First off, I don’t think I’ve been more upset at a KINGS team than I am tonight. If I have been, it’s been 15 years or more. I didn’t stop yelling and screaming in frustration for at least 10 minutes after the game was over.
While the KINGS playoff aspirations had pretty much evaporated already and this loss like won’t mean much beyond what it is, it was totally inexcusable and completely avoidable.
Before the DeAngelo Russell hype spins too far out of control, let’s call a spade a spade. Tonight’s 4th quarter was all about a very young, inexperienced and immature team backing off the throttle — specifically on the defense end — and stop playing believing they had already won. It wasn’t about some unstoppable and historic effort by Russell and the Nets. The KINGS simply went complacent and allowed it to happen.
Need proof? How about 11 layups/dunks in total (6 by Russell) in the 4th quarter? The KINGS surrendered 6 of those layups in the first 2:30 of the quarter. That doesn’t happen unless a team stops competing.
Add to it 7 (mostly) unforced turnovers due to lackadaisical effort and that’s how the stage is set for a 25-point 4th quarter meltdown.
The first 2-3 minutes of the 4th quarter was as bad a defensive effort as you’ll see. The final 2-3 minutes wasn’t much better. Let’s be real here, DeAngelo Russell isn’t Jason Kidd or Kobe Bryant in his prime going to the basket. Yet they allowed him to drive in for lefty layups time after time after time mixed in with 5 other layups or dunks by his teammates.
To summarize, what we all just witnessed wasn’t a Herculean performance by Russell and the Nets. It was awful and completely avoidable effort by the KINGS — who completely wasted what was turning out to be another tremendous offensive performance from Marvin Bagley (who also contributed to the defensive lapse). And that’s why I’m so effing upset with this team right now.
Don’t get me wrong, I realize that DeAngelo Russell is having a career year and the Nets are one of the most improved teams. But I’m not going to heap hyperbolic praise on anyone when the opposition offers up little to no resistance. Had the Nets and Russell hit 11 three’s with a hand in their face each and every time, I’d tip my cap and say ‘what a performance!’. But this was much different. 11 layups with 6 occuring in 2 and 1/2 minutes is drastically different.
The KINGS quit on the defensive end. There’s no other way to spin it. As an extremely upset fan on tilt, the only thing I can hope for is that this becomes a vivid and long lasting learning experience for this young, naive and immature team. This is the NBA. A game is never over until the clock is at :00. Case in point.