There’s a girl in New York City who calls herself The Human Trampoline
Sometimes when I’m falling, flying, tumbling in turmoil
I say “Oh, so this is what she means”
She means we’re bouncing into Graceland...
Sometimes when I’m falling, flying, tumbling in turmoil
I say “Oh, so this is what she means”
She means we’re bouncing into Graceland...
And when you bounce into Graceland with a losing record and missing your second-best scorer, get ready to get bounced right back out of Graceland. The Kings got off to a hot-shooting 9-0 start, but then returned the favor by giving up 11 straight. They finished out the first quarter strong, particularly on the defensive end, only allowing 15 points. But from there, the Grizzlies just took over, slowly and surely building up a +27 over the middle two quarters, finishing up the beatdown late in the third quarter with big men hitting deep threes. The fourth quarter was nothing more than six minutes of early garbage time with Willie and Ben, and then six minutes of legit garbage time with the Mal/Skal duo joining them as Joerger rested his starters for Chicago.
Starters:
Darren Collison (D+) - Played some harassing defense on Conley, who didn't really get off tonight, but missed far too many easy shots for a player who now must be one of the primary offensive options.
Arron Afflalo (C-) - Had quite a few good defensive possessions as if he forgot that he is now old, and can't play D anymore. But on the other hand, stone-handed a layup out of bounds and generally disappeared on offense.
Garrett Temple (B-) - Didn't have a terribly strong game until garbage time, when he started taking shots away from the rookies - as the PG on the floor. He padded his stats in the last few minutes to make his game look on par, but wasn't quite there when we needed him.
Kosta Koufos (C-) - Did his best to make life hard on Gasol, but didn't make life hard on Gasol. Somehow forgot how to rebound, the one problem he really hasn't had this year. Somehow logged 24 minutes in the first three quarters, which is amazing, because I would have guessed like 14.
Demarcus Cousins (B) - Had a classic Boogie game in every possible way. Scored with the J and the drive, gobbled up rebounds, made great passes (and had several should-be assists blown by his teammates), got into a bit of foul trouble, argued with the refs and got a T. Notably finished the game with 9,504 points, passing Peja for #2 on the all-time Kings scoring list with an excuse-me banked jumper from the deep wing (still a ways to go to pass Mitch Richmond at 12070).
Bench:
Ty Lawson (B-) - Was getting to the basket both in the half court and transition, and was basically the Kings' only real offensive threat not named Boogie for most of the game.
Anthony Tolliver (D) - Tolliver was apparently on the floor tonight, not that he did anything of note other than miss a ton of threes and let Z-Bo have whatever he wanted.
Matt Barnes (D+) - Immediately knocked down a three, then remembered who he is. Missed two easy layups, player pretty awful defense, just generally made us miss Rudy that much more.
Ben McLemore (D+) - Came in, hit his first two shots, and looked generally like an NBA player until garbage time came, when he completely fell apart.
Willie Cauley-Stein (C+) - Had a promising if short outing, with flashes of defense, two clean jumpers, and two dead-center free throws. Don't give up on him just yet...
Malachi Richardson (INC) - Had a quiet outing, with one nice drive for a foul, but otherwise didn't get much done aside from Mitch Richmonding the line on his missed jumper.
Skal Labissiere (INC) - Got out there and immediately made Willie Cauley-Stein look like a monstrous weight-room addict. That said, he had a pretty nasty follow-up dunk and played solid D in his short stint.
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