[Game] Kings @ Warriors 11/02/13 Game Thread

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
#1
KingsFans.com Gameday 2013-2014 Edition
Game 3
Sacramento Kings @ Golden State Warriors

By Stephen Tetsu, Kingsfans.com Senior Non-Piksi


Welp, there goes our chance at 82-0. Who’s ready to start the FIRE MALONE thread?

What a hard fought game. Unfortunately at the end, the new darlings of the NBA came out on top. But hey, we played them better than the Warriors did so at least we have that going for us. Except we play the Warriors, who'll probably be pissed off and angry, tomorrow. Sweet baby Jimmer, things could get ugly.

Then again, with these new era Kings, you never know. Led by an absolutely ridiculous performance by Isaiah Thomas, the Kings rallied from a double-digit deficit to briefly take the lead against a team favored by many to appear in the NBA Finals this season before CP3 and his BFFs in pinstripes finally put away Sacramento for good, leaving 17,317 fans both bewildered and beleaguered.

Unlike the first game of the season and the majority of the preseason, the Kings defensive effort was not entirely there at points in the night, with several mental gaffs and errors coming up costly in the end. Furthermore, the night saw a bit of a regression in the game of Demarcus Cousins, with several mental miscues and emotional outbursts (though I'm still not quite sure about that technical) that proved detrimental to the team overall. That said, the man still put up an impressive statline of 24 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocks, and 3 steals in 35 minutes. If this is an offday for Boogie, the team's future is not as bleak as some would have you believe.

As has been widely documented, our boys in black sorely missed any production from their starting small forward and power forward spot, something to keep an eye on in the coming days. Unlike the first game, the Kings received some production from Marcus Thornton in the form of well-timed three-pointers. For this team to have any success, they're going to need consistent production from anyone not named Demarcus and Isaiah.

More thoughts on the game in a bit but first...

A Brief Distraction
Tommy Lee Jones, a talking dog, and the Kraken all in the same thirty second commercial. And did I forget to mention it's in Japanese?
For some reason, Tommy Lee Jones is like the king of commercials in Japan and it's kind of awesome how each and every appearance gets more and more nonsensical.

Anyways, back to more important matters.
Stat Watch 2013


Observations
  • Demarcus Cousins earned his first technical of the year in the most ridiculous fashion possible, being called for taunting after making a monster block on CP3 in the 4th. While he wasn’t exactly unemotional after the play, he wasn’t exactly Golden Tate waving at the St. Louis Rams either. If the refs had made those sorts of calls consistently over the past couple of decades, Dikembe Mutombo would have been ejected before halftime of every single game for wagging his finger every time he rejected a shot.

  • I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Sacramentan more disliked by the city of Sacramento than Matt Barnes. Even though he’s got it tattooed on his arm, the only way the alleged wifebeater would ever be “Sactown’s Finest” is if the entire Central Valley was wiped off the face of the Earth and every other person from the region was stricken down by a terrible plague. Even then, I’m pretty sure there are stray dogs more deserving of that title than Benedict Arnold.

  • If Patrick Patterson won that starting power forward spot, he’s certainly been doing everything possible over the first two games of the season to give it back to JT. Touted as a good outside shooter, the stretch forward from Kentucky has thus failed to really contribute from beyond the arc. On the defensive end, P-Pat made it look like the rookie of the year version of Blake Griffin had return, surrendering a double-double before the half. While this doesn’t fall entirely on his shoulders, the fact that JT suddenly decided to start challenging shots around the rim also casts his game in a slightly less favorable light.

  • While no one would ever confuse JT or Demarcus for Bill Russell out there, the two bigs have made a concerted effort to improve their defensive game and it’s showing, with both men averaging two blocks per game in this incredibly young NBA season. Couple this with Boogie’s ability to draw charges and interfere in the passing lanes and things in the paint might not be as dire as we thought they were.

  • I know everyone is in love with Deandre Jordan and Blake Griffin but the Clippers frontcourt depth is a mess. I mean, if either of their starting bigs goes down, they’re screwed. Someone might want to check on Raef LaFrentz because there’s a good chance Byron Mullens is his reincarnation, parking himself out at the three point line as if he’s allergic to whatever paint we use to mark the floor. Meanwhile I don’t know what Ryan Hollins has on Donald Sterling but it must be pretty good because I don’t think I’ve ever seen him actually do anything on a basketball court. We saw some of this deficiency late in the game when Doc Rivers started playing Jamal Crawford(!) at the 4 with Blake Griffin as his sole bigman. If they’re planning on getting deep into the postseason, the Clips may want to look into getting another big or two (I hear that Chuck Hayes guy is available).
The View From the Other Side

A collection of comments on the game thread of a Clippers fansite (clipsnation.com) presented without commentary.
  • 7:06 PM “"Sleep Train Arena" ridiculous! I bet us clipsnation fans can each contribute a few bucks to rename it “Clipsnation Area””
  • 7:54 PM “Why Doesn't Sac Just Renovate the Existing Place? The place is intimate and LOUD……. Like the old Sports Arena………”
  • 8:47 PM “I just realized the kings are annoying! hate vasquez… cousins and thorton have stupid faces… and it looks like thomas is becoming a clipper killer”
  • 8:51 PM “What will Hollins do next? This is unbelievably bad.”
  • 8:54 PM “These refs are idiots. Again Barnes getting a flagrant because of his “reputation””
  • 9:00 PM "This crowd is crazy. One of the hardest places to play for sure. You can feel all the craziness just with the fans."
  • 9:26 PM "Demarcus Cousins doing Demarcus Cousins things. Kind of reminds me of Al Jefferson and his hanging on the rim play."
  • 9:42 PM "The Kings can be good with a few more years of maturity and growth. They have good players."
Other Coverage
Soon to be updated

In Other News...

The Kings Instagram season kick-off video countdown is the gift that keeps on giving. Be it the wonderful acting skills of Jerry Reynolds or the metatextual elegance of John Salmons’s smile quota, there’s pretty much something in those 30 different clips for everybody (Unless you don’t like the Kings, in which case- WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU READING THIS FOR?)

Some things I pulled from the video, in no particular order:
  • Mike Malone would appear to be a tough S.O.B. Remind me never to pee him off.
  • As anyone who’s seen one of their Zoom Imaging commercials would know, Grant and Jerry are pretty bad at acting. Then again, their performances are still better than Shaq in Kazaam.
  • Jason Williams’s elbow passes aren’t nearly as cool now that he’s just some retired dude as opposed to when he was everyone’s favorite floppy-haired out-of-control rookie. Stay smooth, White Chocolate.
  • Seeing Hank Turner dunk as an old dude is just kinda sad rather than impressive.
  • JT is a better actor than Grant and Jerry but only barely.
  • It looked like the dude from Mumbai was wearing a Bulls jersey under that shirt.

Good stuff. I anticipate they’ll top this next year with a sixty day countdown featuring Mateen Cleaves waving a towel and dancing while the manager of the carwash at which he works flips out among other great callbacks to our glorious history (I wonder what Pervis Ellison is up to these days).


Awards Time
Tony Delk Memorial:
After having to convince myself not to give the TDM to John Salmons, I found it considerably difficult to figure out anyone on the Clippers deserving of this fine distinction. I could not come up with anyone plus it's really late at night, I've been writing for three hours, and I'm really cranky.

Shareef Abdur-Rahim Award: John Salmons
Oh Johnny Johnny Johnny. What are we to do with you? While his play has been declining at best over the past several seasons, it appears to have completely fallen off a cliff this year. While not contributing at the offensive end at all, it’s been his defensive miscues that have been the most frustrating part of the Stanky Fish’s game this season. On Friday night, there were several times in the third quarter where Salmons inexplicably left Chris Dudley (a solid three-point shooter) wide open beyond the arc so he could randomly park himself in the key. We may be witnessing the end of a career right before our eyes, folks.

Mikki Moore Award: Ryan Hollins
I know I’ve harped on this before but the man simply is not impressive by any means. Here’s his statline for the night: 8 minute played, 1 rebound, 1 blocked shot, 5 fouls, 3 turnovers. Even by Ryan Hollins standards, thats downright awful. I don’t know what his contract is like but I’m guessing it’s somewhere in the ballpark of what we wound up paying Mikki.

WTF Moment of the Game: Demarcus blocks Chris Paul’s shot, is immediately called for the technical foul. Since I was at the game, I don’t know what exactly Demarcus did or said but I’m pretty sure it was all that worse from the majority of the talk that goes on during the course of a basketball game. A complete momentum killer, this single moment changed the entire outcome of the game. Thank you, refs.


Tonight’s Game

Oh boy! I hope they wear the sleeved jerseys today! Seriously, the only thing worse than having to wear stupid sleeves on your basketball uniform is having to wear them with shorts that were probably just hand-me-downs from the Indiana Pacers old duds.

Led by the trifecta of Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, and David Lee, the Golden State Warriors are another of the press darling club, much of the national media jumping wholly on the bandwagon with the signing of Iguodala.

I wish I had more to say but it's a night after a game and I've been writing this for a couple of hours (it's 4:43 AM in Sacramento as I type these words) and I really need some sleep.

Matchups
matchup corner is taking the night off because Stephen is too tired to write. It shall return in the next gamethread.

Predictions and Closure
I think it's time for the first really bad game of the season. The Warriors are at home and ready to avenge a particularly loss. Will it get to Kenny Natt level of bad? Probably not but I'm thinking 124-101 as the final score.

Until next time.
I'll see y'all at ArcoOracle coliseum.

And with that, it's time for me to finally hit the hay.

Not Piksi

PPS: I'll update/complete some sections when I wake up from my much needed slumber.
 
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dude12

Hall of Famer
#2
A tough 3 games to open the season. If the Kings can win this and start 2-1 that would be phenomenal. If Salmons and Patterson would just play ok we have a chance but they have been pretty bad. MT was better against the Clips. So is Luc not ready? If he can go, I'd be playing him as much as possible at SF.

I'm calling a win tonight for the Kings.
 
#3
you've been killing it with these write-ups lately, Tetsu. good job!

as far as the game: this could get ugly. the Warriors might want to atone for both their last game and that preseason loss and are likely out for blood, Bogut's been playing Cuz 2.0 about as well as you can, it's a back-to-back and the team's playing on one of the best home courts in the league. looks like a blowout waiting to happen.
 
#4
If Steph and Klay go 3 point crazy they're a tough team for anyone to beat, let alone with our top-notch perimeter defenders. Kings should look to play the passing lanes in this one like the Clippers did a few nights ago. Warriors have a lot of player and ball movement, but they can be turnover prone as a result. Iggy is going to destroy Salmons.
 
#6
If Steph and Klay go 3 point crazy they're a tough team for anyone to beat, let alone with our top-notch perimeter defenders. Kings should look to play the passing lanes in this one like the Clippers did a few nights ago. Warriors have a lot of player and ball movement, but they can be turnover prone as a result. Iggy is going to destroy Salmons.
Outlaw should get a lot of minutes, as he does match up well against AI
 
#10
hopefully after last nights performance on Defense and the fact that we are going against the best shooting back-court in the NBA, Malone is drilling it into the players today that they cannot keep cheating off on D and leaving open jumpshooters
 

Kingster

Hall of Famer
#13
They've got to have "the others" show up - those being anybody other than Cuz and IT. If they can't win it on skill, they have to make it a scrum and get the game messy with some physicallity. Players like JT, Ppat, and Vasquez have to add a little nasty to their game. McLemore needs to play with some anger; if he fouls out, so be it.
 
#15
I don't see this one going well, to be honest. We've been playing with spirit and toughness, but apart from Cuz and IT, we really haven't been good. Tough game tonight.
Neither do I. We're young, back-to-back, against a potential top 3 West team with a good home crowd. I'll be impressed if we're in the game come the middle of the 4th to be honest
 
#16
Neither do I. We're young, back-to-back, against a potential top 3 West team with a good home crowd. I'll be impressed if we're in the game come the middle of the 4th to be honest
We just did it against a top team in the Clippers, without good performances from a couple big minute players. I don't see any reason why it can't be done against the Warriors. I look for good shouting nights from Patterson and Thornton

One of the things that we, as die hard fans, need to do...is greatly minimize the negative doubt. Lets enjoy our new organization and team with pure fun and optimism. Why not? It can only help
 

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
#17
We just did it against a top team in the Clippers, without good performances from a couple big minute players. I don't see any reason why it can't be done against the Warriors. I look for good shouting nights from Patterson and Thornton

One of the things that we, as die hard fans, need to do...is greatly minimize the negative doubt. Lets enjoy our new organization and team with pure fun and optimism. Why not? It can only help
I see MT as more of a silent pouter than a shouter.
 
#18
We always manage to give the Warriors a good game. I don't expect to win tonight, but I expect us to be competitive. Ppat, McLemore, Salmons, Outlaw are key tonight. If they can't stretch the floor, we won't have a chance
 

Glenn

Hall of Famer
#19
Salmons' minutes have always mystified me. I doubt if we have had a positive thing to say about him when he was here the first time nor the 2nd time. In between, he scored quite a bit for Milwaukee. Are we missing something? He continues to play pretty big minutes. Of course a lot of this has to do with his competition at the position but he's a guy playing out of position, truth be told. His demeanor makes him hard to like but I have seen shots of him smiling like a normal human being on the bench. In any case it is a game face that turns everybody off.

Is he better than we think as the coaches continue to play him year in year out? Perhaps it is that he makes few mistakes. Perhaps he takes the good shots (and they don't fall.) I'm not sure I'll get a reasonable answer.

The bottom line question for you experts is if the coaches are seeing something that we aren't seeing?
 
C

Cold

Guest
#20
124-101? I think not my friend. As a Warriors fan, I know the Kings have had our number as of late. Every game was tight and went down to the wire. A mistake here or there decided the game.

I'm calling it 108-107, Warriors. Only because the Warriors are my 1A and the Kings are my 1B, and the Warriors should be fresher tonight having rested yesterday.
 
#21
I hope they let the boys play tonight. Bogut and Cuz are always rough with each other and I would hate for foul trouble to limit either one of them tonight.
 
#23
Ben has had a rough go of it as well... A lot of folks, including 3 out of the 4 writers of sportsline I believe had him as R.O.Y.. which was a lot to live up to for this young man who will most likely be coming off the bench this year. Hopefully the momentum changing misses start to become influencing the game positively, although of course rookies need a year or two or three
 
K

KingMilz

Guest
#24
Thomas has been god mode against the Warriors last season, if he can keep it up and we get something from MT we could be in with a shot, Vasquez should have a much easier time as well running the offense without Cp3 pestering him.
 
#26
This one could get out of hand. Let's hope we don't leave Klay and Steph out on the perimeter to just chuck up threes all day. There is no need to help out against Lee or Bogut inside, stick on the shooters. Cousins vs Bogut is always intriguing even though Cousins has struggled against him so he might have to take him out to the perimeter and drive by him or distribute more. Can IT make it three straight 20+ points off the bench?