The Kings Cannot Be Stopped (By the Clippers)

by Ziller on Feb 28, 2009 6:02 AM PST in Recaps Comment 22 comments

One heckuva performance for the Kings, top to bottom. The starting five pulled out to a quick lead, and the bench gunners extended it. The shots fell for Sacramento, and did not fall for L.A. But I'm not quibbling over the difference between good defense and lucky defense. The Kings have 13 wins! Huzzah!

* Andres Nocioni received all the attention last week for the nebulous "energy" and "fire" he'd add. Rashad McCants was an expiring contract. But while Nocioni has been just fine, McTenacity has been an absolute fireball. Six rebounds and four fouls for Shaddy -- the fouls are important because it means he cares on defense. A couple of those were off the ball, which tells me he wants to stick with his mark. (In the postgame, Katye Christensen disagreed and said those off-the-ball fouls will hurt in a close game.But see someone other Spencer Hawes and Jason Thompson actually provide defensive resistance ... I'll take it every time.)

* Back to Nocioni: 17 points in 22 minutes. He won't shoot like that every night, but it's fantastic to have another shooting option off the bench.

* Francisco Garcia and Kevin Martin went Optimus Prime to form an awesome point guard. Too many turnovers, but these came at non-critical times and weren't (for the most part) due to overdribbling or bad decision-making. They were just silly turnovers. Those are rare.

* Great defensive game for Spencer Hawes. Solid all-around game for Jason Thompson. Every Zach Randolph shot was challenged, and Hawes kept the Clips off the offensive glass. Beautiful work.

The Kings, who might get swept by the entire freaking Eastern Conference, might sweep a four-game series against a division opponent. Amazing.

Hey Clippers, I know suck. And you, sirs, suck.

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I didn't watch the game so obviously my analysis is limited to the box score

What I liked was the symmetry. Alot of guys had all around lines. JT, Speed, Cisco, McCants all qualified. Spencer’s defense (which I’m assuming was quality and will take your word for it) and JT did a good job of keeping Randolph from making easy shots.

Nocioni had a solid game scoring wise. Yes, the Clippers suck, but it’s not exactly like the Kings are in the upper echelon of teams right now. Beating the other crappy teams in the league at home in front of 10000 fans is a-ok by me.

You can’t say this often about a team that’s nearly lost 4 times as many games as it’s won, but if the KIngs lost last night, I would have been disappointed. What I find so encouraging is how the team’s stats were proportional and how much everything seemed to be a team effort. I say this because of the all around games, 8 guys in double figures (Spencer in rebounds!!!!) and a quality distribution of minutes. It’s like they realized: Hey if we beat these guys real early, we don’t have to play as hard or work as hard. Then tomorrow we can play the Jazz and give an honest to god attempt at beating them even though we got pasted in awful fashion last time.

I don’t normally advocate change for the sake of change, but when you dump salary, get a possible talent upgrade that translates to something meaningful (McCants over Brown) at some point (holding my breath), and save some money in the process, I think it’s clear the Kings were one of the winners at the deadline. Remaking your team in the face of some ugly processes is not an easy thing to do. Geoff Petrie and the Kings are well on their way to doing just that.

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

I am the stone that builder refused..I am the visual...The inspiration..That made lady sing the blues....I'm the spark that makes your idea bright.....The same spark that lights the dark....So that you can know your left from your right...I am the ballot in your box....The bullet in your gun...The inner glow that lets you know...To call your brother son....The story that just begun...The promise of what's to come...And I'm 'a remain a soldier till the war is won....

by pookeyguru on Feb 28, 2009 6:20 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

In just stoked we won!

There can only be one Noce!

by NoceOne on Feb 28, 2009 8:26 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

I meant, IM JUST STOKED WE WON!

There can only be one Noce!

by NoceOne on Feb 28, 2009 8:26 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

chemistry?

Is it just wishful thinking, but am I starting to see a little C between our players? Especially JT and Kevin……

by newkings on Feb 28, 2009 10:02 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

I thought it was interesting that you saw several highlights of JT handling the ball in the open court

And how comfortable he looked doing it. (I didn’t see the actual game. NBA Broadband is blocking me off it.)

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

by pookeyguru on Feb 28, 2009 10:07 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

There was a lot of nice stuff going on in that game

Some great sharing of the ball, excellent hustle, a fun game to watch, a good win.

We need some of those once in a while to keep the spirits up.
fun fun fun

So imitate the action of the tiger!
Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood,
Disguise fair nature with hard-favoured rage.
- lend the eye a terrible aspect,

Now set the teeth - and teach them how to war!
Henry V iii

by lietothegirls on Feb 28, 2009 10:16 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Only thing I'm worried about

Is Will Solomon being our backup. We noticeably got worse in this game whenever he came in. Bobby is going to have to play a lot of minutes tonight and he’s not the same Action Jackson he was 5 years ago body-wise. Prediction: Great game from Deron Williams and Jazz blowout win.

All due to the fact that we’ll have a tired PG and a really crappy PG.

by Aykis16 on Feb 28, 2009 11:20 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Enter Tenacity!

by Scirocco on Feb 28, 2009 11:23 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I think the problem here is

That Cisco should be the backup PG without Bobby in the game.

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

by pookeyguru on Feb 28, 2009 4:22 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

whow, whooow, hold up, HOLD UP

Stop The Presses!

Shaddy? Shaddy? SHADDY?!?!!?

Who are you and what have you done with Ziller? This is not the same man who brought us Speedracer, who christened Shock and Hawes to the world. Shaddy? Get a hold of yourself, man.

Donte? Donte'! Donté?!?!
'spect da 'xtra E'

by iashwash on Feb 28, 2009 11:35 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Eh

I bit Shock and Hawes and McTenacity. I’m willing to settle for a standardized, established nickname.

by Ziller on Feb 28, 2009 11:42 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

VOTE!

I’m kind of hoping the McTenacity sticks, because that would mean McCants sticks with the Tenacity. For a guy who will mostly be playing 10-15 mins a night behind KMart, it would be great if his only gametime goal was “impact” – just when the opposing teams think they can rest with the starter on the bench, here comes this guy with nothing better to do than expound forty minutes of energy in ten.
Good times.

Donte? Donte'! Donté?!?!
'spect da 'xtra E'

by iashwash on Feb 28, 2009 12:10 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Optimus Prime

Without the stupid turnovers that combination was the best directed offense we’ve seen here in a long long time. Wouldn’t it be great to have one guy capable of doing that every game without the turnovers. Maybe, Rubio.

Hawes was Hawsome on the defensive boards, and I don’t want to deminish his game, but 14 of his 15 boards were defensive. The Kings missed 42 shots and only got 7 offensive rebounds. That’s 16%, or about half as many as a good rebounding team would have gotten. Now, that could have been because of Camby & Randolf, but I also saw a lack of effort. Our bigs usually aren’t around the basket when the shot goes up, but if you watch JT, he starts moving toward the rim as soon as the ball leaves the shooters hand. Hawes becomes a fan or casual observer. He’s more likely to move back on defense, but maybe that’s what he’s told to do because he plays out high so often.

What ever the reason is, it has been a problem this entire year and in years past. Offensive rebounds and second chance points are going to win you a lot of close games. It’s an area the kings need to work on in the future.

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

by HighTops on Feb 28, 2009 12:29 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Great effort

I was especially pleased with some of the passing I saw, swinging it arouind the horn and finding the open player and then actually taking the shot.

Nocioni and McCants fit in well, and our youngsters down low don’t have to contribute a lot more than defense and rebounding when you get scoring like we had from the 1-3 positions.

Good team effort, and I hope we have something left in the tank for tonight. This could be a make-or-break game for Solomon, although I anticipate Cisco is going to be playing a lot of point guard tonight unless things get ugly early.

"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 Feb 28, 2009 1:19 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

no offense to Solomon but he has not played well... he is Douby to me

he looks totally lost on the offense and a defensive liabiilty.

He is hustling, but not flowing. Maybe if we bring in Terence Howard to coach next year – oh wait, that is Eddie Jordan, sorry.

by betweentheeyes on Feb 28, 2009 4:58 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Clippers goal...

To provide 25% of Kings victories this season.

In this world, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant. Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. - Elwood P. Dowd

by Steve Perrin on Feb 28, 2009 6:01 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Couple quick notes...

Loved the hustle, passing and overall play.

Clips are in bad, bad shape. We are bad. Historically bad. But, we don’t have Mike Dunleavy as coach and GM. We also don’t have middle aged stars like Baron Davis, Chris Kamen, and Zach Randolph signed to monstrous deals, giving little effort or not playing at all due to injury. They should be better with the talent on that team, but nothing seems to mesh together, and they just blew all of their cap space last summer, so they are bad now and for the foreseeable future.

Lastly, loving Spencer’s play. He is starting to look way more comfortable down low. One or two quick moves and a baby hook that is going in. I think it may be time to start going inside a little more. That’s my one complaint. We nee to start looking for our young bigs dow low a little more.

by R-Man on Feb 28, 2009 7:33 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Personally, I like Spencers' upside more than JT

but I may be one of only a couple peeps on this site to think so. Give this guy an NBA body, two years more experience and he will be Hawesome!

by betweentheeyes on Mar 1, 2009 11:11 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah -

It’s easy to forget that Hawes is actually two years younger than Thompson. Both guys had late growth spurts, and they are still learning and growing into their bodies. It will be really interesting to watch as they progress.

SACTOWN ROYALTY - Try our thick creamy shakes!

by section214 on Mar 1, 2009 11:38 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

JT may never catch Spencer

Spencer is younger, taller, more skilled in low post moves, and a better long range shooter. JT relies on effort & energy, has a decent mid range jumper, but only has average hops. I won’t even go into their defensive games, which is obvious. The only advantage the JT has over Hawes at this point, is that he hasn’t had microsurgery.

JT has a lot to learn before he developes a good offense or defensive game. And, because of his lack of vertical leaping ability, I fear that late in his career he’ll end up being another Brad Miller around the rim. Spencer on the other hand, already has most of the low post moves, and only needs practice and experience before he establishes his offensive game and his defensive game is progressing better than could be expected.

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

by HighTops on Mar 1, 2009 1:14 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

JT has a lot to work on

but leaping ability seems to be a hell of a long ways down the list. Effort & energy don’t add up to JT’s rebounding stats this year, talent is involved there too.

JT needs lots of polish and has tons of room to improve, but he’s got plenty of athleticism to be a very good NBA player.

As for Spencer, his growth and maturation this year have been outstanding. I have tons of hope for a Hawesome future at C.

by ForThree on Mar 1, 2009 1:52 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

His ability to leap isn't in question, his max height above the rim, is.

He gets up quickly, but doesn’t get up high enough to take control in a crowd. In fact, a lot of his offensive rebounds are from tips. I’d be happier if he got his hands higher obove the rim, got control, came down, & went back up strong, but he doesn’t have that type of vertical leaping ability. Griffen may be 3" shorter than JT, but when he rebounds, he can get his elbow above the rim.

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

by HighTops on Mar 1, 2009 7:58 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs