Gee this is fun.
In case you are wondering, Kings record for longest losing streak this millenium? 9 games. Game 8 for us is coming up in Cleveland. Absolutely 100% no way this should be happening this season, in Boogie's 5th year. None.
Oh, and here's a shocker for you: we got blitzed on defense again. From 3ptland in the third quarter even. Maybe the worst part is that coming off the unexpected 4 day break Boogie had started this one off extremely energetic defensively and looking like he wanted to turn back the clock on our season. Two quarters later he was frustrated and sitting with 4 fouls, and we let another team drop 39 on us in a quarter. The pace was good though.
Boxscore
Stats: 32min 22pts (8-17, 2-5, 4-5) 3reb 3ast 0stl 0blk 2TO
Gay (C+ ) -- almost his entire positive contribution in this one came in an 18 minute span stretching from the mid first quarter until halftime. He scored 17 of his 22 points in those 18 minutes, and was never a real factor in any other aspect of the game. For the first 6 minutes of the game he missed an around and out corner three to start, a side pullup, and then wisely backed off until we called a play for him out of a mid quarter timeout. But that play resulted in his first hit of the game, and he began scoring in the various ways a Rudy Gay can. Grabbed a missed Ben three and went right to the rim. Hit a three after coming back in the mid 2nd. Declined a corner three with 30sec to go in the half, nearly blew our 2 for 1, but drew the foul with 27 secs to go to keep it, and the pair of FTs got him to 17 by halftime. There had been some forces, there wasn't a whole bunch else going on, but with Cuz swarmed and harassed by the Chuckwagon in there, it was critical that Rudy step up as the leading man, and he had. Then the second half came about, and he was a ghost. Had not scored a point by the time we lost Cuz in the mid 3rd. Responded to us losing Cuz by forcing a shot and airballing it, letting the Raps get out on the break and hit a three the other way to go up 4. Finally got his first hoop of the 2nd half with 4min to go in the thrid on a drive and pullup. He'd ad a FT and an easy dunk from Sessions to close the quarter, and that was it. And the offensive disappearance wasn't made up for by other things. Was made to run some smallball PF, and you could see him in there trying to board but just not coming up with anything. Nor could he avoid all responsibility for the barrage of threes. The numbers say he did his job, and I won't disagree too strenuously. He did his job in an average non-impact sort of way. But when called to step up he just wasn't there. --Brick
Stats: 30min 6pts (2-5, 0-0, 2-2) 3reb 2ast 0stl 1blk 1TO
Thompson ( D ) -- you know, we just really can't afford to have such consistent non-production from JT. 6pts 3rebs in 30 min? That wacky 20-20 game from a couple of weeks back just jumps out as one of the wildest aberrations of the season. He hit two shots on the night, a little flip in the paint on a nice Rudy pass in the first quarter, and then a facing jumper in the second half after we were getting embarrassed again. He was worthless on the boards as we got pounded. Boogie was moving on defense and being swarmed and being swarmed on offense and never seemed quite able to fight through it, you would have thought/hoped that would leave the glass open for JT, but he was just gone as well. There were a few moments of good interior help defense, but when Cuz was out or switched, Val worked Jason over easily. In the first quarter he left Amir open at the three point line, dared him to shoot it, so he did, and made it of course. In the third there wasn't a thing he could do inside about the rain of open threes all around the perimeter. We used him as the backup center in this one, bringing in Landry for Cuz and moving Jason up. But in the first half he was no more than a placeholder, and did basically nothing except not be short. And int he third quarter Boogie's exit was immediately followed by a complete collapse. Primarily Jason's fault? Of course not. But Val dirtworked him, beating him on both ends and on the boards, so Jason certainly wan;t helping. Its just not enough. I don't think Jason's processor works at multiple speeds (or at all some nights), but if a team is swarming Boogie every possession you would absolutely love somebody at the other power spot who would step up and start racking up numbers until they stopped. --Brick
Stats: 30min 13pts (5-10, 0-0, 3-4) 4reb 4stl 2stl 2blk 9TO
Cousins ( C- ) -- Tonight’s game was a grade of two halfs. Two very different halfs for Cuz who came out hustling on defense right from the start. Stayed out on Valanciunas out to the 3 pt line then hustles back and blocks a Lowry layup, then knocks away dribble of Val to start a fast break. Equally active on offense as well, passes out of double team to DC for 3, great bounce pass off break to Ben for quick layin, smushes Val down low for 2 hand dunk, dominating inside and Valanciunas only shooting jumpers. Steals a long inbound pass resulting in Kings score, draws offensive foul from Val. Then in the last 2 min of 1st guarded by Chuck Hayes. Really good 1st quarter for Cuz at both ends. Cuz comes in for Carl half way thru the 2nd with Carl contributins 7 pts in 7 min with good defense. Hayes back on Cuz, both doing lots of smiling and chatting. But Hayes making DMC work a lot more for his shots as he had 2 years of practice while at Kings. Cuz game has dropped down a notch or two in 2nd Q at both ends as Hayes is keeping a body in and on Cuz and defending him well. Good team first half, tied 54-54. Cuz only has 9 pt and 3 reb, 2 stl and 2 blk. In quarter Cuz has small tweek of ankle and hobbled a bit but seemed ok in 2nd half. First half grade B-. Cuz and Val start the 3rd. Good overall Kings defense, ex-King Pat Patterson on Cuz quite a bit, who bothering him for sure, Cuz gets offensive foul pushing him off. Valanciunas goes 6/10 shooting and 9 reb getting the best of Cuz in 2nd half. Cuz then gets his 4th foul at 6:55 remaining in the 3rd vs.Val who took a rebound away from him. Cuz back to start the 4th with Hansbrough trying to guard him as he spins under basket for 2. Tries that again but tripled teamed and ball knocked away. Cuz losing another ball on move to basket for his 9th TO. Game a run away and at 5:15 Hollins in for Cuz as game out of control and McCallum in for Rudy. Cuz not a good game, in 30 min only 13 pts, 4 reb, 4 ast, 2 stl, 2 blk but 9 TO’s. Once the 3 rain got going Cuz slows down and becomes more casual not running the floor as in the 1st half. Could be attitude or maybe the ankle but no apparent limping. Second half grade D- for overall grade of C-. --Cruz
Stats: 36min 17pts (6-11, 3-6, 2-2) 5reb 1ast 0stl 0blk 3TO
McLemore ( C ) -- Well, the first half was fun. Too bad the game didn't end there. Offensively, Ben played to a B, but oddly, compared to how he had been playing defense of late, he was surprisingly bad at times tonight. Especially in the second half, when everything just fell apart. Early in the first quarter there was a sequence where I thought Ben was glued to Vasquez. I remember thinking at the time, this is going to be a long night for Vasquez if Ben continues to defend like that. And for the most part, he did through the first half. The second half was another story. Countless times, he just seemed to ignore Vasquez, and leave him wide open. I'll give a little credit where its due. Vasquez is clever and uses screens as well as anyone in the game. He also uses a slow version of a give and go, where he passes the ball to a cutter, moves to the corner, and the cutter passes it back to him. It's not rocket science, but for some reason both McLemore and Stauskas bit on it. There was play near the end of the 3rd quarter when Vasquez had enough time to shine his shoes before shooting. Pretty pathetic! Offensively Ben played well. He started cold from the outside, but got an easy layup on a nice pass from Cuz, and then got to the line when he was fouled driving to the basket. He started the 2nd half with back to back three's, and then the roof fell in. He did hit one more three, but it didn't matter much at that point. The Raptors destroyed the Kings tonight by raining down three's, and Ben was a big part of allowing that to happen. --Baja
Stats: 30min 12pts (5-10, 2-4, 0-0) 3reb 2ast 1stl 0blk 2TO
Collison ( C ) -- well I've mentioned several times its hard, and indeed even kind of pointless to grade Collison every night. He's been a walking B- for a month. So at least he mixed it up a little bit. Unfortunately it was by taking half a step back. It was another one of those games where the opposing PG had a subpar game, but was it DC? Really? You didn't really see it play to play, but he did get into Lowry on several occasions. He also got beat cleanly on several occasions. And for some reason DC, along with every other Kings guard, seemed to have a mysteriously difficult time staying in front of Greivis, and of course was far too small to challenge his threes. There were several plays he made that started out great, and went for naught. he got a steal, but underthrew the alley oop pass to Ben leading to an empty possession when JT got an offensive foul. He made a nice step through move on the break...but blew the layup. he had a few of his normal solid plays. Hit a three in the corner on a kickout from Boogie. Hit several of his little elbow pullups. Had several not so solid plays. Once at the end of the first quarter he tried a drop off pass to Boogie at the top of the key in the final seconds that was so terrible you just slapped your head as the Raptors scooped it up and went the other way and damn near ht the first quarter buzzer beating layup (DeRozan was half a tic too slow). But through so many of our struggles his talent limitations have been evident. He is a floor leader, but he's not terribly creative. Teams are all over Boogie anymore, and why not, we have no answer for it. DC isn't creating many easy shots for guys, and when he tries, mistakes happen. --Brick
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