[Game] Sacramento Kings (3) @ Golden State Warriors (6) (WCDS Game 3, 2-0) 4/20/2023 7:00pm Pacific 10:00pm Eastern (TNT)

[Ozymandias]

Wish we woulda attacked the paint more and tried to draw more fouls.. Its not like the Warriors were making a ton of 3's it woulda been viable..

Looney is far too effective in that game, even more so than Sabonis.

Their plan to nullify Sabonis is working too well. He's not able to stack assists like normally and he's hella turnover prone, plus his rebounding in that 2nd half was nonexistant.


Barnes was fine but the rest of the 3pt shooting was bad..

 

[Padrino]

But there's also a level of where like 70%+ of our 3's are excellent wide-open shots that you want us taking and we should be taking that we're bricking. Something's got to give there with the shooting.

This is it. This is the whole thing. In the modern NBA, in a playoff matchup against Stephen Curry and the Warriors, you cannot win the series while shooting this poorly from three. You can survive a game or two if other elements of the offense are firing, but at some point, the Kings are going to need to hit at least a league-average percentage from three. The Warriors are mucking up their DHO actions, but they're still getting good looks, and they're just bricking the vast majority of them.

 

[Padrino]

It also doesn't help that Keegan Murray has essentially been the invisible man so far in this series. He's a rookie, so I'm unsurprised that he's not ready to meet the moment, but I also didn't expect him to be nearly unplayable on offense. He's been such a consistent source of shooting all season, and the Warriors have completely neutralized his impact. It's as if the Kings are down a starter.

 

[rexb_kings]

Consider the Kings lucky. It could have been worse. Imagine Wiggins hit that 3 in Game 1 and Green didn't get ejected, Kings could looking at 0-3 deficit against the defending champs. It's 2-1, Kings lose Game 4, this series is over to be honest with all momentum on their side. Only chance is the home crowd and winning all home games.

 

[mrlaze]

I see the negative nacys came back to pee on a poor outing. Why not hang out when things are up?
Trade sabonis! keegans a bust! The sky is falling!
Kings will be fine. They already are over achieving. Playoffs were the goal and they got there. Plus 2 wins vs the champs. Still 4 more games to win 2.

 

[Fear the Putin]

We didn't play well, I get it. But, we also need to take a step back and understand that we can't win all of them. There are holes that we need to plug and guys that need to play better, and these losses are when adjustments can actually be implemented.

We're so traumatized as a fan base that it's hard for us to swallow losses now that we've made the playoffs. Let's just take it one game at a time and enjoy this process. Let's see how the Kings grow after getting smacked. Better shooting, better defense, better rebounding.

I'm not taking away anything from the Warriors. They made the same adjustments after two games that we now need to make. Had missing guys and stepped up with a lot of energy and shot making. Now it's our turn to adjust.

 

[Padrino]

I see the negative nacys came back to pee on a poor outing. Why not hang out when things are up?
Trade sabonis! keegans a bust! The sky is falling!
Kings will be fine. They already are over achieving. Playoffs were the goal and they got there. Plus 2 wins vs the champs. Still 4 more games to win 2.

I can't speak for others, but I'm traveling on the east coast currently, so I've been having to stay up far too late to watch the Kings and I've been in and out at KF.com as a result. Wouldn't say I'm being a negative Nancy. The Kings do need to shoot better. And Keegan does need to show something on the offensive end. Otherwise it's going to be exceedingly difficult to win this series.

We didn't play well, I get it. But, we also need to take a step back and understand that we can't win all of them. There are holes that we need to plug and guys that need to play better, and these losses are when adjustments can actually be implemented.

We're so traumatized as a fan base that it's hard for us to swallow losses now that we've made the playoffs. Let's just take it one game at a time and enjoy this process. Let's see how the Kings grow after getting smacked. Better shooting, better defense, better rebounding.

I'm not taking away anything from the Warriors. They made the same adjustments after two games that we now need to make. Had missing guys and stepped up with a lot of energy and shot making. Now it's our turn to adjust.

I don't mind the Kings losing game three, personally. It's the way they lost it that's disconcerting to me. They seemed disengaged. They stopped attacking the rim with the same level of force. They somehow bricked more outside shots than their already sunk average from games one and two. Let me put it this way, though the Warriors have been terrible on the road all season, they're the defending champs. They've been here before. I like their odds of stealing one on the Kings home court. So the Kings need to be much more aggressive about stealing one at the Chase Center in game four.

 

[Warhawk]

So yesterday was my first visit to Chase Center. A couple thoughts:

• Getting there reminded me why (other than BART) mass transit in SF could use some improvement. Especially in signage, etc. Catching the MUNI from the Powell BART station area was a bit confusing since there are no good signs of which buses stopped at which bus stops, etc., and we were guessing which bus went the right direction. We followed a couple of obvious Warrior fans headed to the arena (we asked them) and got on the wrong bus. When the bus got a few blocks closer to the arena and then turned on a side street, we just bailed and walked the rest of the way with those same Warrior fans.
• The arena exterior generally looks nice and they have a beautiful huge video screen on the outside they used for an outside watch party (saw that as we were leaving). But it kind of ruins the arena aesthetic (like an overly big screen in an electric car can).
• There is a huge glass wall over the water side of the arena with beautiful views from the second level concourse.
• Finding your seats is definitely more difficult than a place like G1C, especially for newbies. The tickets have a "portal" shown that you should take to your seat except those really aren't well marked or delineated in the arena. We just kept wandering around until we found ours. Just put freaking section numbers up (they seemed to have those at least intermittently posted on the walls but not on the overhead signage).
• Sightlines are good (to be expected) and our upper-level seats had good views. No complaints there.
• Seating is comfortable and the upper deck seats do have small cupholders tucked in on the ground in front of your seats.
• The arena aesthetic inside is just...off. It's like they were going for cheap Las Vegas or strange hotel vibe or something. There are funky ovals around the tops of columns in the concourse area with pastel-type neon lighting around them and inside the arena the scoreboard aesthetic is cheap gold veneer look that the elderly might think looks expensive. Hard to describe, but it just didn't work for me.
• We didn't wander all around the arena lower level concourse, but I saw really no art or cool stuff like the jersey wall, or the historic neon signs, or the other interesting little stuff at G1C. Maybe had we wandered around some of the other areas? But we went around pretty much the entire second concourse and were in and out of the main entrance. I would think we would have seen something like that.
• The "item of the game" was a black T-shirt (very much like the free gold ones on our seats) they were charging $50 for!!!
• A small soda and small water (disposable fast-food-type cup, not even souvenir!) was over $18. We ate before we went in, so we didn't try the food there.
• They had some nice scoreboard layouts, including some extra screens showing shot charts and some advanced stats. We liked those touches.
• Their arena gimmick is they have these oversized Christmas light bulbs hanging over the ends of the arena (behind the baskets) that they drop down during introductions or whatever and they raise and lower them and change the colors. Interesting concept, but just seemed kind of weird, especially in execution. The display seemed to be random, where I would have expected something like a giant "W" to be spelled out or something to tie it to the team. Nope. Just some Christmas lights going up and down for a few minutes, that's it.
• The arena crowd had some PEAK volume levels that were what I would expect in a Kings preseason or early regular-season game of no interest or consequence. Most of the seats were still empty until a few minutes before game time. It seems that there was more of a casual passion for the game itself (but there was obviously at least some deep passion for the team in general). The game "environment" was NOTHING compared to G1C.
• The fans were generally friendly and pleasant, but there was one idiot behind us who wasn't so considerate. To be expected to find one or two in any crowd.
• We had probably a dozen Kings fans in our section, but the vast majority were home fans, both in our section and in the arena.

 

[fansinceday1]

I see the negative nacys came back to pee on a poor outing. Why not hang out when things are up?
Trade sabonis! keegans a bust! The sky is falling!
Kings will be fine. They already are over achieving. Playoffs were the goal and they got there. Plus 2 wins vs the champs. Still 4 more games to win 2.

Hey, after that game last night, the kings deserve negative nancys questioning this and that. Luckily I was home and we turned the game off early in the 4th. That game was a stinker man. I still find it hard to believe how bad our 3 point shooting has been these last 3 games. I mean, we are getting nothing from everyone. Cmon fellas!!!! Steal game 4 and close them out at G1C. Step up!!!!!

 

[TaxMan]

Hey, after that game last night, the kings deserve negative nancys questioning this and that. Luckily I was home and we turned the game off early in the 4th. That game was a stinker man. I still find it hard to believe how bad our 3 point shooting has been these last 3 games. I mean, we are getting nothing from everyone. Cmon fellas!!!! Steal game 4 and close them out at G1C. Step up!!!!!

Yep. At some point those threes will start to drop. Need two guys outside of fox to drop 4+ threes to give us a shot. The problem I had with game three wasn’t so much the loss, but that we were unrecognizable from the free flowing team we have seen all year. I think brown makes some adjustments and the three starts to drop at a better clip. I personally don’t expect a game 4 win, but do expect a much better showing.
Anyone who really thought we were going to sweep the series is delusional. The first two games were very close. We clearly were not dominating the warriors. If we win this series I think it’s either with a huge win in game 4 and then a game five put away, or both teams simply hold home court and we take it in 7. Going to be fun either way.

 

[Vinny Basketballerino]

So yesterday was my first visit to Chase Center. A couple thoughts:

• A small soda and small water (disposable fast-food-type cup, not even souvenir!) was over $18

-

Overall, nice write up, thanks. Makes me appreciate the G1C even more.

 

[sauce-26]

Does anyone feel the warriors played their A game? Like is this the best they can play? Have the kings played their A game yet? Im curious if this was the gsw played a B game and we played an F or a D. Like we are up 2-1 without playing our best. We have shot AWFUL from 3 this series, which is not the norm from what we have seen all season. If the warrors play this way and we play to our potential do we win the series? I feel we can

 

[Vinny Basketballerino]

Hey, after that game last night, the kings deserve negative nancys questioning this and that. Luckily I was home and we turned the game off early in the 4th. That game was a stinker man. I still find it hard to believe how bad our 3 point shooting has been these last 3 games. I mean, we are getting nothing from everyone. Cmon fellas!!!! Steal game 4 and close them out at G1C. Step up!!!!!

Yeah but honestly you don't get to "negative nancy" if you didn't put in the time (didn't have to be on this board per se) when they were down. Why should we have to listen to the opinions of the faithless?

 

[Srzly]

As I said I like Keegan but not as comfortable as some waiting up to two seasons to determine if he's a legit third option. If I had the choice, OG same draft class as Fox and established star please.

When I said felt for awhile I meant since we became clear playoff material. Not before the start of the season.
And why not title contender in two years with the right third option. I've followed this team since before they arrived in Sacramento, I'm running out of the luxury of time.

Wouldn’t it be fair to at least wait to see how Keegan does as a 3rd option before trading him?

Some of the Keegan criticism and concern is a bit over the top. He is a rookie that broke the 3pt record and has been playing his role asked of him by the team as the 4th or 5th scoring option that is supposed to space the floor for Sabonis and Fox.

I’m not sure why people suddenly are expecting him to be the 3rd option in this playoffs. The team has run zero action for him since Game 1 and he has hasn’t been getting the ball. Clearly the coaches have had a different strategy than usual and it worked until last night.

I know I’m biased but he really only played poorly game 1. He has played good defense and been active the past 2 games but hasn’t been included in the offense and hasn’t played much. There have been times he has been open when we drive and he just hasn’t got the ball, which was fine because driving and attacking the rim worked really well the first 2 games.

He isn’t the type of player that’s going to force shots. I think he is deferring to his teammates in the playoffs because they are vets and 2 of them are all stars and we are up 2-1. Do we really want a rookie that is chucking 15 shots up when we have Fox, Sabonis, Barnes and Kevin on the floor with him?

 

[TaxMan]

So yesterday was my first visit to Chase Center. A couple thoughts:

• Getting there reminded me why (other than BART) mass transit in SF could use some improvement. Especially in signage, etc. Catching the MUNI from the Powell BART station area was a bit confusing since there are no good signs of which buses stopped at which bus stops, etc., and we were guessing which bus went the right direction. We followed a couple of obvious Warrior fans headed to the arena (we asked them) and got on the wrong bus. When the bus got a few blocks closer to the arena and then turned on a side street, we just bailed and walked the rest of the way with those same Warrior fans.
• The arena exterior generally looks nice and they have a beautiful huge video screen on the outside they used for an outside watch party (saw that as we were leaving). But it kind of ruins the arena aesthetic (like an overly big screen in an electric car can).
• There is a huge glass wall over the water side of the arena with beautiful views from the second level concourse.
• Finding your seats is definitely more difficult than a place like G1C, especially for newbies. The tickets have a "portal" shown that you should take to your seat except those really aren't well marked or delineated in the arena. We just kept wandering around until we found ours. Just put freaking section numbers up (they seemed to have those at least intermittently posted on the walls but not on the overhead signage).
• Sightlines are good (to be expected) and our upper-level seats had good views. No complaints there.
• Seating is comfortable and the upper deck seats do have small cupholders tucked in on the ground in front of your seats.
• The arena aesthetic inside is just...off. It's like they were going for cheap Las Vegas or strange hotel vibe or something. There are funky ovals around the tops of columns in the concourse area with pastel-type neon lighting around them and inside the arena the scoreboard aesthetic is cheap gold veneer look that the elderly might think looks expensive. Hard to describe, but it just didn't work for me.
• We didn't wander all around the arena lower level concourse, but I saw really no art or cool stuff like the jersey wall, or the historic neon signs, or the other interesting little stuff at G1C. Maybe had we wandered around some of the other areas? But we went around pretty much the entire second concourse and were in and out of the main entrance. I would think we would have seen something like that.
• The "item of the game" was a black T-shirt (very much like the free gold ones on our seats) they were charging $50 for!!!
• A small soda and small water (disposable fast-food-type cup, not even souvenir!) was over $18. We ate before we went in, so we didn't try the food there.
• They had some nice scoreboard layouts, including some extra screens showing shot charts and some advanced stats. We liked those touches.
• Their arena gimmick is they have these oversized Christmas light bulbs hanging over the ends of the arena (behind the baskets) that they drop down during introductions or whatever and they raise and lower them and change the colors. Interesting concept, but just seemed kind of weird, especially in execution. The display seemed to be random, where I would have expected something like a giant "W" to be spelled out or something to tie it to the team. Nope. Just some Christmas lights going up and down for a few minutes, that's it.
• The arena crowd had some PEAK volume levels that were what I would expect in a Kings preseason or early regular-season game of no interest or consequence. Most of the seats were still empty until a few minutes before game time. It seems that there was more of a casual passion for the game itself (but there was obviously at least some deep passion for the team in general). The game "environment" was NOTHING compared to G1C.
• The fans were generally friendly and pleasant, but there was one idiot behind us who wasn't so considerate. To be expected to find one or two in any crowd.
• We had probably a dozen Kings fans in our section, but the vast majority were home fans, both in our section and in the arena.

Thanks for this! I’ve walked around the exterior in the past and had the same feeling about the huge video board. Otherwise it’s a pretty arena sitting in a great location right on the water.
Honestly, for all of the annoyance of warriors fans and the excitement of the past week, I can’t really blame the fans for not going ape crap over a game three first round game. They have seen some huge games over the past ten years. Can’t totally expect them to rise to the kings home crowd in this series.

 

[Löwenherz]

I don’t know, maybe the Kings were jet-lagged.

Turns out all my meditating on the Warriors response to Sabonis without Green was superfluous. It really was as simple as extending Looney’s minutes, and throwing in Kuminga and J. Green for a spell.

Much kudos to Kerr and the Warriors; backs to the wall and they came back with a disciplined and measured response showing their defending champ mettle. Attacked the Kings mismatched vulnerabilities at the forwards; stuck to the plan of disrupting the DHO that’s been working all series; role players stepped up; and Curry showcased his star power. It was the exact performance and outcome I was hoping to see from the Kings this game, but c’est la vie.

And now it’s the sum of all fears. Not that this game was lost so the series is lost, but the abject panic and mouth-foaming finger pointing that seems to have descended upon this forum and fandom. 24 hours ago the Kings were helmed by a genius with a deep, young, hungry, and versatile roster on the verge of taking down a dynasty and presumably finals bound.

Now the coach is an idiot, the players are useless, and we need to seriously think of blowing it all up once they’re booted from the first round.

This was a dreadful performance and missed opportunity for sure, and there is a time for ennui and despair, but it’s not with the Kings up 2-1 and a chance to go 3-1 with 2 games left at G1C if they steal Game 4 on the road.

If they drop the next 2, fall to a 3-2 deficit, and lose home court, then we can hit every panic button in the cockpit.

 

[mrlaze]

My comment was more directed at the people who only show to pee on a poor game. I was real happy to see the change in mood here when I came back mid season, and these people remind me why I left.

The kings have plenty of flaws and lasts night game was terrible. Theres a reason we got a bunch of these guys for cheap and that it's they are streaky and unreliable. Td, monk, hueter, lyles all seem to come and go. Keegan gets a rookie pass. It was apperent last night Sabonis really needs his right hand. He had 2 or 3 TOs that were just him forgetting he couldn't dribble with that hand. And its hard to post up if you don't have two hands to dribble.

But you know what? They can still win this series. The shots will go at some point.
Next year they can be better.

They made the goal this year, Playoffs.

 

[Fear the Putin]

I don't mind the Kings losing game three, personally. It's the way they lost it that's disconcerting to me. They seemed disengaged. They stopped attacking the rim with the same level of force. They somehow bricked more outside shots than their already sunk average from games one and two. Let me put it this way, though the Warriors have been terrible on the road all season, they're the defending champs. They've been here before. I like their odds of stealing one on the Kings home court. So the Kings need to be much more aggressive about stealing one at the Chase Center in game four.

Solid point and I cannot argue that. How they come out for Game 4 will dictate the rest of that game.

 

[TaxMan]

My comment was more directed at the people who only show to pee on a poor game. I was real happy to see the change in mood here when I came back mid season, and these people remind me why I left.

The kings have plenty of flaws and lasts night game was terrible. Theres a reason we got a bunch of these guys for cheap and that it's they are streaky and unreliable. Td, monk, hueter, lyles all seem to come and go. Keegan gets a rookie pass. It was apperent last night Sabonis really needs his right hand. He had 2 or 3 TOs that were just him forgetting he couldn't dribble with that hand. And its hard to post up if you don't have two hands to dribble.

But you know what? They can still win this series. The shots will go at some point.
Next year they can be better.

They made the goal this year, Playoffs.

I've found the more I follow twitter, read articles and listen to NBA podcasts during a series like this, the more likely I am to totally overreact with a win or a loss. Four days ago, I was feeling great with all of the "upstart" kings comments after game one. Then I'm feeling like the world is against me because we have the dirtiest player in the league and all our efforts in game 2 are for nothing because we'll be getting an asterisk by our four game sweep, then after last night we've come back down to earth and surely this thing is over in 6 on the warriors home court. It's so easy to get lost in the game to game narrative and overreactions. I've told myself to stay off twitter for the next two days.

I suspect Brown has the team in a much better emotional/mental state than I am in during this series and they will come out strong in game 4.

 

[ppine]

The Terriers have always been a great defensive team. That explains to a large extent why the Kings can't shoot very well against them.
Curry, Thompson and Wiggins are scary good from behind the arc. Brown decided to go after them and that makes Looney, and Kuminga the guys that can beat us.
Did the Kings take the night off? I don't think so. They just got beat by the reigning world champions at home.

 

[ppine]

The warriors have done a good job guarding Sabonis in the paint evident by all the turnovers and shots he has been missing near the hoop. Would like to see Sabonis just take the open 15 footers that they are giving him. I think he's more than capable of making them.

Yes. They are giving Sabonis an invitation to shoot from 15 feet. I would tell him to start taking those shots.

 

[TaxMan]

The Terriers have always been a great defensive team. That explains to a large extent why the Kings can't shoot very well against them.
Curry, Thompson and Wiggins are scary good from behind the arc. Brown decided to go after them and that makes Looney, and Kuminga the guys that can beat us.
Did the Kings take the night off? I don't think so. They just got beat by the reigning world champions at home.

And I would add, that I do think Green is a valuable piece to their overall team. He provides them with an edge (often over the top) and holds their defense together. If he was out for the rest of the series, I do think it would be a blow to their chances. However, if they were going to lose him to a suspension, last night was the absolute best night for that to happen.

 

[mrlaze]

I've found the more I follow twitter, read articles and listen to NBA podcasts during a series like this, the more likely I am to totally overreact with a win or a loss.

...

I quit all social media for my health in general right as covid was ramping up. Its been great.

16 years of futility and nba refs helped me detach my emotions from this team. This is now "sports entertainment", so I try to be entertained, and not a fanatic.

 

[QWERTYLICIOUS]

I quit all social media for my health in general right as covid was ramping up. Its been great.

16 years of futility and nba refs helped me detach my emotions from this team. This is now "sports entertainment", so I try to be entertained, and not a fanatic.

Just for the record, you can be on social media, and not be a fanatic at the same time - both ARE NOT related...

 

[QWERTYLICIOUS]

My comment was more directed at the people who only show to pee on a poor game. I was real happy to see the change in mood here when I came back mid season, and these people remind me why I left.

The kings have plenty of flaws and lasts night game was terrible. Theres a reason we got a bunch of these guys for cheap and that it's they are streaky and unreliable. Td, monk, hueter, lyles all seem to come and go. Keegan gets a rookie pass. It was apperent last night Sabonis really needs his right hand. He had 2 or 3 TOs that were just him forgetting he couldn't dribble with that hand. And its hard to post up if you don't have two hands to dribble.

But you know what? They can still win this series. The shots will go at some point.
Next year they can be better.

They made the goal this year, Playoffs.

Also, and I hate to sound like a broken record at this point, because I truly AM repeating myself...

WE are the ones with a 2-1 series lead, and NOT THEM. We ONLY have to win TWO more games. They HAVE TO win THREE more games.

This series ain't over for the Kings - not by a long shot...

 

[captain bill]

On top of the 3's not falling, what got into Malik Monk?? That's easily the worst he's played all year. He had a chance to come in and help right the shop, but instead looked like he'd been haunted by the ghost of Jimmer Fridette.

 

[ShastaKingsFan]

Did the team stay in SF? I think I would have chose to drive home

 

[pdxKingsFan]

Does anyone feel the warriors played their A game? Like is this the best they can play? Have the kings played their A game yet? Im curious if this was the gsw played a B game and we played an F or a D. Like we are up 2-1 without playing our best. We have shot AWFUL from 3 this series, which is not the norm from what we have seen all season. If the warrors play this way and we play to our potential do we win the series? I feel we can

Not really. Steph was Steph and Looney was incredibly effective. A few guys hit big shots when we went on a small run but it was basically a two man show. We stunk but even after the third quarter which was a total disaster it was still a 12 point game - same as the half.

 

[QWERTYLICIOUS]

Does anyone feel the warriors played their A game? Like is this the best they can play? Have the kings played their A game yet? Im curious if this was the gsw played a B game and we played an F or a D. Like we are up 2-1 without playing our best. We have shot AWFUL from 3 this series, which is not the norm from what we have seen all season. If the warrors play this way and we play to our potential do we win the series? I feel we can

Warriors - not even close to their A game. If they had played their A game, we would have lost by 20+ (maybe even 30+).
Kings - no, we have not played our A game yet. Games 1 and 2 were maybe solid B games for me, but they were good enough to match the Warriors' solid B games.

And, to answer your final question - ABSOLUTELY, we win this series if the Warriors play the way they played last night, and we clean up some of our faults.

 

[kingsboi]

I quit all social media for my health in general right as covid was ramping up. Its been great.

16 years of futility and nba refs helped me detach my emotions from this team. This is now "sports entertainment", so I try to be entertained, and not a fanatic.

I can appreciate any individuals that do this. I think social media has its positives to maybe keep in touch with family or friends from past if they are out of state or country but when we use it to compare our lives with others and consume news that makes us angry and apathetic then we fall into a spider web. At least with forums we can use some critical thinking and discuss with members both with wisdom and experience and those becoming fans