Post Game Thread: Pistons at Kings

This really blows! Depressing, aggravating and frustrating, did I mention depressing yet?

With little improvement, we would have a very good looking record right now.

However, that said, it is a move in the right direction.

What made you say this was poorly officiated? The refs weren’t screwing around with Cousins like they usually do, and for the most part let the teams play, I didn’t think this game was poorly officiated.

• Well I’ve already mentioned the referees, but since a few of you are asking why I think it was bad, here are my thoughts. Two of DeMarcus’s fouls were bad in my opinion (one where Monroe grabbed his arm, and the other when he set up for a charge but called for a blocking foul), Luther Head’s foul on Gordon where Gordon threw himself into him was terrible, and that last possession where the ball went off Maxiell’s hand and the refs gave the ball to the Pistons was terrible as well. The Pistons took advantage of everything, scoring on key possessions, and hitting their free throws (79%)
• The Kings actually got to the line more than Detroit, but only converted at a 67% rate. Its getting to the point where I almost want the Kings to spend an entire day just shooting free throws.
• I loved how Carl is hanging out in the post a lot more. It proves that it wasn’t just a one time thing against Phoenix, but an actual change by the Kings to get him more involved and more efficient, and its doing wonders for him. He’s a monster down there. There were several points though where I thought we should have had him in the game, mainly when Thompson and Cousins were in together. I think we should’ve rolled with Thompson and Landry at that time to add a more reliable scoring threat.
• Cousins makes some very poor decisions with the ball, and he needs to be more aware when he has the ball. He had a few times where he was stripped of the ball on defensive rebounds, which was unacceptable. Also, he needs to stop jump shooting and just take it inside, he’s also really good in there.
• Jason Thompson looked good. This is the Jason I want to see.
• Tyreke’s jumper looks good. His three looks better too even though it didn’t go in tonight. One of them went down and out, one was a near miss that was tipped in by Dalembert, and the other was a desperation off balance three at the end of the game.
• Omri is getting a little Nocioni with his three ball I think. He needs to use his legs more often and not his arms. When he misses I notices the ball is a bit flatter trajectory than when he makes it.
• Antoine Wright’s defense does not make up for his piss-poor offense. He cannot shoot, and there is a reason he was wide open for two threes and missed both of them. Detroit didn’t have to defend him. He was -8 for the game, so so much for his defense helping us out. I’d much rather see Cisco take all his minutes, or Donté who is a better shooter than Wright without giving up too much defensively I think.
• Samuel Dalembert didn’t play out of himself today, and I liked that.
• Luther Head is a decent player and I’m fine with him having a spot in the rotation. He missed a couple threes.
• Detroit’s defense really had nothing to do with us missing our threes. We just missed them. 2-18 is pretty terrible, and it should’ve been 3-19 if Cisco hadn’t Mitch’d the last one.
• Beno passed the ball well, but couldn’t get anything going on offense and his defense was pretty bad as well.
• The Pistons hit some tough, tough shots at points. McGrady’s especially came to mind, and Ben Gordon got hot near the end.
• The Kings hurt themselves big time by missing out on some defensive rebound opportunities. We outrebounded Detroit by 3, but 18 of our boards were offensive. That says a lot about how many shots we missed (had 10 more FGA than Detroit, but 2 less made). That one possession where the Kings gave up three offensive boards was especially egregious, even though Detroit didn’t make a shot during it, that still took about a minute off the clock during a crucial period.
• Overall I think we showed some improvement and this was a step in the right direction. We missed a lot of open shots that we should normally hit, and if we had just hit maybe two more threes, a couple free throws and a jumper or two, this would have been our game.

That is all.

I know we did better tonight, because I’m not as pissed as I thought I would be if we had lost. That might be the beer talking, but I’m pretty sure we moved a step in the right direction tonight.

Its still early in the season, and these games have essentially been another preseason for us, due to the injuries during the actual preseason. Last year another young team struggled to start the season. Memphis started the season 1-8, including 7 straight losses (most on the road, but still). They ended up 40-42. I’m not saying that will happen to us, but keep in mind its still early.

from the box score, but I didn’t see the game

• JT seeing the light of day and being effective
• Concerted effort to go inside with Top Hat and DMC
• Better defense (with the exception of Beno)

Losing still sucks, but it’s less of a bitter pill when there’s signs of improvement.

1. Where’s my Donte/JT hookup? PW will get the idea soon enough.

2. The guardplay was bollocks. Sure, Ty got his points, but inefficiently. Give me more Head.

3. Dalembert might just find himself on the bench relieving JT. Except for his shot blocking, of which he had only one tonight , he doesn’t do nearly enough IMO.

4. The Kings’ free throw percentage was obscene but the three point conversion was a Snuff Film.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4jGSvxCRp4

I think I had/have realistic expectations for this team this year. I want to see 30-35 wins which I think is fair. So far there have been a couple things that have been disappointing to me.
- Demarcus Cousins – There is no doubt that the talent is there and he shows it from time to time. But his body language is very poor. He reacts and pouts at almost every single call that doesn’t go the Kings way. It’s good that he’s yet to have a serious blowup but I hope this constant losing doesn’t get to him. Also if the reports of him being a problem are true it’s a bad sign. I still like the kid and hope that he matures quickly.
- Team Defense Effort – The team defensive effort simply isn’t there. Overall the team seems slow to rotate and is falling under the “Not my man” problem. This team looks like they give more effort vs. good teams (Lakers) than bad (Most of the rest we’ve played). Two players in particular have been disappointing to me in this regard:
- Tyreke Evans Defensive Effort – I try to pay special attention to Tyreke Evans on the defensive front and I have been disappointed. His on ball defense has been ok but nothing great so far. Where he really lacks is on rotating and closing out. Tyreke rotates slowly to 3 point shooters which leads to a lot of wide open shots. And when he does close out he likes to do a half hearted hand in the air attempt. His mentality seems to be like what we see out in pickup games where you don’t respect a shooters shot. Well in the NBA you better respect it.
- Beno Udrih’s overall Defense – Yes we already know this but his defense is just plain horrible. He can’t stay in front of anybody which makes the defense collapse thus leaving open shooters. I strongly feel that we need to bring in a guard to play with Tyreke and move Udrih to the bench at the very least. Despite what some argue his offense does not offset his defense.
- Coach Westphal – Some of the things he’s doing is just puzzling to me. Last year he juggled lineups and rotation minutes 12 men deep throughout the entire season. Now he is doing it again. Yes I understand that we have a lot of new guys and they are guys that will get their minutes so I do give him a small break. However how can he not be playing Donte at all??? These are facts: Donte made big leaps to his game last year. He was named the starter at the beginning of this season. He is one of the better perimeter defenders on the team. Yet he hardly plays now? This early in the season? Come on coach! Is he that much worse than Casspi? I feel like Donte should’ve gotten a longer chance to try and contain Beasley the other night. Don’t you think he’s your best option? Instead he only got a small amount of minutes.
- Carl Landry’s game – Just like you guys I want the Landry of old who constantly found ways of scoring inside. Yes his outside shot is ok but it is not great. When we traded for him we saw a banger and inside scoring force. It’s also possible that the coaches want him to take more outside shots to give Cousins space inside which sounds plausible to me. If that’s the case then file this under the Westphal section.

Ive got other issues as well but this is too long already! Urrghh! I want to see improvement and effort! I still believe in 30-35 wins!!! Come on Kings!!

The only thing rising is the stench! Tough to watch theses yet I continue too and hope for the best, only to change channels out of frustration.

Loss hurts but the team (again) played better than the against the Wolves, and I think better than Friday as well. Not satisfied (still dissapointed actually) but at least there’s some improvement.

With the confidence at a low point for these guys, pulling out a win is going to do wonders. I think they just need to break out and get a W to remember what it feels like and get some of that confidence back. Yeah, it’s tough for us but you won’t convince me that these guys don’t also take it personal and are really down on themselves. Pulling out a win against the Knicks on Wednesday could go along way.