Lakers @ Kings Game Thread, Wed 11/3, 7:30p

#1
First and foremost....
BEAT LA!!!
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There. That's better. Hi! It's been a good, long time since I've done a game thread on Kingsfans, but it feels good to jump on the saddle for a minute.

First things first. Or, second things second.
The Kings opened up last year 1-3, against a much more difficult schedule of OKC, the Hornets, the Spurs, and the Grizzlies, with the Grizzlies being the only win.

(Our starting lineup that first game had Kevin Martin, Desmond Mason, and Sean May. My, how things have improved - no slight to KevMart, he is a very nice player and I wish him the best in Houston. More of a slight to our situation last year).

This year, fortunes have improved (at least on the scheduling end of things) with a 3-1 record and in all 3 wins taking on teams that I can easily say I know will be worse than the Kings this season.
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There in lies the problem. In all 4 games, the Kings haven't been playing winning basketball. They have had to overcome sufficient first half deficits in every single game, and in New Jersey, it didn't work out the way it did in the other three. Not to take anything away from the Kings, they won because they are a better team than the T-Pups, Cavaliers, and Raptors (and possibly New Jersey if DMC doesn't get fouled out). But this is not winning basketball, and frankly, I think we all can see a trend. This is a habit that needs to be broken.
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That being said, outside of last nights shellacking of Memphis, the L*kers have been playing in much the same manner - lazy first half defense, mosey-ing up and down the court, and turning on their version of 'championship' basketball when needed. Which means, the Kings need to come out with some intensity on the defensive end, maintain their ability to execute, and not just in the 4th quarter, and hack at Kobe's pinky as much as possible.
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Last year, the Kings were swept by the L*kers, but each game was competitive, with two of them coming down to the final bucket. Our team has improved this year, and the L*kers largely stood pat, adding notorious Kings-slayer Steve Blake.
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Keys to the Game
-Tyreke- : If Derek Fisher is matched up on Reke, then Fish has no chance. He actually has no chance on Beno either. I doubt Phillip Jackelson sticks Kobe on Tyreke over the course of the entire game unless Kobe asks for the match-up, which means Kobe will stick to Casspi while Artest does the honors on Tyreke. As good as Artest is on defense, Tyreke gave him some fits last year. As proven by the last game, as Tyreke goes, the team goes. He needs to come out aggressive. Take the ball to the rim a few times, and don't settle for long jumpers (even though he has been making them).

-DeMarcus- : He has no chance of staying out of foul trouble with Pau. I think Whiteside will be activated for the game, just in case anything should happen with Dally and DMC. Interesting note: In two games last year, Sammy didn't really affect Pau's line at all, although he did hold him to 42% shooting in one of the games. In the other game, Sammy had a season-high 24 points.

-Perimeter Defense- : The Kings perimeter defense in the 1st half this year has been atrocious and embarrassing. And with the L*kers shooting 45% from the arc this season so far, the Kings can't concede that line and get buried early. What they need to do is push Pau as far off the block as possible, double team him as he makes his move, and close out really hard (it's working for Miami). Part of perimeter defense is boxing out. Odom is averaging 12 rebounds a game so far with Bynum out, and a large part of that is he just sneaks around and gets in good position while the L*kers pretend to play 5-5 basketball. Even though Landry doesn't get a lot of snags, he is generally pretty good with keeping his man off of the offensive glass. Unless his name is Reggie Evans.
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Match-Ups
Kobe vs. Evans/Donte/Wright/Casspi - he had 23 points last night, all in the first half of a blowout. Donte has shown in the past he can force Kobe into taking bad shots, and Kobe has shown in the past that he can make them anyway. The best bet is to try and get Kobe in foul trouble, but he's a smart defender with a whiny rat face, so he usually gets all the calls.

Landry vs. Rebounds - L*kers have outrebounded their opponents 204-174 so far this season. If Landry isn't active on the glass, the Kings will lose.

Thompson vs. himself - To be fair, JT has looked terrific in these last two games; maybe Coachie emphasizing patience on the block. His jumper has looked decent outside of two horrific caroms, and he hustles on the glass. If he can play hands-off defense, or be smarter about when to foul, the Kings could really use his help. But, if I were betting on the Over/Under for fouls for JT at 4, I'd take the Over. IF he gets enough playing time.
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AWARD TIME

TDM - Actually, none of the Raps absolute scrubs killed us. Well, their entire team is basically a ShamWow, so I'll just say Reggie Evans.

LW-VC - Jarrett Jack, who looks exactly like Ne-Yo, and usually kills the Kings. He was pretty bad. And Miami wants to trade Chalmers for him?

JHA - Antoine Wright

MIKKI - Andrea Bargnani, starting center for the Raptors. 2 rebounds? Really? Even Landry had 4.

SAR- Landry.

RA&1 - Sonny Weems. When you can't shoot, you probably shouldn't shoot.

Jax/Walk - The most stereotypical-looking player from Eastern Europe, Linas Kleiza. Actually, all of them are stereotypical-looking. Vuja*itch, Biedrins, Gortat. Beno and Dragic are the ones that look like normal human beings and not James Bond villains.

WTF moment of the game - Terrible pass from Luther Head ends up resulting in a Luther Head 3 pointer. Felt like that Raiders pass over the weekend that bounced all over the field and ended up in a 50 yard catch.
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It should be a good game, as the Kings even in the worst of times get fired up for the Fake Show.

Prediction: (homer alert) Kings 105, L*kers 97.
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Evans - you got this

Beno - steady as ever

Landry - if you bound again, does that mean you rebound? in your case, no.

Cousins - ANOTHER DUB-DUB

Cisco - knock your shots down

Casspi - don't overplay, and we're good

Head - no comment.

Pooh - get all over Kobe

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TDM will go to Shannon Brown, who isn't really enough of a scrub to earn it, but he looks like a chipmunk. LW-VC will go to the immortal Luke Walton/Vacuum Cleaner just for being awful at everything ever. Speaking of which, I hope Bill isn't doing color for this game.

Free throws will play the biggest part.
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BEAT LA!!!
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#3
It's time to beat LA like in good old times. Just hope that they won't be having so much fans in our Arena tonight, considering that Kings are now exciting team again and people should recognize that.

I'd like to see Kobe vs. Donte match up, this could be a turning point for Greene if he plays well.
 
#4
It's time to beat LA like in good old times. Just hope that they won't be having so much fans in our Arena tonight, considering that Kings are now exciting team again and people should recognize that.

I'd like to see Kobe vs. Donte match up, this could be a turning point for Greene if he plays well.
It would have been really hard for L*kers fans to get tickets, seeing as how you could only by the tickets in a package with the Toronto game. SUCKERS.
 
#5
I just checked....Not only are we going to get slaughtered, we're going to get slaughtered on ESPN. David Stern hates us.
 
#9
I think we finally see Greene back in the rotation tonight to gobble up all of Wrights minutes and steal some from
Omri ( who played almost the entire game against Toronto ). Greene is our best bet against Kobe, so for Greenes sake Kobe comes out hot and requires us to put him in early. We'll see, should be interesting.

Beat L.A.
 
#11
I'm probably going to wake up in 4:30 am in the morning to watch this game (if my alarm clock will do its job :D) and cheer out loud and I try not to wake up my roomate :D (he will understand, i hope). After all this declining season i'm really looking forward to see what our young and talented team can really do. Certainly hoping for a big win, but I absolutely won't be dissapointed with a loss, if they lose in a hard fought game. And fighting spirit is only thing I expect, as they have shown in the beginning of the season. Also, the win would be a great overture for tomorrow eurolegaue game between Union Olimpija and Panathinaikos here in Ljubljana (Stozice arena), Slovenia to conclude a perfect basketball day. So, fingers crossed!


BEAT LA !!!
 

Capt. Factorial

trifolium contra tempestatem subrigere certum est
Staff member
#12
Well, I gotta figure that if the Kings can manage to win this game it will probably be the biggest win for the franchise since...well probably since either game 3 or game 4 of the first round of the 2006 playoffs. Take a young, exciting team with two miserable seasons behind them, start them out 3-1 and set them up against our bitter rival, the defending world champions (holding a 4-0 record), put it on national TV...if we can pull it out, that doesn't mean we make the playoffs this year, but it sure puts the nation on notice that they have to start paying attention to us again.

The Lakers are coming off a game last night, so it's not out of the question that they might be a bit winded. It's a great opportunity for us to sneak out with a win. Just none of this falling behind by 15 in the first half stuff...if we can keep this one within 8 at any given time, we've got a chance. Or hey, blow 'em out. Even better.
 
#13
I think we finally see Greene back in the rotation tonight to gobble up all of Wrights minutes and steal some from
Omri ( who played almost the entire game against Toronto ). Greene is our best bet against Kobe, so for Greenes sake Kobe comes out hot and requires us to put him in early. We'll see, should be interesting.

Beat L.A.
I was thinking the same thing, the first time we played the lakers last year at home, greene had a clutch block on kobe towards the end of regulation, we need greene's length on kobe!!!!!
 
#14
I say we got a chance tonight if and only if Cousins and the rest of our bigs can stay out of foul trouble.... this is going to be extremely difficult considering the refs love the lakers and we have to deal with that effing idiot Gasol... I can't stand his flailing, flopping, and screaming. He acts like everything is a foul against him.
 
#15
I really hate the BEAT LA chants, I think it gives them too much credit. Yes, I know, two time defending champs, and countless other rings (excuse me while I vomit)...but, this is our house. Hatred or rivalries aside, I never get why there is so much focus on them when they go to other arenas. I'd rather start a "Lets Go Kings" chant :eek:





On another note, NBA.com tweeted something this morning (they have since deleted it), something to the effect of "Pau is very, very scary" said @BoogieCousins, as the Sacramento Kings face the Lakers tonight...."

To which Boogie responded
"The word scared scary or anything close never came out my mouth! That doesn't even sound like something I would say SMH"
(SMH = So much hate for those wondering)

I hope to see a good game tonight from our Big rook.
 
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Warhawk

The cake is a lie.
Staff member
#16
Maybe PW is just making sure Donte is fresh as our secret weapon? ;) Don't want to wear him out or anything - gotta save him for the big games!
 
#17
If our starting line up remains the same, Casspi MUST make kobe pay for playing lackluster defense. kobe usually just sags off about 5 feet from his man and Casspi better be ready to rain 3s all game long.

They will put Ron on Tyreke and Fish will try to guard Beno. Casspi must be constantly moving and stay ready and aggressive. Make kobe play defense for once.
 
#19
We need to play PHYSICAL!!!!!

Rough them up from the start. We have enough bigs to do it. DMC needs to take his time and post up Pau from the get go. Its difficult for DMC to defend Pau, but it goes both ways.

Tyreke needs to drive and push the ball and get their bigs in foul trouble. They don't have Bynum so it makes it easier. Lamar is not a shot blocker.
 
#22
Your posts are really starting to become one dimensional. Who should coach play instead? Whiteside? I'm sure that would work out well.
Because that is the key to this team being so much better. May sound delusional, but you're a kings fan and you watch the games, and you may like JT as a person but I'm sure you've noticed his "low IQ" plays this season and how much better this teamplays when he comes off the floor.
 
#23
I really hate the BEAT LA chants, I think it gives them too much credit. Yes, I know, two time defending champs, and countless other rings (excuse me while I vomit)...but, this is our house. Hatred or rivalries aside, I never get why there is so much focus on them when they go to other arenas. I'd rather start a "Lets Go Kings" chant :eek:





On another note, NBA.com tweeted something this morning (they have since deleted it), something to the effect of "Pau is very, very scary" said @BoogieCousins, as the Sacramento Kings face the Lakers tonight...."

To which Boogie responded
(SMH = So much hate for those wondering)

I hope to see a good game tonight from our Big rook.
I always thought SMH meant "Shake My Head", i could be wrong though, either way......Let's Go Kings!!!!!!
 

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
#25
Because that is the key to this team being so much better. May sound delusional, but you're a kings fan and you watch the games, and you may like JT as a person but I'm sure you've noticed his "low IQ" plays this season and how much better this teamplays when he comes off the floor.
What do you mean? I though he played in control and smart with the exception of one bad entry pass when he playing SF (which probably shouldn't have happened in the first place since he is by no means a 3) during the last game. If anything the team looks better with Reke on the floor (This is my Captain Obvious point of the day).
 
#26
What do you mean? I though he played in control and smart with the exception of one bad entry pass when he playing SF (which probably shouldn't have happened in the first place since he is by no means a 3) during the last game. If anything the team looks better with Reke on the floor (This is my Captain Obvious point of the day).
Played in control?? Smart?? Jason Thompson?? Really??

Howabout
Putting the ball on the floor and getting it stripped
Missing shots around the rim such as tip-ins and put-backs.
turnovers.

I mean there's a reason why there's a thread here dedicated to why jason thompson needs to go.
 
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Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
#27
Played in control?? Smart?? Jason Thompson?? Really??

Howabout
Putting the ball on the floor and getting it stripped
Missing shots around the rim such as tip-ins and put-backs.
turnovers.

I mean there's a reason why there's a thread here dedicated to why jason thompson needs to go.
Did you actually watch the game in question?

All three of your examples of JT's "stupidity" are apt to happen in all NBA players. Even Big O had turnovers, missed shots, and got stripped.
 
#29
We all talking about kobe. Hows about Pau? He is like a cheat code. Everytime he throws ball in the air it goes into the basket :D