Searching for a Road Warrior

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Well, as most of you already know, it is time to hit the road. And that's where the playoffs will really either be won or lost.

This thread was actually inspired by a brief exchange that led me to look up some stats for the Grades thread vs. Portland. Some remarkable numbers:

Shooting Percentages Home/Away
Bibby
.448 Home .415 Away -.033
Artest
.420 Home .424 Away +.004
Miller
.516 Home .467 Away -.049
Wells
.473 Home .438 Away -.035
Reef
.538 Home .509 Away -.029
Martin
.532 Home .426 Away -.106
Thomas
.511 Home .449 Away -.062
Garcia
.414 Home .370 Away -.044


Not sure I've ever seen an entire rotation that consistently split between home/road. Two differnt teams. At home we have no less than 4 guys, half the rotation, shooting 50%+. On the road, we only have two guys even breaking 45%. Somebody in the rotation, other than the new guy, has got to step up on this trip. Who's it going to be?
 
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Nice idea Brick.

I like how Ron is the most stable of the bunch. I never thought that would be possible for any category.

I think you gotta go with the numbers and say Reef. He is only 2.9% worse on the road, and he has been getting better and better each game. I like how Rick has been rotating SAR/KT/Brad. Reef still gets plenty of minutes. He is just so efficient that he deserves them. He shoots over 50% on the road...works for me.
 
Shooting percetages will drop on the road for most teams, but I believe it's the lack of defensive consistency which is really getting us in trouble on the road. If we had a similar defensive intensity that we have recently displayed at home, I think a lot of those close game losses that we've had would tranlsate into wins. It starts with defense imho.
 
KingKong said:
Shooting percetages will drop on the road for most teams, but I believe it's the lack of defensive consistency which is really getting us in trouble on the road. If we had a similar defensive intensity that we have recently displayed at home, I think a lot of those close game losses that we've had would tranlsate into wins. It starts with defense imho.

That's a reasonable theory, but this year the Kings have kind of defied it. Not sure about defense, because I don't know of a site which lists it, but here are ppg, home/road:

Home
Kings: 101.6ppg

Road
Kings: 95.2ppg
 
I suppose when you have a team like our current one, we have to let defense lead to offense, especially on the road. We aren't even close to the offensive juggernaut that we were for the past 5 years, where we would demolish teams on the road simply by letting our offense dictate the game and getting by with playing adequate defense.

For these new look Kings, it has to start with not only defense, but great defense for us to be able to just compete on the road. The offense will follow suit, but the defense is what will give us the chance. With that said, looking at the numbers, the offensive point differential is just horrid, but again I think good defense can cover up some of the offensive woes we have been displaying on the road.
 
Not sure I've ever seen an entire rotation that consistently split between home/road. Two differnt teams. At home we have no less than 4 guys, half the rotation, shooting 50%+. On the road, we only have two guys even breaking 45%. Somebody in the rotation, other than the new guy, has got to step up on this trip. Who's it going to be?

The shooting percentage is just on off-shoot of the real problem. It stems, in large part, from the fact that no one is getting the same type looks they are getting at home. I think it needs to be more than just someone besides Ron stepping up, I think the team needs to figure out how to play some cohesive, team oriented ball away from home.
 
BawLa said:
I like how Ron is the most stable of the bunch. I never thought that would be possible for any category.
It's not hard to have a similar home/road % when your percentage is that low. (.420/.424)
 
thesanityannex said:
He is a rookie. And I'd actually have to type it.

haha, sorry thought you could understand the connection between "saying" and "typing" on a message board...its basically like saying it...we shouldn't even be discussing this

anyone, the guy who will step up....will be martin...i think he'll finally end his road funk and have some 20 pt games on the road to get us some W's...can't wait to see if im right
 
tradepeja said:
haha, sorry thought you could understand the connection between "saying" and "typing" on a message board...its basically like saying it...we shouldn't even be discussing this
And I thought you would understand how ridiculous it was to compare Garcia's % to Artest's %.
 
I think it has something to do with the human eye. When Kevin stops mid-court to fire-up a shot his brain recognizes all the ancillary objects in his field of view. The clock, the decks of seats, the colors, the proximity of cameras and fans. I think the brain gathers all the available optical data, processes that disparate data, and triggers various motor responses. When Kevin pulls up to take a shot in Dallas or Los Angeles he simply does not have visual familiarity. I think the discrepancy in shooting percentages is more related to biophysics than player-effort.
 
tradepeja said:
the guy who will step up....will be martin...i think he'll finally end his road funk and have some 20 pt games on the road to get us some W's...can't wait to see if im right


Kevin could step it up but after CLE. IMHO. For CLE I think Bibby's going to Light up "the best shooter of all time" (D. Jones' opinion of himself).
 
quick dog said:
I think it has something to do with the human eye. When Kevin stops mid-court to fire-up a shot his brain recognizes all the ancillary objects in his field of view. The clock, the decks of seats, the colors, the proximity of cameras and fans. I think the brain gathers all the available optical data, processes that disparate data, and triggers various motor responses. When Kevin pulls up to take a shot in Dallas or Los Angeles he simply does not have visual familiarity. I think the discrepancy in shooting percentages is more related to biophysics than player-effort.

:D

quickdog wins the thread!
 
quick dog said:
I think it has something to do with the human eye. When Kevin stops mid-court to fire-up a shot his brain recognizes all the ancillary objects in his field of view. The clock, the decks of seats, the colors, the proximity of cameras and fans. I think the brain gathers all the available optical data, processes that disparate data, and triggers various motor responses. When Kevin pulls up to take a shot in Dallas or Los Angeles he simply does not have visual familiarity. I think the discrepancy in shooting percentages is more related to biophysics than player-effort.

Your analysis did not go far enough... what we need to do here is apply quantum physics to the problem. If we consider Heisnberg's Uncertanity Principle; esentially we can either know the speed of the partical or it's location. But if we know one whe do not knwo the the other. I suspect that on the road Kevin is focused on the speed of the particals that make up the molecules that in turn make up the hoop while at home he focused on their location. ;)
 
I really think I'm right on this issue. Pattern recognition probably even works in Fresno! Most of us can walk through our houses in almost total darkness and step in the right places, reach for the light switches, and open doors with reasonable accuracy and precision. Your brain is doing all the work. The eyes, ears, and skin are simply providing the raw electro-chemical data.

Kevin and the boys need to shoot-around for extended periods when on the road, preferably with the noisy crowds in attendance.
 
Hndsmclt and QuickDog-

Your analysis go too deep. Its actually quite simple. Martin regularly dines on Arco's tasty garlic cheese fries before games. On the road, these fries are not available. A simple solution would be to send Martin on the road with a garlic cheese frie MRE. He will feel at home and his scoring will support my theory.
 
Kevin Martin has to step it up on the road if the KIngs want a chance for the playoffs. Martin has to do what he does at home on the road. It just has to happen. He is a great player when when he is at home, but when he is at a different place, things dont' do well for him.
 
quick dog said:
I really think I'm right on this issue. Pattern recognition probably even works in Fresno! Most of us can walk through our houses in almost total darkness and step in the right places, reach for the light switches, and open doors with reasonable accuracy and precision. Your brain is doing all the work. The eyes, ears, and skin are simply providing the raw electro-chemical data.

If your hypothesis is correct, we'd best not trade him to a Western Conference team.
 
quick dog said:
I really think I'm right on this issue. Pattern recognition probably even works in Fresno! Most of us can walk through our houses in almost total darkness and step in the right places, reach for the light switches, and open doors with reasonable accuracy and precision. Your brain is doing all the work. The eyes, ears, and skin are simply providing the raw electro-chemical data.

Kevin and the boys need to shoot-around for extended periods when on the road, preferably with the noisy crowds in attendance.

I think you're in the right ball park, but need to look at home plate from a different angle...

;)

Since Kevin and the guys are so home-oriented, then we need to implant their retinas with "home" images that will be superimposed over the actual images being transmitted from their eyes to the brain in whatever arena they happen to be playing. If the brain thinks it's at home, it will transmit the proper data to the arms, etc. for processing AND successful scoring.

460.gif
 
I wonder what our assist ration is home/away. I also am willing to be that all the other teams % is about the same as ours home/away.
 
Thats a bit depressing. We are playing at home now the way we used to but we suck on the road. To make things worse, we played a lot of games at home early in the season and pissed a few of the chances into the wind :(
 
well we turned things around at home maybe this is the road trip that we turn our road woes around
 
Entity said:
I wonder what our assist ration is home/away. I also am willing to be that all the other teams % is about the same as ours home/away.

Yeah you're right....about all of the teams that will NOT make a difference in the playoffs. Detroit, SA, Dallas, and Phoenix on the other hand, will.
 
quick dog said:
I think it has something to do with the human eye. When Kevin stops mid-court to fire-up a shot his brain recognizes all the ancillary objects in his field of view. The clock, the decks of seats, the colors, the proximity of cameras and fans. I think the brain gathers all the available optical data, processes that disparate data, and triggers various motor responses. When Kevin pulls up to take a shot in Dallas or Los Angeles he simply does not have visual familiarity. I think the discrepancy in shooting percentages is more related to biophysics than player-effort.

Check out the big brain on Brad.

;)
 
This thread is cracking me up! Its like a husband and wife conversation. Two completely different conversations going on and seemingly both sides utterly oblivious to what the other person is saying.:D ;)
 
VF21 said:
I think you're in the right ball park, but need to look at home plate from a different angle...

;)

Since Kevin and the guys are so home-oriented, then we need to implant their retinas with "home" images that will be superimposed over the actual images being transmitted from their eyes to the brain in whatever arena they happen to be playing. If the brain thinks it's at home, it will transmit the proper data to the arms, etc. for processing AND successful scoring.

460.gif

We also have to consider the possibility that the Indian spirits are trying to carry us to the playoffs only to crush our hopes in the most dramatic and innoportune fashion. Either that or Kevin has some native blood in him.
 
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