The Matador Defense needs a change

[CruzDude]

The Kings Bigs took the term "matador defense" to an art form against the Jazz. 72 points in-the-paint is embarrassing, for them and for their fans.

A shot blocker, while effective for some shots, may not be the solution, if he can't clog up the middle to prevent layup drills. As KT illustrated all too well, using ones arms and hands is NOT the solution to guarding other bigs who have free rein down the middle.

But their guards also took advantage as well. Ronnie Price helped some as did Kevin but behind them was virtually nothing. Maybe Muss needs to go to a true zone defense to help?

Taylor didn't help although he was only in for a few minutes. With Artest hampered by his back spasms he was effectively taken out with no one to take up the slack. The Jazz are where we needed Brad.

Solution?? Wow! That's a toughie. There are no ready made defending bigs hanging around out there with nothing to do. Adonel Foyle sure looks good right now but who would Nellie want that we'd be willing to give up?

Thats 3 or 4 in a row that the defense collapses in the second half. We need Ron Ron and Kevin for sure but we need 4's and 5's who can cover the paint and stop the "matador defense".

Soooo, Ron Ron is in and out with his back. Brad is out. Bibby and his clutch shooting is hampered by his wrist and thumb. And our 4's and 5's lack any kind of defensive consistency. Hmmmm.........

 

[SacKings384]

Why no Pota? Kenny Thomas's is awful and his defense is even worse. The Kings need a big man and they need one bad... Really bad...

 

[Bricklayer]

Pretty sure Pot isn't even dressing at this point, which means that we have made the decision to carry 4 small PGs on the active roster (Mike, Price, Hart and Douby) rather than even activating our only healthy center. That's kind of nutty.

 

[SacKings384]

Pretty sure Pot isn't even dressing at this point, which means that we have made the decision to carry 4 small PGs on the active roster (Mike, Price, Hart and Douby) rather than even activating our only healthy center. That's kind of nutty.

Very...

 

[kingsfan101]

Pretty sure Pot isn't even dressing at this point, which means that we have made the decision to carry 4 small PGs on the active roster (Mike, Price, Hart and Douby) rather than even activating our only healthy center. That's kind of nutty.

Don't get to watch any games except ones on National TV (plus when Kings play Warriors). Was reading PBP on Yahoo and following the game thread. Kept thinking all the while, when the Jazz were carving us inside, as to why the hell we don't try Pota. At the minimum, he shall clog the lane a bit, and hopefully, can lay down a hard foul or two on D Williams.

Also, Kevin is pulling a Peja and disappearing in the fourth quarter. This happened vs the Jazz, and also the Spurs. Wonder if it's fatigue, pressure, added attention of defense (though why only in fourth quarter), or being out of offense for large stretches, leading him to be cold at cruch time (likely a combination of many of these factors), but he needs to be more assertive and demand the ball once in a while to keep his rythem going. There is little chance that we shall be able to reduce his minutes, particularly if Bibby is forced to miss some time.

Can someone get in Artest's ears and tell him to share the ball. He has to trust his teammates. He's not Kobe or Wade who can pull a win on the offensive end by himself. Wonder if anyone has the guts to tell him that. It's the job of the coaching staff, but don't think Muss or any of his assistants have the stature to force him to listen to them. The only other people on the team who can say this are Corliss, and to some extent Bibby. Hope one of them steps up.

 

[SacTownKid]

Pot is filling the Tag posistion way off the floor in stands. He is clearly not even a consideration at this point.

 

[CruzDude]

Pot is filling the Tag posistion way off the floor in stands. He is clearly not even a consideration at this point.

Which seems double weird considering 72 pts in the paint. Even if he is as slow as Brad at least we have 6 fouls to use on guys trying to do layups. Or could he even do that? What ever Muss is trying early on is not working.

But what choices does he really have? Leave Pot out of it and then what???

 

[KiNgSbOi101]

I Say Leave Pot Out, He's Horrible And Useless, Wait Til We Get Miller Back And We'll Be Just Fine In The 2nd Half Of The Season

 

[Lamar_Odom]

Pot is filling the Tag posistion way off the floor in stands. He is clearly not even a consideration at this point.

Why not? That's always been a puzzle to me. Why is he not playing?

 

[Troy]

Which seems double weird considering 72 pts in the paint. Even if he is as slow as Brad at least we have 6 fouls to use on guys trying to do layups. Or could he even do that? What ever Muss is trying early on is not working.

But what choices does he really have? Leave Pot out of it and then what???

Exactly if he cannot do anything but give 6 fouls and clog the lane a little I'll be happy. He is a NBA vet and is what we need know, well at least he is tall and big and can play goalie. He isn't athletic, but neither is Brad. At the very least he can clog the lane and dirty up the "Red Carpet" to the rim.


I kept hearing that Muss uses his lineup so I don't understand why we don't use Potato when he is the big body we needed. Teams are obviously exploiting us at will inside, it's really sickening. I know Duncan is good and Boozer is big and strong, but come on, these guys are having career nights against us. PGs like Chucky Atkins and Baron Davis looked like Supermen going to the hoop at will, it is really getting embarrasing! :-(

 

[CruzDude]

I Say Leave Pot Out, He's Horrible And Useless, Wait Til We Get Miller Back And We'll Be Just Fine In The 2nd Half Of The Season

Right....... and at the All-Star break the Kings might only be 15-27 from their 5-5 start. No, in order to be "fine" in the second half we have to have a head start at about the 20-30 game mark. That means consistently winning more than losing. And since there are no easy teams anymore in the west, all the tougher to do. There are only 3 other teams in the west who have 5 or less wins after playing at least 10 games: Memphis (minus Pao Gasol), Minnesota (in basic dissaray) and Phoenix (who we know is mucho better than the Kings).

No, we won't be fine in the second half until the Kings get their defensive act together and hold leads in the second half.

 

[KiNgSbOi101]

Right....... and at the All-Star break the Kings might only be 15-27 from their 5-5 start. No, in order to be "fine" in the second half we have to have a head start at about the 20-30 game mark. That means consistently winning more than losing. And since there are no easy teams anymore in the west, all the tougher to do. There are only 3 other teams in the west who have 5 or less wins after playing at least 10 games: Memphis (minus Pao Gasol), Minnesota (in basic dissaray) and Phoenix (who we know is mucho better than the Kings).

No, we won't be fine in the second half until the Kings get their defensive act together and hold leads in the second half.

Soooo Pot Head Is Gonna Get You More Of A Winnin Record Then Shareef Abdur Rahim?

 

[Kingzrool]

I say at least give Pot a chance to earn his paycheck!

 

[Jespher]

Injuries and Adjustments helped Utah

The big difference in our 22 point defensive collapse vs Utah was that they took immediate and forceful advantage of the injuries sustained by both Artest and Bibby. This was the first kings game I had the opportunity to watch this year, and I was very impressed by how Utah looked like the teams of the last 3 years, opposed to the 10-1 team I had read about. They were playing a very slow tempo, with poor offensive efficiency, and lots of turnovers in the first 2 1/2 quarters. At nearly full strength (no Brad Miller) we were playing the best defense of the season on them, forcing turnovers, and being very effecient in our own sets.

Once Ron was hobbled, and then Bibby went out, I noticed an immediate doubleing of the pace by Utah midway through the 3rd quarter. I think they adjusted their screens much better at that point to get people more wide open, and made the adjustment and commitment to run it down our throuts "suns" style. Their paint work was largely created in the open court, when they were running on us after any kings play (made basket, miss, or TO) and were so wide open that they couldn't miss. That was why we blew the 22 point lead. And that is why they could exploit our front line, the sudden adjustments of Jerry Sloan, Carlos Boozer (a physical beast), and especially Deron Williams.

 

[CruzDude]

Yep, couldn't agree more. But then no one stepped up their game. They seemed to play not to lose rather than playing to win. That usually doesn't work and didn't then.

Against Seattle, the Kings collasped in the middle more than at anytime in the previous 3 games (except for the first half vs. Jazz). But the Sonics aren't as good as any of the three previous either. KT got 14 rebs but against a weaker team. So he seems to play about once very 3-4 games. Hmmm.

 

[gunks]

Kenny got 14 rebs against a weak team...

But wasnt he matched up against Wilcox? Not exactly a scrub.
Or was Wilcox playin the 5?

Regardless...Pot should at least get a CHANCE. I mean, Mo Taylor did...

 

[Bricklayer]

Kenny got 14 rebs against a weak team...

But wasnt he matched up against Wilcox? Not exactly a scrub.
Or was Wilcox playin the 5?

Regardless...Pot should at least get a CHANCE. I mean, Mo Taylor did...

Wilcox and SAR were matched most of the night.

In either case, Kenny played well. But no, obviously he wasn't matched with anybody of note. The Sonics are one of those few teams who arguably have frontcourt problems as bad as ours.

 

[Circa_1985_Fan]

Should be interesting to see how Muss works Brad into the line-up, offense/defense rotation, knowing Brad's prowess on the defensive side of the ball.

 

[Bricklayer]

Should be interesting to see how Muss works Brad into the line-up, offense/defense rotation, knowing Brad's prowess on the defensive side of the ball.

Consider this: Brad was averaging fewer than 30 min/gm before we lost him. I was a bit concerned actually about how he was going to react to that if it was season long. Then we lost him, and in his absence have felt the deficiencies of small ball. Not sure what happens now. Do we play Brad big min because we want to leave small ball behind, even though Brad is big in name only? Does he get worked back in slowly? Does he continue being a $10mil semi-platoon player? We'll see. All I know is that for all his deficiencies having him back in the frontcourt rotation in place of Corliss has to help. Not going to save our softness, but just a quality full sized big has to help.

 

[gunks]

Wilcox and SAR were matched most of the night.

In either case, Kenny played well. But no, obviously he wasn't matched with anybody of note. The Sonics are one of those few teams who arguably have frontcourt problems as bad as ours.

Thanks for the clarification...I dont get to see many Kings games down here in Lakers land

 

[CruzDude]

Well the Clips are a much better team than either the Sonics or Blazers and even tho' we seem to beat them a bunch, Brand seems to tear us a new..... anyway, he is a handful. But they tend to play big so Brad should see more minutes. Same for Mavs and Spurs. But Suns play small so don't expect to see him there much.