The New Cinderella Kings!

QueensFan

QueensFan

Bench
I'm going to go out on a limb and say I predict the Kings will finish no worse than 6th in the West. But even if they only make it to the 8th spot, it doesn't matter, because this is going to be the team that the high seeds are NOT going to want to face.

That's right, ladies and gentlemen, let's welcome back the Cinderella Kings.

This is the team that took the Jazz to a Game 5 OT, the Lakers to a Game 5, then a Game 7 OT.

No, they aren't as talented as two or three years ago, but they are every bit as impassioned, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, they have been written off as a marginal playoff contender. I LOVE when the Kings play the Cinderella role, and I'm getting pumped about them having just that opportunity again this year. With no expectations, there can be no disappointment, but I honestly believe that this team has unlimited upward potential right now, with probably the best starting lineup other than the Pistons, Spurs, and maybe Mavs. No, the Kings don't have the talent to take it all the way, but hell yeah they have the talent to pull off some upsets and make it to the WCF and shock the league.

How pumped does this make you? I'm really starting to feel it - and I'm remembering what it's like to be a Kings fan!
 
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I appreciate your enthusiasm Queensfan, but 6th seed will be tough to achieve, given the way Memphis and NO have been playing as of late. I love that we are underdogs and we are playing with passion and purpose, but we are beating teams that we should beat (at home). Given that we were losing to these teams just a few months ago, things are definately starting to look promising again. Sorry, I had to take the Piksi route on this one.
 
Personally, i think we will make a run at the 7th seed, and your right when we are on all cyclinders, some team in the playoff's will not want to face us.
 
I'd like us to beat some serious teams at home and some decent teams on the road before I annoint us the "Cinderella Kings".

A good home team that plays terrible on the road is still a lotto team.
 
I would love to finish 6th but in order to do that we would have to go something like 23-5 the rest of the way :eek:

I think we dug ourselves to big of a hole and I would just be happy to make the playoffs.
 
Alot of good teams play pretty badly on the road. I think most teams home to be about 500 on the road and win most of their home games.

Playoff teams currently with an .500 or under home record:

Nets 12-16
Philly 9-16
Cleveland 12-14
Indy 9-15
Miami 14-14
Washington 8-16
Denver 11-15
Clippers 13-13
Lakers 13-16
Memphis 13-15
NO/OK 10-16

So it's almost common place:

The only teams who are good on the road are Detroit (19-7), Phoenix (15-9), Dallas (19-7) and SA (19-9). 4 teams in a 30 team league are good on the road.
 
QueensFan said:
I'm going to go out on a limb and say I predict the Kings will finish no worse than 6th in the West.
Click to expand...

WOW !!! :eek:

Good luck with that ..... right now, I'm just hoping to catch Utah ...

.... BTW ... gotta love the passion :cool:
 
bigbadred00 said:
Alot of good teams play pretty badly on the road. I think most teams home to be about 500 on the road and win most of their home games.

Playoff teams currently with an .500 or under home record:

Nets 12-16
Philly 9-16
Cleveland 12-14
Indy 9-15
Miami 14-14
Washington 8-16
Denver 11-15
Clippers 13-13
Lakers 13-16
Memphis 13-15
NO/OK 10-16

So it's almost common place:

The only teams who are good on the road are Detroit (19-7), Phoenix (15-9), Dallas (19-7) and SA (19-9). 4 teams in a 30 team league are good on the road.
Click to expand...

That's why those 4 teams are legitimate contenders and the rest are not (save for maybe Miami).
 
the 6th or seventh seed is going to look ALOT more attractive than the 8th seed this year (or than the 5th seed, for that matter).

THe king's can take Phoenix (2nd seed) or Denver (or womever limps to win the the pathetic northwest and 3rd seed)

But Kings will have a TOUGH time with either Dallas or SA this year. Getting to the 7th (or 6th) seed means they don't have to face either of the juggernaughts until the Western finals, and they DEFINATELY won't have to play both. The 8 seed means you get the one two punch of SA/Dallas (in some order or another. That would suck.



All this said, I think the Kings will have a tough enough time just getting to the 8 seed, getting up to the 6 or 7 is pushing it. The Kin'gs are 5, 6 and 7 games (in the loss column) behind Hornets, Griz, and clips. One of them would have to basically collapse AND the Kings outplay Lakers, Warriors, Jazz, houston and Minny down the stretch to get to the 7th seed. THe Clips are perfectly able to collapse in any given year, but lets worry about catching the other LA team (in the 8 spot right now) before we worry about that.
 
bigbadred00 said:
Alot of good teams play pretty badly on the road. I think most teams home to be about 500 on the road and win most of their home games.

Playoff teams currently with an .500 or under home record:

Nets 12-16
Philly 9-16
Cleveland 12-14
Indy 9-15
Miami 14-14
Washington 8-16
Denver 11-15
Clippers 13-13
Lakers 13-16
Memphis 13-15
NO/OK 10-16

So it's almost common place:

The only teams who are good on the road are Detroit (19-7), Phoenix (15-9), Dallas (19-7) and SA (19-9). 4 teams in a 30 team league are good on the road.
Click to expand...

I think you mean "road record" not "home record."
 
Ok, upon further review, the 6th seed will be tough - but I do not put the 7th seed beyond these guys, and that would be good enough to make a run at the WCF. Yes, we dug a huge hole - but we are not the same team that has compiled our current record. Only two weeks ago I though Artest was crazy for guaranteeing playoffs - now I'm starting to think that if we finish at least 7th, we can really be a factor.
 
mcsluggo said:
the 6th or seventh seed is going to look ALOT more attractive than the 8th seed this year (or than the 5th seed, for that matter).

THe king's can take Phoenix (2nd seed) or Denver (or womever limps to win the the pathetic northwest and 3rd seed)

But Kings will have a TOUGH time with either Dallas or SA this year. Getting to the 7th (or 6th) seed means they don't have to face either of the juggernaughts until the Western finals, and they DEFINATELY won't have to play both. The 8 seed means you get the one two punch of SA/Dallas (in some order or another. That would suck.



All this said, I think the Kings will have a tough enough time just getting to the 8 seed, getting up to the 6 or 7 is pushing it. The Kin'gs are 5, 6 and 7 games (in the loss column) behind Hornets, Griz, and clips. One of them would have to basically collapse AND the Kings outplay Lakers, Warriors, Jazz, houston and Minny down the stretch to get to the 7th seed. THe Clips are perfectly able to collapse in any given year, but lets worry about catching the other LA team (in the 8 spot right now) before we worry about that.
Click to expand...

Very very nice analysis. I agree with most of it. We definitely don't want to play either Dallas/SA. Ideally we would play Denver in the first round. Where I disagree with you and a bunch of people on this board think that the Hornets, Clips and Grizzlies are going to maintain their position. Which I do think is possible, but I just think that relative to them, and all of the other teams you mentioned, we are playing better basketball. It will be a matter of integrity for us, but I think that we have more chemistry, integrity, and skill than the Hornets, Grizzlies, Clips, and all of the other competition that we have. Which is why I think we will make a heavy push for 6th.

Out of 28 remaining games, these are the only ones that worry me:

3/6 @ New Jersey (back to back road game)
3/12 vs. Dallas (at least we are at home)
4/4 @ Dallas (gonna be a toughie)
4/5 @ SA (back to back road game against playoff team)
4/11 vs. Phoenix (I think we can get this one)


Not to say that we will definitely win all of the others, I just think that if we put together a huge streak, we will be right where we want to be.
 
Well Queensfan, some other people are optimistic about the Kings too. Over a Sportsline.com, Tony Mejia has made his predictions for the post-season matchups...

http://www.sportsline.com/nba/story/9253932

No. 2 Phoenix vs. No. 7 Sacramento: Like Miami in the East, the Suns appear stuck with their No. 2 seed, so their motivation is to incorporate Amare Stoudemire into the fold as smoothly as possible upon his return. The thought is that he'll have at least 10-15 regular-season games to work off the rust.
Ron Artest guaranteed a playoff berth, and he's going to be right. The Kings have too much talent to stay home for the postseason and have made up significant ground since acquiring their new small forward. Barring disaster on a five-game East Coast swing to open March, Sacramento will find itself in position to cement a playoff berth down the stretch.

Mejia's always seemed to have a fondness for thew Kings, but he's not the only one out there picking the Kings to make the playoffs. I've seen a few. Dime Mag at Foxsports.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/5350820

We like the Kings to make a late playoff push, but it may be too little, too late. If they do get in, though, that's a scary first-round opponent.


I say, heck yeah, let's be optimistic.:D
 
Dood....the Kings might be 8th or 7th at best, but guarantee you me, they are out in the 1st round. I would be surprised if they get 1 game out of San Antonio or Dallas.
 
I'd say "let the chips fall where they may".
We wanted to face the Seattle the last season and we know the outcome.
 
On ESPN they said that of all the teams not currently in PO contention, we had the best shot and that other teams in the West should fear us (not sure about that part). Artest was the difference.
Personally I think we can do it but how will we do when we get there? Last year's performance was not good and although we have a better team now, do we want to get embarrassed in the first round?
 
PFFFT!! said:
Dood....the Kings might be 8th or 7th at best, but guarantee you me, they are out in the 1st round. I would be surprised if they get 1 game out of San Antonio or Dallas.
Click to expand...
If we get the 8th seed we'll play Dallas or the San Antonio. If we get the 7th seed we'll play Phoenix. If we somehow pull off the 6th seed we get Denver.
 
loopymitch said:
On ESPN they said that of all the teams not currently in PO contention, we had the best shot and that other teams in the West should fear us (not sure about that part). Artest was the difference.
Personally I think we can do it but how will we do when we get there? Last year's performance was not good and although we have a better team now, do we want to get embarrassed in the first round?
Click to expand...

At the risk of starting the peja wars again, before Artest came, the Kings were a better team without Peja than with him. If we had just sat Peja through the begining of the season we'd most likely already be in the 5-8 position already. The pre-Artest, Peja-less Kings were a slightly above average team.

With Artest, and without Peja, we're definitely better than average, but how much better no one knows yet.
 
QueensFan said:
I'm going to go out on a limb and say I predict the Kings will finish no worse than 6th in the West. But even if they only make it to the 8th spot, it doesn't matter, because this is going to be the team that the high seeds are NOT going to want to face.

That's right, ladies and gentlemen, let's welcome back the Cinderella Kings.

This is the team that took the Jazz to a Game 5 OT, the Lakers to a Game 5, then a Game 7 OT.

No, they aren't as talented as two or three years ago, but they are every bit as impassioned, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, they have been written off as a marginal playoff contender. I LOVE when the Kings play the Cinderella role, and I'm getting pumped about them having just that opportunity again this year. With no expectations, there can be no disappointment, but I honestly believe that this team has unlimited upward potential right now, with probably the best starting lineup other than the Pistons, Spurs, and maybe Mavs. No, the Kings don't have the talent to take it all the way, but hell yeah they have the talent to pull off some upsets and make it to the WCF and shock the league.

How pumped does this make you? I'm really starting to feel it - and I'm remembering what it's like to be a Kings fan!
Click to expand...

I just wanted to bump this thread because I know a lot of people thought I was a bit nuts when I called 6th seed. I want to be clear - I am NOT getting ahead of myself, I recognize that we are only 1 game over .500 and by no means are a lock for the playoffs, BUT I think we can all agree that at this point, it would be a MAJOR disappointment if we don't make the playoffs, and it would be a big surprise to me. Furthermore, I want to reaffirm my belief that we will be the 6th seed in the West. We are only 2 games out of it, and I think it is well within reach. One thing's for sure, we really can't afford to stay in the 8th spot. We've got to take this momentum and run with it because let's be realistic, the 8th seed is not much better than not being in the playoffs at all when it means a 7 game series against the Spurs.
 
It's a great night to look back and realize that raw optimism from a little more than a month ago wasn't all just pipe dreams.

I'm enjoying every single moment of our resurrection. Winning is a lot more fun than losing.
 
lol.. Good call. Only 2 behind Memphis, and the way we are playing I suspect that we will make the 6th, and desroy Denver :)
 
Actually, they way we are playing, it's not entirely out of the question that we could catch even the Clippers- if we win both our games against them next month, it's a 3 game gap, just one more than the distance between us and Memphis. I also think the Clips are more prone to meltdown than the Grizz- they don't really have anyone who has ever had to carry a team down the stretch before. Of course, that 5 seed means Dallas/SA (or SA/Dallas in rounds 1 and 2, so we probably don't want that, but still)
 
They may have beaten us in "almost every category" but we beat them in the only one that ultimately counts. Total number of points scored.

;)
 
i thought this thread looked familiar..... but phoenix or denver would be best and i think we could get 6th seed....
 
I'm stating the obvious, but it's amazing how much of a difference one player can make. I mean, seriously. It's ridiculous.
 
As of right now, the seven most recently updated threads have last been posted by someone with the name "kingk_ng". Just thought that was interesting. Okay, carry on.
 
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