Preview: Suns at Kings

ok, Ziller. It is on

…are Alt + 0241, I believe… ññññ =)

K9 looks like a ballerina jumping into J-Rich’s arms in a reproduction of Swan Lake.

Meanwhile, Grant Hill looks like a creepy little kid with a mustache!

It’s been a month to the day since the Kings & Phoenix last played, and the time hasn’t been good to either team. The Kings record since Dec. 1st has been 6-11 but the Suns aren’t’ much better at 7-10. The one bright spot from the Kings perspective is that the Suns are 0-8 on the road while the Kings are just under .500 at home (4-5).

Nothing has changed much for the Suns since we last meet. They’re the #1 offensive team in the league with most ppg, shooting .495 Field & .417 from 3’s but do tend to turn the ball over (ranked 20th in TO’s). Defensively they’re below average. They’re 29th in ppg allowed, 30th in ORB’s allowed, 26th in getting stripped, and 25th in creating TO’s.

Looking at the Sun’s 8 road loses, where the average score was 114-101, you find one constant, and that is that the Sun’s rarely shoot poorly. You can hope they shoot below 42% but Pookey’s got a better chance of getting together with Megan Fox. The way to stay with the Sun’s is to limit possessions and thereby their FGA’s. In their loses the Sun’s allowed an average of 86 FGA’s and only attempted 80. And, you do that by winning the ORB battle and limiting TO’s. Also, limiting their fast break pts greatly lowers the FG%.

In our last meeting the Kings did a great job of controlling the game. We won the Fast Break pts 9-6, Points in the Paint 44-36, ORB’s 18-17, Possessions 90-88, and FG% 43.3%-43.2%, and we keep the TO’s to a minimum losing 9-10. What didn’t go well was our old archrival FT’s, where we were outscored by 8 in a 8-point lose. The other thing that didn’t go well was JT playing 23 minutes due to foul trouble and Amare going off with 18pts & 21rebs with 12 trips to the FT line.

The Good News for the Kings is we’re playing at home, and our young core of Tyreke, Donte, & Omri are playing much better. We need to slow down the game and not play at Phoenix’s pace. A good shot is better then 3 bad ones. Work the ball, move, and don’t be too quick to put up a 3. The Sun’s are not a good rebounding team, so after the shot goes up, there’s no need for everyone to crash the boards. At least 2 players need to drop back and stop the fast break. Phoenix got 41 fast break points against GSW.

We can run but no SportsCenter circus passes, and limit unforced turnovers. JT needs to stay on the court, so no silly fouls. Spencer is looking better of late, so I’d like to see some plays run thru Spencer out of the high post, like in the Lakers game. He’s hitting his shot out there and can pass as we’ll as any of our guards. If he can pull Frye away from the basket and JT can seal off Amare, Tyreke and Omri should have a field day in the paint. There’s no way Nash or Hill can stop them one on one.

The offense needs more movement, both by the players and the ball. If the bigs are being fronted, move the ball to the other side of the court and let them repost, rather than try and force a pass in tight quarters. How about Tyreke or Omri cutting thru the paint and screening off one of our bigs’ man to set up a mismatch down low. When was the last time we had a backdoor cut off of a couple of screens. We need more movement and less ISO. Yea, it’s great to see Tyreke beat both his man and the help defender at the rim, but the team needs to get more involved.
If JT stays out of foul trouble and the Kings control the flow like last time, the Kings win big 111-99. If we get into a race up and down the court, Kings add one to the lose column. Two days rest, Tyreke back, Martin back in another week, & Cisco scrimmaging, I’m just in to good of a mood to think the worst. Kings by 12. Go Kings

Donte’ takes on Amare and only the Suns are surprised by his defensive prowess.

and control the pace as often as possible. That should be a win.

Any word on our StR midcourt photo? One more week and I’m claiming Peaches-related interference.

… good one!

If Martin and Garcia are back in 2 weeks who gets dropped/inactivated besiides May?
On topic JT or Tyreke foul trouble could spell problems.

“catching an invisible hard-boiled egg in an invisible catcher’s mitt during his imaginary game of eggball) has cooled off significantly, which is odd considering it takes invisible hard-boiled eggs forever and a day to cool off significantly. I have the mouth scars to prove it”

Funniest thing I have read all day… Thank You

I really need a Kings win after a few home losses. Kings by a comfortable 8 points in a high scoring affair.

Make Nash and Stoudemire shoot more than normal. I know, sounds funny.

Nash averages 12.8 shots a game. When he takes more than that, they’re 8-7. Less than that, they’re 13-6.

Of course, there are some limitations. Phoenix is 3-1 when Nash jacks up 20 or more shots, including their win over the Kings Dec. 5 when he put up 23 shots and scored 32, his second best outing of the season.

Stoudemire averages 13.8 shots a game. When he shoots more, the Suns are 11-9; less, they’re 10-4.

In other words, Nash and Stoudemire are going to get theirs; just limit everyone else.

The rotation will probably consist of Evans, Martin, Casspi, Thompson, Hawes with Greene, Udrih, Udoka, Nocioni, and Mancakes coming off the bench.

Once Garcia returns, that rotation’s gon-be ka-razy! Evans, Martin, Casspi, Thompson, Hawes, with Green, Garcia, Udrih, and Udoka coming off the bench. K9 (woof!), The Brochness, and Chapu will probably join the Sean May Pine Riders.

Someone must be traded soon. I don’t expect to see Nocioni become the next Kenny Thomas (along for the ride to visit other cities for the sake of doing so), so I’d assume he’ll start appearing in trade rumors. Even if he’s fallen off his hot start.

I should get free tickets for all the marketing they’re doing at my expense. Ah well, I’ll get a Brock Ness Monster T-shirt out of it, which I can hopefully get signed by Mancakes and JR.

Cuban must feel like an idiot for signing Dampier to that godawful contract when he could have kept Nash, instead.

Those Dallas teams were entertaining as hell.

Nash will put on a show tonight at Arco but I really think the wild card tonight for Phoenix is Channing Frye. He’s starting to launch 3’s and become a steady player for the Suns.

Going for the steal, Tyreke inadvertently rips off Nash’s head and dunks it. The refs consider a flagrant 2, but are so impressed with the ROY’s strength and speed that they let it go. resulting in ’Reke’s first “star call,” and improving the two time MVP’s hair style.

As far as the picture: This is NBA’s new reach at trying to reach out to alternate markets for fans.

This is the new poster for the ballet crowd for the NBA’s production of Swan Lake.