As promised, here is a thread for LWP777 to post game-by-game in-depth analysis and grades.
Take it away LWP777!
WOW! I feel so honored. I have some work to do. It will be nice to bring some "fair and balanced' grading to these forums after years of the so called "experts" butchering the grades!
Thank you KingsFans forum!
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Game Analysis and Grades:
Well, I will say this. This will be my last time doing this. I will have ended up wasting about 4-5 hours of my life watching the game, rewinding plays, and now writing this up. What a waste of life. This game would have been normally been turned off halfway during the 2nd quarter but I make a commitment and I follow through with my commitments. ACCOUNTABILITY! Something our Kings players know nothing about.
This game made me think of IBM's "Big Blue" playing some pimply faced 13 year old junior high chess champion in a game. There was simply zero chance the Kings were going to win this game. This was evident at the opening tip. Despite the fact that the Spurs 3 main players are not that far away from collecting social security checks they simply outplayed and outclassed us in every category. Their basketball IQ is off the charts. Their coaching and the system they run is pure perfection. If they don't win the NBA championship it won't be because of mental mistakes or bad decisions, it will be because they simply run into a team with an abundance of talent that can't be overcome (Thunder, Heat).
There was basically nothing to be encouraged or excited about in this game. Nothing at all. We reverted back to our typical one on one, chucking game plan. Tyreke still can't finish around the basket and his Twittering brother could probably run a fast break better than he could. DMC went back to sulking up and down the court and complained about all 3 of his OBVIOUS foul calls to the referees. One of them was an open floor grab on Parker which was actually a smart foul because it saved a sure basket. But guess what, he even complained about that one. It just shows how immature he is and how he's not even close to understanding the game of basketball even though it's deep in his 3rd year.
Grades:
DeMarcus Cousins: D-
Watching this game as closely as I was because I knew I was grading made me realize just how horrible he is on not knowing how or when to rotate on defense. One particular play, he left Splitter wide open underneath the basket so that he could TRIPLE-TEAM a guard at the free throw line. See above. Doesn't understand the game. Does he have talent? Absolutely. Will that ever translate to greatness? Probably not.
He's starting to develop a bad habit of making bad passes. 4 turnovers tonight. He forces entry passes and usually makes 1 poor long pass per game now. Losing his focus (as if he ever had any). Got rejected by Duncan while being triple teamed. Blamed the ref. Duncan was just too long and skilled defensively for him.
He did have a good 2 minute stretch where he made a nice post move and a dunk over Duncan in transition.
Tyreke Evans: D
After a recent good stretch of basketball, he went back to his old bad habits. Played a lot of street ball. I think all 4 of his misses were layups in transition or drives to the basket. Pretty sure he was trying to guard Parker at times but had absolutely no luck with that (nobody really did). Played a lot of PG in the 2nd quarter and didn't really accomplish anything
The half court shot that went in saved him from getting a "D-"
IT: C
18 pts on 6-12 but only 1 assist. He pretty much went into selfish chuck mode again. It's contagious with this team when they play a superior team. He had a horrible time getting the team into their offense before Smart pulled all 5 starters (which I though was a necessary move). Had no clue how to guard anybody defensively.
Jason Thompson: C+
JT wasn't really a huge factor (nobody was really) but he pretty much stayed within himself tonight. Most of the outside shots he took were open looks and his inside moves were there for him.
John Salmons: F
Threw a cross court pass that ended up in the 8th row. Went 1-7 tonight. Completely lost his recent shooting touch. 1 rebound. Really offered nothing in his 21 minutes of action.
Patrick Patterson: C-
He didn't shoot the ball well but the thing I like about him is that he stays within himself. He went 3-9 but I don't really think he took a poor shot. Most of his looks were pretty wide open. Tied for 2nd in rebounding with 5 which is pretty sad. He's not a great rebounder. If the ball comes to him, he'll grab it but he doesn't have a knack for it. I think he'll be a nice glue guy once we get this mess sorted out next year.
Marcus Thornton: B+
Even though he went 8-13 with 25 points, it was extremely hard for me to give him a B+. A lot of his points were scored in garbage time when it was clear he was trying to pad his stats. In the beginning of the game he was in full chuck mode. His first shot was a chuck. I think he held the ball for about .3 seconds before it went up. He just really loves to shoot it. He ended up with 5 assists which is a miracle because I can only think of 2.
Chuck Hayes: B
For Chuck, he had a good game. He did the things he was supposed to do. Made a few baskets, grabbed, well, 2 rebounds. Tried to play defense but got killed because he's a midget. But what do you expect? It's really not his fault. We were the idiots who gave him a multi-million dollar contact.
Jimmer: D-
Was going to be an F until he started playing a little better in garbage time. First possession, tried to split a double team, lost the ball. Then shot a ball off the side of the backboard. Then had the ball just simply taken away from him for another TO. He was the Jimmer we saw in the first half of the season. No clue. No concept.
Douglas: C-
Was pretty much horrible although I did like the fact that he at least attempts to run the offense and get some guys involved -- in between his chucking. He did manage to lead the team with 5 assists in 25 heart throbbing minutes of action.
Outlaw: B
Missed a wide open 3. Made a wide open 3. Dunk. All garbage time stuff.