The View From Section 214, 3/31

by section214 on Mar 31, 2009 11:22 PM PDT in Game Threads

I brought my own poster rubber bands tonight (obsess much?)...

Pregame -

Four wins versus playoff teams this year and no back-to-back wins since November, 7-9, 2008. Bring on the bees!

First video up tonight is a Vlade/Peja thing. Man, Peja hit some shots that were just wrong when he was a King.

I wonder if Marty Mac is here tonight (low blow).

This place is really filling up - must be a tractor pull.

The Sacramento Women's Chorus knocks out the National Anthem in about 35 seconds. That's what I'm talkin' 'bout!

The crowd gets on their feet for the introduction of the Kings' starting lineup. This place is so cool when it's full.

Peja and B-Jax both in street clothes.

1st Quarter -

I just found out that season ticket holders get Vlade pins (one per account), free (not including the $3,600 investment in the tickets, of course).

Pollard's kid sporting a mohawk. Classic.

It took six and a half minutes to record our first turnover. That's different.

38-32 at the end of the quarter, with only two turnovers. Me likey.

2nd Quarter -

McCants fever - catch it!

64 all at the half, while we have only nine boards. Eep.

Halftime -

Peaches? WTF? This is like asking Cletus to play a stradivarius.

Scot Pollard rocks.

Gavin Maloof talks right after GP, with no introduction. That's one way to side step the boos.

B-Jax waits it out on the side and gives Vlade a big hug at the end of the ceremony. Coachie gets a hug in, too.

Richmond ceremony - honoring a great player. Webber ceremony - honoring a star player. Divac ceremony - honoring a great and star human being.

3rd Quarter -

The section has set the over/under on JT's 4th foul at two minutes into the 3rd quarter.

JT beats the spread.

This team likes a big home crowd.

Spencer finding his inner Vlade on a nice dish to JT.

90-86 heading to the 4th. Fun!

4th Quarter -

Eight minutes left and CP3 is getting involved. The captain has turned on the seat belt sign. Please return to your seats immediately. It looks like we will be experiencing turbulence for the remainder of the flight.

How many points would David West have on two legs? If only he wasn't so short...

Noc with a vintage Vlade flop.

Boy, am I relieved that I'm here and not hearing Grant chatter about Nocioni's technical foul.

Tied at 105 after Garcia's tribute to the Mitch Richmond toe-on-the-line-three.

40 for West. Gutty.

Beno, you magnificent bastard!

Rasul Butler? We come all this way and I have to go home eating Rasul?

Postgame -

The only thing that is bothering me right now is the total lack of surprise that the Kings, up two points with 1.7 seconds left in the game, lost...in regulation. There was almost a benign acceptance. Maybe everyone was calculating ping pong balls. Anyway, loads of fun. The good guys almost won. A great guy did.

Until next time, end transmission.

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Comments

Brutal

Tonight was rough. Recycled toilet paper rough. Having to watch a last second three pointer beat the Kings, on VLADE-FRICKIN-DIVAC night is cruel. Having my friend text me with “at least Vlade didn’t tip the ball out to Butler” was a punch below the belt.

Besides the end result, tonight was great. Vlade symbolizes so much that was right with the Kings. Tonight was probably the guys will be together at Arco, and they looked great together.

Thanks for all the great memories guys, cheers.

Wait....Why is everybody clapping? Everyone around me is clapping.... I guess I should be clapping too... GO LAKERS!!! I hate living in So Cal

by 27freethrows on Mar 31, 2009 11:34 PM PDT reply actions

Stoopid typos

…probably the “last time” the guys will be together…

Wait....Why is everybody clapping? Everyone around me is clapping.... I guess I should be clapping too... GO LAKERS!!! I hate living in So Cal

by 27freethrows on Mar 31, 2009 11:36 PM PDT up reply actions

pick n' roll

Execution (there were enough times the pickee could’ve received the ball but didn’t) of the PNR was bad. Defense of the PNR was absolutely horrible. I couldn’t believe how many times New Orleans had a Beno-on-a-Hornets-Power Forward matchup after the initial pick. Oh well, it was exciting.

by clicc916 on Mar 31, 2009 11:56 PM PDT reply actions

Agreed

90% of the way through the season and this team still has no clue on handling the pick and roll. Funny thing about last night, the team switched on the pick and roll almost every damn time (to the point I was screaming at the television), but then on the last play of the game, no switch. Figures.

by otis29 on Apr 1, 2009 12:26 PM PDT up reply actions

My thoughts

I made the trip up to Sac tonight to attend the game. Pregame I went with my dad and his friends to a mini-party for season ticket holders and they had JT come talk to us for a few minutes. We got to ask him questions and I asked if there was going to be retribution for BJax’s car and he said no because everyone had said they were sorry and made amends. I also asked when the next episode of the Donte show was coming but he said it would have to be a surprise.

The game went pretty much as I expected. Kings gave a good showing and the crowd had good energy (for these days at least) but they got carved up all night by Paul and West with the Butler killer at the buzzer. Coming up short is the Kings season in a nutshell.

by thekangarooster on Apr 1, 2009 12:38 AM PDT reply actions

Can this Kings team stop a one-legged man?

question answered
(sorry, but its depressing)

Great Night for a great guy in Vlade.

So imitate the action of the tiger!.
- lend the eye a terrible aspect
and teach them how to war!
Henry V iii

by lietothegirls on Apr 1, 2009 2:29 PM PDT up reply actions

Hornets made April fools of me

I actually thought we had it won.

It’s so hard to watch these games when you know logically it’s better for them to lose, but just can’t stand it when it happens.

Vlade 21 Divac the consumate professional

Proud graduate of the "Derrick Zoolander center for kids who can't read good, and want to learn to do other stuff good too"

by kangsfan on Apr 1, 2009 12:52 AM PDT reply actions

First ...

… loss that completely caught me off-guard this season. All of everything had me actually believing they’d win.

Hmph.

by Tom Ziller on Apr 1, 2009 6:21 AM PDT reply actions

Beyond that

There have been two losses this year when I really “wanted” this team to win; Divac’s jersey retirement night and Webber’s jersey retirement night. Both of those losses were punches in the gut.

For the most part I am ok with losing this year, but losing games that have sentimental value sucks. I rrasly wanted to bring back a W last night

Wait....Why is everybody clapping? Everyone around me is clapping.... I guess I should be clapping too... GO LAKERS!!! I hate living in So Cal

by 27freethrows on Apr 1, 2009 10:57 AM PDT up reply actions

I wasn't surprised

After all, Natt left Noc on the bench during the criticial time during the middle of the 4th when the Hornets built up the lead that we (read : Cisco) had to fight back from. And of course when all you have to do is not give a up a 3pt shot and switch every screen, you just know the Kings are going to give up a 3pt and not switch every screen.

That final play was a microcosm of our entire year.

by Kusian on Apr 1, 2009 8:38 AM PDT reply actions

Not to mention

Not having any bigs on the floor to keep the Hornets from getting those pesky second chance points.

Kenny Natt lost us the game. Again.

Coming to you live from the land of interim coaches.

by LeaguePassAddict on Apr 1, 2009 10:28 AM PDT up reply actions

Outscored 44 to 24 in the paint with Chandler out, who would have thought

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

by HighTops on Apr 1, 2009 3:51 PM PDT up reply actions

Wow, Kusian

As we were heading down the stairs, I turned to a fellow fan and said, “In a word, microcosm.”

Spooky.

SACTOWN ROYALTY - Try our thick creamy shakes!

by section214 on Apr 1, 2009 12:34 PM PDT up reply actions

Great minds think a like and all that jazz ;-)

by Kusian on Apr 1, 2009 12:39 PM PDT up reply actions

What does that have to do with you two?

Coming to you live from the land of interim coaches.

by LeaguePassAddict on Apr 1, 2009 4:58 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs

I liked what C-Webb had to say.

Would have been even better if he had gone a step further and said, “And you know what, my knee injury really brought out the worst in me, and my own fears, insecurities and frustrations led to me coming back and acting like a real ass when I rejoined the team and throwing my teammates under the bus when things didn’t work out like we wanted. I’m sorry for that.”

Life is every mammal's journey from very very wet to very very dry.

by Holmdel on Apr 1, 2009 10:19 AM PDT reply actions

Nice post section ,

Is the Vlade lithograph (poster) any good? I wonder how much they are going for on ebay and at what time the the first one went up.

It was a heart breaker at the end but overall a very entertaining game to watch. I have to say we have watched way too many lousy games this year but watching any game while posting on the game thread here really is a lot of fun and as this regular King’s season runs down I’m going to miss it.

As I posted over @ pook’s site, it’s becoming clear that in the recent games where we play well, win or lose, Nocs and Cisco are the engine that are driving this team. What they lack in consistency they more than make up for in passion and hustle and at times some very nice basketball, I’m hoping we keep Nocs for at least one more season. Cisco’s last minute 3 (2) to tie the game was clutch as was Beno’s.

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

by Bluejohn on Apr 1, 2009 11:34 AM PDT reply actions

The lithograph

Like C-Webb’s, it is a re-print of the 2001-02 team lithograph, which had mini-prints of each of the team members. This is important to note, just in case they ever decide retire Chucky Brown’s number.

SACTOWN ROYALTY - Try our thick creamy shakes!

by section214 on Apr 1, 2009 12:41 PM PDT up reply actions

BJ - does it seem like the SF position has become more and more the go-to position for teams?

or is that just a Kings perspective?

So imitate the action of the tiger!.
- lend the eye a terrible aspect
and teach them how to war!
Henry V iii

by lietothegirls on Apr 1, 2009 1:57 PM PDT up reply actions

We almost won the shoot-out!

unfortunately the D problems continued as we really stopped no one,

not even a one-legged man. What is up with that?

So imitate the action of the tiger!.
- lend the eye a terrible aspect
and teach them how to war!
Henry V iii

by lietothegirls on Apr 1, 2009 1:59 PM PDT reply actions

Oops, a repeat,sorry

So imitate the action of the tiger!.
- lend the eye a terrible aspect
and teach them how to war!
Henry V iii

by lietothegirls on Apr 1, 2009 2:53 PM PDT up reply actions

Ouch. Way to throw a guy under a bus.

With so little time left, Kings coach Kenny Natt said the mandate was for the Kings to switch all assignments.

“I don’t remember what Noc had a problem with, other than the fact that … the game plan was to switch everything before the ball came inbounds and obviously we didn’t do that,” Natt said. “It’s just really sad to fight the way that we (fought), to have gone through the adversity we’ve gone through all season in playing games, trying to come together as a unit and play hard. We finally do that and then little things just caused us to lose a basketball game. It’s very unfortunate.” – Kenny Natt in the Sac Bee

There can only be one Noce!

by NoceOne on Apr 1, 2009 6:07 PM PDT reply actions

Classy.

Coming to you live from the land of interim coaches.

by LeaguePassAddict on Apr 1, 2009 7:26 PM PDT up reply actions

That goes into the hall of Natt quotes

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 Apr 2, 2009 10:45 PM PDT up reply actions