Game 1 : Sacramento Kings (0-0) @ Denver Nuggets (0-0) - 9:00 PM

[BoogieTime]

The main question going forward is can Hield play SF. No doubt in my mind he is strong enough. Fox/Hali/Hield/Bagley/?. There is no reason to trade him if he can.

[MarxyLebronist]

Loved seeing them all on the floor together. Joseph made some plays I hadn’t expected. The heart is the great thing. Mistakes made and missed shots, but ZERO quit. Really good.

[nolimit0820]

What a game! Haliburton is going to be such a good player I'm excited. The 3 small guards looked good together.

I hate that Barnes plays like this and then will disappear some games. If he was this guy all year, the kings would be such a different team.

Also very surprised by the shortened roster. 9 guys in an OT game? Wonder if GRIII cracks the rotation as some point?

Feels good to be able to bring a player whiteside level in after Bagley and Holmes fouled out.

I'm not going to get ahead of myself, but I didn't think the kings would be the worst team in the league or a bottom 5 team as some said. I think we are right there with the rest or the 8-14 in the west and could easily finish 8-10 again

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Man you're not lying about Barnes. Context is king. I think this team has the make up for him to truly be the veteran leader. I think for us to make any kind of play off run he has to average a solid 19-21 ppg. This is a clear sign of aggressiveness and efficiency for him. He looks fantastic at the four.

At one point, we had the three guard line up with Harrison and Bagley at the four and five. That was exciting and I think on most nights would work. There aren't many 280lb centers rolling around the league nowadays.

Can we give Walton credit on the 9 man rotation? He stuck it out with guys and let them fidn a rhythm. It was nice to see our young guys play big minutes. I can't recall but it seems like last year, starters would barely get to 30 min.

[LightTheBeam]

What a game! Haliburton is going to be such a good player I'm excited. The 3 small guards looked good together.

I hate that Barnes plays like this and then will disappear some games. If he was this guy all year, the kings would be such a different team.

Also very surprised by the shortened roster. 9 guys in an OT game? Wonder if GRIII cracks the rotation as some point?

Feels good to be able to bring a player whiteside level in after Bagley and Holmes fouled out.

I'm not going to get ahead of myself, but I didn't think the kings would be the worst team in the league or a bottom 5 team as some said. I think we are right there with the rest or the 8-14 in the west and could easily finish 8-10 again

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Man you're not lying about Barnes. Context is king. I think this team has the make up for him to truly be the veteran leader. I think for us to make any kind of play off run he has to average a solid 19-21 ppg. This is a clear sign of aggressiveness and efficiency for him. He looks fantastic at the four.

At one point, we had the three guard line up with Harrison and Bagley at the four and five. That was exciting and I think on most nights would work. There aren't many 280lb centers rolling around the league nowadays.

Can we give Walton credit on the 9 man rotation? He stuck it out with guys and let them fidn a rhythm. It was nice to see our young guys play big minutes. I can't recall but it seems like last year, starters would barely get to 30 min.

Yup without a doubt. Fox is fox, Buddy is going to rebound without Bogdan is the way. Anything we get from Bagley is a bonus this year. We need Barnes to step up and play like a guy whose getting paid 20+ mil night in and night out.

You aren't wrong. Fox would get low 30s, Barnes got low 30s, I don't think a single other guy on the roster cracked 30mpg last year. It really does wonders for the rhythm. No reason your best players shouldn't be playing 35mpg. This drove me nuts with Joerger and Walton last year as well.

Hope it sticks! Wouldnt even mind expanding to 10 guys if necessary. But the last 1-2 guys shouldn't be playing 20+ mins. Just as needed.

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[graymule]

CONGRATULATIONS! Great way to open season. Haliburton good in his first NBA game. I told you he was good..

Merry Christmas to all !!

[Silver Man]

Haliburton looked extremely smooth for his first game. Was excited when we drafted him was very impressed last night.

Not really sure why we left Bagley one on one defensively in the post with Jokic ever but it happened multiple times and went as expected.

[OGSactownballer]

A couple of takes.

Loved the heart and determination and will to win shown by everyone. They earned that win in one of the hardest venues in the league to win in a regular game, never mind OT.

Walton better realize that it’s great to grab the first one against a tough opponent with a shortened rotation. But ultimately that’s just not going to work in this COVID season and on a constant basis. He will get guys exhausted and hurt.

Walton is still Walton. He’s pretty much an idiot. Way to get your two most effective front court guys fouled out against a guy that has an easy 80-100 pounds on them and they cannot possibly guard. You have the best shot blocker in the league and a size match there. Use him. Force the mismatches instead of responding. Still not sold on Walton.

Love Halliburton! What a steal. Asked in like he’d been doing it for years and looked completely comfortable. Quite the difference with a defensive difference maker in the backcourt.

As I had hoped, a huge difference in defending the perimeter when you have quality backstop defense behind you to allow the guards and swings to extend out without fear of easy layups behind them.

[nolimit0820]

A couple of takes.

Loved the heart and determination and will to win shown by everyone. They earned that win in one of the hardest venues in the league to win in a regular game, never mind OT.

Walton better realize that it’s great to grab the first one against a tough opponent with a shortened rotation. But ultimately that’s just not going to work in this COVID season and on a constant basis. He will get guys exhausted and hurt.

Walton is still Walton. He’s pretty much an idiot. Way to get your two most effective front court guys fouled out against a guy that has an easy 80-100 pounds on them and they cannot possibly guard. You have the best shot blocker in the league and a size match there. Use him. Force the mismatches instead of responding. Still not sold on Walton.

Love Halliburton! What a steal. Asked in like he’d been doing it for years and looked completely comfortable. Quite the difference with a defensive difference maker in the backcourt.

As I had hoped, a huge difference in defending the perimeter when you have quality backstop defense behind you to allow the guards and swings to extend out without fear of easy layups behind them.

I agree with you about Walton's response or lack there of when matching up with Jokic. I was "okay" seeing Bagley go up against him. If this season is about development, he needs those opportunities. Those were the chances Giles got last year. Bagley missed those chances last yesr. I also want to see him play more center this year. Hopefully, he will this will encourage him to keep getting stronger. With that being said, obviously Hassan could handle Jokic better. But, it is painful to watch Whiteside some plays. Especially when he didn't seem like he was moving well yesterday. Perhaps it was the altitude and the pace. I love watching him clog up the middle. But it's hard when the team was gunning yesterday and he looked like he couldn't get past half court in only a few minutes of action.

[MarxyLebronist]

Watching all the games today and reading how *certain* predictable know it all fan bases are making excuses for their supposedly perfectly run teams (how’s that for subtweety Christmas snark):

Waiting 20 games to see how things are is an old Jerry West calm down mantra that has no bearing this year. These games are not all the extended preseason. Other way around. The preseason games started as if 10 regular season games were already gone. 20 games in this year is almost half a season actually.

Winning every possible game this year is how you get playoffs and get ready for them. I still think Kings are outside looking in but they got game one and look like they intend to fight every game. They beat a good team. So here we go merry freaking Christmas.

[nolimit0820]

Watching all the games today and reading how *certain* predictable know it all fan bases are making excuses for their supposedly perfectly run teams (how’s that for subtweety Christmas snark):

Waiting 20 games to see how things are is an old Jerry West calm down mantra that has no bearing this year. These games are not all the extended preseason. Other way around. The preseason games started as if 10 regular season games were already gone. 20 games in this year is almost half a season actually.

Winning every possible game this year is how you get playoffs and get ready for them. I still think Kings are outside looking in but they got game one and look like they intend to fight every game. They beat a good team. So here we go merry freaking Christmas.

They should've replayed the Kings game on Christmas. Way more enjoyable than the first four games today, all of which have been double digit wins.