Pixie Dust Wears Off

by Ziller on Jan 4, 2009 8:51 AM PST in Recaps Comment 20 comments

The entire second half, I waited and waited for the inevitable Kings falter. I knew the team would lose this game in spite of Kevin Martin's stellar performance. Sacramento doesn't win shoot-outs on the road against teams with marksmen and rebounders. Just doesn't happen.

It took a long time for the Kings to fall apart -- 45 minutes in all. The Kings led by six with about three minutes left, and Danny Granger took over. The Kings got one decent-looking shot attempt the rest of the way (Martin's left corner three off an offensive rebound), and some free throws on an iffy foul call. After a game of solid offense, three minutes of mostly bad offense. And that's why the Kings don't win shoot-outs on the road. On the road, the Kings will suffer offensive droughts, inevitably. The Kings are awful defensively and won't stop a good offensive team more than a handful of times any given game.

The Kings almost surprised us. Kenny Natt putting his trust in Jason Thompson and Bobby Brown for key stretches. Francisco Garcia playing incredibly smart in the fourth quarter after an awful first quarter. Kevin Martin refusing to relent, no matter how many defenders Indy sent. John Salmons refusing to be discouraged by Danny Granger's immense talent. Brad Miller doing his job and not whining despite getting pushed by Jeff Foster.

But again, that's not meant to be. Unfortunately, New Jersey -- the team's Monday opponent -- is a carbon copy of Indiana: fast, potent, defenseless. There's little shelter in trying to mold the game into a halfcourt affair: that benefits the Kings offense thanks to Martin, Salmons and Miller, but would allow Devin Harris to run roughshod over the Sacramento point guard brigade. Instead, we'll probably end up with a rerun, so long as Martin's hand stays ablaze today. (Martin's playmaking deserves special mention as well: six assists, none of them cheap ... which is to say most of them resulted in lay-ups or wide-open short jumpers. A few too many turnovers, but dang. He was practically the point guard out there.)

Apologies if this post sounds pessimistic. I feel good. Martin explosions always put a bounce in my step. The offense is back. I'm happy. This team's just not ready yet.

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The only thing I disagree with you about

is I think there was a chance for the Kings to win the game though it not a great chance. We never got any real point seperation in the 4th quarter large enough to surmont Danny Granger on the road.
Inevitably our lack of d was going to bite us on the ass when the momentum changed at about the time John Salmons turned the ball with a travel. The 3 ball kept us in the game and when they stopped falling our chance to win.

I was glad to see Cisco turn it on in the 4th quarter after foul trouble and is inability to find his groove kept him ineffectual for the first 3. Bobby Jackson did a decent job at point, Brad makes sense at center when Kevin’s in the game though not so much sense that I don’t want to see him traded. We missed Shawes a lot but it was good to see JT starting to play like he did earlier in the season, The difference with JT is I think he’s starting to get it, still plenty of rookie mistakes but he was getting his numbers earlier in the season with sheer hustle and I see him playing with a lot more purpose and knowledge of his role. Kevin was great and it is so good to have him back.

In my view the story of the game didn’t come from the game but from KNatt’s aftergame comments regarding Beno. The coach is not pulling any punches in his comments, he’s not that far from questioning outright whether Beno has the discipline and toughness to be the starting point on the Kings or in the league. It is going to be fascinating to see whether Beno can rise to the challenge. If not, then why not start Bobby Brown or at least give him major minutes off the bench?

As a fan I always want to see us win but overall I wasn’t disapointed in the loss. We played better team ball, didn’t get killed by the 3 and at least to me looked more like an NBA team then we had in the games as recently as 2 games ago. Hope Spencer comes back him, we miss him in a big way. There’s a ton of things to work on but as a Kings fan at least I didn’t feel sick to my stomach after the game.

"We are in the business of kicking butt and business is very, very good." - Charles Barkley

by Bluejohn on Jan 4, 2009 9:56 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Yep, lack of D says it all

While watching the game yesterday it became very apparent to me that the Pacers were getting much easier shots than the Kings. The Pacers were getting 12 footers while the Kings were getting 20 footers.

by KingsFan on Jan 4, 2009 10:08 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Think I'm going to have to read the postgame comments

No mistakes in the tango, darling. Not like life. It's simple. That's what makes the tango so great. If you make a mistake, and get tangled, you tango on

by pookeyguru on Jan 4, 2009 10:17 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Sounded like a fun game to watch

And unfortunately, I didn’t get to see the game because I was too busy sleeping. (I also thought the game would be on later than it was, and I umm, overslept, and ummm, yeah, I’m not happy. I wanted to see this game.)

No mistakes in the tango, darling. Not like life. It's simple. That's what makes the tango so great. If you make a mistake, and get tangled, you tango on

by pookeyguru on Jan 4, 2009 10:06 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

couple of things

too negative Z – the Kings did the one thing we want them to – they competed. Kevin Martin has given this team a bounce and I am more impressed with his on court leadership after coming back both times this season. He is the acknowledged star of the team as witnessed by how his teammates look for him. He responded with a monster game. Star performance, unfortunately he tired at the end.

As for point guard – Kevin Martin was the point guard. He brought the ball up and initiated the offense, BJax had more of a SG role IMO. Pacers played no pressure defense and should the Kings face such an opponent bringing the ball up court could be more of a problem. I would like to see PG defender against a Devin Harris, maybe BBrown, but Harris is questionable for the game.

Add – with Spencer Hawes out, BMiller becomes untrade-able unless you get a C in return. You need some offense from the frontcourt other than Salmons. Miller will probably go this season, but his game against the Pistons was statistically impressive and he should get a golf clap at the least.

by betweentheeyes on Jan 4, 2009 10:34 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

another thing

Salmons is trying to adjust his game to the KMart Kings style. I look for him to get nice numbers against the Nyets and to improve his defense instead of concentrating on his ppg.

by betweentheeyes on Jan 4, 2009 10:37 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I don't want to bag on Salmons too much

But it was time to ride the hot hand at that moment, and that was Kevin Martin. Keep your ego in check and swing the ball back to the other side instead of driving into traffic and coughing up the turnover that started the Pacers rally from six down.

"The basis for winning an NBA title is having a superstar in his prime. Not an all-star, or a bunch of all-stars, but a superstar."

by coolcatreportdotcom on Jan 4, 2009 11:50 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

I agree with that

He had a couple plays like that: a bad shot in traffic he could’ve kicked out to Kevin and the traveling call where he could’ve passed to a wide open Brad. I think he’s still a great offensive weapon and a probably our best perimeter defender. He just needs to let the game come to him and not force things. I wish he would drive with the intention of kicking the ball out instead of trying to score against 3 guys in the paint

I’m a little pessimistic in terms on the Martin and Salmons pairing. I’m not sure how good they can be together. Their games may not really mix that well. I’m hopeful they’ll figure it out

by eduardo_m7 on Jan 4, 2009 1:27 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Whelp...Washington just won

Which means we now have the 2nd lottery seed. That’s 19.9% chance of winning the lotto, woohoo!

by CloudyEyes on Jan 4, 2009 6:20 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

If Rubio comes out

Then that just might be a good pick. At the moment there seems like a steep dropoff after Rubio and Griffin. If we get the #3 pick, is the pick, Salmons and Houston’s first rounder enough to move up to #2?

Shut up and Coach

by Carl on Jan 4, 2009 7:04 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

By June

A couple of more guys will have stepped it up. Monroe, Jennings, Holiday, Mullens, Thabeet, Curry, Hill, Harden – somebody is going to rise to the top. Remember, at this time last year it was all about Beasley. Rose and Mayo didn’t start racing up the charts until later in the season.

SACTOWN ROYALTY - Try our thick creamy shakes!

by section214 on Jan 4, 2009 7:11 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Good. That's what I want to hear

Too lazy to follow college basketball that closely.

Shut up and Coach

by Carl on Jan 4, 2009 9:16 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

On the other hand -

We’ll probably wind up with the 6th pick in a 5 deep draft.

SACTOWN ROYALTY - Try our thick creamy shakes!

by section214 on Jan 4, 2009 9:25 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Section giveth and Section taketh away

"If you don't have anything good to say, LIE" - Mom

by HighTops on Jan 4, 2009 11:38 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Rose was always near the top of the draft 214

It wasn’t until Beasley put up those gigantic #’s did he soar #1 on mock drafts.

No mistakes in the tango, darling. Not like life. It's simple. That's what makes the tango so great. If you make a mistake, and get tangled, you tango on

by pookeyguru on Jan 4, 2009 9:26 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

But Beasley was there

by this time last year. It wasn’t until the after the NCAA’s that Rose took over the #1 spot on about half of the mock draft boards.

SACTOWN ROYALTY - Try our thick creamy shakes!

by section214 on Jan 4, 2009 9:29 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

But Rose was always in the top 3

Regardless of the time of the year. That should have been the point I really made.

No mistakes in the tango, darling. Not like life. It's simple. That's what makes the tango so great. If you make a mistake, and get tangled, you tango on

by pookeyguru on Jan 4, 2009 9:41 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

With you

SACTOWN ROYALTY - Try our thick creamy shakes!

by section214 on Jan 4, 2009 9:43 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Not quite yet

I think Washington is at .219, Sacramento at .235 winning percentage.

SACTOWN ROYALTY - Try our thick creamy shakes!

by section214 on Jan 4, 2009 7:08 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

And therin lies the rub...

“This team’s just not ready yet.” This is certainly true. But it leads to the question: “When will they be ready?” Which in turn barrels headlong into: " Why isn’t this team ready?" The plan is unclear. the direction is not apparent even to the most observant of NBA neophytes. WE DONT KNOW what Petrie’s plan is. There’s Martin… and um… Thompson someday maybe… then perhaps Greene… and Hawes…. and now maybe NOT Beno… Someone needs to ask the question, “where the hell are we going, and how do we get there from here?” If we had clarification of some kind, it would be easier to take, but I think most Kings fans are starting to think that there IS NO DIRECTION. Three coaches with 3 different philosophies means there is no continuity in coaching. Has there been any continuity in team building philosophy? And are the Maloofs paying attention??

by FaStRmAn on Jan 5, 2009 3:01 PM PST reply actions 0 recs