[Game] Clippers @ Kings - 10/28 - 7 p.m. PT/10 p.m. ET
- Thread starter Sac.Kings
- Start date
Haha thanks for reminding me they started Lance. Was expecting Gay to go off and this fool takes a miss match we would have had all game and makes it a miss match for the clippers. I'm sure the clippers were happily surprised we did this and they probably were shocked we let DMC post up in the 2nd half when DJ was out.
Very true. Rudy completely shut Lance down (outside of the first three he made) but we never took advantage of him offensively, either because Rudy was too tired/unfocused or because of our offensive game plan. It just baffles me that we have a very imposing, versatile front-line (again, on paper) but choose not to use it to its potential. Obviously, nothing to panic about one game in, but it looks so obvious it's not even funny.
Being stuck down in San Diego this week for work I was forced to watch the Clipper TV broadcast which made the game even more frustrating. I know we all were looking forward to beating the hell out of the Clippers but I'm still very optimistic on this team especially since they had 11 days off since the previous game. Practice and scrimmaging is one thing, but essentially that long of a layoff pretty much forced them to have to start to rebuild the momentum they gained from the preseason all over again. Just look at the difference in our competitiveness after the poor first quarter, we just dug too much of an early hole to get out of.
I also think the panic about Cousins shooting 3's is a little premature at this point. Take a look at the shot chart from yesterday, he still pretty much did most of his work from the paint (6 perimeter shots vs. 15 in the paint). The major difference that the chart as well as the eye test shows is that he is replacing those 18-20 footers that he took last year with 3's. If he can continue to knock them down to keep the defense from packing the paint then he should have the green light. If he goes through another 1-12 stretch then it's time for Demarcus to go back to shooting the 18-20 footers. Either way the starting lineup needs perimeter shooting or else the team will struggle to score 80 on most nights.
I also think the panic about Cousins shooting 3's is a little premature at this point. Take a look at the shot chart from yesterday, he still pretty much did most of his work from the paint (6 perimeter shots vs. 15 in the paint). The major difference that the chart as well as the eye test shows is that he is replacing those 18-20 footers that he took last year with 3's. If he can continue to knock them down to keep the defense from packing the paint then he should have the green light. If he goes through another 1-12 stretch then it's time for Demarcus to go back to shooting the 18-20 footers. Either way the starting lineup needs perimeter shooting or else the team will struggle to score 80 on most nights.
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Well, then he made a mistake. Koufos was unable to guard Griffin, and so was Cuz. Griffin is just too good an athlete and is too quick for either of them away from the basket. Now that Blake can consistently hit that 18 footer, you can't play off of him anymore. Gay did a decent job on him, but the player best suited to guard him was WCS, and he didn't get the chance. WCS is also a very good P&R defender, and Griffin and Paul were killing us with it. In WCS brief 8 minutes in the game, he was one of, if not the best defender we had on the floor. He got robbed of a blocked shot that they gave to Koufos, and he altered a lot of shots that were missed.
Although Cuz scored a lot of points, he had half of the teams turnovers with eight. A couple of them coming when the game was on the line. He has to improve there if were going to be a winning team. There was also some confusion when we were down four with the ball and only 20 seconds left in the game. Not giving him the total blame, but someone forgot what they were doing. He also spent too much time arguing with the ref's. If you want to be a part of a good transition defense, then get your butt off the floor and get back. Talk to the ref's during a timeout. I still love the guy, but I won't gloss over his mistakes. This was a winnable game and we lost it by making mistakes.
Although Cuz scored a lot of points, he had half of the teams turnovers with eight. A couple of them coming when the game was on the line. He has to improve there if were going to be a winning team. There was also some confusion when we were down four with the ball and only 20 seconds left in the game. Not giving him the total blame, but someone forgot what they were doing. He also spent too much time arguing with the ref's. If you want to be a part of a good transition defense, then get your butt off the floor and get back. Talk to the ref's during a timeout. I still love the guy, but I won't gloss over his mistakes. This was a winnable game and we lost it by making mistakes.
And that's exactly my point - Karl shot his own team in the foot by thinking that KK would do a better job on a highly mobile PF than WCS would. Obviously there could be mitigating factors we don't know, but Willie did nothing yesterday to warrant not being trusted, in fact - I'd argue he was our best PnR defender for the 8 minutes he did play. And like others said, it's hard to imagine anyone doing any worse than what we got out of Griffin in the end.
I completely agree. He did make a mistake there...and he also made another bad decision with the Rondo sub for Casspi. What will be most important is how everyone responds when we play them again already, on Saturday. I think we'll have a good chance to win that game, if the correct adjustments are made.
We can contain Griffin by only matching up Willie and Rudy on him. Hopefully that's what happens
Kevin Martin? Pretty sad when you really think about it. The biggest issue is that DeMarcus really has marginal basketball IQ. He gets away with it sometimes because he's so gifted physically and can do things on the court that not many big men have ever been able to do. But just imagine if he was smart enough to know how to read double teams and make good passes, or knew when to take the ball to the hole, or was smart enough to stop dribbling the ball up the court, and, of course, understood that all this negative emotion on the court hurts him and the team tremendously.
According to STR, Karl's gameplan was to force the Clippers into taking and making those long 2s instead of alley oops and PnR pts.
We did exactly that, and it kind of bit us in the ass because Griffin and CP3 were money.
I have no problem with this game plan. It's like forcing the GSW to score in the paint and around the rim rather than 3pters and jumpshots. If they beat us, they beat us.
Ben did a great job running Reddick out of the 3pt line..except for that 1 time.
I'm seeing a lot of progress. This makes me happy.
We did exactly that, and it kind of bit us in the ass because Griffin and CP3 were money.
I have no problem with this game plan. It's like forcing the GSW to score in the paint and around the rim rather than 3pters and jumpshots. If they beat us, they beat us.
Ben did a great job running Reddick out of the 3pt line..except for that 1 time.
I'm seeing a lot of progress. This makes me happy.
Late in the game the Pierce/Rondo matchup they kept getting was killing us. There are times when you can play small ball and times when you can't. I certainly agree with you about WCS. He has the athleticism and length to really bother Griffin. I feel confident that Griffin's shooting percentage for the game would have been significantly diminished if WCS had been guarding him. In defense of Karl, I realize that he's still in the experimenting stage, trying to find out which combo's work and which one's don't. Hopefully we see some adjustments in the next Clipper game.
The thinking was probably to not "throw him into the fire" in his first game, against a top tier playoff team with very experienced 4/5 players. Instead, let him get that first game under his belt with a few minutes....then start him against the Lakers and really see "where he is". If he's good enough tonight, then come back tomarrow and use him heavily against the Clippers