[Grades] Grades v. Cavaliers 1/12/14

Kings Player of the Blowout?

  • Gay

    Votes: 47 63.5%
  • Thompson

    Votes: 9 12.2%
  • Cousins

    Votes: 2 2.7%
  • Thomas

    Votes: 5 6.8%
  • Williams

    Votes: 1 1.4%
  • Fredette

    Votes: 10 13.5%

  • Total voters
    74
  • Poll closed .

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#1




Holy sockhops Batman! We blew somebody out! Woohoo!

The 44 point margin of victory here was the 4th largest margin in franchise history...as in the entire Kings/Royals franchise history dating back to 1948. It was the third largest in the Sacto era, and the biggest margin since 1993. In March of last year though we did beat the Bulls by 42, so not completely unprecedented of late.

Best part about it wasn't the extended garbagetime, best part is that we did it with defense. After allowing a punchless team to score 32 against us in the first quarter, we held them to 48 points combined in the final three quarters. Kyrie was awful. They pretty much all were awful.

We are now 7-8 since Gay entered the lineup. But now comes the big test. A brutal roadtrip/road heavy stretch lasting all the way into early Feb. it could squish burgeoning improvement right out of existence, or it could forge it into something more legit and reveal us as a dangerous trap team. We'll see, but this was certainly the way to enter onto a stretch like that.

Your Consoritum Graders tonight:
Bricklayer
Rainmaker
Spudfan
Bajaden
MassachusettsKingsFan


Boxscore

Stats: 30min 20pts (8-12, 3-5, 1-1) 5reb 3ast 1stl 3blk 2TO
Gay ( A+ ) -- Tonight was another highly efficient game for Rudy in which he was the best player on the court. The start of the game was a bit rocky though, as Deng scored 5 points in the opening minute. A few possessions later things would change for good after Rudy blocked a Deng jump shot. That block would foreshadow how strong his defense would be the rest of the night. Fast forward to the start of the second quarter and Rudy’s play would shift the momentum heavily in the Kings favor. The shift started when he hit a tough jumper as the shot clock wound down. On the next play he scored again and he followed that up with a steal and full court assist to Williams for an and-1 play. His three pointer soon after would give the Kings a four point lead and force the Cavs to call a timeout. It was a two minute sequence where the Kings went from being down 3 to up 4, they would never trail again. Rudy had an equally impressive defensive sequence in which he blocked back to back shots against Tristan Thompson and Andy Varejao. The second block was picked up by a Cavs player who unfortunately made the jump shot. That was a fake out though, as during the next timeout it would be changed to a 24 second violation and which demoralized the Cavs. His 7 point 3 rebound 2 assist 2 block and 1 steal second quarter was a thing of beauty. The beauty continued in the third and was highlighted by two three pointers and an assist to IT before Rudy got an early night off due to the 28 point lead. So far this season we have went 7-8 with Rudy and there haven’t been many signs of the ball hog or offensive gunner everyone in media told us we were getting. There is no way he can continue to be this efficient, is there? Just imagine if he can keep it up… scary. --Spud

Stats: 31min 8pts (4-11, 0-0, 0-0) 16reb 0ast 1stl 2blk 0TO
Thompson ( A ) -- you know, I'm trying to balance all these grades from Consortium members, and there's all these A's, but I can't really object to them. When you beat a team by the 4th highest margin in the 65 year history of your franchise, must be doing something right. And with Jason, there was only one wart tonight: he shot 4-11 from the field. But first of all, he missed his first three and then settled in and shot 50% the rest of the game, and secondly, he was so good in other areas tonight you barely noticed a couple of extra misses this time out. In the early going he mishandled what should have been a pass for a chippee from IT, and missed several tough contested shots over the other Thompson (notabbly undersized Thompson). But he was a major help on the glass from the beginning on the back line, and we dominated the boards all night against the Cavs. And when he returned to start the 2nd quarter as our backup center not only did the boardwork continue (at one point he was threatening to break his career high), but he started playing one of his best defensive games of not only the season, but...well let's not gush. But he was a major factor in how we were able to start dominating this one defensively, and for one night protected the rim with some passion. Came up with a great follow dunk on a Gay miss after he returned to PF with Cousins back on the floor, and started to get some little offensive moves inside as we again utilized his height advantage. Grabbed board after board after half as we smothered the Cavs and turned it into a rout, and got to watch from the sidelines as the end of the bench cleaned up one of the longest garbagetimes we've had since the Webber years. I did consider the minus for the 4-11, but really, this was the perfect defender/rebounder roleplayer role that we need out of that position every night. For one night Jason brought it for possibly his most effective roleplaying night of the year. --Brick

Stats: 30min 16pts (5-9, 0-0, 6-7) 11reb 2ast 0stl 2blk 3TO
Cousins ( B+ ) -- This was a rare game in that we didn't ask or need much of Boogie on the offensive end, yet we controlled played and ran Cleveland off the court. He didn't see much of the ball on the block nor was he put into iso situations all that often. Part of it was Mike Brown's game plan but part was also us choosing to run a more guard/perimeter oriented attack for whatever the reason. He did come out strong and make his presence felt immediately as he did his work inside early on, to the tune of 9 pts and 5 rebs through the end of the 1st but would add only 7pts/6rebs the rest of the way as statistically roughly half his damage was done in the first 12 minutes. Our offense was clicking pretty well when he returned halfway through the 2nd but didn't take a shot or pick up an assist during that stint. While he wasn't seeing as much of the ball as he normally does, his presence did open opportunities for others as Cle had the focus/attention of their defense geared towards him and shaded him with multiple defenders. We appeared to try to reestablish Boogie to start the 3rd and he did draw a few fouls inside, got to the FT and powered through a double team for an +1 opportunity but our offense then returned to being more perimeter oriented. Cle also was collapsing multiple guys on him every time he attacked the paint as his teammates started feasting on the extra attention being paid towards him as we blew the game open. Had a highlight reel pass when he received the ball outside the 3pt line in transition, hesitated, then dropped a perfectly placed no-look pass into Thornton's hands for the layup. I want to point out that Boogie's defense was at an improved level tonight. Yes he picked up the charge on Waiters and blocked two shots but his defensive rotations down low and especially his pick & roll defense were very good. His reading of where to be, where to help, when to show and then getting his butt in position to follow through on his rotations was one of, if not the biggest factor in our defensive performance tonight. He absolutely did anchor our defense tonight. Yes Cle had an off night but I thought that deserves recognition. Nights where Boogie takes only 9 shots and we run away with the game and post one of the biggest point spreads in franchise history are not something we'll see often but I wouldn't mind making them a more frequent occurrence. --Rain

Stats: 22min 5pts (2-4, 1-3, 0-0) 1reb 3ast 1stl 0blk 3TO
Thornton ( C+ ) -- To be honest, Marcus really didn't do much wrong. To the point, he really didn't much. Usually when I grade a player, I have a whole page and a half of notes. In Thornton's case, I only have half a page, because there just wasn't much to write about. If the Kings had lost, he probably would have gotten a D. But since it was a blowout, and everyone has on a happy face, he gets a C+. He got off to a rocky start by picking up a loose ball off of a blocked shot, dribbled down court and attempted a bounce pass that resulted in a turnover. Marcus almost seems gun shy when it comes to shooting the three. Although he took three 3's, he passed up several. It wasn't all bad though. On one occasion he passed up an open three, drove into the lane and made a nice pass to Cousins who scored. Before going to the bench at the 3:37 mark of the 1st quarter, he did hit his one three of the night. He got the 3rd quarter off to another bad start by making another ill advised pass for turnover. He followed by missing another three from the left wing and a bit later, passed up another open three, put the ball on the floor and drove into traffic and was called for a charge. He closed out his scoring on a backdoor and a beautiful pass from Cuz. To his credit, Marcus did hustle all night long on defense. He only took 4 shots, but it didn't appear that his teammates were looking for him either. When you have three other scorers on the floor, and you passing up open shots, pretty soon the ball stops coming your way. Especially if your missing the one's you do take. Marcus, where have you gone? --Baja

Stats: 35min 26pts (7-15, 2-5, 10-11) 4reb 6ast 2stl 0blk 2TO
Thomas ( A- ) -- Grant and Jerry love to remind us all how badly Isaiah Thomas outplays Kyrie Irving. As annoying as their Thomas propaganda can be, the narrative is true and it happened again tonight. After the game was over Thomas even admitted that Irving was having an off night, which I would obviously agree with, but that didn’t mean Thomas didn’t make a lot of really nice plays on defense. He was a pest for most of the night on that end, contesting a lot of questionable Kyrie Irving jumpers. He only registered two steals on the night but it felt like he had 3-4 more deflections. He was better than usual defensively. It was an interesting game for Thomas offensively in that he didn’t really get going until the Kings had a healthy lead in the 2nd half. His first half offense wasn’t very efficient, and he never really got his jumper going. He was beating Irving off the dribble consistently, though, as most of his points were off of nifty drives to the basket or FT’s from all of his aggressive takes inside. He finished the game with 6 assists, most of which also came when the game was right on the line between real game and garbage time. The Kings would only have 21 total assists anyways, which is pretty low considering they scored 124 points. Thomas was good tonight. Much better than his matchup, but not quite as good as his stat line would suggest only because so much of his damage was done after Rudy Gay, DeMarcus Cousins, and the bench unit gave us a comfortable lead.--Mass
 
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Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#2
Bench

Stats: 17min 5pts (2-3, 0-0, 1-1) 3reb 2ast 1stl 0blk 0TO
Acy ( B ) -- Quincy didn't do much with his first stint tonight. Picked up a foul, got a rebound, then went back to the bench after roughly 4 mins of action. His second stint was noticeably more effective, although we were pushing a near 30 point lead when he checked in so one could argue garbage time had already kicked off late in the 3rd. Got on the end of an Isaiah pass for an alley-oop dunk. Later attacked in the post with a quick spin, pump fake and lefty finish and a foul for the 3pt play. Showed a bit of skill on that play. Brought his usual high energy, picked up 3 rebs, got his hands on a couple loose balls and a steal. Generally was very active, including his cheering and towel waving when supporting the guys from the bench. Not big numbers but filled his role well. --Rain

Stats: 18min 13pts (4-6, 2-3, 3-5) 2reb 0ast 0stl 0blk 2TO
Williams ( B+ ) -- 3 and D indeed, except that the D in this case is dunk. Not the equal of his last couple of performances in that this was more one dimensional, being pretty much scoring and that's it. But that meeting may have D-Will as much as anyone, and he came into this one once again flowing with confidence. Had a good atheltic o-board and follow soon after entering, got a catch and hesitate and shoot three from Cuz, and had 7pts by the end of the first. Came back in the game for Gay near the end of the third and got boarded over immediately as he wasn't really doing much that wasn't scoring oriented. Tried to go for a big tomahawk dunk to end the 3rd but blew it and missed the whole thing. Luckily we were already up by 26 at the time, but he and Ben need to chill a bit with those things. Hugely athletic players who are semi-routinely missing dunks just because they are always going for so much on every one of them. Minutes were cut short tonight as he seemed to suffer some sort of shoulder something and didn't run the garbagetime. 13pts in 18min though, and for 3 straight games now, all wins, we've had a 6th man. --Brick

Stats: 26min 9pts (2-7, 1-3, 4-4) 1reb 0ast 0stl 0blk 1TO
McLemore ( C ) -- Another night where the team just didn't get much offensively from the SG position. Ben went 2 for 7 from the floor and ended up with 9 Points. He came into the game at the 3:37 mark of the 1st quarter, and immediately drove the length of the floor to the basket and missed the layup. Luckily, D. Will was there for the put back. He really struggled defensively when he first came into the game. Waiters just blew right by him on two occasions, once with a great spin move. At some point, he was switched to Irving, and he did a much better job. As a matter of fact, he was pretty good the rest of the night for the most part. On two occasions, forcing Irving baseline and into help defense. MLM has a few things he does wrong on defense. One is cheating too far off his man in case he needs to help. The other is being too aware of where the ball is. You do need to know where the ball is, but in his case every time he turns his head to see, his man is gone. I still think Ben is playing too fast. Almost all of his shots tonight were good shots except a couple of borderline shots. He's simply missing them, and I think he's missing them because he's rushing everything. He appears to have lost confidence in his outside shot, because he continues to pass up open three's. He did hit a three in the 4th quarter off a feed from Jimmer, and his other basket was a running dunk down the left baseline off a nice pass from Gay. Obviously he didn't shoot the ball well, and I think its starting to get into his head a bit despite what he says. Speaking of not shooting the ball well, where did Irving find those bricks he was shooting. Wow, now that is a lack of confidence looking shot. --Baja

Stats: 19min 13pts (5-9, 3-5, 0-1) 3reb 3ast 0stl 0blk 2TO
Fredette ( B+ ) -- The Kings bench unit (I’m mostly talking about Williams and Fredette here) have been great in the last two Kings wins. In the second quarter tonight the bench got the team a solid lead that the Kings never really lost, and Jimmer was a big part of that. He was aggressive shooting the ball again tonight, and that is really when Jimmer can cause some trouble for opposing teams. He hit three 3’s, all of which were in rhythm. He even connected on a 3 that he was fouled on in the second quarter, but somehow missed the free throw. He would come in again in the fourth quarter and added a nice floater and some good passes to his night, but at that point this one was well over. He wasn’t perfect, though. He still had a few of those Jimmer plays that make him look like he doesn’t belong in the league athletically, but they didn’t hurt the Kings tonight. One thing I’m definitely noticing with Jimmer is that Malone is starting to trust him with more minutes and longer stretches of playing time. You have to give him credit though, he’s earning it.--Mass

Stats: 7min 6pts (2-4, 2-3, 0-0) 2reb 1ast 0stl 1blk 0TO
Outlaw ( B ) -- Outlaw went into the game with only 7 minutes left and the Kings up 38. He made sure to make good use of the garbage time minutes by knocking down two three pointers and getting an impressive block on Alonzo Gee. There was also a nice drive and dish that lead to a Jimmer 3. Other than that there wasn’t much going on as is typical in blowouts. --Spud

Stats: 6min 3pts (1-1, 1-1, 0-0) 2reb 1ast 0stl 0blk 0TO
McCallum ( INC ) -- McCallum saw about 5 minutes at the end of this one, and didn’t really show much of anything to suggest he should be getting NBA minutes. He knocked down one 3 on a broken play towards the end of the shot clock for his only real highlight. I have to say I don’t love his demeanor on the court right now as a player who isn’t getting any meaningful playing time. He reminds me of Tyler Honeycutt in that he isn’t showing any sense of urgency, or any kind of extra effort to prove to the coach that he should be playing. We’ve seen players in Sacramento make the most of garbage time minutes (Isaiah Thomas, Jon Brockman) and make the least (Donte Greene, Tyler Honeycutt) – I’m not passing judgment on McCallum right now, I’d just like to see more effort out of him in his extremely limited minutes. --Mass
 
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K

KingMilz

Guest
#5
#Thomas crushed Irving yet again
#Cousins effortless border line lazy game from him made lots of good passes stats did not reflect but just so effortless
#JT BEASTMODE ACTIVE !!!!
#Rudy Gay crushed another above average SF so that's Deng/Parsonsx2/Lenoard/Batum. Rudy was the player of the game for me
#DWill other than the missed dunk beast
#SG's missing as always
#JIMMER!!!! great game from Jimbo
#We stomped every last single competitive cell in the Cavs being
 
#6
Great team defense, really showing Malone at his best given that really none of our players would be considered great defenders, but rotations and communication was great after that first quarter. Gay is so smoothe and you can tell he feels comfortable playing with Cousins and IT. JT is getting back to what we were used to over the last couple of seasons, playing with energy, mopping up the boards and giving us the occasional half hook in the post by simply out working his guy. IT owned Irving tonight, you could say Irving had an off night, but IT was all over him most of the time and most importantly made him work like a dog on the other end.
 
#7
voted Gay as the best player. dominant on both ends, especially his helpside defence stuck out. getting legitimate shotblocking help from the SF spot would go a long way helping to fix the Kings' defence.
 
S

SacKings2002NBAChampions

Guest
#10
A's all around
So many A's that not even Harvard seems prestigious enough ;)

Amazing game. We finally have a team going here.
Thompson has been one of the keys for our interior defense. He has done an incredible job even motivating Cousins to play better post defense. I just hope JT doesn't continue his ritual of playing a few good games and then a lot of crapty ones. We really need him to be consistent if we are to stay a competitive team.
Rudini is really a perfect mold out there. I always complained that 19 million is too much for him (and it is) but that will hopefully turn into 10-12 million in 2 years time...
IT has been the weakest link on defense for a while but he's really stepping it up. Props to him. He's really changing a lot of people's minds one game at a time. I would still prefer a pass first PG and a consistent SG who is above average from 3 but this lineup seems to be working well.

Here comes the biggest game changer and reason why we have a 3 game win streak.....BENCH!
Amazing bench presence lately from Jimmer and D-Will. We knew both guys had the potential but they are finally showing it and hopefully on a consistent basis now.

SG is our weakest link and unfortunately, that will be a hard position to strengthen without a trade involving Ben Mac. I just don't think he will amount to anything for many different reasons...
 
I

I~true

Guest
#12
IT destroyed Irving obviously he is the player of the game. He should be considered with ALL the elite PG's in the league, bar none.
 
#14
#Thomas crushed Irving yet again
#Cousins effortless border line lazy game from him made lots of good passes stats did not reflect but just so effortless
#JT BEASTMODE ACTIVE !!!!
#Rudy Gay crushed another above average SF so that's Deng/Parsonsx2/Lenoard/Batum. Rudy was the player of the game for me
#DWill other than the missed dunk beast
#SG's missing as always
#JIMMER!!!! great game from Jimbo
#We stomped every last single competitive cell in the Cavs being
Dude you forgot about Acy.
 
I

I~true

Guest
#17
What PG is producing like IT right now? At least statistically. Homer or not he gets it done.

Great team effort. Nice supporting players to Gay & Cousins. They destroyed a team that should match-up well with them.
 
#18
I'm glad I don't have to grade DMC. His numbers, for any other King, would be outstanding, but for him tonight felt decidedly below average.

Also, I'd love it if we had the luxury of utilizing IT in a Bjax role. He has so much energy.
 
#22
If IT was 3 inches taller this whole board would be clamoring for us to sign him to a Tyreke level contract. Guess what you will be hard pressed to find PG's with the intangibles, speed and shooting ability of IT.
3 problems with this:

1. IT isn't going to grow 3 inches, which would still make him barely 6'.

2. There are other issues besides his height that make him ideally suited for a 6th man role, and a 6th man salary.

3. Most importsntly, we just had a great win so why try and bait another IT argument?
 
#23
How refreshing it is to witness a Kings win where DMC does not have to put this team on his shoulders?

That is a great sign. I don't mean to get ahead of myself, but this team looks like it is finally turning the corner. Yes, there are still aspects of this team that need much improvement, but we are seeing our guys play team basketball and that's a huge step forward. I'm proud of the effort, energy, trust, and execution that Mike Malone has them playing with right now. By no means is Cleveland a great team, but give this team credit for getting the job done. Let's take this momentum on the road!

Rudy Gay is a monster. Jimmer Fredette is playing solid basketball and we're getting production from our bench.

I love this team!
 
#26
3 problems with this:

1. IT isn't going to grow 3 inches, which would still make him barely 6'.

2. There are other issues besides his height that make him ideally suited for a 6th man role, and a 6th man salary.

3. Most importsntly, we just had a great win so why try and bait another IT argument?
This x1000

The team was great tonight. IT included. We don't need another "He's the greatest starting PG ever" VS "He's a step above Nate Robinson" argument. Just enjoy the win folks!
 
#28
Cheers from Houston, Texas!!! Unfortunately, my viewership of Kings games will be extremely limited until I return from my 2+ month trip, during which my time will be spent with my sister, brother in law, and 2 nieces. Along with my brother and future sister in law for about a week later in the trip. Not to mention a 2 week visit to some family in Atlanta a few weeks after the Super Bowl.

I am glad to have seen such a dominant box score for tonight's game, and as some have mentioned, we did it without Booogie putting up huge numbers. I see we shot very well, and our defense was pretty good.

I wish I could be more in tuned with the games for the next 2+ months, but I guess I will have no choice but to find out about our performances from those on this board.

PS: I do have some good news.....Kings-Pacers is on NBATV so I will be watching it on Tuesday.

I now have some great news. Sis and BIL got tickets to the Kings-Rockets game next week, so I will be there!!! (My Christmas present from them)

GO KINGS!!!!!!!
 
#30
Voted for Rudy. He continues to impress. Just makes it look effortless. So smooth out there. Granted tonight was a team effort, but I really think it was Rudy's play at the beginning of that 2nd quarter that shifted the momentum in this game. In his last 3 games he's averaged 24.7 pts on 63% shooting, not to mention almost 7 boards a game to go along with 4 dimes.....Keep it up Rudy.

Anyone else think of Alex English when they watch Rudy Gay?