[Game] Sacramento Kings @ Los Angeles Clippers, 12/12/2023, 7:30pm PST/10:30pm EST

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PG taking the rest of the night off with pretendonitis. He logged the most minutes for the Clippers last night .

If the Kings would’ve just come out and matched their energy, Clippers might’ve been folding about now.
 

hrdboild

Moloch in whom I dream Angels!
Staff member
At full strength the Clippers are like a Super Saiyan version of the Pelicans, inasmuch as they are strongest where the Kings are the weakest. Especially when Leonard plays: the Clippers are 7-3 in their last ten games versus the Kings when Leonard was available, and all three losses were one-possession games. Basically, if Leonard plays, the Kings have pretty much play perfectly to beat this team.

The Kings are not playing perfectly.
I can't argue with the numbers but this feels like a different team than last season with James Harden running point.

My impression with the Pelicans is that they keep beating us because Zion can literally only dunk on offense and yet we have no defender who can meet him at the rim and stop him. With the Clippers it's just a steady stream of pick and rolls springing their stars for iso baskets or kick outs to open shooters. We all know what the plays are yet we can't stop them. Which is probably what it feels like to play against these Kings when the threes are dropping. Mostly it just seems like we can't hit the broad side of a barn from outside tonight and yet we're determined to fire away anyway because that's just who we are.
 

hrdboild

Moloch in whom I dream Angels!
Staff member
The Clippers are playing with that Golden State "these guys are scared of us" energy right now. Something else we're really missing tonight is Malik Monk's swagger.
 
Here's what we need to happen in the second half:

Two of the Barnes/Huerter/Monk trio needed to actually contribute on offense or one of them needs to catch fire and put up 20+.

Fox needs to stop yapping about the calls and get his head in the game. Other than drilling three triples he's been part of the problem on both ends. Mix in the mid-range pull up and some drive and kicks, stop falling for Harden's ref baiting antics.

Keegan needs to focus on locking up Paul George. Kawhi is in can't miss mode again and we probably should just let him get his points as long as they're mostly long twos.

Right now the Clippers are shooting 50% from deep. We're overhelping and leaving shooters wide open. Our defense functions best when we anticipate and get over screens instead of trying to rotate everything.

It can be done! Go Kings!
Love this post! We may not have a miracle tonight, but it’s important not to get too down after these duds. We know we have a good team and it’s normal for a team to go cold after shooting the lights out just hours beforehand.
 
Unfortunately, this seems accurate. A better team would stop shooting threes and take the ball hard at the basket. Back-to-back is just an excuse. They're not showing much fight regardless of circumstances.
It's as if the idea of fighting toe to two in the paint never crossed their mind.
 

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
Unfortunately, this seems accurate. A better team would stop shooting threes and take the ball hard at the basket. Back-to-back is just an excuse. They're not showing much fight regardless of circumstances.
The problem is that every time they try to go hard at the basket, someone ends up dribbling the ball off their foot or throwing the ball directly into Kawhi's hands or something.
 
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