Preview: Kings at Nets

by Tom Ziller on Oct 29, 2010 12:00 PM PDT in Commentary

STARTING LINEUPS & INJURIES

Tyreke Evans is back for the Kings, meaning that Francisco Garcia will come off the bench behind the reigning ROY and Beno Udrih. The frontcourt starting unit for Sacramento -- Donte Greene, Carl Landry and DeMarcus Cousins -- should remain the same. Samuel Dalembert may be available; this preview was written early, and Paul Westphal said the medical staff would determine Dalembert's status early Friday. If Dalembert is active, expect Darnell Jackson or Pooh Jeter to join Antoine Wright on the inactive list.

On Wednesday, the Nets started Devin Harris, Anthony Morrow, Travis Outlaw, Joe Smith and Brook Lopez, and I don't expect that to change. Troy Murphy (a Kings killer) remains out.

SCOUTING REPORT

The Nets beat Detroit on the strength of shooting (50% on twos, 43% on threes) and limiting turnovers. New Jersey's defense was just good enough, and allowed the Nets to win the offensive rebounding battle. Detroit only coughed up the ball six times all game; given that turnovers are a concern for the Kings, the Nets' inability to cajole the Pistons into giveaways provides some hope there. (The Kings had only 11 turnovers against the Wolves, who didn't take any risks in passing lanes and pressed only Luther Head, and only a bit.)

The Nets are led by Brook Lopez, a skilled, high-usage center. He's a smooth monster, and Cousins and (if he plays) Dalembert will have their hands full. In eight career games against the 76ers, of which Dalembert was the starting center in those games, Lopez averaged 15.6 points on .460 shooting with 10 rebounds in 35 minutes. For his career, Lopez averages 16 points a game on .513 shooting ... so the small sample size indicates Dalembert may make him a bit less efficient.

Harris is the other Nets key. He's of a similar strain of the modern point guard as Tyreke -- he creates plays, usually for himself but frequently for others. Harris doesn't quite shoot the long-ball comfortably, but has traditionally been great finishing at the rim and in the short jumper (10-15 feet) region. He's very much a player who will create his own jumpshot opportunities as opposed to playing off others, Lopez included.

Off the bench, the big Nets are Terrence Williams (who played 32 minutes behind Outlaw on Wednesday) and Derrick Favors. Williams is versatile session player who will rebound well for his size and make plays for others; Favors is a big rebounder, high-potential defender and should be a good finisher. You may recall that he and Cousins have a little beef.

Morrow may be the deadliest Net; he beat the Pistons with a late three, and shoots as well from distance as anyone in the world.

MATCHUP OF THE GAME

Cousins vs. Lopez. The Kings need to hold Bro-pez at bay to come away with a good shot at victory; if Lopez gets going, that theoretically opens up everything for Harris' penetration and Morrow's shooting. A good way to keep Lopez tame is to make him work hard at the other end. Lopez is a plus shotblocker, but Cousins' heft could push him off his game. If Dalembert matches up with Lopez for substantial minutes, getting Lopez on the move on defense via the pick-and-roll could be smart.

PLAYER TO WATCH

Carl Landry. How Landry meshes with Cousins and Evans in a real game could begin to define Carl's future with the club. He did extraordinarily well on Wednesday, but that was in a vaccuum of creation without Evans. Landry needs to score to justify a big payday, and it's still unclear where those shots will come from with Evans and Cousins in the line-up. We'll see, beginning tonight.

DETAILS

It's a 4 PM PT start on Comcast SportsNet and KHTK 1140 AM. There are free previews for League Pass and League Pass Broadband running through next Tuesday. Game thread at 4, second one 90 minutes later at 5:30.

Tweet Comment 21 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

If Dalembert is back....

I would expect Whiteside to be the odd man out. He hasn’t really practiced a ton and he is a duplicate player to Dalembert at this point. If Dalembert was starting, I would go with an active Whiteside but how many offensively limited shot blockers do you need coming off the bench. Also, Jackson played 12 minutes the other night while Whiteside only played 3. I know, it’s a small sample size but I expect the Kings to bring Whiteside along slowly.

The world is not your Trade Machine.

-Ziller

by jjham15 on Oct 29, 2010 12:12 PM PDT reply actions

One caveat on Whiteside

How slow can the team afford to be with him? They have to make some pretty big decisions on the frontcourt this trade deadline/offseason (Landry, Dalembert) and I’d imagine Whiteside’s development will weigh into those decisions heavily.

It’ll be interesting to see what direction they go with him.

People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring. ~ Rogers Hornsby

by otis29 on Oct 29, 2010 1:03 PM PDT up reply actions

Based on what we've seen from Cuz and JT so far this year,

I really believe that the KIngs are going to try very hard to resign Carl & Sammy. I know the smart thing to due might be to trade one before the deadline, just to get something in return in case we lose them to Free Agency.

But, JT isn’t the scoring threat he was in his first year off the offensive glass. And, Cousins hasn’t shown to be that shot blocker when guards get penetration. And, with JT coming up on a big contract year, just like Hawes was, I wouldn’t be surprised if JT were the player most likely to go on the market.

Dalembert is going to take a drop in pay in his next contract, so I believe the Kings will have enough cap space to sign both he and Landry. And, I wouldn’t be too afraid of giving Sammy a 4-5 year contract, especially if the final year isn’t guaranteed because of the new CBA and the possibility of a lockout next year.

Whiteside will get his minutes eventually, but I wouldn’t force feed him minutes just so he’s ready to replace anyone that might get traded this season.

"If you don't have anything good to say, LIE" - Mom
The greatest impact player in NBA History - Tim Donaghy

by HighTops on Oct 29, 2010 1:31 PM PDT up reply actions

another player to watch is Tyreke

He was never singled out in training camp like others, but he didn’t appear to be in top shape.
Will he be more committed to defense than in the preseason (because Beno is liability enough in the backcourt)?
Will he disrupt the offensive flow of the team, or will he mesh in and be able to play off the ball a bit more?
Does he know how to use the skills of DMC?

I know, a first game is a small sample size, and I guess we won’t get conclusive answers tonight, but these are the questions that intrigue me.

Dunking Dutchman

by RikSmits on Oct 29, 2010 12:17 PM PDT reply actions

That will be interesting to see

Hate to say it but Price and Ridnour might have been the best PG’s we saw in the last two games

Beno got stopped at the 3-pt arc, bringing the ball up almost every possession. Which really slowed things up, so that we got into the offense very late. And, Cousins, Donte & Omri had more passes into the posts for baskets than our guards. The only way Beno seemed to get the ball into Landry was for Landry to come out and get it, or for Beno to pass it into the corner and let the wing pass it into the blocks along the baseline.

I’m not saying Beno was horrible, because he did do a good job once he did penetrate into the paint but that was only on 2 possessins. And, forget about Head running the Point.

And, like you said, Beno was terrrible at stopping the ball. He waited way too long to try and put on any pressure, usually picking up the ball handler at the top of the Key when he had a full head of steam. And, Cousins isn’t doing any better than last years bigs in altering shots or blocking shots off guard penetration.

Tyreke is going to have to have his A game the way that Harris is playing. And he’s not going to be able to take any plays off, so I hope he’s in good shape. But for me, the biggest concerns are that we start doing a better job defending the pick & roll. And on the offensive end, that JT stands still long enough when he sets a screen to actually get in the way of the ball handlers defender, so that he actually slows up the defender if only slightly.

"If you don't have anything good to say, LIE" - Mom
The greatest impact player in NBA History - Tim Donaghy

by HighTops on Oct 29, 2010 1:14 PM PDT up reply actions

2-0?

Let’s go Kings!

'Terrible preview...pretty weak, didn't learn anything new. pretty sad." - mastermike

by Scott Coleman on Oct 29, 2010 1:38 PM PDT via mobile reply actions

Yes!

Nets are going down.

by Smooth Criminal on Oct 29, 2010 4:13 PM PDT up reply actions

Does anyone believe the Kings post defense will be better this time around against Lopez than last year? (I do) I remember Brook pretty much having his way against Hawes and JT last year. I watched the Nets/Pistons game on Wednesday and was impressed with Harris and Williams, they’re both pretty scrappy defenders and can get easy baskets.

Also Favors was a nice pick by the Nets, he puts a lot of effort in getting offensive boards and is athletically strong, I hope he isn’t holding a grudge by what DMC said (of course he is, who am I kidding?)

The Kings are going to have to play disciplined defense and also bring some attitude for a win tonight. In my humble opinion I believe that the Kings pull this one out by 1-3 points, another close battle just like the Minny game.

Brennan Huff: I have a belly full of white dog crap in me, and now you lay this shit on me?

by DiegoKing on Oct 29, 2010 1:47 PM PDT reply actions

I don't remember it as being as bad as you do

In the March 24th game, Lopez did shot 11-21 for 26pts 11 rebs and 4 blks. While Hawes went 5-13 for 12 pts, 7 rebs, 6 assists and 2 blks. And, the Kings lost 93-79, but Tyreke didn’t play and all the Kings starters scored in double figures.

But in the earlier game (Nov 27th), the Kings won 109-96. Lopez was 9-19 for 24pts 11rebs and 1 block, but he played 45 mins. Spencer was 6-11 for 16pts 10 rebounds and 3 blks in 28 minutes.

"If you don't have anything good to say, LIE" - Mom
The greatest impact player in NBA History - Tim Donaghy

by HighTops on Oct 29, 2010 2:14 PM PDT up reply actions