Falling Into a Shoot-Out, Kings Lose 116-106 to Sixers

Maybe, my friend. But also, maybe not.

Noce played ok. 8pts on 3-8 shooting, 1 3pointer, 1-2 FT….He was just okay.

Spencer may just not be a starting NBA center. He’s below average in essentially every area. He’s not a good defender, shotblocker or scorer. He’s a terrible rebounder and his shot selection is poor. Hawes does have skills around the basket (which he rarely uses) and is a good passer. But at the end of the day, Hawes looks like he’s going to fall somewhere between Raef Lafrentz and Brad Miller in terms of his skills. The Kings need someone in the middle who can defend, protect the rim and rebound as primary skills with offense as a secondary skill.

We average 1.1 fewer blocks that our opponents, and out rebound them. Spencer is our 2nd leading rebounder behind JT, but he gets 8 fewer minutes. So, he’s an easy target. The lose against the 76ers had absolutelly nothing to do with interior defense.

They blocked 6 shots and so did we. We scored 58 points in the paint and they scored 44. They scored 9 or 16 from 3pt range for 56%, but have a season average of 34% from 3’s. And, Philly beat us on the fast break points 19-6.

We gave up 13pt more points on fast breaks, and 9pts more from 3 to a poor 3 shooting team. That’s 22 pts, and we lost by 10. So, certainly lets point to the interior defense.

and in my opinion, that is what was missing from the defense last night. Controlling the point guard/offense initiator and his first option will make penetration, second chance opportunities and the like much more limited.

A larege part of the problem was that Philly was making their shots and that includes the more difficult attempts coupled with a cold Sac offense with little options. The team has been so reliant on WarBeno (that was for you lttg) that when he has an off night (the guy has been Mr. Consistency but was human last night for the first time in a long time) few choices remain, maybe Westie could don a uni. Omri was a bright light but really didn’t get all that much court time. Donté vacillates between highlight film (some Nash-like dimes in the first half) and goofy Doratio. JT was steady Eddie and then who else is there? Noce? Sergio? Spencer (had a decent game).

This was a game where two bad defenses met up and the better offense won.

Also need to learn from their repeated mistakes if they hope to minimize their weaknesses. That being said, there is no reason to beat up anyone about it. This season is a learning experience if nothing else.

Also, that is a disgusting thought by your old boss. I will have to use that in the future.

dalembert would be ok if he was willing to take on a przybilla-style role… unfortunately, he seems to be one of those big men who will “demand his looks” – lack of skills be damned. couple that with terrible hands and a seemingly awful attitude and I will say no no no thanks…

brand must have got 3 loose ball fouls trying to deal with brockman. brockman should have played more in the 2nd half imo.

spencer has one-on-one moves in the post, as we have all seen. however, it appears that his coach, his teammates, and himself have lost all confidence in them. when he gets the ball he is looking to kick. if he’s going to be on the court he needs to get the ball on the low block without other players bringing their men around.

donte and omri, while both having decent to good stats, missed many shots they could have and would have made. we will win these games in the future and it is important to remember where these expectations were 3 months ago. beno, donte AND omri in the starting lineup? you’d have thought a team like that would lose by 40. instead it took the game of the sixers’ season to beat us.

other thoughts:
igoudala is much better than I thought — as long as he never misses a jumper, which it seemed like he didn’t.

the sixers aren’t a horrible shooting team by accident. they were making shots, guarded or not, that they usually miss. I don’t remember rodney carney in the 3 point shootout.

jrue holliday has a long way to go.

I can’t wait to see this team at full strength.

Nothing… he had a agitated brisk walk like he was the King of Kings… wife ahead of him already at the car, 3 demon spawn trailing Peaches… even when he is not talking he still comes off all douche like…

But I though Carney turned the game. With 25 seconds left in the 3rd and the game tied, Carney hit a 3. Then in the first 1:15 seconds of the 4th, Carney hit 2 more 3’s and the Kings were down 9. And, we never recovered.

The problem is the price tag.

the thought that Casspi did a better job by flashing into the paint and not giving Phillies bigs a chance to react. Donte was getting the ball out side the paint and backing his man to the basket, similiarly to the way Tyreke does it. But, Donte isn’t as fast as Tyreke, and the defense has a chance to react.

I also thought that Sergio and Spencer did a better job of making the entry pass than Beno did. Beno is a SG who can run the pick & pop. And, with Tyreke out, I thought the KIngs would be better off running the offense through Spencer than Beno.

So it is impacted by the play of the entire team. The theory is it can tell you whose play impacted the score, but in smaller samples it’s pretty useless.

If a player enters the came in the final seconds of a quarter, and his team hits a 3pointer, he gets credit for +3 even if he never touches the ball. If he never enters the game again, he will have a +3, even if his team loses by 30, because those were the only points scored while he was on the court.

As CC.Com stated, for one game the stat doesn’t tell you much. Look at the stat half way thru the season, or at the end of the year, and you’ll see who added the most to the team. A defensive stopper can add as much as an offensive star.