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Lets make this competitive

That is not the start to do that.. Oklahoma did not come out with a good % but we have played like nothing offensively to set the tone

Lord have mercy.

I love this team but at this rate the tv is switching to the sweet 16 soon

Outlaw is our best player

Cousins having no impact. Thunder playing him tough

Cousins always struggles against OKC.

OKC knows how to play Cousins so well. Make it hard to give the ball to him in the post. If the ball manages to get to him, OKC collapses on DMC very intelligently. Plus, Ibaka is there as a goalie to stop Cousins too.

DMC's best shot is the perimeter J but even that, he is having a hard time.

Gay has been in some sort of slump recently.

If you have both guys (DMC & Rudy) not having their usual good games, the Kings aren't winning anything, PERIOD.

KF10 wrote:Cousins always struggles against OKC.

OKC knows how to play Cousins so well. Make it hard to give the ball to him in the post. If the ball manages to get to him, OKC collapses on DMC very intelligently. Plus, Ibaka is there as a goalie to stop Cousins too.

DMC's best shot is the perimeter J but even that, he is having a hard time.

Gay has been in some sort of slump recently.

If you have both guys (DMC & Rudy) not having their usual good games, the Kings aren't winning anything, PERIOD.

For me also, and I hesitate to bring it up since he is a controversial figure on the board, but IT's lack of presence and how that has affected the team in the last two games is something to consider as we head into the offseason in terms of the importance of a point guard (either keeping IT or bringing someone else aboard)

Don't forget the Pizza Guy too.

EDIT: Kings2013 beat me to it.

Kings2013 wrote:

KF10 wrote:Cousins always struggles against OKC.

OKC knows how to play Cousins so well. Make it hard to give the ball to him in the post. If the ball manages to get to him, OKC collapses on DMC very intelligently. Plus, Ibaka is there as a goalie to stop Cousins too.

DMC's best shot is the perimeter J but even that, he is having a hard time.

Gay has been in some sort of slump recently.

If you have both guys (DMC & Rudy) not having their usual good games, the Kings aren't winning anything, PERIOD.

For me also, and I hesitate to bring it up since he is a controversial figure on the board, but IT's lack of presence and how that has affected the team in the last two games is something to consider as we head into the offseason in terms of the importance of a point guard (either keeping IT or bringing someone else aboard)

When you run a largely iso based system that relies on very little ball movement and instead on a trio of high usage players it really shouldn't be a shock that a team misses one of those 3. They need to find a system and bring in the right pieces to run a consistent team offense and it sounds like Vivek understands that. At least from the team models he's suggesting they build after, like the Spurs.

Kings2013 wrote:For me also, and I hesitate to bring it up since he is a controversial figure on the board, but IT's lack of presence and how that has affected the team in the last two games is something to consider as we head into the offseason in terms of the importance of a point guard (either keeping IT or bringing someone else aboard)

Definitely. IT's contribution has been sorely missed tonight. He would have made the game more interesting given his success against the Thunder in the past.

But like SKZZZ said, this is the byproduct of iso-ball system. One of the draw backs of such system is if any of the high usage players are not playing well or injured (in this case, Cuz/Rudy; not playing well // IT is out), the team's offense virtually collapses. Even with the big 3 healthy, we are dead last in assist/game and owning a high TO-rate too. Compound this issue by 10x whenever the big 3 plays a subpar game or is missing due to injury.

While lurking on several different NBA forums/websites to gain insight on opinions about the Kings overall, they describe the Kings offensive system as "taking turns". Rudy takes his turn to get his points, Cousins takes his turn to get his points, IT takes his turn to get his points. This is very true, IMO. It's basically having three players taking turns on offense. To me, that shows we are a long way to go becoming a good team.