Kings/Blazers...12-16-08: 7pm@The Rose Garden

[SacKingZZZ]

Anybody else notice all the spin moves from Jason and Spencer lately? Looks like Reef has been working with these two!

[pillwenney]

True, but when you know that you don't have a shot at winning, it's hard to put in the effort (which is why a player liker Artest is so rare) especially for rookies/young players.

I've been involved with sports my entire life, both team and individual sports. And, whenever a person is facing certain defeat, they always tend to shut off a bit. This is most obvious in individual sports such as track, whenever a person knows they won't win within a race, they always tend to shut down. (Again, this applies a lot more to younger/less experienced athletes opposed to older/veteran athletes) Back to the King's, like I said, if any player wasn't performing well, we knew we were going to lose. The other team knew we were going to lose. Every single player knew we were going to lose. Whether they wanted to or not, chances are, they stop playing as hard.

Suppose I set up 2 basketball games, both 1 on 1, and in both games, I gave the winner $10,000 dollars. Game 1) vs. Lebron James Game 2)vs your buddy you grew up playing with
Chances are, you will be putting in a lot more effort in the 2nd game because you know that you CAN possibly win. You can try all you want, but Lebron will destroy you only putting in 2% of his total effort even with you putting in 200% effort. You know you will lose and you knew that even before you started.

This team just isn't that bad. And I know they didn't approach either of the Lakers games with that attitude. And most importantly, the difference between my friend and Lebron James is astronomically different than the difference between the Kings and even the best NBA teams. The Kings do have a chance against anybody. It's the NBA. Relatively speaking, the talent difference really isn't that great between any two teams. Beno is capable of playing like a top 10 PG on a given night, Salmons like arguably a top 5 SF. Guys win matchups against typically better players all the time.

Even in the win against the Lakers, Spencer scored 11 points on 13 shots, Beno 12 points on 13 shots. Horrible efficiency for both, and that's two starters.

I just think you're off base here--or at least you're off base about the idea that there isn't something seriously wrong with this mentality. Even if the team is just plain overmatched on a given night, there is simply no excuse for the lack of pride the team has shown. I know they didn't go into the Knicks game thinking "well there's no way we can win this one". Not after beating and then staying with the best team in the conference over the last two games.

[King Baller]

I'm surprised so little was said of Bobby Jackson getting tossed because of his reaction to a hard foul. Most likely Bobby said one of the magic words, and said it more than once. Bobby is supposed to be one our veteran leaders and possibly wants to coach in the future. You don't accomplish those things by dropping F-bombs on the refs. After that the game spiraled out of control.

Beno did have 5 turnovers, But JT had 4 and Salmons and Hawes each had 3.....so turning over was a team effort.

The Kings shot the ball at 31 % and were out rebounded by 21!!!

Yep it was a bad night.

KB

[KingInExile]

I'm surprised so little was said of Bobby Jackson getting tossed because of his reaction to a hard foul. Most likely Bobby said one of the magic words, and said it more than once. Bobby is supposed to be one our veteran leaders and possibly wants to coach in the future. You don't accomplish those things by dropping F-bombs on the refs. After that the game spiraled out of control.

Beno did have 5 turnovers, But JT had 4 and Salmons and Hawes each had 3.....so turning over was a team effort.

The Kings shot the ball at 31 % and were out rebounded by 21!!!

Yep it was a bad night.

KB

When a guy gets assaulted under the basket with a forearm to the forehead, he has the right be pissed when no foul is called IMO. This is especially true when the officials seem to be calling every single little "touch foul" on the other end of the floor. I also think that the ref needed to be less of a prick and let Bobby say his piece. He could have very easily said "hey, I didn't have a good angle to see it...sorry...I'll keep any eye on the guy from here on out". Instead he followed the Stu Jackson "I can do no wrong, I'm always right" mold and decided to toss Bobby for getting mad. Complete overreaction by a totally unprofessional official.