Game 8. (2-5) @ Sacramento Kings (2-5). 10:30PM ET. ESPN.
Posted: Fri Nov 15, 2013 11:47 am
Kings Starters:
Vasquez/ Mclemore/ Salmons/ Thompson/ Cousins
After a 5 game losing streak, malone decided to start mclemore over thornton in what turned out to be a blowout win at home against brooklyn. Mclemore struggled and only played about 15 mins, but thornton had a huge game off the bench, and vasquez who had been struggling played his best game of the season. Cousins has been beasting all season too when not in foul trouble.
For us, smith and monroe should have a clear advantage over salmons and thompson, and the kings are not a great 3PT shooting team either so far this season so the way we like to pack the paint shouldnt be as much of an issue as it has been recently. Mclemore, thornton, isiaih, and salmons all have the ability to light you up though so we still have to be careful. I think that offensively, we should have our way inside against this team, despite malone bringing a high emphasis on the defensive end. It will again be defensively for us that will matter. No way should cousins have a big night. He is our primary objective. With this many big bodies, he should be taken care of. However the way the defense has been lately, and with how good cousins is, he might still beat us. The battle with drummond v cousins should be awesome to watch, and i would not be surprised if they thoroughly dislike each other after this game (if they dont already from last year, i cant remember, dre probably didnt play on him much anyway).
Billups apparently missed practice over the 2 day break with knee tendinitis, which was coupled with reports that cheeks was unsure if there would be any lineup changes coming into this game. I personally really hope he does move things around. It appeared during the golden state game that he was realising how these rotations arent working and almost treated it like a preseason game in the way that he was just throwing out all kinds of lineups and went right into the end of the bench. I would be shocked if chauncey is the starting 2Guard in this game. Its time for a change. Whether its stuckey or its pope, it needs to change.
I would LOVE to see a mclemore v pope matchup!
Vasquez/ Mclemore/ Salmons/ Thompson/ Cousins
After a 5 game losing streak, malone decided to start mclemore over thornton in what turned out to be a blowout win at home against brooklyn. Mclemore struggled and only played about 15 mins, but thornton had a huge game off the bench, and vasquez who had been struggling played his best game of the season. Cousins has been beasting all season too when not in foul trouble.
For us, smith and monroe should have a clear advantage over salmons and thompson, and the kings are not a great 3PT shooting team either so far this season so the way we like to pack the paint shouldnt be as much of an issue as it has been recently. Mclemore, thornton, isiaih, and salmons all have the ability to light you up though so we still have to be careful. I think that offensively, we should have our way inside against this team, despite malone bringing a high emphasis on the defensive end. It will again be defensively for us that will matter. No way should cousins have a big night. He is our primary objective. With this many big bodies, he should be taken care of. However the way the defense has been lately, and with how good cousins is, he might still beat us. The battle with drummond v cousins should be awesome to watch, and i would not be surprised if they thoroughly dislike each other after this game (if they dont already from last year, i cant remember, dre probably didnt play on him much anyway).
Billups apparently missed practice over the 2 day break with knee tendinitis, which was coupled with reports that cheeks was unsure if there would be any lineup changes coming into this game. I personally really hope he does move things around. It appeared during the golden state game that he was realising how these rotations arent working and almost treated it like a preseason game in the way that he was just throwing out all kinds of lineups and went right into the end of the bench. I would be shocked if chauncey is the starting 2Guard in this game. Its time for a change. Whether its stuckey or its pope, it needs to change.
I would LOVE to see a mclemore v pope matchup!