The Sonics could easily win the next one

punisher

Prospect
I understand a win is a win, ugly or pretty, don't matter that much in playoffs, but this is the thing...I feel the Kings got away with this one, they got outrebounded badly, they pulled a 14-10 as-TO ratio, shot selection was pretty wrong and they still made it...why? Because a) tonight they were hitting their jumpers and b) Seattle was even more careless on the ball while going 6-23 form 3pt land...

Kings could win again but at this stage, it would require another inspired evening out of the guards, and by that I mean fg% only...42 shots from Mike-Cat-Bobby is pretty dangerous especially having in mind the Sonics cut off our offensive rebounding....

I feel Adelman, despite his post-game relief and the game won, is still concerned about team-play and is looking at several elements Kings are still unable to turn into their advantage...defence looked pretty good most of the time but it is absolutely imperative they do something about J.James, which is pretty doable the way I see it...I know, and I still don't believe it in full but the guy is a serious threat...

The Kings need to make a better balance on the offence, more action needs to be done around the basket, Kenny Thomas has been a rock and Bibby in the first place needs to get him involved as much as it is possible for him to do, add Brad and Skinner to the mix, Kings do have the firepower down low but need to utilize it more then they did last night...off.rebounding is troubling but the Sonics topped the league during 82 games, ain't much that can be done there...

One-on-one is killing this team and its chances of going through, guards could have another great scoring night but the Kings could lose easily...more movement on the offence, use the big guys more...
 
Could go either way -- both teams certainly have room to improve and players playing below their potential, but both teams also have guys playing above their heads too. There's no guaranteed outcome, but I would think homecourt would give the edge to us.

Not sure I can go along with the inside play comment though -- the Kings do not have a single strong big man post player among the current frontcourt, and certainly nobody who can consistently post against the considerably bigger and stronger Seattle frontline. Think that kind of plays into their hands -- its what their big men are good at, and ours are bad at. Last night thought we did a pretty good job attacking them with jumpers and drives to try to take advantage of what we are actually able to do well. I don't think that's the route to any sort of real postseason glory, but against a Sonics team loaded with big, tough and slow frontcourt players it might be enough.

I keep on waiting for James to ahve a game where he starts off with a traveling call, maybe an offensive foul, gets flustered, in foul trouble, falls out of rhythm, and is only able to give them maybe 9pts 4rebs in 20min or something. And then he keeps on kicking our butts and making our big men look very very small. Hard to imagine a guy as limited as he is could consistently have games like this every single night throughout a 7 game series though.
 
Last edited:
i think the only way to contain james is to keep him from doing little things. NOT BOXING OUT CAUSES ALOT OF PROBLEMS FOR US. when we don't box out and put a body on james he gets those putbacks which are easy stat builders. brad miller is good to have on the floor because he creates space which helps james stay off the boards a little. i liked what bobby and mike did last night and that was attack the bucket. bibby got a few and one's against james. he's no shaq guys. we can lessen his production.


bottom line is this. allen played a great game. james played a great game. the kings did a pretty nice job slowing everyone else down. and that's what you have to do. i like the quick double teams on lewis and the aggressiveness on allen. the sonics offense is much easier to stop than sacramento's. we just have to cut off their penetration to the middle and kick out. they run it every time down the floor. we just have to tighten a little more screws and we'll be in good shape.
 
Last edited:
So Could the Kings ...

Each game takes on a personality ALL IT'S OWN ...

We have YET to see the King's bring what they are capable of doing. Potential is worthless if you don't know what to do with it.

These guys know what to do and what it's going to take to get a W on Sunday.

FOCUS - INTENSITY - COMMITTMENT

Talk is cheap ... as cliche' as it sounds ... GOTTA WANT IT - GOTTA DO IT

Without it, Seattle will have their way.
 
Sure... they could win the next game. After game one's comback it looked like we could win game two if we played decently. We had a bad game, they had a worse game. I think we played well but I just feel we could have done a lot better if we had played consistant defense in the 2nd half as well as not taking so many shots when the momentum wasnt on our side. We need to play a good game. We must stay aggressive and focus for 48 minutes. Thats how we will win game 4.
 
B_I_C, we won a game. Let's see a purple letter!

IMO, the two keys to Game 4 are Jerome Abdul-Jabbar and Peja Stojakovic. I think the game plan in the first quarter is to find James, and just run a guard into him, get contact, and throw up a shot. He's not too quick, so I think it can be very easy to pick up two quick fouls on him in the first four minutes. He can't hurt you if he's on the bench.

And if someone - ANYONE - can send a memo to Peja telling him the playoffs have started, that would be nice. I appreciate the effort on defense, but his shot just isn't there yet. If he can get it going, we will win Game 4 and the series. If not, there will be SERIOUS questions regarding his future with this team in the dreaded off-season.
 
As long as KT keeps attacking and driving the lane I can take not having a post up player. He is too fast for almost every opposing PF.

As far as whether or not the game could go either way, whatever. All I want to see is 100% effort and last night was about as much as you could have asked for.
 
Sacramento Kings!

^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Taken from B_I_C's signature.


Now, that's what I'm talking about!!
 
JayBird said:
And if someone - ANYONE - can send a memo to Peja telling him the playoffs have started, that would be nice.

That might be the problem -- I think somebody already did. ;)
 
SacTownKid said:
As long as KT keeps attacking and driving the lane I can take not having a post up player.

We have no choice but to do what we can do, but a driver is nowhere near as useful as a real post player because a) unless he's actually got the skills to drive and dish, its not nearly as effective at distorting the defense and opening opportunites on the perimeter for teammates; and b) you can't go to it consistently when you need a score late in a tight game. I've watched these playoffs around the league as teams late in close games needing a hoop repeatedly throw it into Shaq or Pau or even Jerome James with a severe case of post player envy. Makes the game so much easier.
 
i think KT needs to drive because it would get James/Evans into foul trouble and we could really use that!
 
I know some people are taking the 14 assists as a negative, but look at how many times we got to the line last night. Since we have no post player, driving is our only option as far as keeping our Jumper game going. There are only so many times you can pass the ball against a man-to-man defense. If you want to be the aggressors and dictate the flow, you'll have to make a move.
 
Last edited:
To get anywhere, these Kings have to start trusting each other. They have to look for each other, and stop being so selfish. I am also very concerned about them. I hope that Rick is working hard with them in practice to improve their offensive attitude. These past 3 games have not been representative of the Sacramento style of basketball (mainly offense) that I have grown to love over the past 7 years.
 
Packt said:
I know some people are taking the 14 assists as a negative, but look at how many times we got to the line last night. Since we have no post player, driving is our only option as far as keeping our Jumper game going. There are only so many times you can pass the ball against a man-to-man defense. If you want to be the aggressors and dictate the flow, you'll have to make a move.
Yes, postgame Coach T said with many more drives to the basket, the assists went down. So it isn't such a negative. And getting to the FT line & making the shots was big. And there were more times last night when the ball was passed more than once before the shot. That was nice too. Sometimes they just seem to forget what's working for them...like the last few minutes of the first half.

What I was encouraged by is that everytime the Sonics made a run, the Kings responded.
 
kennadog said:
Yes, postgame Coach T said with many more drives to the basket, the assists went down. So it isn't such a negative. And getting to the FT line & making the shots was big. And there were more times last night when the ball was passed more than once before the shot. That was nice too. Sometimes they just seem to forget what's working for them...like the last few minutes of the first half...

I think what we may be seeing is the evolution of the NEW Kings. Not quite so much passing, more driving the paint, etc. My main hope is that we will continue to shoot well from the stripe, which has always seemed to be the ultimate downfall of anybody wearing a Kings uniform at the most critical junctures.

As long as the low assists aren't primarily because of one shot and out, I can live with it...especially when we win.

;)
 
Back
Top