Wifey and I attended, ran into Mustang at the half, and we all watched the 2nd half together. 

Well, we all saw heard it.  A nasty looking sounding 1st quarter, where almost nothing good happened on the Kings side.   The crowd at Arco started to get a bit down until DMC finished the quarter with a nice roll to the basket and finish.  The Kings slowly played better and better from there. (Steve Nash did sit down and never came back)

I won’t try to do anymore play by play highlights, that’s not my thing, just some impressions of what worked, what didn’t, and in what combinations.

Oh, wait a minute, that DeMarcus Cousins kid?  - will one day be a stud.  He’s fairly studly right now actually, snapping up every rebound near him.  Two or so got away and he was fairly pissed about it.  Lovin’ it.   Yes, yes, he’s a rookie and sometimes looks a little raw by trying too much and turning the ball over – and that’s likely to continue all season, but if he combines that with anything close to what appears will be his ability to fairly easily turn out a double-double in the 25 minutes or so a game I expect he’ll play – the future is more than just bright.  I simply can’t remember seeing a 19 year old big man with as much natural talent.

Tyreke Evans followed a pattern we saw pretty often last season, he started slowly then slowly asserted his dominance.  As the game goes on he wants it more, and usually got it. And yes folks, it still isn’t art but that jumper really does look a lot better.  It looks like it intends to go in.  He also played off the ball quite a bit and looked more comfortable when he did it,

JT played very well the whole game, and besides what I hope are some temporary troubles at the FT line ( and a few bad fouls!), he looked smoother and more decisive.  He scored, he finished, he rebounded and he made some nice assists,  Play like that JT, more trusting the game and less thinking and a long productive career is a lock.  One of the best games I've seen JT play.  JT and Cousins were the more productive duo (I’d think) and just looked better out there together. 

Carl looked like that 3rd big to me.  I see that he led the team in +/- and I just can't explain it.  You just have to have more than 3 rebounds in 35 minutes buddy.

Beno moved the ball around and looked pretty good doing it.

Pooh Jeter is a good player, he runs the team well, makes a few shots and the fans like saying ‘Pooooooh’.    

Donte didn’t play a lot of minutes and I don’t know if it means anything yet – but he didn’t do much when he was out there.

I can’t believe Luther Head will last the week, or even the next few days.  His few shots just looked wretched.

The SF situation:

I’m not sure what PW is trying to prove to himself or to the team, but as much as I like Marcus Landry, and he played well, every team – or at least this team needs an energy guy on the floor most of the time.  The energy guys on the current roster are Cisco of course, who wasn’t available, and Omri Casspi.  Do these two share a ‘damn the torpedoes’ attitude and playing style that can occasionally go wrong?  Sure. They also make things happen,   Consider Casspi’s line . . .well actually forget about it for a minute.  When he entered the game the pace immediately picked up, the team got much more aggressive, and the Kings went on a run.  Now let’s look at the numbers.  11 points, 7 big rebounds (he just has a ‘nose’ for them), 4 assists and a steal in 24 minutes (he blew a point blank layup - ooops).  MLandry (and he did play pretty well early) took all five of his shots from 3-point range, hitting three of them.  Isn’t that the kind of shot selection that has gotten Omri and Donte benched in the past?  It’s nice to say that Landry hit the open 3 when he had the chance – and he did, but will he get those wiiide open shots if he continues to start?  Unlikely.

I often don’t know what the mystery is about who should get more minutes.  If two guys play reasonably equal defense but one fills up the stat sheet, excites the fans and motivates his teammates, well, I sure know who I go with. 

My final line of thought for this team is this:  As I mentioned above, I think Tyreke is just a bit of a slow starter.  To balance that you probably need one of those guys that run hot the minute they roll out of bed in the starting 5.  I’m tired of seeing us try to pull out from 10 point first quarter deficits.  Aren't you?