Claxton - Day to Day (Staring longingly at the setting sun)
Seth Curry - Day to Day (Reading a magic book in an attic)
Ben Simmons - Day to Day (Cursed by a witch)
T.J Warren - OUT (Doesn't actually exist)
Yuta Watanabe - Day to Day (Running damage control for Tim Hardaway after last night)
Final Prediction
Let's really go streaking. This Brooklyn team isn't playing as bad as it was a week or so ago but it's also coming off a loss against a Bron-less Lakers team. If the Kings stick to their principles and playing a strong 48 minutes, I believe they'll come away with another chance to "LIGHT THE BEAM!" But then again, KD could go nuclear and render that idea ridiculous.
Kings 118, Nets 112
BREAKING BANDAID NEWS
Awards Time
Tony Delk Memorial- This spot was reserved for Donnie DiVincenzo, the former King (albeit briefly) turned only good bench player for the defending champions, but the man ended up being largely invisible for the entire evening save for one chase down poke away and a drained three. No other Warrior really had an outlier performance so I guess the TDM just gets to go unawarded for the night. Good job, Kings!
The CoJo- Trey Lyles but only because he played 30 more seconds than the incomplete threshold. Trey only saw five and a half minutes of action and didn't really contribute much in his stint but it's hard to say that he was actually bad. Didn't see any time later in the game as Brown shrunk his rotation and gave Trey's minutes to TD, who was contributing on both ends of the court, instead.
Shareef Abdur-Rahim- Klay Thompson.It brings me no joy to report that Klay Thompson's days of torching the Kings for 37 point quarters may be over. Klay looked like a total shell of himself on both ends of the floor. On offense, the man had a couple of flashes of his old self, at one point hitting what felt like ten threes in a row but he also closed out the game shooting like the ball weighed thirty pounds. On defense, the poor guy got absolutely torched by De'Aaron Fox in the fourth quarter, giving up eleven points including a stretch where Fox hit a three, then a two, then almost made another two that wound up getting rebounded and put back by Sabonis. Recovering from two consecutive major leg injuries is a process, I'm sure, but games like these aren't very encouraging for whatever Klay ends up being for the rest of his career.
WTF Moment of the Game- Refs try to engage REF MODE in the fourth quarter. It doesn't stop the Kings from winning anyways.
Random Bill Simmons Kangz Take of the Night
(I honestly didn't want this to become a regular thing but the dude just can't stop tweeting about the Kings)
Random Internet Kangz Tweet of the Night
We're Talking Basketball
And soooo for the first time in seemingly half a decade, the Kings are playing a national game on TNT (Former Magic coach and Sacramento area Kinko's expert Stan van Gundy is the color commentator) and not seemingly just as the throw-in team for a big team to beat up on for 48 minutes, not that TNT wouldn't be thrilled if the Nets simply wiped the floor with us to help boost their stock for the remaining four billion games on their national TV schedule.
The Brooklyn Nets come into tonight's game on a bit of a hot streak that may or may not have corresponded with Kyrie Irving getting suspended from the team for... reasons. They also poopcanned Steve Nash the game after he became a meme for getting ejected in a game and tried replacing him with a guy who may or may not be a sexual predator only to get enough blowback that they decided to go with Additionally, Ben Simmons's knee is hurting him again and he's missed most of his games of late and has looked extremely bad even when he has suited up. So why are the Nets winning?
Kevin Durant. Yes, one of the most annoying basketball personalities in the NBA is currently on fire, averaging 30.6 points, 6.6 rebounds, 5.5 assists, and 1.9 blocks in 37 minutes per game to move the Nets to four wins over their last six games. KD remains, despite being 'old' for an NBA player, one of the most prolific scorers in NBA history and Kyrie being out and Ben Simmons being bad has only helped the 6'11" scoring machine shine.
With two thirds of the Nets' "Big Three" out for reasons, the collection of role players around KD has had a chance to breathe and contribute. Nic Claxton has seized the starting center position with aplomb ( it helps that he's literally the only big man on the Nets' roster) and is blocking two shots a game while also shooting an astonishing 37.5% from the free throw line. Royce O'Neale has being a steady 3-and-D presence on the wing since being traded by the Jazz for a first round pick. Formerly anointed by some as secretly better than De'Aaron Fox Edmond Sumner has been solid-ish filling in for Kyrie in the starting lineup.
More importantly, the absence of Kyrie and Seth Curry (who is probably for tonight's game after missing some time with an ankle injury) has helped the Nets not be terrible on defense, letting KD's monster nights shine on their own rather than being necessary to not get blown out by 30 like earlier in the season.
This isn't going to be an easy game for the Kings by any means. The wing position is the one area where the Kings roster lacks any form of depth and defending KD is a tall task for anyone, let alone a 22-year-old rookie currently dealing with family health issues. That said, the Nets lack size beyond Claxton and Durant and neither guy is particularly bulky, which means that Domantas Sabonis could be on track for another huge game or should be if the Kings stand any chance of winning.
With the slew of potential DNPs from the Nets, the Kings bench could have a strong showing. At the very least, Malik Monk could see some success going down hill against a Nets bench unit that has asked Ben Simmons to play minutes at center because they have no one else even when healthy.
With a national TV audience, this game could either serve as a coming out party for the Beam Team or yet another example of the Kangz Kangzing. I know which option I'm rooting for.
Injury Report
Kings
No injuries reported
Nets
Kyrie Irving - SUSPENDED (Nuff said)
Nic Claxton - Day to Day (Staring longingly at the setting sun)
Seth Curry - Day to Day (Reading a magic book in an attic)
Ben Simmons - Day to Day (Cursed by a witch)
T.J Warren - OUT (Doesn't actually exist)
Yuta Watanabe - Day to Day (Running damage control for Tim Hardaway after last night)
Final Prediction
Let's really go streaking. This Brooklyn team isn't playing as bad as it was a week or so ago but it's also coming off a loss against a Bron-less Lakers team. If the Kings stick to their principles and playing a strong 48 minutes, I believe they'll come away with another chance to "LIGHT THE BEAM!" But then again, KD could go nuclear and render that idea ridiculous.
Kings 118, Nets 112
