coolhandluke
Starter
Last season, the Minnesota Timberwolves came into Arco Arena and halted an eight-game Kings winning streak. This season, Minnesota never let it get that far, posting a 121-110 victory that was about as weird as imaginable Sunday night.
The Kings' seven-game winning streak ended with even their own clock and scoreboard working against them.
Bobby Jackson had just made a tough, off-balance layin and a free throw for a three-point play that pulled the Kings within 106-104 with 2:52 to play. Minnesota coach Flip Saunders called timeout, and when the teams came back onto the floor, play was started twice, but officials Joe Crawford, Marc Davis and Gary Zielinski recognized the clock failed to move both times.
The officials consulted with the scoring crew, and stopwatches monitored the official time and 24-second possessions the rest of the way. The Timberwolves (8-5) managed the situation much better than the Kings (8-5) and pulled away.
Clock or no clock, Sacramento's unwillingness, reluctance, hesitancy or fear of going to the floor for loose balls was a major factor in the loss. Kings coach Rick Adelman acknowledged as much afterward.
"Neither team really defended very well," Adelman said, "but I think the thing that really hurt us was that they beat us to a lot of loose balls. They beat us on all the effort plays to keep the ball alive at their end.
"We missed shots at the basket, we didn't come up with rebounds, the balls on the court, and we didn't get them. Those are the types of things that you can't let happen at home."
Asked if his team was instructed to get onto the floor in pursuit of loose balls, Adelman said, "It's something we talk about all the time, making effort plays."
Unfortunately for Adelman, those conversations appear to fall on deaf ears most of the time, especially when it comes to Peja Stojakovic and Chris Webber.
Webber's injury-prone status makes his unwillingness somewhat but not totally understandable. But Stojakovic has no excuse other than he often seems to avoid contact standing up, so why would he seek it on the floor?
"Sometimes you go down there because you feel you can get the ball," said Stojakovic, who made seven consecutive shots and eight of his first nine before missing his last five shots and finishing with 22 points. "I know that it was loose balls (the Timberwolves) got that cost us the game."
Sacramento barely led in the second quarter and never led in the second half against a Minnesota team that likely will be improved over the version that advanced to the Western Conference finals last season by beating the Kings.
The game was hotly contested from the start, and then the intensity grew. Sacramento's Brad Miller had a technical foul before he made a basket, and he eventually was thrown out in the final minute.
Unquestionably, the Kings had problems other than often treating loose balls as if they were little round viruses. At one point, Minnesota ran three consecutive high-wing pick-and-roll plays with Kevin Garnett (game highs of 28 points and 16 rebounds) and Troy Hudson. The result was free-agent signee Eddie Griffin (20 points, 4 of 5 three-pointers, five blocks) getting two wide-open shots when Garnett didn't get a wide-open dunk.
Late in the game, the Timberwolves' Sam Cassell hit jump shots regardless of who was defending him, scoring 11 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter.
"We kept the pace with them," Cassell said, "and never allowed them to get their big runs." Said the Kings' Mike Bibby: "They hit shots down the stretch, and we didn't."
http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/basketball/kings/story/11609013p-12498602c.html
The Kings' seven-game winning streak ended with even their own clock and scoreboard working against them.
Bobby Jackson had just made a tough, off-balance layin and a free throw for a three-point play that pulled the Kings within 106-104 with 2:52 to play. Minnesota coach Flip Saunders called timeout, and when the teams came back onto the floor, play was started twice, but officials Joe Crawford, Marc Davis and Gary Zielinski recognized the clock failed to move both times.
The officials consulted with the scoring crew, and stopwatches monitored the official time and 24-second possessions the rest of the way. The Timberwolves (8-5) managed the situation much better than the Kings (8-5) and pulled away.
Clock or no clock, Sacramento's unwillingness, reluctance, hesitancy or fear of going to the floor for loose balls was a major factor in the loss. Kings coach Rick Adelman acknowledged as much afterward.
"Neither team really defended very well," Adelman said, "but I think the thing that really hurt us was that they beat us to a lot of loose balls. They beat us on all the effort plays to keep the ball alive at their end.
"We missed shots at the basket, we didn't come up with rebounds, the balls on the court, and we didn't get them. Those are the types of things that you can't let happen at home."
Asked if his team was instructed to get onto the floor in pursuit of loose balls, Adelman said, "It's something we talk about all the time, making effort plays."
Unfortunately for Adelman, those conversations appear to fall on deaf ears most of the time, especially when it comes to Peja Stojakovic and Chris Webber.
Webber's injury-prone status makes his unwillingness somewhat but not totally understandable. But Stojakovic has no excuse other than he often seems to avoid contact standing up, so why would he seek it on the floor?
"Sometimes you go down there because you feel you can get the ball," said Stojakovic, who made seven consecutive shots and eight of his first nine before missing his last five shots and finishing with 22 points. "I know that it was loose balls (the Timberwolves) got that cost us the game."
Sacramento barely led in the second quarter and never led in the second half against a Minnesota team that likely will be improved over the version that advanced to the Western Conference finals last season by beating the Kings.
The game was hotly contested from the start, and then the intensity grew. Sacramento's Brad Miller had a technical foul before he made a basket, and he eventually was thrown out in the final minute.
Unquestionably, the Kings had problems other than often treating loose balls as if they were little round viruses. At one point, Minnesota ran three consecutive high-wing pick-and-roll plays with Kevin Garnett (game highs of 28 points and 16 rebounds) and Troy Hudson. The result was free-agent signee Eddie Griffin (20 points, 4 of 5 three-pointers, five blocks) getting two wide-open shots when Garnett didn't get a wide-open dunk.
Late in the game, the Timberwolves' Sam Cassell hit jump shots regardless of who was defending him, scoring 11 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter.
"We kept the pace with them," Cassell said, "and never allowed them to get their big runs." Said the Kings' Mike Bibby: "They hit shots down the stretch, and we didn't."
http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/basketball/kings/story/11609013p-12498602c.html
We knew it for years. Somebody should have told him that long time ago. Pathetic
Why Pedja can't go to the floor astounds me - along with his apparent reverse magnetic polarity at times that makes him actually repel from rebounds.
