Reach Through the Screen

by Tom Ziller on Feb 24, 2008 7:51 PM PST in Recaps

Why on Earth do you leave your bench on the floor as the opponent -- who was well within striking range at the end of the third and beginning of the fourth -- waltzes out of the arena with a double-digit lead?

Reggie Theus pulled Kevin Martin, Beno Udrih and Brad Miller with two minutes left in the third. The score was Orlando 72, Sacramento 65.

Miller came back in for the struggling John Salmons two minutes into the fourth, with the Kings now down 9. Udrih came back in for the struggling Quincy Douby 3-1/2 minutes into the fourth, with the Kings now down 14. Martin came in for the defensively overmatched Spencer Hawes... 4-1/2 minutes into the fourth, with the Kings now down 18. !!!

Why did it take so long? Martin was shooting the ball beautifully, and getting to the rim virtually at will. His defense was as good as that by any other guard but Salmons. He had 10 rebounds and 5 assists. And he played 30 minutes, despite rest days on either side of Sunday. The only young player behind Martin who needs minutes is Douby, and all his minutes came at the point, even though the coaching staff had apparently figured out he's a shooting guard a month ago when they started playing him alongside Udrih in stretches. (Maybe tie a string on Randy Brown's finger? What does this string mean?! Oh, Quincy, you aren't supposed to be playing point, that's right. You can't get the team into its offense and inexplicably cannot translate your stunning quickness into ever turning the corner on pick-and-rolls. Thaaaat's right.)

Sacramento would likely have lost the game regardless. But they had a shot with their best offensive weapon on the court. Too bad he didn't get a chance to keep it close.

< / rare Theus rant >

Tweet Comment 17 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

yeah everyone is at fault but

i give most of the blame to the coaching this game... hawes did not deserve to be in that game for that amount of time. i have no idea what Coach Theus was thinking...

GO KINGS !!!

by maiku on Feb 24, 2008 8:12 PM PST reply actions

Have the given up the season already

I understand we aren't making the playoffs, but could the staff really have decided already that getting minutes for the rooks is more important than trying to win games? if so, we have a long season ahead of us.

by SavageBeast on Feb 24, 2008 8:33 PM PST reply actions

Has anyone else noticed

that Hawes has amassed 20 rebounds and 5 blocks in his last three games (44 total minutes). Kid still has a way to go, but those are encouraging numbers, no?

SACTOWN ROYALTY - Try our thick creamy shakes!

by section214 on Feb 24, 2008 8:45 PM PST reply actions

yes, they are

Martin, for the win!!!

by Kjack on Feb 24, 2008 9:06 PM PST up reply actions

Spooky

It was like watching the ghost of Rick Adelman coach the game.

Set player rotations vs. match-ups. I know which I like better. And I didn't see it tonight.

TickTickTickTickTickTick

by LeaguePassAddict on Feb 24, 2008 8:46 PM PST reply actions

Good observation

I've notice that Reggie sometimes slips into this mode.

by KingsFan on Feb 25, 2008 7:38 AM PST up reply actions

I've noticed...

Theus generally tries to get his starting 4-5 on the bench with about two minutes left in the third. He then lets them sit the rest of that quarter, the timeout btwn quarters, and doesn't have them re-enter the game until about two minutes into the fourth.

I've found it semi-frustrating at some points during the season when games were close, but it's been successful for the majority of the games thus far. Games are kept relatively close because the bench knows that they need to keep the game within reach while they're out there and it lets them know that Theus believes they should be out there at a significant point in the game. It also gives all/most the starters an extended break on their legs before the final push and they can come back strong for the end of the game.

Today that experiment failed, and I expected Reggie to adjust his stance and react differently. But I think this is a very calculated move by him, on almost a nightly basis. If I was an opposing coach I'd try to take advantage of it... and that's how Orlando won.

Also note we were horrible in the 2nd quarter and never really regained any momentum or rhythm. If we continually fail to take advantage of teams who score 0 field goals in a 6 minute span(beginning of 2nd Q.), then we don't really deserve to win games, do we?

by tokyo on Feb 24, 2008 9:23 PM PST reply actions

The answer to that is simple

we are clearly tanking.

by kingme on Feb 24, 2008 10:11 PM PST reply actions

Wish we could tank

our way down three or four slots and have a shot at OJ Mayo.

Unfortunately however we'll have to probably rely on a ping pong ball bouncing our way for that to happen... we're almost surely locked into the 10th slot, and Mayo projects to go somewhere between 4 and 9.

"When the Going Gets Weird, the Weird Turn Pro." (Hunter S Thompson)

by Mucho Moss on Feb 24, 2008 11:23 PM PST reply actions

More like 13th or 14th

We're on track to finish with a better record than all of the other non-playoff teams with the exception of Portland, and we've been closing on them a little.

SACTOWN ROYALTY - Try our thick creamy shakes!

by section214 on Feb 25, 2008 7:32 AM PST up reply actions

It's a little too soon ...

to start purposely throwing the season. How about we at least wait till we are mathematically eliminated.

by KingsFan on Feb 25, 2008 7:40 AM PST up reply actions

I don't think

That we're taking. Otherwise, why would we be 3-1 without Bibby? We're not tanking, in Large part because theus is a good coach. Besides, good things happen when you keep going at it 100%. Think about NYG's last game against NE in the regular season. If they played soft, they'd have lost their edge.

Warning: StR may actually lead to familial disputes. - TZ

by killerking on Feb 25, 2008 1:06 PM PST up reply actions

Lesson learned for Theus

But their bench was playing at this same time. Martin didn't come in for Hawes till about the same time Howard came back in, so I don't think Theus was unaware of the match-ups. Their bench stepped up when usually they have failed.

So, Theus did his research right, and his gameplan was pretty spot-on. What the argument should be is that he didn't react properly to the game situation. Even then, I would argue against that thinking, as I'm not sure what you want Theus to do there - he's doing his best to limit the amount of banging Miller has to do when Howard is on the floor.
If he tried to throw in his starters too early, they'd have lost their legs near the end of the fourth anyway (probably would have gotten in foul trouble). Plus, I'm sure he was not expecting the bench to continue its dismal effort, and did not think the score would deteriorate further. He probably was thinking that if the bench could keep it in the low-teens, high-digits, then he'd be able to return his starters to continue their hot 1st quarter play to a victory. That's the best gameplan to pull a win out in that scenario, really.

So, again, just a bad effort by everyone on the Kings sidelines.

Mikki Moore in the skills challenge! - LPA

by iashwash on Feb 25, 2008 7:01 AM PST reply actions

I thought the key to the game was ..

was Sac's terrible interior defense. Orlando had 46 points in the paint mainly due to Dwight Howard. Miller and Mikki were too scared to foul him. Theus should have rotated the bigs sooner and forced them to foul Howard every time he got even close to the ball.

Sac should have had a 10 point lead at the half. Orlando would have been more panicky and played a different game going down the stretch.

by KingsFan on Feb 25, 2008 7:46 AM PST reply actions

Cool

You guys made a game of it until the fourth quarter, during which Brian Cook and Keyon Dooling... well, you know. Still, from your perspective, wouldn't you rather Cook and Dooling beat you than Dwight Howard beat you? My recap is here.

Third Quarter Collapse: An SB Nation Blog for Orlando Magic fans

by Evan Dunlap on Feb 25, 2008 12:31 PM PST reply actions