Knicks @ Kings

[RIPskaterdude]

As much as I dislike Westfail, it's not 100% his fault. But...if this continues, we'll have no choice but to let him go sooner than later, hopefully.

[dozencousins]

Cousins is one of the few Kings players that is hitting a good percentage of free throws on this team in comparison to most others that see more consistant minuts .
Tyreke overall has flat out sucked ! He cannot hit a free throw if his life depended upon it wich is pathetic considering he should be shooting at least roughly 85% I am not sure of his percentage but it seems he is hitting about 20-30% at best . Not to mention Tyreks is turning the ball over way to much and in most cases seem to have his head up his @ss most of the time . 2 bright spots about Tyreke are that his overall outside shooting stroke seems to be improved as opposed to years past and he is at least trying to play better defens unlike past years were he played very little D.

Anyone can make the excuse that this team has little time to prepare but honestly for those with those lame excuses I say this . Wake Up People this is the NBA these guys are pros as such these guys are paid big money to entertain you , me and all NBA fans . These guys are supposed to hit free throws , Know how to play D , These guys are supposed to be in game shape at all times . All times . Every team , Every player had the same timeframe to prepare , be in shape etc. it is up to every athelete to be ready in all aspects no excuses .

I love my KINGS as all of you but we suck right now & thats a true shame . The transactions we made we should be quit a bit better than we are , we are far deeper at most positions than in recent years past . One of our main problems I see is we have to many guys that are more offensive minded as in being scorers & are selfish . Thorton , Evans , Salmons are all guys who put up alot of shots the only overall consistant scorer of those 3 is Thorton . Our guys need to stop making bad decisions , we need to start making our free throws and we need to learn to play D.

[SacKingsPejaFan]

Regrettably I was present at this game. I may have threw up in my mouth at several points throughout. I usually can find bright spots in our losses but there is not a single one to be found here. No Amare; Chandler barely played the first half because of foul trouble; Melo did nothing for two quarters--yet, look at the final score. This game was decided in the first quarter by a bunch of D-League-caliber guys who made us look like a high school team. I hope we ream New Orleans so we can forget this one ASAP. F's all around.

[KF10]

Here are some tweets from Jason Jones after the game:

Very bad mood in the Kings locker room.

There's definitely griping about the offense now.

By the way, I find it amazing so many of you blame Tyreke Evans and no one else. I think Evans takes way too much blame.

Chuck Hayes said the most discouraging part about tonight was "the lack of effort."

More Hayes: "It’s like we shoot because we haven’t put up a shot after three times up and down the court."

Evans: "We just look lost. We’re just playing off our natural talent to get our points. It’s terrible right now."

Cousins said at least 5 times that the solution is to "do what coach say" and run his offense.

Evans: “Everybody keeps blaming the coach, about the plays, the plays not good but, hey it be like that sometime. You’ve just got to play.”

Apparently more than one person is saying that.

Players clearly unhappy. Wonder how Westphal and the staff responds tomorrow.

Chuck Hayes said all it takes is beating New Orleans for the bad feeling over the team to leave.

http://twitter.com/mr_jasonjones

[KF10]

Here are tweets from Crandell (FOX40) & Cunningham (New10):

Reporter asked about line-up changes..Westphal gave sharp-tongued NO 1 word answer..any question at this pioint is fair..should be answered

FOX40 photog tells me Cousins was joking around in locker room & Chuck Hayes told him to knock it off..no time for jokes when you get beat

..and lots of "I don't know..." in the Kings locker room...as in I don't know what's wrong/going on..

Tyreke Evans says the team is lost. Chuck Hayes scolded players/media in the locker room for being too jovial after a 30 pt loss

http://twitter.com/news10sean
http://twitter.com/JimCrandell

[dozencousins]

From what I have seen this year the team has sucked overall .

That said I do put more blame on both Evans & Salmons than most others thus far . Both are scorers taking more bad shots than good ones . Evans has no excuse for missing nearly as many free throws as he has . As I said before I will give Evans credit for trying to play more & better D overall than past season & his outside shooting stroke is better and smoother . Those are the only nice things I can say about Tyreke right now .

Tyreke should be improving his game his shoot selection , decision making , turnovers & free throws have been horrific so far this season & lockout or no lockout it is his job as a pro to be prepared and clearly he has been a huge dissapointment thus far . I hope he gets his head out of his @ss and start playing like we all know he can & be consistantly good .

[deNIEd]

The only positive things from those quotes...is we FINALLY have someone who is willing to criticize and say the truth towards the other players, aka Chuck Wagon.

[pillwenney]

Nice to see Chuck is stepping up and being a real leader. I also saw Cuz laughing after the game with Baron Davis--which is weird because he seems so pissed off during the game.

This team does need to be more pissed off.

For the next couple of games, I don't care much about the offense. I want this team to be pissed off. I want them to play like this game really means something. If they do that and they actually focus, the offense and everything else will fall into place.

[dozencousins]

This team really needs to start actually being accountable rather than just talking about it .
Very soon we will have a huge ammount of road games coming up and unless we start stepping up we will have what seems like a long road trip feel like an eternity .
This team needs progression not regression .

[KF10]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JCvjwe7Dyo&feature=plcp&context=C3cc8abcUDOEgsToPDskIZDt8tVxTP125-7lFvkARO[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLmDFCZvYnQ&feature=plcp&context=C3f070a5UDOEgsToPDskK5OWIWcj7pZSlyCCb4BuuF[/youtube]

Cousins:

http://www.fox40.com/videobeta/4ab7d708 ... ts/Cousins

[KF10]

That hot shooting stretch from the Knicks in the first quarter killed the Kings. I mean, the Kings cut the lead down time to time, but they can't get over the hump. The most disappointing thing of the night is the overall lack of focus and the offense. Here are some quick notes worth noting:

- Frustrating to see how Cousins blow so many close shots. Most of the time, he isn't really trying. What I mean by that is that he's thinking to draw the foul instead. So, he throws whatever crappy shot and hoping the refs call the foul. I wish he stop doing this and take better/smarter shots around the basket.

- I thought Tyreke played decent tonight. But here are couple of negative things I saw: (a) he is not passing the ball in the fast break (1-on-2, 1-on-3), other than passing to Thompson for the skip pass under the basket, he is not giving the rock up. I don't know what's his rationale for this. Does he believe he has a higher chance to convert the basket than his teammates (which is probably true most of the times)? Does he not trust his teammates making the shot? Selfish? I don't know. A guy like Rondo or Rose would give the ball up in a favorable fast break in their advantage. They don't care about points if it means an automatic 2 points for their team. I mean, the whole "Tyreke is a blackhole" thing is overblown. I saw several passes from Tyreke that his teammates failed to convert i.e. Reke lead pass to Cousins at the basket but scrapped it. Reke pass to Jimmer for an open 3 but missed but Reke should really improve in this aspect of his game. Like SOON.

- I thought Thornton had a rough night. He was not on rhythm at all tonight. He scored here and there but was not the typical "assassin" as we all know. With that said, I liked his energy and effort. He won balls for us and played tough on the defensive end. One of the few players that bust his balls out there.

- Salmons was no where to be found. Other than couple of jumpers, he sucked. He was in foul trouble again with a more larger opponent in Melo. He couldn't contain him all night. Melo got his way. Donte should have got more chances on Melo than Salmons imo.

- Hayes was Hayes. Good defensively most of the time and boarded well. Too bad he is only 6'6''. Both Hayes & Cousins couldn't do anything about Harrellson lol Dude drifted in the perimeter a lot. Or Chandler.

- Probably the worst game by Jimmer so far.

- I don't remember Hickson did anything noteworthy tonight. Other than making 2 baskets dude was invisible.

- Thompson was easily the brightest spot for the Kings.

- Greene was pretty good considering his minutes.

Nobody else is worth mentioning after those guys.

Freethrows:


I find it strange that Garcia is completely out of the rotation. Come on now, Honeycutt & Outlaw ahead of Garcia? Ugggghhh. He was the Kings' leader/captain last year but he can't get minutes in garbage time now? haha

[RIPskaterdude]

I know this is just beating a dead horse, but when you stick a bunch of scorers/players who are used to having the ball in their hands....what did you expect to happen?

[ADoaN17]

I'm actually pretty amazed at how much the Kings have been able to get to the line in these first 4 games, but it doesn't matter if they can only hit 60% of their FTs. If they can fix this problem and continue to get to the line then hopefully they will be more competitive.

[pillwenney]

Man, that Cousins video is loaded with subtext.

[moocow007]

Regarding Salmons, honestly he did the best he could defensively against Melo. Would have been worse if Salmons didn't do a nice job of at least making Melo work for his points.

[kevin44]

Pathetic. No Amare & we get our ass kicked at home. No leadership.