Pistons @ Kings Game Thread

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piksi

piksi

Hall of Famer
#1
#1
Kings snapped the 2nd mini losing streak of the season by beating impressively bad Knicks to improve to 3-6 for the season which is tied for the 8th worst record in the league (never too early to start thinking in positive terms). Kings home record of 3-1 looks decent before considering who the victims were and how we eon the games but if we take those facts into consideration and add the 0-5 going on 5-37 road record - we get a clear picture of who we are and what kind of season this will be. It will be long, painfully and there might even be no happy end. Even Stephen King doesn't write "scripts" like this one.
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6 games left in November and we might not win any of those and best we will do is 2-4 - making it the total of 5-10. Our schedule doesn't really get too brutal till February and until then the season will be over anyway and we will hopefully make trades and be ready to really rebuild. We will still have trio fantastico occupying half of the salary room giving us total of 6 pt 4rb 2as, 1st and 4 turnovers per game on a good night. Good thing is also that we are on the way to win less than we did last season. Still it is doubtful if this "less" will be enough for what we need.
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Speaking of trio fantastico - You have to give coach T lot's of credit for reducing playing time for 2 of them to a pulse of a corpse. It makes it easier for us to watch. Out of sight - out of mind - as we use to say. Suddenly, we only deal with Mikki and he doesn't look to horrible because there isn't the culminating potential of sucking present when all 3 of them actually "play." The most damage that trio fantastico does is the exponential power of sucktitude. Don't gey me wrong - Mikki is still one of the worse starters on his position and should have only be sold in package with Jason Kidd who BTW had more rebound last night than Mikki this season. However - when the other 2 members of the trio aren't helping - he is tolerable for our main goal - high draft pick.
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So, about 8 games in the season we had first "minor" trouble in the locker room which isn't a surprise but it is concerning because it looks like a beginning of something that won't end well. If You have a mix of a unexperienced yet stubborn coach, bunch or veteran role players that have been losing trough most of their career, not enough leaders but way too many egos and general lack of leadership from top to bottom, - there will be conflicts fueled by losing majority of games. The blame for this can't be pinpointed to one single person. Everyone is responsible, some more than others. The only right solution is for management to pick a course and clean up the rest and it isn't happening. We don't know the season goal. We only know what we won't achieve. We don't even know what kind of team this is supposed to be, who is supposed to do what etc... We know what we see and that is pretty horrible right now. We have potential in Kevin, Spencer, Cisco, QD, Justin to start over and build for the future. We also have lots of dead weight that is drowning us right now. Hard to make any prediction at this moment
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If we take a closer look just to the team - it is depressing to see how little chemistry we have there. We used to make fun of Mateen & co and now we can use one. There is no support. Last night in the 2nd overtime Kevin hits the big 3 to give us 5 pt lead and the rest of the team just sits there like inmates on the death row. For a second I thought someone died. Makes You wonder what the hell is going on. Even Knicks bench looked more alive and they are Knicks. It is disturbing and not a good sign.
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We do have bright spots too or better said a bright spot in Kevin Martin who had a career game and who is having another great season. He is playing as well as many other players who get more spotlight because their team doesn't suck. Unfortunately, for Kevin and for us - he will be out of spotlight for several years to come until we start and complete the rebuilding process and hopefully get back where we were. Obviously, if he was on a better team his production wouldn't be this impressive but he would be much more effective as incredible as is seam to be possible these days. He still doesn't defend but that can be improved with a good coach and better team defense as a concept. Even if Kevin continues with this great stats - it is hard to believe that he will be picked to the all star game because he is playing on a bad team away from public eyes. He surely would deserve it.
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Knicks are a pathetic team and they played without their supposedly best player. And yest they almost won the game like Muss used to do all last season. It was a very long tragic encounter 2 bad teams that badly wanted to win but didn't know how. We had the usual game where we got out rebounded and had more turnovers that assists but we played Knicks which makes everything else utterly irrelevant.
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AWARD TIME

TDM went to the favorite - David Lee. He was unstoppable mostly because no one really tried.
LW-VC went to QRich who was horrible and got much better after he fouled out
Cisco gets the JHA award for phenomenal decision making
QD gets the RA&1 award for copying Cisco
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Pisons are next and they will be upset about losing to Lakers but they will also be ready to go home after a long road trip. In normal circumstances - there isn't much we can do but it is their 4th game in 5 nights and that is our only advantage unless Billups misses another game. We will get out rebounded and Sheed might murder us but I do expect close game.
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Kevin - keep it up
O.J. light - practice some FT shooting please
Mikki - what can You say ?
Beno - solid
Brad - too many turnovers

Cisco - come on man
QD - don't learn from Cisco
Salmons - shut up and play
Justin - more PT please !
rest - not Mateen worthy
coach T - some players shouldn't be in the game at the end of games - please !
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Pistons are good even without Billups. They have some very athletic young kids on the bench which is our weakness in general. They are experienced and they know how to win. TDM will go to Maxiell. LW-VC award will go to Murray. Other awards will stay home. Don't see us starting a winning streak yet.
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Glenn

Glenn

Hall of Famer
#2
#2
Will we get a clear picture of who we are and what kind of season this will be even without Bibby or are you assuming that Bibby will make either very little or no difference when he returns? I don't think we will know what kind of team we will have until February because then we will know if Williams or Watkins can help us, we'll know if the rumored trade goes through, we'll know if there is a major rebellion or if last week was just a bump in the road or maybe even an overblown hysterical misinterpretation of what has been seen and heard? (This IS the KingsFans culture of negativity.) We'll know if Hawes is a project as some people have said or if he'll become a major contributor and we'll know how this team functions with a real starting pg and a real backup pg. For the first few games we had neither.

Yes, the Kings home record of 3-1 looks decent before considering who the victims were if that's the way you want to look at it. The 3-1 record was also won with no Arco Thunder and missing a huge chunk of our better players. I don't think the record is quite so easy to interpret.

We aren't fighting for any championship here and I hope no one thought we were. The playoffs would be a miracle. If this is accepted as probable, how bad do we have to be to be considered a failure? Success or failure is relative.

I will consider this season a success if we find that either Williams or Watkins can help us and if Reggie gets his act together. I do not fear Hawes will be a dud and I think even looking through the eyes of the most depressed poster on this board, you have to admit he's kind of fun to watch. So also is Martin, Salmons, RonRon and, for me, Brad who has been labeled a hick - just like me.

Rambling on: it is a curiosity how so many people expected a disastrous beginning because we were missing Bibby, Ron, Williams, and a backup pg. We EXPECTED a horrible beginning and rightfully so. Now that what was predicted actually happened (or did we do better than expected?) people are in a great one upsmanship game trying to show that they can put the most humorous, clever, derogatory and hopeless spin on everything and every player we see on the court and even sitting on the bench.

Did this 3-6 beginning suddenly become a total failure or is it simply easier to crack wise with negativism than with optimism?

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Just a rebuttal from across the chasm that separates KingFans.
 
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VF21

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
#3
#3
Glenn said:
Did this 3-6 beginning suddenly become a total failure or is it simply easier to crack wise with negativism than with optimism?
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It's neither negativism or optimism. It's actually "piksimism" and it's an acquired taste.

Piksi presents the glass half-empty side of things, which is perfectly acceptable. I and some others present the glass half-full side. It's nice to have a balance.

I think you're wrong about the "chasm that separates KingsFans," at least in this instance. If we only presented one side or the other, we wouldn't get the variety of posts and posters we have. But, having said that, this is piksi's game introduction and he has a certain style he's successfully utilized for several years. People expect it and look forward to it. I know I do - and I'm one of the biggest Kings homers on the whole silly planet.

If you go back in the archives, you'll see there have been any number of times when piksi's intros were just about the only thing that could bring a smile to our faces around here. I wouldn't be too hard on our piksi, Glenn, as he's able to bring a smile to almost everyone's face. It's better to laugh than cry, you know.
 
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KP

KP

Starter
#5
#5
If you just keep reducing your expectations every year it's easy to be optimistic.
Kevin Martin=the new Mitch Richmond?
How's that for optimism...
 
Glenn

Glenn

Hall of Famer
#7
#7
VF21 said:
It's neither negativism or optimism. It's actually "piksimism" and it's an acquired taste.

Piksi presents the glass half-empty side of things, which is perfectly acceptable. I and some others present the glass half-full side. It's nice to have a balance.

I think you're wrong about the "chasm that separates KingsFans," at least in this instance. If we only presented one side or the other, we wouldn't get the variety of posts and posters we have. But, having said that, this is piksi's game introduction and he has a certain style he's successfully utilized for several years. People expect it and look forward to it. I know I do - and I'm one of the biggest Kings homers on the whole silly planet.

If you go back in the archives, you'll see there have been any number of times when piksi's intros were just about the only thing that could bring a smile to our faces around here. I wouldn't be too hard on our piksi, Glenn, as he's able to bring a smile to almost everyone's face. It's better to laugh than cry, you know.
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I realize it is much easier to be funny when picking on people than when supporting them. Comedians make a living by taking digs at important people. It is also seems true that the average person, leading a life of little importance, loves to see the high and mighty chopped down.

So what now, I shouldn't respond if I disagree because this is a tradition? Sometimes a person is too much used to something to be objective. Some of the most revered people on this board are "half empty" if not "one quarter empty" people and I don't find it as charming as you do.

Of course you know you don't need to tell me the importance of having differing opinions and maybe even respecting a differing opinion. If you think you neeed to tell me, you have forgotten me.
 
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A

Arby's Roast Beef

Starter
#15
#15
The sad thing is that Detroit possesses the youthful talent and athleticism in their big men that we covet; a lot of us have liked that 20 year old talent Amir Johnson in the past, and he had 4 blocks against the Lakers off the bench. He's put up big numbers at the tail end of last season, and if KT and Reef don't defend him right he could be a potential TDM award winner. Also watch out for a 7'0" slinky named Cheikh Samb; the fact that none of us even know who he is makes him a potential award candidate as well.
 
H

HighFlyingMonkey

Starter
#20
#20
You can also poke around the internet for a direct link to NBA league pass coverage ;)

About the game, the Pistons without Chauncey Billups are like a cat without whiskers. This could be one of the few upsets we'll have this year.
 
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