Reflections After 24 Hours

[troosvelt]

It's been 24 hours so I have had time to absorb and reflect. I spent the afternoon with my amazingly adorable (7 week old) nephew and holding a cute one is great for putting things in perspective.

So here are my thoughts, free to be praised, attacked or ignored.

1. As to the Kings overall..

I think they deserve a great deal of praise and respect for Game 2. Yes they lost, but considering they went from the horrifying loss in Game 1 to near upset in Game 2 is pretty darn impressive.

Many other teams would have completely folded, but they came out and stood toe to toe with the Defending (and possibly back to back) World Champs.

Obviously a win would have been better, but they deserve some praise for what they did.

2. As to Mike Bibby

Yeah, he screwed up, he screwed up royally, he screwed up at a level seldom achieved by mortal men.

But that is sort of the point too, he is mortal. He is human. We all make mistakes and as a friend always says, the day you stop making mistakes is when you can stop forgiving others for making them.

It is also worth considering the many times he has made clutch plays to win big games for us, which more than balance out a mistake.

And I think most impressively, he had the guts to come out and be a stand up guy, to take full responsibility.

So move on and accept his apology.

3. As to the series.

I don't mean to be a downer here, but let's be honest. Even if they had won last night, the series would have been a hard fight. The Spurs are the world champs and they have a great road record.

So I don't know that they really lost as much last night


4. My one big criticism

Now I think I've been pretty fair with the team, so here is my one big complaint.

Be honest with yourselves and consider this... last night when they went to commercial with 14 seconds left and the Kings up by 3...

Didn't all of us have a gut feeling that the Kings were somehow going to blow it ?

We didn't know how but there is just that feeling that every time they come to a big moment like this they are somehow going to mess it up.

Whether a curse or a self imposed trauma, it always seems to happen.

Well thats about it, I await the flames (and hopefully a kind word or two)

 

[VF21]

Fair comments, but in answer to #4 I have to disagree. I didn't think the Kings would blow it.

If that bizarre shot of Barry hadn't bounced up off the inside of the rim, mysteriously changed direction and dropped through the hoop we would have won.

Yes, Bibby accepted the "blame" but people are overlooking just how strange that shot looked.

 

[kennadog]

I more or less agree with you, but while I thought they might not withstand that last Spurs possession to end regulation, it was not becasue I thought our guys would invariable blow it, altho Mike did. Its that I knew this was the Spurs. Guys that have been together a while, know each other, like each other, trust each other. They are play-off tested as a team. And they are d*mn good. NBA champs, who just finished their best season ever. They were on their home court. So I knew that it was entirely possible, even likely that they would execute suberbly and give themselves a chance to win it. They did. Champions with that level of talent and experience tend to do that.

So I take it as no shame on our guys that they pushed that team to the limit. The Spurs knew they were in a real game and barely saved it. But save it they did.

 

[piksi]

Be honest with yourselves and consider this... last night when they went to commercial with 14 seconds left and the Kings up by 3...

I had no doubts whatsoever that Spurs would make a shot if they get it.
I mean - Stockton, Walker, Horry, Cassell and the list is too long to doubt.

 

[kennadog]

Fair comments, but in answer to #4 I have to disagree. I didn't think the Kings would blow it.

If that bizarre shot of Barry hadn't bounced up off the inside of the rim, mysteriously changed direction and dropped through the hoop we would have won.

Yes, Bibby accepted the "blame" but people are overlooking just how strange that shot looked.

Yeah that was incredible. On KHTK, Adelman talked how incredible it was that that shot went in. Just a lot of backspin and it bounced right, even tho it was off target. For a split second, I thought it was a miss.

 

[D-Mass]

I had no doubts whatsoever that Spurs would make a shot if they get it.
I mean - Stockton, Walker, Horry, Cassell and the list is too long to doubt.

I agree...I had that same feeling...if they get a shot, they'll nail it. And once it went into overtime, I was pretty sure that was too much of an emotional disappointment for the guys to get it together for another 5 minutes.

 

[SacKings384]

I also agree... I absolutely knew the Kings would somehow give up a three... And sure enough, there was Brent Barry, who if you watch really closely, filed his nails before he took the shot, that way his nails didn't affect the rotation of the ball...

 

[quick dog]

It was Brent Barry, so no surprise. The Kings probably should have fouled the ball handler inside the three-point arc. We have seen a lot of games end like this over the years. We win some. We lose some. This year was impossible from the start. Move on.

Now lets worry about the arena.

 

[AriesMar27]

when it went to commerical i was like foul him the minute a spur touches the ball.... dont let them shoot it.... but what happened? they nailed it... that should have been a foul on duncan though.....

eh... whatever, its just a game that i dont get paid to play or watch... at least the clippers are holding it down.... god only knows about the suns after tonight....

 

[Rome]

Don't worry... Suns are gonna win the next game. They were just a little lazy in the first half today.

 

[VF21]

Let's not hijack the thread into a discussion about the Suns. There are threads in the NBA forum for that...

 

[Rome]

Let's not hijack the thread into a discussion about the Suns. There are threads in the NBA forum for that...

sorry VF21... I was just replying to the other guy worrying about the Lakers winning the series.

 

[AriesMar27]

my bad.... how will martin play in limited minutes? maybe we should go super small and start bibby, martin, bonzi, ron and reef.... and bring thomas off the bench and maybe even miller if corliss, hart, vtaly, monia and garcia get tired....

 

[Rome]

my bad.... how will martin play in limited minutes? maybe we should go super small and start bibby, martin, bonzi, ron and reef.... and bring thomas off the bench and maybe even miller if corliss, hart, vtaly, monia and garcia get tired....

now that idea i like. That way the Spurs wouldn\'t keep hitting wide open 3s because we got quicker guys out there than brad and thomas who are horrible perimeter defenders.

BTW: did you see how many threes KT left open for Horry?

 

[VF21]

my bad.... how will martin play in limited minutes? maybe we should go super small and start bibby, martin, bonzi, ron and reef.... and bring thomas off the bench and maybe even miller if corliss, hart, vtaly, monia and garcia get tired....

I must be very tired...or delusional...because that doesn't sound that bad. I'm sure it is bad, but it doesn't sound that way right now.

 

[SacKings4Life21]

no way its bad... i am way down for it.. reef as proven he is game time... and kevin played great... kenny didnt and brad... well nough said