Kings @ Bulls

[ADoaN17]

Good start

[SacKingZZZ]

Smart sure doesn't live up to his name sometimes. His rotations are much better than Westphal but he's just not hitting the mark either. Somebody get this man a tape of the Bulls or any other respectable team on how to run a real rotation. Leaves guys in for 16 straight minutes and then platoons a whole new crop of players at the same time. Great way to ensure zero cohesion. Also not using his players to their strengths. If he's going to platoon play Jimmer because any time this unit comes in cold and they give you points in a miracle. First step is running Hayes as your first big off the bench if your going to not look for D at PF and scoring from JT instead and putting him in there next to Cousins, that way you can slide JT in to replace Cousins. No more Hayes as a backup C please because he's just not a post player, however he's going to do what he did to Boozer to most frontcourt players that have been kicking the Kings in the ass most nights.

[RIPskaterdude]

Wow, sure is quiet in here tonight. Kings have made an amazing comeback, but it might end up being a loss anyways.

[ADoaN17]

Nice fourth quarter. At least they didn't quit when they were down.

[SacKingsPejaFan]

Yep, that's ball game. Great 4th. Just wasn't enough.

[bibby1023]

No defense this game or what?!? No way bulls should score that much without rose. I didn't watch the game just saw the score

[BrooklynBulls]

No defense this game or what?!? No way bulls should score that much without rose. I didn't watch the game just saw the score

The Bulls are actually one of the most efficient offenses in the league. Top 3. And that's with Rose missing a bunch of games. And Rip. And Deng. And Noah and Gibson missed 1 each.

With that said, somebody greased the rims tonight, because both teams were hitting some ridiculousness.

[Cruel_Ruin]

Kings' overall team defense is still very much a work in progress. Teams that execute well tend to slaughter us. Rotations still need to be cleaned up. The Bulls beat us with great ball movement, and eventually the Kings' rotations couldn't keep up. The Kings usually do well defending one on one play, but when teams start cutting, using screens, and move the ball our young dumbness rears its ugly head. Pretty expected for such a young team.

Thankfully the offense was humming along relatively nicely (With the exception of certain sucky veterans) and kept it close, plus a fourth quarter explosion was pretty cool to see. Our established core did what they do, young roleplayers like IT, Thompson and Donte continued to play well. Unfortunately, when your "defensive" players like Hayes and Salmons give you zero on that end, their zero on offense becomes much less palatable. Garcia's game has fallen off a cliff, he moves like a 40 year old out there. Hickson continues to piss me off with his uselessness on defense and his ballhogging on offense. 2 rebounds in 18 minutes is unacceptable. We could use a Brandon Bass type bench big to come in and score some points because God knows Hayes will not do that.

[KF10]

Good effort by the Kings.

These type of losses I don't mind.

But one negative was that the team sometimes ignores Cousins and opt to jacking up some crazy shot instead. Cousins was man handling Noah around the basket all night. I wanted the Kings pass the ball to Cousins more often and take advantage of that.

[RIPskaterdude]

Donte had a great first half, and then didn't see the floor until late late 3rd Q. Not a big fan of that move, especially since Salmons was playing like crap.

[twoolfork1]

I know that Salmons awful play is well documented on this forum but man he was trash again tonight. 1 for 8 I think it was.

If he were a young player he would be in the D League by now but since Smart has sooooo much respect for his veteran presence and his accomplishments he keeps playing him and starting him. At some point you just have to give his minutes to Donte and Cisco.

[RIPskaterdude]

Donte really should start, but Salmons is even worse off the bench so...what are you gonna do? Keep your highest paid player on the bench every night?

[SacKingsPejaFan]

Donte really should start, but Salmons is even worse off the bench so...what are you gonna do? Keep your highest paid player on the bench every night?

Absolutely yes. His contract is a sunk cost. If I spend $100 on an electric toothbrush that makes my gums bleed and electrocutes me everytime I use it, should I keep using it just because I spent $100 on it and can't return it? Why keep shooting ourselves in the foot by playing him instead of more productive players, where by "more productive," I mean not the most negative value of any player on the entire team? It's time for the organization to cut its losses with Salmons and bury him on the bench. Unlike some people on this board I'm not willing to forgive Petrie for the acquisition just because Salmons had 1 good game this year.

[MVP Rose]

DMC is awesome.

from an outsider's perspective, hope the kings start running the offense through him, and not evans. Seems like nothing but good things happen when Cousins has the ball in his hands.

[khufure]

hey, great game kings fans! your team is far better than when last I saw them.. and damn cousins looks good now!

wanted to chime in and give your announcers props, it was a real pleasure. they're class acts.

good luck rest of the season

[pillwenney]

Man, it's amazing how different stats can be from the eye test. For a lot of the game, I just didn't like how we were doing things offensively. And yet, when I looked at the score, it was pretty high. I didn't feel like Tyreke was really doing much good out there until the 4th, but low and behold, he had a great statline. I didn't feel like we were hitting our FTs and oh--look at that. 22-28. Weird.

Our D certainly could've been better, but the Bulls made a lot of shots tonight. Just needed them to miss a couple more times, really.

Anyway, the guys kept fighting, and just couldn't get a stop in the end. Can't complain too much over all.

But I do agree that Donte should have come in the second half much earlier for Salmons. Salmons just wasn't helping in any facet of the game at all.