Game 16 Thread - Kings (9-6) vs Grizzlies (10-7)
Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2022 5:27 pm
The road trip starts tonight with the Kings looking to extend the win streak that is currently the longest in the NBA!
Things I'm looking for tonight:
1. Don't play down. This Memphis team looks like it will be shorthanded tonight, Desmond Bane is out and Ja is listed as questionable as of this morning. We cannot take this team lightly though as they have a very deep roster and are still dangerous without their starting backcourt. We need to come out with a purpose tonight and prove to everyone that this team is for real and we can win the games that we are supposed to.
2. No second chances. Memphis is currently leading the league in offensive rebounds per game and are second in OREB%. Though we are leading the league in DREB%, we are going to have to work to keep Steven Adams and JJJ off the offensive glass and limit second chance opportunities. What's interesting is while we lead the league in DREB%, we are 21st in defensive rebounds per game which goes to show that we are solid on the glass, we're just not forcing a lot of misses. The first step to limiting second chances will be to stop them the first time, which leads me to...
3. Defend something. As I think we all know, we're at about the bottom of the league in most defensive categories. This offense is not going to be sustainable over the long term to rely solely on for wins, at some point we need to defend at a higher level. We knew it wasn't going to happen overnight but Mike Brown seems like he's been doing a great job of holding guys accountable and pushing them in the right direction so hopefully we see that start to show with some defensive improvement over the course of the season.
Things I'm looking for tonight:
1. Don't play down. This Memphis team looks like it will be shorthanded tonight, Desmond Bane is out and Ja is listed as questionable as of this morning. We cannot take this team lightly though as they have a very deep roster and are still dangerous without their starting backcourt. We need to come out with a purpose tonight and prove to everyone that this team is for real and we can win the games that we are supposed to.
2. No second chances. Memphis is currently leading the league in offensive rebounds per game and are second in OREB%. Though we are leading the league in DREB%, we are going to have to work to keep Steven Adams and JJJ off the offensive glass and limit second chance opportunities. What's interesting is while we lead the league in DREB%, we are 21st in defensive rebounds per game which goes to show that we are solid on the glass, we're just not forcing a lot of misses. The first step to limiting second chances will be to stop them the first time, which leads me to...
3. Defend something. As I think we all know, we're at about the bottom of the league in most defensive categories. This offense is not going to be sustainable over the long term to rely solely on for wins, at some point we need to defend at a higher level. We knew it wasn't going to happen overnight but Mike Brown seems like he's been doing a great job of holding guys accountable and pushing them in the right direction so hopefully we see that start to show with some defensive improvement over the course of the season.