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Preview: Mavericks at Kings

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Ronald Martinez - Getty Images

Star-divide

THE OPPONENT

Last time these teams played, we were just amazed the Kings could hang with good teams. A loss in Dallas dropped Sacramento to 5-6. The Kings have a worse record now -- 14 wins to 18 losses -- but, if anything, the original amazement at our team's not-completely-awful quality has fossilized into a we-can-beat-anyone mentality. See: every game in the past 10 days, except for the Sixers game. It's not completely useful to permanently harp on this, but: the Kings could have beat the Cavs once and Lakers twice in the past two weeks. The team had opportunities to win the first two games of the triptych in regulation, and had a two-point lead with four seconds left in the third game. You win those games, and this team is 17-15, one game behind Utah and OKC for the eighth seed in the West.

We don't have mulligans in this sport, and a game out of the 8th seed in January means little, but that tells you about the quality of our favorite team. This team is good. The Mavericks are really good, but so were the Cavs, Lakers and Nuggets. The Kings can hang with really good, and beat really good.

Last time around, Jason Kidd killed the Kings with five threes as Sacramento looked to double down on Dirk Nowitzki off of Kidd. Jason Terry also managed to spring for 12 fourth-quarter points, a number the brilliant Tyreke Evans tried to usurp but couldn't. Andres Nocioni and Jason Thompson earned their paychecks limiting Dirk, but Dallas managed to jump on the Kings frontcourt early with eight first-quarter offensive rebounds (despite being a mediocre offensive rebounding team). The Mavs are 4th in the league in shooting defense. Evans isn't expected to play.

THE KEY BATTLE

Of course, it's Jason Thompson vs. Dirk Nowitzki. J.T. didn't play well in L.A., alternately frustrated by missing open shots and getting called for questionable whistles. So long as Jon Brockman is playing short minutes, Thompson is the team's entire painted area scrap factor, so the team desperately needs him to play well enough on both ends to stay in the game. (Even when J.T. wasn't in explicit foul trouble on Friday night, it was difficult for Paul Westphal to keep him in the game. I can't remember the last time that's been the case.)

Dirk's offense has calmed down a bit of late -- he's at 20 points per game over his last 10. But the Mavericks have excelled on defense. Shawn Marion might be the most important acquisition of the summer for any contending team -- bigger than Richard Jefferson, Rasheed Wallace or Vince Carter. That's a miracle, isn't it? Kudos to Donnie Nelson for going out on a limb by re-signing Kidd and getting Marion, both fellows past their prime but still effective. Err, back to Dirk -- Marion's stellar defense allows Dirk to ease up a little, and focus on being the best scoring power forward since Karl Malone. That's what the Kings defense has to contend with, and that's always worrisome.

INTERESTING SIDESHOW

By my count, Spencer Hawes and Thompson have simultaneously rocked in one game this season. One of 32. We'll look at it more closely this week, but it'd be nice to get them going together in this game particularly, both to put pressure on Dirk, to force Rick Carlisle to keep Erick Dampier in the game (which hurts the Dallas offense) and to take pressure off the strained backcourt.

BOLD PROCLAMATION

Spencer Hawes will not score 30 points.

NUMERIC PREDICTION

Kings by 1.

DETAILS

7PM Pacific on Comcast/1140 AM. Game thread at 7, post-gamer at 9:45.

0 recs  |  Comment 30 comments |

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Don't worry guys Tyreke is playing tonight!

It has seemed like he has missed more than 3 games, but he his suiting up

Natural Go Getta!

by slamson on Jan 2, 2010 12:07 PM PST reply actions   0 recs

any link?

"Oh boy! If you don't like that you don't like Kings basketball"-Peaches

by AkaP on Jan 2, 2010 1:15 PM PST up reply actions   0 recs

Yes, please

More Nowitzki lying on the floor writhing in pain tonight.

Go, Brockman!

StR Token Female

by LeaguePassAddict on Jan 2, 2010 1:29 PM PST reply actions   0 recs

http://www.nba.com/2010/news/01/01/kings.evens/index.html?ls=iref:nbahpt2

he was also labeled in the sacbee as “probable” not questionable

by Harrisonyaka on Jan 2, 2010 1:42 PM PST reply actions   0 recs

Interesting.

Thanks for linking. You should fanshot this if it isn’t already.

Father of the "Natt this!" movement and Grandmaster of the "Never let AnotherStupidSN forget what a Sham-Wow is" Order.

by Aykis16 on Jan 2, 2010 1:50 PM PST up reply actions   0 recs

As much as I would like to see Evans play,

I’d rather have him nurse his ankle back to 100%.

What's the past tense for "scam?" Is it "scrumped?"

by swoosh91 on Jan 2, 2010 2:35 PM PST up reply actions   0 recs

I want the Kings to win out of sheer anger.

And on March 16th, I want to put Sean May in the game and sweep Kobe’s leg.

Father of the "Natt this!" movement and Grandmaster of the "Never let AnotherStupidSN forget what a Sham-Wow is" Order.

by Aykis16 on Jan 2, 2010 1:50 PM PST reply actions   0 recs

"Out of commission."

"El once, chico. Eleven."

by Juan Primo on Jan 2, 2010 1:56 PM PST up reply actions   0 recs

I don't think the court can handle a Sean May sweep

"It's as Ann as the nose on plain's face."

by Apoet on Jan 2, 2010 5:00 PM PST up reply actions   0 recs

Message to Dirk

If your elbow runs into Jon Brockman’s face, you won’t be having more teeth lodged in there. Brockman will have your elbow lodged in his teeth.

Father of the "Natt this!" movement and Grandmaster of the "Never let AnotherStupidSN forget what a Sham-Wow is" Order.

by Aykis16 on Jan 2, 2010 2:03 PM PST reply actions   0 recs

Whoa, big boy, anger only leads to the dark side.

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

by HighTops on Jan 2, 2010 2:18 PM PST up reply actions   0 recs

Fuck off, Yoda.

What's the past tense for "scam?" Is it "scrumped?"

by swoosh91 on Jan 2, 2010 2:33 PM PST up reply actions   0 recs

Who's Yoda?

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

by HighTops on Jan 2, 2010 4:02 PM PST up reply actions   0 recs

animated movie character popular in the mid 80's

"I make love to pressure" - Stephen Jackson

by Bluejohn on Jan 2, 2010 4:12 PM PST up reply actions   1 recs

Sorry

That was my caption for the Preview photo.

Father of the "Natt this!" movement and Grandmaster of the "Never let AnotherStupidSN forget what a Sham-Wow is" Order.

by Aykis16 on Jan 2, 2010 4:13 PM PST up reply actions   0 recs

So Evans is playing tonight?

Umm.. My prediction: Kings win by 3

by Robia on Jan 2, 2010 2:23 PM PST reply actions   0 recs

If Tyreke is playing

I hope the offense keeps the fluidity and keen passing that we have seen the last few games.

by MichaelMack on Jan 2, 2010 2:35 PM PST reply actions   0 recs

Big chance to rebound from a frustrating and dissapointing loss

At the same time, I hope that frustration and anger from last night doesn’t affect the young guys in a negative way. We had a good game against this same guys in Dallas and now we are home to hopefully a good number of fans at Arco. I’ll be there doing my part

Go Kings!

Godfather of the "nice ass" movement.... the future begins now...

by edm7 on Jan 2, 2010 2:50 PM PST reply actions   0 recs

Kings tweeted that Evans is doubtful

Going to the game tonight. Hope the Kings come out with fire.

by rc360 on Jan 2, 2010 2:54 PM PST reply actions   0 recs

Question:

Is Dirk the best white player in the NBA?

Not a big race thing, but just wondering what you thought.

I used to like Frank Wren...not anymore. I want John Schierholz back!

by mvhsbball on Jan 2, 2010 3:58 PM PST reply actions   0 recs

At the moment?

I don’t think there’s a doubt. Pau is 2nd.

Father of the "Natt this!" movement and Grandmaster of the "Never let AnotherStupidSN forget what a Sham-Wow is" Order.

by Aykis16 on Jan 2, 2010 4:15 PM PST up reply actions   0 recs

I thought so too. it was Steve Nash for a while, but he’s old now.

I used to like Frank Wren...not anymore. I want John Schierholz back!

by mvhsbball on Jan 2, 2010 4:28 PM PST up reply actions   0 recs

He definitely is...

But you totally spelled Beno wrong.

by unfair weather on Jan 2, 2010 5:38 PM PST up reply actions   3 recs

Kings mad enough to chew on horse meat.

The last time we played it was the 11th game for our current coach & team. We started Beno, Tyreke, Noc, JT & Spencer, and Donte only got 11 minutes. Dallas got 93 FGA’s to our 81, mostly due to their 17 Offensive rebounds, and our 21 Turnovers. But, we only lost by 2 on the road because of our 53% Field Goal shooting and our 38% shooting from 3pt range. We won 3 of the 4 quarters, but FT shooting came down to being the deciding factor again (don’t it always). Both team shot 71.4% but Dallas hit 15-21 and the Kings hit 10-14. But, the Mav’s were without Marion who might be the best off-season acquisition by any playoff team.

December hasn’t been exceptionally good to the Mav’s who are 9-5 after going 13-5 to start the season. But, a 64% winning percentage isn’t bad, and the Mav’s are as good on the road as they are at home at 11-5 for each. All 3 shooting percentages are down in December, so are offensive rebounds, steals and points per game. They’re only averaging 97.8 ppg after scoring 105.5 in November.

The Kings have had similar drops in winning percentage and shooting percentages in December compared to the start of the season with an 8-9 record at the start of the season and 6-9 in December. But, the Kings home record of 11-6 is comparable to Dallas’ road record. What hasn’t been favorable is our record against upper echelon team, 1-6 in December. Still, except for a couple of double digit loses to Mia and Sas, we’ve been in most of the games up until the end.

I believe that Tyreke will come back, to help stop the bleeding. Hopefully he won’t be too rusty and keeps his turnovers to a minimum. Even though Marion is back, we now have our stopper in Donte. I expect PW will start Beno on Barea and Tyreke on Kidd. The frontcourt will be Spencer, JT & Donte. To keep JT out of foul trouble I think he should guard Dampier and let Spencer take Nowitzki.

The Mav’s have 4 potential double double guys in points and rebounds with Nowitzki, Marion, Dampier and Gooden. So, JT has to stay out of foul trouble, and Donte and Omri are going to have to have exceptional games on the offensive boards. We doubled a lot off Terry and Kidd and they killed us last game, but I expect we’ll have to do it again. Let’s hope our guys pick up the help defense which we saw a little of in the Laker game.

The Kings should be more than motivated after that painful lose yesterday. I’m worried about Tyreke coming back stale, and think running the offense through Spencer might ease him back, plus Spencer shot the ball well from outside, and it’s probably a good idea to keep him shooting especially if he can make 1 or 2 early. I think this is a winnable game as long as we keep the turnovers to a minimum and hit the offensive boards.

Kings win 107-105 at home. Go Kings.

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

by HighTops on Jan 2, 2010 3:59 PM PST reply actions   1 recs

We're off to the game soon

And yes, as somebody said above I hope we win this one out of pure anger.

Its a place to start :)

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 Jan 2, 2010 5:49 PM PST reply actions   0 recs

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