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Dustin5566 wrote:Anyone elses CSN say the game is blacked out?

xx_skaterdude_xx wrote:I blame this loss on Mitch.

SacKingZZZ wrote:Hopefully Cousins is OK, why did he sit for almost all the second half and come in at the end?

mitchweber wrote:
He started visibly not giving a s**t in the second half and Westphal pulled him. It was the right thing to do, but it sure didn't help our offense to go with a Jackson/Dalembert lineup for a while.

Anyway, like I was saying earlier, execution kills us a lot more than talent, and man was that clear tonight. The Spurs just never stopped doing the right thing.

There was a mentality that Adelman used to have that pissed me off and I've seen it elsewhere too, of "Well we know they're going to make a run. So we just have to be prepared for that and be ready to respond." The Spurs tonight showed how that concept is crap. The other team will only make a run if you play worse--plain and simple. We kept trying to get back into it tonight, but when the other team doesn't stop being excellent, there's really nothing you can do if you're the inferior team.

I would put the blame for this one on our defense, but I just don't know what we were supposed to do differently. Offense in the NBA essentially boils down to getting an advantage and then doing the right thing when you get that advantage (and in the playoffs, often succeeding despite the lack of an advantage). The interesting for the Spurs I think moving forward will be to see if they can consistently get enough initial advantages. Because if they can, I think they could win it all this year. Because Christ are they well disciplined. But anyway, point being in relation to tonight, we just didn't have the guns to keep them from getting an advantage. Tyreke flat out couldn't guard Parker, and it started there. But point being, there was just no making up for it because every time they're up on you in any way, boom. You're dead. Little late chasing someone off a screen? Boom. You're dead. One guy doesn't get back and you have a 5 on 4? Boom. You're dead. Turn your head from your man for 2 seconds? Boom. You're dead.

So again, it's hard for me to blame the defense because there wasn't much we could do. There was a lot more we could do offensively. The obvious one there is simply making shots that these guys can make. This is more of a mental thing than a skill thing. The Spurs got inside our heads tonight simply by being really good. Like I've said a few times now, things have such a tendency to snowball with this team. Demarcus' slow start wouldn't have hurt him and the team so much if the Spurs didn't really make us pay for it. But they did and then they just plain didn't let up and there wasn't really much we could do about it. This plagued us throughout the whole game. It's no coincidence that when things are going better with this team and there's a generally positive feeling or positive momentum, that everything else falls into place. Donte starts making his jumpers. Sam starts making his otherwise seemingly ridiculous little fadeaways. Beno makes his 3's. Landry scores better inside. Demarcus plays under control. The whole team makes free throws like they can.

Tonight things went badly, and again, it was so mental. Sam was missing easy finishes, as was Darnell--probably 8-10 points missed on easy finishes like that around the basket. Along with that, nobody was making outside shots (which is one of the more blatant things that hurt). Now unlike the other parts, this had to do a little more with personnel and decision-making. As we know, we're simply not a good outside shooting team, but part of it also falls on Tyreke. Tyreke has fallen into a bit of a habit of starting games shooting jumpers. When he stopped doing that and worked on penetrating tonight, things went so much better. But it's a lesson he has to learn over and over. Just because he is slightly improved with his J doesn't mean it's a good shot within the offense. Catching and shooting is one thing, but the only guy on this team who should be pulling up for a mid-range J is Beno. Otherwise, it's simply not an efficient shot--especially from Tyreke still.

KF10 wrote:The surprising thing from tonight was the sluggishness from the beginning (1st quarter). It was almost like they said to themselves, "Man, this team is 42-8, there's no way in hell we can beat them". It's frustrating to see them falter like they did tonight, considering the fact that the Kings did not show any sluggishness in the Lakers & Hornets game from the get go. This team isn't mentally ready to transition themselves to a good team yet. To become a good team requires discipline & consistency in all facets of the game. The Kings are neither. I don't know when they will make the leap but one thing is for sure, the Kings have a long way to accomplish that goal.

And +1 to everything mitch said.