Kings @ Warriors

[SacTownKings4Life]

*sigh* 2nd game in a row that just leaves a bad taste in my mouth... I swear man...............

This one wasn't so bad IMO, the Kings probably just had the most atrocious shooting night from 3 I've ever seen, and they still nearly won the game. That tells me one thing: Demarcus Cousins is a freaking monster.

The last game gave me such a bad feeling because WE DID EVERYTHING RIGHT TO WIN THE GAME!!! ... and then a lucky bang bang play later, we lose the game...

This one was bad because WE GOT THE STOP THAT WE NEEDED!!! ... but we didn't even get a shot off in the last play of the game... Isaiah should have just gone Tyreke and taken it to the basket. Woulda been better than nothing. Maybe he gets fouled...

[SacTownKings4Life]

I don't even think we went to Cousins in the 4th...

....again.....

GS was zoning, that's why.

[SacKingZZZ]

*sigh* 2nd game in a row that just leaves a bad taste in my mouth... I swear man...............

This one wasn't so bad IMO, the Kings probably just had the most atrocious shooting night from 3 I've ever seen, and they still nearly won the game. That tells me one thing: Demarcus Cousins is a freaking monster.

The last game gave me such a bad feeling because WE DID EVERYTHING RIGHT TO WIN THE GAME!!! ... and then a lucky bang bang play later, we lose the game...

This one was bad because WE GOT THE STOP THAT WE NEEDED!!! ... but we didn't even get a shot off in the last play of the game... Isaiah should have just gone Tyreke and taken it to the basket. Woulda been better than nothing. Maybe he gets fouled...

True, but then again, this team clearly has a problem late in games with their execution. This will hopefully make them work that much harder on it and maybe force Smart to realize what he should go with down the stretch.

[bjax24]

Can we request to only play top teams next year? we may go 65-17!!!

[pillwenney]

And the play before that with Lee. And the last play where they totally let Jefferson go. The defense was good for a lot of the 4th, but there wasn't enough at all in crunch time.

Another foolish play, but c'mon, the Kings had a chance to win it. Guards dribbling the ball in the ground and turning it over just killed any and all momentum. Why not run guys off the ball at the end of games? Instead of just giving John the ball up top and letting him iso, how about run him off that little screen into the high post and give him a real shot in the triple threat? Or Tyreke? Seems to work pretty dang well during the game. Just needs time and practice. They've come this far, I think they can figure out how to run some offense down the stretch.

Yes, that would be nice. But that wasn't really what went wrong. Isaiah has never randomly lost the ball like that before. I'd call that a fluke more than anything.

[Frank Mulely]

Dammit we GS fans needed that loss! You guys are killing our tank job

[SacKingZZZ]

And the play before that with Lee. And the last play where they totally let Jefferson go. The defense was good for a lot of the 4th, but there wasn't enough at all in crunch time.

Another foolish play, but c'mon, the Kings had a chance to win it. Guards dribbling the ball in the ground and turning it over just killed any and all momentum. Why not run guys off the ball at the end of games? Instead of just giving John the ball up top and letting him iso, how about run him off that little screen into the high post and give him a real shot in the triple threat? Or Tyreke? Seems to work pretty dang well during the game. Just needs time and practice. They've come this far, I think they can figure out how to run some offense down the stretch.

Yes, that would be nice. But that wasn't really what went wrong. Isaiah has never randomly lost the ball like that before. I'd call that a fluke more than anything.

I call it a bad call to end the game. Sure something may have come from the play, but predictability has become somewhat of a trend for the Kings in a late game situations. I can only hope and assume as time goes on those errors and the overall lack of executable gameplan will be a thing of the past.

[pillwenney]

But that's totally ridiculous. That play wasn't a product of Isaiah driving into the teeth of the defense with no plan or pulling up for a crappy shot. It was the most basic loss of focus imaginable. It had nothing to do with x's and o's. Nothing.

[kevin44]

Nice defense. We just made Thompson look like an all star.

[boogie-reke]

Great game, great ending, long may it continue for the next 18 we have left.

[SacTownKings4Life]

Great game, great ending, long may it continue for the next 18 we have left.

I think this team needs to worry more about playing good, quality basketball as a team and being competitive rather than tanking to get a better draft pick. Its not as if WE ever get especially high picks anyway (even with THE worst record) so I think tanking would be a waste of time and a waste of our young talent. We could have all the draft picks in the world, but if nobody knows how to play winning basketball together, its all a moot point...

[boogie-reke]

Oh we can still play good and be in the game - we just need to loose in the end of games not to pick up another meaningless W.

Clearly I have a diffrent view on it then you guys, so no use beating a dead horse.

[bjax24]

lol @ us getting the top pick with the new Brooklyn Nets and the league owned Hornets being there to win the "lottery"

[rpa]

lol @ us getting the top pick with the new Brooklyn Nets and the league owned Hornets being there to win the "lottery"

I'd love to get Davis--especially seeing as how he fits exactly what we need next to Cousins--but losing right now isn't JUST about getting him. It's about getting the highest pick we can so that we can pick who we want instead of being left with scraps.

Last year the Kings lost a coin flip to NJ and got the 6th pick. If they had won ONE less game they'd have had a chance at the 4th pick. One less and they would have had a coinflip for the 3rd. One more and they would have had the 3rd pick outright.

Or what about we look at it the other way. In the 2010 season (the year that led us to get Cousins) we had 25 wins and were 3rd worst overall, but we were the worst of a very close group. Had the Kings won ONE more game that season we would have tied with the Warriors and Wizards and may very well have lost Cousins. If we had won 2 more we would have moved out of that group and became tied with the Sixers and Pistons--possibly moving down ANOTHER 2 spots. That is, had we won exactly TWO more games that year we could have been picking 7th or worse.

In the draft, every single position matters. It's great to get the top prospect, but we don't HAVE to get that; but if we wind up with the 7th or 8th pick (when losing those meaningless games could have put us at 4th or 5th) we're going to get a worse player. We need as much talent as we can get right now.

[SacKingZZZ]

But that's totally ridiculous. That play wasn't a product of Isaiah driving into the teeth of the defense with no plan or pulling up for a crappy shot. It was the most basic loss of focus imaginable. It had nothing to do with x's and o's. Nothing.

OK, now think about what you just said, that's my entire point. The LACK OF FOCUS on just about every late game situation from this team. Not much of a shocker that both Salmons and Thomas "lose focus" at the end of the game, wonder if that had anything to do with not really knowing what to do? Given this teams late game calls it's pretty probable. I'm not decrying a mistake by Thomas, I'm decrying what ever play call involves constant clear outs and perimeter dribbling to end games.

[pillwenney]

But that's totally ridiculous. That play wasn't a product of Isaiah driving into the teeth of the defense with no plan or pulling up for a crappy shot. It was the most basic loss of focus imaginable. It had nothing to do with x's and o's. Nothing.

OK, now think about what you just said, that's my entire point. The LACK OF FOCUS on just about every late game situation from this team. Not much of a shocker that both Salmons and Thomas "lose focus" at the end of the game, wonder if that had anything to do with not really knowing what to do? Given this teams late game calls it's pretty probable. I'm not decrying a mistake by Thomas, I'm decrying what ever play call involves constant clear outs and perimeter dribbling to end games.

But you should be decrying the mistake by Thomas. What happened had absolutely nothing at all to do with the play call. Isaiah didn't randomly lose track of his dribble because of a lack of clarity on the play call. He lost it because he had a brain fart where he temporarily lost his motor skills. Trying to use that to spark a discussion on playcalling is ridiculous.

[SacKingZZZ]

But you should be decrying the mistake by Thomas. What happened had absolutely nothing at all to do with the play call. Isaiah didn't randomly lose track of his dribble because of a lack of clarity on the play call. He lost it because he had a brain fart where he temporarily lost his motor skills. Trying to use that to spark a discussion on playcalling is ridiculous.

Of course it could have factored in that particular play. Once again, if the Kings melting late in the game, or even moreso on the last play of a game were a one time, fluke occurrence I guess you could disassociate the two without question, but it isn't, and it hasn't been. Garbage is garbage and being predictable and uncoordinated in crunch time is possibly both the sign and of a young team, and bad planning. Much like another discussion we've had about a separate issue, it's not really hard to connect the dots when they are that blatantly laid out in front of you. As I said, I don't doubt they can get something in order, they've come this far, just little ways to go.

[pillwenney]

But you're connecting two dots that aren't meant to be connected. If the play resulted in Isaiah driving into traffic and not knowing what to do and losing the ball, I would totally agree with you.

But what happened could have happened to any player in any situation. But saying "We can't have it in the hands of our guards because then they'll randomly lose track of their dribbles for no reason," is ridiculous, man.

It's fine to have that opinion and there is past evidence to support it. But Isaiah randomly losing his dribble had nothing to do at all with the play or a lack of planning. You're trying to find things that support your argument that have nothing to do with your argument.

[SacKingZZZ]

But you're connecting two dots that aren't meant to be connected. If the play resulted in Isaiah driving into traffic and not knowing what to do and losing the ball, I would totally agree with you.

But what happened could have happened to any player in any situation. But saying "We can't have it in the hands of our guards because then they'll randomly lose track of their dribbles for no reason," is ridiculous, man.

It's fine to have that opinion and there is past evidence to support it. But Isaiah randomly losing his dribble had nothing to do at all with the play or a lack of planning. You're trying to find things that support your argument that have nothing to do with your argument.

I was never going out of my way to connect those dots in the first place, but I'm certainly not so monochromatic in my viewpoint to see the potential connection of failed results time and time again regardless of circumstance. I simply said they need to work on their late game offense, you're getting stuck on an individual happening where I'm looking at the bigger overall picture and multiple games that left fans scratching their heads at what exactly the Kings were attempting at the time.