Kings @ OKC...The Battle of the Sewer Rats

[deNIEd]

Jerome James?

[pillwenney]

Jerome James?

Okay, and almost everybody else?

And besides, it's pretty tough to count a guy whose career high in PPG was 5.4 (especially when he did that at age 27). His peak was the playoff series against us, when he was a few months away from 30.

[SacKingZZZ]

It's nice to see the young guys get a chance to grow and know that this the players playing will actually be here for awhile! Slowly but surely things are coming together and they are beginning to play well as a TEAM. It will be ugly for stretches but it will come together in time, I'm sure of it.

[cdt3]

Beno is our golden ticket to a lottery PG. We cannot closeout games, same ordeal every game. Why does Natt overract with JT's foul trouble and be stingy with Donte's minutes and not giving him a chance to measure up to Durant when we are going to lose close games whether he plays them or not. They must be trying to move Mikki.
By the way the Jazz were so bad with Carlos Boozer by himself in Utah that they thought Jerry Sloan had lost it and they got some #3 pick on a PG named Deron Williams and made the playoffs the next year. Now Sloan is a genius and Boozer is a monster because of Deron who closed the 2 games this year with us without Boozer. We need a closer. No need to trade everyone at a firesale (Miller for Capspace is ok), I wouldn't trade Salmons unless we get something special he is a monster. Beno gets a great job also.

[KM44]

^Thompson has fouled out the past 3 games. That's why. Natt thought the kings had a chance, so why would he put in donte?

I really enjoyed watching this game. Our team played well and just couldn't quite close it out. Durant went off, and there was truly nothing we could do about that. But we contained Westbrook and Green, we gave Beno a chance to show what he could do, and Salmons had 11 assists!

Now what I didn't like was how thompson and hawes are finally getting good minutes and their only grabbing 6 boards, especially thompson (supposedly he's a beast, but I haven't seen him prove it with consistency). Honestly, he got 36 minutes. I mean, even durant got 7 boards!

Nevertheless, I was content with their performance, and with a washington victory, we're the worst team in the league again!!!!

[Nicky Nix Nook]

^^^says the Thompson hater.

[wiff]

Hawes is a funny dude

That suit= Man Crush!

Green and Gold is never garish. Pimp maybe, but never garish.

[SacKingZZZ]

Beno is our golden ticket to a lottery PG. We cannot closeout games, same ordeal every game. Why does Natt overract with JT's foul trouble and be stingy with Donte's minutes and not giving him a chance to measure up to Durant when we are going to lose close games whether he plays them or not. They must be trying to move Mikki.
By the way the Jazz were so bad with Carlos Boozer by himself in Utah that they thought Jerry Sloan had lost it and they got some #3 pick on a PG named Deron Williams and made the playoffs the next year. Now Sloan is a genius and Boozer is a monster because of Deron who closed the 2 games this year with us without Boozer. We need a closer. No need to trade everyone at a firesale (Miller for Capspace is ok), I wouldn't trade Salmons unless we get something special he is a monster. Beno gets a great job also.

You see, this is where I'm not so sure our main problem lies. I think getting down as much as 20 and then having to fight your way back is the problem. Teams rarely get over that hump when they go down like that time after time.

[KM44]

^^^says the Thompson hater.

I'm not a thompson hater!!! I just have high expectations for him, and I have yet to see him reach them on a consistent basis.

[cdt3]

He is making rookie moves with bad fouls, but he is a rookie. This is the time to have guys learn to play with fouls and close games. What are we going to lose if JT fouls out or Donte plays? This is prime learning time and Natt is still trying to win. He should be finding what works against Durant since a small SF didn't work. I am a Salmons lover but he shouldn't be playing more than 30min right now. If JT is allowed to get in not get yanked when he gets a foul and he is playing well so he can learn how to not get fouls in the situation when we are actually playing for something next year.
They are called rookies for a reason. Let JT play through them he will make more good decisions than bad he is the best decision maker we have.

Having 3 guys in the starting lineup with less than 2 years starting experience and 2 more guys off the bench with less than 2 years really cannot add up to a lot of wins. The good news is they will all be a year older when we get a PG who can run this show and finish games. We have a good group, but they're young and they need a leader. Young cores means up and down performance. I would bet on JT being the face of this franchise for a long time to come. I am very sure Petrie will also.

[King Baller]

The guys battled back. Could not get over the hump.

Beno is making the Mav's want him more.

Hawes did have a nice suit on

KB

[pillwenney]

You see, this is where I'm not so sure our main problem lies. I think getting down as much as 20 and then having to fight your way back is the problem. Teams rarely get over that hump when they go down like that time after time.

I think it's safe to say they're both pretty big problems for the team. We haven't trailed by 20 in all of our close losses, but we still have lost almost all of our close games. But you're also right.

I'm not a thompson hater!!! I just have high expectations for him, and I have yet to see him reach them on a consistent basis.

I'm not really sure what you're expecting. He fights hard, and does a great job rebounding considering he could still use some work on his fundamentals there. And yeah, he fouls a lot. Most rookies do. But more than anything, he has been pretty consistent for a rookie. If you're judging by veteran standards, of course he has been inconsistent. But that's because he's a rookie, and he shouldn't be judged by veteran standards.