When There's Nothing Left to Burn, You Have to Set O.J. Mayo on Fire

they showed allen iverson making shots and then showed Randolph and his shot with five seconds left. they showed the pass from spencer to beno to tie it up. they showed KMart killin it in OT and said that his 48pts was the most this season by any player. the highlight ended with noc’s 3 from the corner.

CEEEEEEELEBRATE GOOD TIMES C’MON! YOOHOOO!

• If Kevin keeps playing like this, he should start in the All-Star game.

• I think Evans ankle is bothering him more than he’s letting on. I think it was good recognition by Westphal to not play him too much. And it looks like he still managed to do some good things in the 24 minutes he had other than score.

• Spencer’s starting next game. I still like Casspi off the bench.

• Next game will be a lot tougher, but I think if the Kings had a chance to win it, they needed to win this game and carry the energy over. Next game would be ideal to have a healthy Tyreke Evans because he would abuse Mike Bibby.

After 17 fouls in just four games, perhaps you can count on foul trouble every night from JT.

This makes two games in a row where the Kings competed with intensity and spirit. They did not just fold, but got angry and motivated when falling behind in the first.

I have even more respect for Westphal after the post-game interview. He does a great job of being a coach; providing careful praise as well as instruction in improvement, I believe he is a coach who will tell the players what he expects, will reinforce the players who follow his expectations with playing time, and continue to teach with patience and thought.

I like this new competitive Kings team.

 to stay in the game. Got killed on the boards tonight, but found a way to offset it. Could we really be thinking that we might have 8-10 quality players? Wow!!

…the kid is already a stud. He reminds me of a more aggressive version of Hedo at the same age.

But I gotta ask it anyway.

If Spencer Hawes won back his starting role last night, how did Beno not earn back his?

I have always thought that Evans, no matter how good he will eventually be, should not start out of the gate. There has to be a pretty steep learning curve between college hoops and the NBA, particularly as a point guard. And though he had one good game, and played pretty well in pre-season, he doesn’t make crisp passes, and his decision-making when he gets stopped in the paint is not good.

I’m not saying Beno is the answer. But for right now, it might be better for Tyreke’s development overall if he didn’t get thrown to the wolves every night. His body language alone last night was discouraging. He seemed to get down easily and doubt himself.

I was proud of this team last night. Even though they were playing the Grizzlies, they never gave up after being down in the 1st quarter. I’d rather have a team show heart and lose than a team that doesn’t show anything and lose.

But, I don’t know if it was great defense or anything. Maybe I have to watch the game again. (I was more in tune with Spence last night I’ll admit.)

The thing about Mayo is that he is a jump shooter and doesn’t get to the line at a high rate. If the string of awesome defense continues against Joe Johnson, maybe Deron Williams and the like, than I won’t have an issue with anything Martin’s done.

As far as his best performance? All around, I do think it makes sense that this is the best game of Speed’s career. Very good to see indeed.

But again if Hawes and someone besides Mason aren’t starting next game it makes no sense.

If JT has help from a better big man that = less foul trouble.
If the three spot can spread the floor that = more opportunity for the other four players to score and defend at a better rate.

We’re a mediocre team at best, why are we being divided from the onset of the game? A starting line up that consistently puts your team in a ten point hole at the end of the first quarter is the opposite of helpful.

I might be the only dude here who thinks that Hawes probably will not start the next game. I would like to see some consistency. As in, hey, Spence, why don’t you try playing hard off the bench for a few games and help us win, and then you will definitely start. At least 2 solid games from Spence.

The same applies to Beno. This was one freaking game. I think it is interesting that our most consistent player is our Israeli rookie. And I don’t think he needs to start yet, but if anyone has proved anything, it would be him. Kevin Martin excluded.

So let’s at least see Spence and Beno help guide is to 1 more win before we make them heroes. They also helped us lose 3 games.

That being said, I am thrilled to see these dudes finally come to play, and show some attitude too. Home cooking is pretty good.

I think Evans was hurt, and he was probably really nervous. He seems like a real low-key, kinda shy, let my game do the talking dude. And he was a little hurt in his first game in front of some of the best fans in the league, who are expecting so much from him. He must have wanted to play so much better, and when he got to a slow start, it probably didn’t help. Next home game will be better for him.

If Westie starts Spence, let’s hope he stays motivated, because if not he should go back to the bench.

C – Spencer Hawes – 36 minutes, Jason Thompson – 12 minutes
PF – Jason Thompson – 20 minutes, Nocioni 12 minutes, Brockman 16 minutes
SF: Omri Casspi – 26 minutes, Andres Nocioni 18 minutes
SG: Kevin Martin – 38 minutes, Tyreke Evans – 10 minutes
PG: Beno Udrih – 26 minutes, Tyreke Evans – 22 minutes

That’s a nice solid 8 man rotation. Maybe play SRod, May or Mason sparingly depending on match-ups, foul trouble and hot hands.

Thankfully.

I hope that KMart can continue the defensive effort.
If so, he will definitely be an all star.
He is looking great this season.
Go Kings!

Great young team. I expect nothing but effort every night even if they don’t deliver the W’s (and they won’t most of the time). I think having either Casspi or Nocioni coming off the bench is great, as it provides a hustle guy that can score for the second unit. What I don’t want to see is both guys come off the bench to relive Sean May. That is not the most efficient lineup, even if accounting for matchup sitiuations.

Kevin Martin refused to lose. Dispite his misgivings about it – he clearly looked like the team leader last night. He was a stud on offense and played well on defense.

Beno was the primary reason we won this game. He ran the team, got players involved and made clutch shots. That guy is pretty good when there are actual Plays to be run, when there is an actual Scheme. How many more games like that before most agree that his struggles last year were indeed largely related to a complete lack of a coaching staff?

Hawes busted through the latest plateau he was stuck at. It often happens that when a player is trying to find that next level they actually look worse until they crash through. I believe he crashed through last night and that Hawes we saw is largely here to stay. We’ll see.

Casspi is the steal of the draft. Thats it, thats all there is to say. Every game he seems to get better on offense and better on defense. He understands how to play basketball, he can play at this level. His curve has been ridiculous, he’s all over the place out there – in a best possible way. We should all feel very very lucky.

We need another big man. (newsflash) May will be better off the bench than he has been as a starter. The guy has skills but is still knocking the rust off his game. He’s a role player – not a starter and will do pretty well against a lot of teams’ 2nd string guys.

I don’t think its a big suprise (at least not to me) that as soon as Mason and May were replaced on the floor we pulled back into the game. Hawes, Noce and Casppi all spread the floor. Smaller teams must spread the floor to have success. Lets put our best available starting unit out there and see what happens – Or at least 4/5ths of it. PW, do you hear me? If the Mason experiment must continue than Hawes needs to be out there. I still think you start Noce against most teams and maybe Casspi against the faster ones. My only concern is Noce does get into some foul trouble – but Mason can relieve him for defense and Casspi for firepower.
If we lose some games because our bench is weak(er) than we lose some games we’ll probably lose anyway.

Tyreke didn’t play as badly as it seemed. I watched the tape again and he did – ok. He’s a rookie playing the hardest position on the floor. It will come. I hope he doesn’t get frustrated early.

K-9 played some very good defensive minutes. He was a truly positive contributer. That one shot he took was UGLY. I’d rather have him coming in for defensive purposes at the 4 than Mason a the 3. Thier offense is the same. Not sure why Brockman didn’t get a few more minutes. I thought he played well.

Stay strong JT. It wasn’t a good night but the team won. Better nights will come and more nights like that will too. Its a process.

I hate to invoke evil, but that was a Kobe-like performance. (Maybe not … Martin did have four assists, after all.)

Nice win against the Grizz, by the way, very entertaining.

xoxo,

timbo
Silver Scren & Roll designated grump

I went to the game and sat about 6 rows from the court, which was the perfect view to watch martin All-Star offensive game and his flopping, gambling, putting his team in bad osition defense. I cant believe this article says he was laying D! At one point during the game when Mayon went coast to coast on Martin to culminate his terrible defensive quarter, I texted my buddy telling him that I don’t think Martin could guard me. Mayo missed a number of easy shots, nt to mention he had to chase martin around numerous double screens all night. Ya he had 4 steels, but at least 2 of those were deflected passes that fell into his lap. hey should be called catches if anything.

With that said however, amazing shooting display! Martin kept us in the game with his shooting, but don’t turn it into baseball where a guy gets a gold glove because hed put up good offensive numbers. And its not as if Mayo is a perential all-star himself, he shut himself down more then Martin did, as Martin continually gambles for steels, because he knows he cant just stay in front of people. Great game by Martin, but saing he played good defense last night would be like saying Beno finally proved his contract last night!

sorry for not pressing spell check!!

Caron Butler=all-star
OJ Mayo=?

You said are rarely held scoreless, I was just pointing out that he had, what most basektball fans would call, a good night. As far as Lebron goes, didn’t watch the game, couldn’t tell you. If he was guarding Caron all night though I doubt Cavs fans are blogging about how awesome his Defense was. All I was saying is that K-Mart didn’t play good D, but excellent offense, which is what he does.

Like I said in in the first place Kevin played a great game. An all star quality offensive explosion! He had a mediocre defensive game at best. He scored 48pts on the OFFENSIVE end and carried the team on the OFFENSIVE side. However, there is two side off basketball OFFENSIVE and DEFENSIVE, each one you play for half the game. The thread was praising his DEFENSIVE half of the game, which he played mediocre at best. His OFFENSIVE side of the game was ALL-STAR quality and helped the team win. I never sad he had a bad OFFENSIVE game, I said DEFENSE!!! So why don’t you learn how to read! And to call me a non-fan when I actually went to the game and supported my team on opening night spending $280 for tickets vs the frikn Grizzlies why you sat home and rooted from your chair? I bet you yelling from your CPU last night really showed your support! I’m a fan, but I give my props to stuff that happens and not just because I’m a fan. KMART carried the team last night, but it was scoring 48 not holding someone to 22!

its Napear I got beef with..