By Stephen Tetsu, Runner-up for Rookie of the Year
Pretty sure that's gotta be a foul on someone.
And now it's a streak! But boy howdy, was it ugly.
You can say many things about the start to the season. You could say it's surprising. You could say it's given you hope. You could say that this team plays good defense. You could say that this team plays so ugly it gives you explosive diarrhea.
Yes, believe it or not, the Sacramento Kings have started off the season 3-1. The last time we started 3-1, piksi was still writing game threads! (See the evidence here ) Also, Donte Greene was our starting small forward and Francisco Garcia started the season opener (sadly, he's still better than both of our current shooting guards combined). Most disturbingly of all, Luther Head was a rotational player.
But back to our 3-1 start. Things are getting wild in Kings land.
I mean, this is unprecidented! This is crazy! Well, not Ron Artest crazy but possibly RomCom crazy or soap opera crazy or something in between. Before the season started, most of our esteemed national pundits were looking at the Kings as a possible choice for "Worst of the West" and yet one week in, here we stand in the middle of the pack for the playoff hunt (too early? Probably). There are little kids now tuning into Kings games who weren't even born the last time the Kings didn't suck. Heck, I'm pretty sure Nik Stauskas was still in elementary school the last time the Kings made the playoffs.
The point being, we've waited a long time to be good again. Now, I'm not saying that we are good because that would totally jinx it and ruin my day but I am saying that if there ever were a time for the Kings to stop sucking, now would be the time.
I mean, barely even two weeks ago, a large chunk of the members on this very site were resigning themselves to another lottery bound, twenty-something win season mired in mediocrity and Reggie Evans shooting jumpers. While it's still early in the season, I think it's safe to say that if Mike Malone can keep his squad playing defense like they have been, twenty-something wins would be a huge disappointment. With all that said and all that good cheer in the air, we're probably going to wind up losing fifteen in a row and end up replacing Mike Malone with Kenny Natt again.
But focusing on the uglyfest that was the road game against the Nuggets, the first word that comes to mind is grit. Considering how hard the team fought to beat the Clippers the day before and how Denver is hard to play in or whatever, the Kings really had no right to win this game.
Thankfully, the Denver Nuggets are pretty "not good" at this point in time as recovering Gallo plays like a drunk college student in rec league, Faried and Lawson are still ill-suited for Brian Shaw's system (if he has one) (and they're also very short), Aaron Afflalo apparently forgot how to shoot over summer vacation, and the Nuggets generally don't know how to defend a team that attacks them in the paint.
Even though it was a close game, it wasn’t really a “close game”. Demarcus convinced Michael Malone to sit the starters until there were only a few minutes left so a lot of the closeness can be attributed to our bench players facing off against the Nuggets starters for a lot of the second half. Also our starters looked more lethargic than Chuck Hayes after hitting the buffet line so it's really a miracle we ever took the lead in the first place.
But once again, the Nuggets are the Nuggets. And thus our non-smallballing, defense-playing ways were too much for their, well, Nougaty goodness.
Post of the Game
We're all gonna DIEEEEEEE!!!!!!!! Pessimism of the Game
Awards Time
Tony Delk Memorial Award- Wilson Chandler went crazy, rabid (read: not awesome) beast mode on us in the second half but aside from that no one really worked us over more than they should have, which is probably a sign that the defense is churning out some good performances.
Jason Hart Award- Derrick Williams is like a human sad trumpet sound. At least he grabbed some rebounds against Denver, on most occasions these days he doesn't even get you those. Additionally, his hair looks weird.
Mikki Moore Award- Ben McLemore usually has one awesome dunk per game. And then nothing else. On offense at least. Recently his defense has been picking up. But still.
Shareef Abur Rahim Award- Today and everyday until he retires, the geriatric junk shooter Kobe Bryant. Have fun sucking, a-hole.
Mateen of the Game - Ryan Hollins. The dude is up and on his feet almost every play, even if he still in warmups. Might've even seen some towel waving to boot. #TeamPlayer
Thomas Robinson Award- Nik Stauskas's statline: less than two minutes of play, three fouls, one ticked off Joey Crawford. Welcome to the NBA, rook. Now work on trying to make a shot or two.
WTF Moment of the Game- Joey Crawford and the refs get confused and think they're recording a novelty rap song about girls, promptly turn the game into a seven hour long, two-hundred foul slugfest. If Dick Bavetta were reffing this game, he'd have probably died of old age before the fourth quarter.
The View from the Other Side
The views of the Denver Nugget fanbase over the course of the game via DenverStiffs.com (not a porn site, I promise)...
Tonight's Game
And thus ended Denver Nuggettes: The Musical
Hey, this team looks familiar.
After besting the Nuggets in Denver, the Sacramento Kings look to repeat the deed on the homecourt hardwood, this time hopefully well-rested and eager to built on our hot start prior to the schedule stretch from hell. Seriously, whoever decided to schedule the gauntlet for the Kings this early into the season needs to be fired or, at the very least, thrown down a deep, dark hole. Someone of us are trying to dream of the playoffs here!
Unless you weren't paying attention on Monday, you probably know more about what the Nuggets are going to do to win the game than I do since I was distracted by workstuff over the course of the game (Yes, I watch the games on International League Pass at work. Whatchu going to do about it?)
Brian Shaw's rotations are a mess. I'm too lazy to check but I'm pretty sure he used every person on his roster plus a couple janitors, one of the ballboys, and a bachelor party visiting from Colorado Springs. While Mike Malone isn't exactly Rick Adelman with his rotations either, you at least have the feeling that he'll at the very least find a way for Rudy and Cuz to get the ball down the stretch when it matters. Meanwhile in Denver, their crunch time strategy largely appears to be throwing junk balls at the rim and hoping some of the shots finally bounce in while there's enough time to get back in the thick of things.
I don't want to say that the Nuggets are mediocre but the only non-asterisk plus player (read: above average) on their roster is Ty Lawson and even he is in that second or third tier of point guards who aren't average but aren't all-stars either, regardless of what their fanbases think.
If our backcourt plays good defense yet again, our chances of extending the streak increase exponentially. Meanwhile, as long as the frontcourt doesn't lay a gigantic fat egg, they (well, mostly Demarcus) can largely steamroll their way to dominance against a bunch of guys who, while good, aren't exactly world-changing talents.
Also, Manimal has to be one of the dumbest (and only) nicknames in the modern NBA. The dude's 6'7" and playing power forward, if he wasn't fighting hard for rebounds and running the floor, he'd be pretty useless. Why not a more fitting nickname like "Try-Hard Guy" or "Sparky, the Wonder Midget"?
Things to do in Denver
The Denver Botanic Gardens are, according to their website and Google, a world-class garden. They also apparently offer Wi-fi, which is nice because lord knows I'd be completely lost without the ability to do some remote office work from the middle of a field of odd flowers from Zimbabwe.
Matchups
The bench versus falling back down a hole- You had one good performance. Let's follow it with another.
Shooting guards versus sucking- You know, it really doesn't hurt to make a shot every once in a while.
The National Media versus us being predicted to suck- Suck it prognosticators!
Demarcus versus their many big men- Demarcus wins. Always. No offense to Mozgov, Dinkleberry, McGee, Janglepuss, and Scuttlebutt. He just does. It's a law of nature. Just like gravity. Or Amanda Bynes falling off the wagon.
Odd substitution patterns versus actually winning games- Mike Malone wins. This time.
Predictions and Final Thoughts
I don't want to get all overconfident and jazz but I really do think we can win this game. We're at home and rested, the home crowd should be rocking and momentum is on our side. Oh, and Rudy and Cuz will probably play more than half the game this time.
Therefore, I will continue to be Mister Happy-go-lucky and say the good guys prevail 97-88. Let's get this streak going!
Go Kings!!!!
PS The Suns tried doing the old "Snake-in-the-water-cooler" maneuver. Here is the underwhelming result.
