Sacramento (9-10) @ New Orleans (8-11)

[cdt3]

I have watched game after game and Thompson is rarely overly aggressive. He is is just plain aggressive and still is getting calls that a #1 big guy shouldn't get rung on him. He got number six taking the ball to the basket against Songaila and they said he cleared out. There was no clear out on the replay. The fifth foul he was reaching up for a loose ball. The NO annoucers were laughing about how soft the middle was without Jason.

They called a foul on him late in the game Sunday on clear block on DWade because the ref was behind him. They just give the guy zero respect right now. It would be ok if he wasn't our #1 big. Every team has a #1 big and they rarely get shown the door. What big should get respect? Kenny Thomas? Nocioni? Hawes isn't aggresive. I get tired of the same just aggressive basketball and getting called for fouls.

I think this was one of the best and most aggressive games by Thompson all year. He had 20/9 and was on pace for 25/12. I thought the NBA rewards aggressiveness. It does Tyreke who is a rookie. But not Thompson a 2nd year guy and #1 big. He still played very well.

That game just hurt a lot because it would have sent a message to the NBA that the Kings were for real. It is so funny because the Hornets announcers were saying we weren't that good yet CP3 took them from last place to playoffs in his rookie year (yet a playoff team had to beat us by 2 to win the 3 game series).

Thats OK because after SA tommorrow we have Min/Por (No Oden)/Was/Min/Mil. We could go 3-3 or better in the stretch.

[cdt3]

I think with the economy so bad the refs are really starting to favor the home teams with people paying big bucks to watch their team.

[OGSactownballer]

That's a really good point.

Basically we were thrown a little bit of a bone late to keep us from filing complaint with the league about an obviously one-sidedfourth quarter. Realistically, Tyreke should have seen the FT line with and-1's every time he went to the basket - as is customary for star calls. At the point that the refs had JT with the BS fifth and sixth fouls, they had already long since lost control of the game. David West was playing exactly why I don't think very much of him as a player and do not consider him to be an all-star. He was going at Jason in a straight physical assault because he was frustrated that Jason was basically out playing him in the post. If you watch a slow replay of West's fourth foul, you see that he is NOT even swinging at the ball when he fouls Jason, he is swinging DOWN across the front of his head. Couple this with some of the heavy physical by Songaila and Okafor late, not to mention Posey and you can see that the refs lost this in the late third quarter.

Unfortunately, they apparently decided that it was safer to screw us in the late fourth than just call it fair and let the players decide.

[pillwenney]

Well, definitely, definitely the most frustrating loss of the season. You can definitely say that if the game were officiated fairly that we would've won, but you can also say that we would have one if we had shot free throws with any kind of competence. Ultimately, we could have won this game even with the horrible officiating, and our guys just sucked it up at the line.

It's tough to say what the right thing to do on West was. The problem before was that we had Kenny in there basically specifically to guard him, but we were still doubling pretty hard, so it was kind of pointless. But that was really the tough part of the game for us. Tyreke was actually bottling up CP3 pretty well contrary to what the stats show (not all that many of his assists were off of really breaking down the D, relatively speaking). But that matchup on West ultimately killed us defensively. I would have liked to have seen Kenny left alone with him a little bit more.

Another lesson we can hope to take from this game? Feed Tyreke earlier. Even on that last shot, Tyreke had a very easy opportunity that he just didn't make. If we had just decided to put the ball in his hands a little bit earlier--1, maybe 2 possessions--I think we win this game.

And if we're not going to do that, we could look to feature Spencer in the post more. I know I say this a lot, but come on. Darius Songaila can not f**king guard him down low. Spencer was 6-12. 2 of those misses were 3's. 2 more were failed transition finishes. In the half court, on the inside, he was scoring efficiently in this game.

Having said that, we really just should've gone to Tyreke earlier. I would also say that another lesson is "make your free throws at the percentage at which you normally make them", but that's not really a lesson. It's just something you should do. It would be one thing if the guys that missed the FT's were bad FT shooters, but they're just not. Noc is a career 80% FT shooter, and even then is at 67% this year. He was statistically due to make those last two (which would have pushed him to 4-6 on the game). JT is a near 80% shooter this year. Statistically, he should have shot 4-5 instead of 2-5. And Tyreke statistically should have made one more. If those guys shoot on their averages we win this game by 3.

On the plus side, good to see JT have a good game (at least in many respects), after a recent slump.

[cdt3]

Yeah the Kings choked late. But the Hornets are a loaded in the paint contending playoff team and had to squeak out a 2 pt win the season series vs the Kings. Both JT and Evans put up near 20/10 ain the paint vs West and Okafor. We are playing really solid right now.

Yes the Kings need to get 12 touches agame to both of their bigs. It keeps both bigs honest.

[_SRV_]

Stop blaming Noc for the loss. Yes he did miss the two most critical foul shots in the game but we wouldnt of had to be there if it wasnt for every other player that missed a foul shot or made a stupid turnover. And to call Noc worthless is nothing short of brainless. Hes our 2nd best defender if not 1st best right behind Tyreke and hes by far the hardest working player on the team and wasnt it last year that we were complaining about the team not playing hard? God give the guy a break.

BS, if all he did was miss these FTs there wouldn't be any problem, go over the game threads and check the posts about him, he's not a good defender, he rarely passes, even when he has very little dribble game still he drives himself into a crowded paint and puts up an awkward shot, the FTs were the last straw.

[darkadun]

I know what you guys are saying about JT. Some of the fouls are cheezy. I think this is in part due to....

.....the way he plays. He always looks out of control. Like that last drive inside, he didnt clear out, but it looked like he did based on the way he looks driving to the basket. dunno, maybe I'm reading to much into it.


Secondly tho, I think the boneheaded things he does come back to hurt him later, which is what frustrates me. Like why do you grab songalia's jersey when he is leaving the basket? I don't understand the thinking behind that at all. I love JT, but its things like that play that worry me.

[Smills91]

I know what you guys are saying about JT. Some of the fouls are cheezy. I think this is in part due to....

.....the way he plays. He always looks out of control. Like that last drive inside, he didnt clear out, but it looked like he did based on the way he looks driving to the basket. dunno, maybe I'm reading to much into it.


Secondly tho, I think the boneheaded things he does come back to hurt him later, which is what frustrates me. Like why do you grab songalia's jersey when he is leaving the basket? I don't understand the thinking behind that at all. I love JT, but its things like that play that worry me.

Those 'little' things are correctable though...he is only in his 2nd year in the league. We've got many good years ahead with JT.