Evans, Casspi Get Little Help; Kings Fall 99-89 to Clippers
Bugger, that. Tyreke Evans started a bit slow -- nary a shot (from the floor or line) in the first quarter -- but really had a predictable game, with 21 points on 9-14/1-3/2-7 shooting, four assists and three rebounds. (The foul shots were a problem, and not just for young Reke.) Omri Casspi was consistently good, with six points in the opening frame, nothing in just three minutes of second quarter play, and nine points in the third. He didn't attempt a single shot in nearly seven minutes of fourth quarter action -- Evans took three, Andres Nocioni took four, Carl Landry took five, Francisco Garcia took two, Beno Udrih, Spencer Hawes and Sean May each took one. Casspi ought to deserve some of those attempts.
But the fourth quarter offense wasn't the biggest problem for the Kings, as the offense stalled in every single quarter equally. Perhaps the third quarter was the worst, though the Kings still outscored the Clippers 23-17 in the period. It should have been something closer to what the Clips did to the Kings in the second (39-23 L.A.), because the Clips were way off and the Kings had great opportunities to make it a one- or two-possession game. Instead, the Kings went into the fourth down 11, and had just one run left in them, an aborted drive spurred by Chapu and killed by terrible defensive rotations.
In his notes column, Sam Amick quotes Paul Westphal as saying the team spent Saturday morning's shootaround working on teaching the defense to the new Kings. Sure enough, Landry (the only newcomer to play significant minutes -- Joey Dorsey played about 90 seconds, and Dominic McGuire was in a suit) played the entire second quarter, that in which the Kings defense was at its worst. And sure enough, Chris Kaman and Craig Smith each went off in that period, Kaman with 11 points on 5-7 shooting in seven minutes and Smith with seven points in less than eight minutes. Was that a problem with Landry not knowing the defense? If so, how did both big men go off considering Spencer Hawes and Jason Thompson were on the floor with Landry?
This team is just not good on defense, period, and while the offense also sucked Saturday the offense will improve with time and rest while the defense is not even close to being anything but bad.
Landry looked fine on offense, save the three turnovers, each a travel, each frantic. (Evans' four turnovers -- travels, a carry, a double dribble -- were mostly just off-balance. I thought the Clippers did solid work bottling up Evans. He still made it to the rim fairly frequently, but that's Tyreke Evans for you.) I'm not sure anything can be blamed on discomfort, but in his post-game quotes Landry did mention nerves, so that's actually reassuring, both in that he got nerves making his debut for an admittedly bad team, and in that nerves will subside quickly. Defensively, there were only two plays in which I gasped in horror (well, "consternation") at what a Clipper did to Landry, and his rebounding worked for me (a team-high seven defensive boards; the Clips did, however, get too many second chances).
***
I won't bludgeon you with sentimentalism except to say it was really, really weird to watch a Kings game knowing Kevin Martin wouldn't be back. We've watched plenty of games without Martin due to injury, but knowing he's not rehabbing for us ... weird. (The only other player that really shocked me about what Chris Webber.)
***
I won't bludgeon you with sarcasm expect to say that Kevin Martin was just completely invisible out there.
***
Spencer Hawes had a great box score (eight points on 3-4 shooting, three assists, three blocks in 22 minutes) ... except when you take a look at his rebounding (one, total). In the second quarter, during Hawes's six minutes, the Kings had four defensive rebound opportunities. They collected ... one. (Evans got a rebound off Hawes's block on Smith.) Now the Kings did go 4/4 on defensive rebound opportunities during Hawes's 4-1/2 minute first quarter stint (with Thompson next door, as opposed to Landry in the second), and in that bad second quarter stretch the Clippers lead only grew by two points. But the Sacramento offense was doing alright (16 points, 16 possessions) and the Clips were turning the ball over a ton. The Kings should have cut into the lead, and would have, had Kaman been kept off the offensive glass. Hawes and Landry both deserve blame there, and heck, same to you Ime Udoka.
***
Joey Dorsey wore a hilarious sweater to the arena. I feel bad commenting on it. If you have the game recorded, take a look at the Jack Daniels Images of the Game in the late fourth quarter. You can't miss it. Heck, the only person who misses it is the Hamburglar, who is from whom Dorsey stole the sweater.
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Shame
Give it time though. All will fall into place. Once Landry settles down, I hope his toughness and work ethic rub off on the other bigs.
On a lighter note, has anyone come up with a Landry nickname?
by Rickyflip on Feb 21, 2010 6:11 AM PST via mobile reply actions
Big Carl
I’m glad Petrie ordered one.
"The basis for winning an NBA title is having a superstar in his prime. Not an all-star, or a bunch of all-stars, but a superstar."
by coolcatreportdotcom on Feb 21, 2010 7:44 AM PST up reply actions
This one's pretty good
When life gives you lemons, just say "f--- the lemons" and bail
by CaliforniaJag on Feb 21, 2010 1:58 PM PST up reply actions
Google it
It’s actually pretty damned funny and would be great to hear Reynolds say on air
www.mancancook.net
It would be funny to hear Reynolds say it, funnier from Peaches
Not sure how Landry would feel about it, though. Just being serious, no sarcasm, I think a better name will evolve for him.
To be the best, you have to do your best. Otherwise, you are only second-rate.
Nicknames for Carl?
Famous Star? Western Bacon Ranch? Crisscross?
Another flaw in the human character is that everybody wants to build and nobody wants to do maintenance. Vonnegut
Mandry.
Grandmaster of the "Never let AnotherStupidSN forget what a Sham-Wow is" Order and Originator of the "Brock Ness Monster".
Too bad Webber's jersey is retired -
Landry could have been C-4.
SACTOWN ROYALTY - Try our thick creamy shakes!
That would've been awesome
Methinks that could have been Webb’s name if StR was around back then.
Grandmaster of the "Never let AnotherStupidSN forget what a Sham-Wow is" Order and Originator of the "Brock Ness Monster".
Also,
too convoluted, but between the name, the number and the toughness – C-Jax.
SACTOWN ROYALTY - Try our thick creamy shakes!
Mandry is an awful nickname
Just my two cents
When life gives you lemons, just say "f--- the lemons" and bail
by CaliforniaJag on Feb 21, 2010 1:58 PM PST up reply actions
If he learns to really clean the boards
There’s Laundry!
Yeah, that stinks.
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 Feb 21, 2010 4:14 PM PST up reply actions
What I saw
1) betweentheeyes had the greatest comment in the postgame – Tyreke the Stagnation Sensation. I really hope he grows out of it, there have been games where he really seemed to want to get people involved, last night wasn’t one of them.
2) Casspi made a lot of bad shots last night ending 5-11, which is good, but a little scary. It would be nice to see us find a way to get him some open shots rather than the one dribble, jab step, turnaround, fading jumpers with his guy on him he was making last night.
3) Donte creating his own shot driving from the 3 point line just shouldn’t happen unless the shot clock is expiring. He needs to be a shot taker, not a creator.
4) There’s only one good passer on the Kings, Spencer.
5) I hope there’s a place in the blueprint for playing defense every possession and passing once in a while on a pick and roll.
6) Hawes was back to being a beat too slow last night. Its tough how some games he seems way behind the action and some games everything is under control for him.
7) JT made a couple jumpers, but didn’t have a lot of impact and of course got in foul trouble.
8) Noc needs to be the 4th or 5th option when he’s on the floor. Unfortunately, when he comes in, he thinks he’s the 2nd option. Most unfortunately, he’s probably right.
9) I’m going to mourn the death of any form of motion offense for a while. I am coming to the realization that while I’m an amateur at this, and don’t begin to think I can break down our offensive scheme, the results are this…we get very few open shots and very few easy buckets. Some of that is the players I’m sure, but I think some is scheme.
10) The defense sucked. When we put Tyreke/Cisco/Omri and two of our big on the floor, two things have to happen, our perimeter guys need to limit 3s and make sure dribble penetration is slowed some to give our bigs (which are obviously our weakness) a chance and our big guys need to rebound the basketball. We should be swarming running those perimeter guys out there.
What we've got here is, failure to communicate. Some men you just can't reach.
by Grasul on Feb 21, 2010 6:56 AM PST reply actions 2 recs
Our offensive scheme
1) Tyreke drives to rim while others clear space.
2) Beno pick n roll, Beno shoots.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
3) Spencer on high post.
4) Casspi off a screen.
And I can’t understand how our defense could be this bad, when we have wing players who are supposedly long, quick, and tenacious.
Our wing players sag off their men in an attempt to half-heartedly
double team down low. Ball is passed out to open player that is not being closely
guarded leaving target practice for the shooter.
Purveyor of Bull Plop
This
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 Feb 21, 2010 12:58 PM PST up reply actions
Absolutely correct.
everytime Beno left his man to double Kaman, no one rotated over toward his man. So, when Kaman kicked the ball out top, which of course is the easiest pass, no one was in position to contest the open 3. It happened 3 times in the 2nd quarter, when the Clips went from 1 down to 12 up.
"If you don't have anything good to say, LIE" - Mom
The greatest impact player in NBA History - Tim Donaghy
Only 3 times? sheesh
Not as bad as I thought
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 Feb 21, 2010 1:08 PM PST up reply actions
Thoughts
- The Clippers are a better team than us and were playing on their home floor.
- The Clippers actually have an offense where they do this thing called passing. We have a point guard who focuses on this thing called shooting. Something’s going to have to give.
- We showed in Boston we have the potential to play defense, and we showed it in a few strecthes last night. Unfortunately, our inability to score and stop Gordon prevented us from making it interesting after we got back to within 5.
- DeAndre Jordan has really nice size and really bad hands. No thanks.
- Landry did look a bit nervous. It was good to see him make a few buckets in garbage time to get his rhythm. I thought there were a few points where he was isolated in the block with Beno in passing position where he should have held the position and waited for the ball, but he seemed to want to do the good teammate thing and come up and set the pick. Maybe he thought he might get the ball back on a pick and roll, but he better set picks for Spencer if he expects to see that pass coming.
"The basis for winning an NBA title is having a superstar in his prime. Not an all-star, or a bunch of all-stars, but a superstar."
by coolcatreportdotcom on Feb 21, 2010 7:20 AM PST reply actions
Hahaha! Lol on the Landry waiting for a pass back from Beno on the pick and roll...
There can only be one Noce!
in fairness to beno
he doesn’t always shoot off the pick and roll. often he just picks up the dribble, nearly drags his pivot foot, futilely looks around for a few seconds, and forces something to one of his players with 5 on the shot clock or to a defender at the top of the key to start the fast break
I don’t understand this “prompt pass to the screener before the defense can rotate” option you refer to
by lchristmas on Feb 21, 2010 7:44 AM PST via mobile up reply actions
Focus on the teams the Kings are playing
I don’t understand this "prompt pass to the screener before the defense can rotate" option you refer to
because they generally do it very well on us. On our team, the two best guys that do pick and roll together are probably Nocioni and Casspi, and Nocioni will actually pass the ball. Nocioni is another guy who picks and spots and never gets the ball.
"The basis for winning an NBA title is having a superstar in his prime. Not an all-star, or a bunch of all-stars, but a superstar."
by coolcatreportdotcom on Feb 21, 2010 7:48 AM PST up reply actions
i am sure you saw my sarcasm there
take “generally” out of your sentence and I agree completely. you can see a “how to/how not to” clinic at every kings game on pick and roll and pick and roll defene
you make a good point about noc not getting the ball in the right spots that I think explains his gunner ways. he figures he isn’t going to be in for long so when he gets a chance – its going up
I am still happy with pw as our coach but I must admit that I am more than a little concerned about this team’s lack of improvement (regression?) on both offense AND defense 2/3 of the way into the season… the defense in particular was NOT this bad earlier in the year – with basically the same guys
by lchristmas on Feb 21, 2010 8:11 AM PST via mobile up reply actions
The inability
to take advantage of the pick and roll last night had me pissed! There were a couple of times Beno could have bounce passed to Landry for an open drive to the lane and he drove into traffic instead. Way to get your new team mate involved Beno! :(
On a side note, anyone get the feeling Tyreke has had a bit of a poor attitude lately?
I saw him go to the bench and Dominic McGuire put out his hand to give him a “bump” and Tyreke ignored it and then threw his towel at the bench. Just seems like a missed opportunity to show a little leadership and create a bit of chemistry with the new guy.
Also saw Spencer refuse Donte’s “low five” on the bench, so maybe its just me paying to close attention to the little stuff. :P
I was uncool before it was cool
I was thinking
it was Tyreke missing another creator on the floor, and the team as a whole recognizing that this trade does not make them better in the short term.
Too early to make that assessment.
It’s Landry’s debut and he is used to coming in off the bench.
To be the best, you have to do your best. Otherwise, you are only second-rate.
It's not just Beno
Tyreke runs the high screen, and every team is doubling him every time and leaving the screener undefended when he cuts into the paint, and Tyreke never passes to the screener.
Tyreke also threw his gum coming off the court after a bad play. I don’t think it a bad attitude, he’s just frustrated about losing. He needs to get others involved earlier in the possession, and stop waiting until he gets stopped at the rim before he kicks out to someone 20 ft from the basket.
"If you don't have anything good to say, LIE" - Mom
The greatest impact player in NBA History - Tim Donaghy
What is this 'pick and roll' thingy?
Is that a basketball play? Perhaps we should try it.
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 Feb 21, 2010 1:01 PM PST up reply actions
additional thoughts from being at the game last night
First of all, never EVER go to a Clippers game…that is the most poorly run stadium (1/3 of the concession stands were open on a Sat night game), worst group of fans (nobody was cheering for anything specific), and it is a joke how they set up the Staples Center to “accomadate” the Clippswhen they still leave up a bunch of purple all over the building and tape over cheap paper logos of the Clippers.
I moved to LA 5 years ago and am one of the few Sactown Criminals fans down here, my buddies (Warriors fans) joined me for the game last night…a few thoughts (warning, this gets brutal).
1) Landry makes an early impression with a tough Off/Rebound, put-back, and-one…exactly what we were expecting from this guy, I was stoked…after that play 10 seconds into the game, it all goes downhill…one of the worst 1st halves of a 1st quarter that I have ever seen.
2) 10 minutes into the game my buddies wanted to leave and go to a bar. The quality of basketball was brutal…nervousness, turnovers, no hustle, BORING. My buddy warned me that you could hear a pin drop in the Staples center during the games, he was not joking.
3) Hawes really dissapointed me. I’m a fan, but he played with no emotion. He dogged it, slouched around everywhere, I could not believe it considering I played 2 hours of pickup earlier that day and gave it my all for nothing. I don’t know what was with the Kings last night but they all looked tired and like they didn’t care (JT and Omri excluded, and Beno played with energy but not particularily well). My buddy, who I respect his BBall takes said Hawes is his least favorite player in the NBA…it was hard to disagree with him last night…his quote, “It’s not good when your center has no rebounds at halftime.”
4) Landry is ripped and he will be good for us…you could tell he was a little nervous though, my take (no sarcasm :)), “Think if you just got traded and had to play in one of the biggest games of your career, nonetheless start, in one of the most crazy and loud buildings in the NBA…in a ‘playoff’-type’ atmosphere”.
5) JT looked good on offense, but again was pretty weak on D and fouled too much.
6) My Warriors buddy kept yelling at Brian Skinner to cut off his gootee (he has court seats behind the visitors bench for Warriors games and has told him to do it every chance he gest), people laughed around us, nothing else was entertaining.
7) The loudest moments of the game: A stoner in the crowd they must have shown at every dead ball and he was eating peanuts and threw a peace sign up everytime, hilarious; and a midget made a killer promo shot during a time-out, the crowd erupted.
8) Tyreke did not care at all in the first half…he would bring the ball up, pass it to the wing and disappear…I don’t think he drove to the hoop once in the first Q. I have no explanation for that.
9) Casspi’s shoulders are perpendicular to the floor.
10) The cocktails at Staples are $8 and maybe 1/10 booze, the rest mixer…when I asked the bartneder “are you serious?” as she was pouring, she looked me dead in the eye and said “Staples sucks.” Luckily I brought in my plastic flask.
11) I almost replicated a Beach House sandwich party pre-game…and 2 hot college babes (Kings fans from Rocklin going to school in LA) sat right behind us…that was maybe the best part of the game.
I think it’s safe to say, I caught them on a really bad night, in a really bad venue, against another really bad team. Sucks.
Dannyboy
We thank you and pity you
For having to sit through that game. I went bowling early in the 2nd half.
(OK, Sat is my usual bowling night – but it wasn’t necessary to pry me from the TV)
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 Feb 21, 2010 4:13 PM PST up reply actions
yep
It’s worth the extra whatever $$$ to watch them play the Lakeshow down here…it’s just a little more scary :)
Dannyboy
The guy in the grey bandana and green flannel check shirt
was the highlight of the game, peace out.
by betweentheeyes on Feb 21, 2010 10:33 PM PST up reply actions
Landry will be ok
Even though his shots were not falling, you can tell he has a post game which is exactly what we need. Not worried about him one bit.
Yesterday I stated I thought Cisco would be the perfect compliment to Evans. I was wrong. Eric Gordon would be the perfect compliment to Evans. Dude can flat out stroke it.
by noreboundsnorings on Feb 21, 2010 7:44 AM PST reply actions
I think Cisco will do fine complementing Evans
if he ends up being the 4th or 5th option on the floor when he’s playing with the starters. We need to see a lot of growth from the young guys of course.
What we've got here is, failure to communicate. Some men you just can't reach.
ummm, yeah
cisco : eric gordon :: eric gordon : michael jordan
cisco is a quality option when in top form as an energy guy playing 20-28 minutes off the bench as a 3rd guard who can occasionally slide to the 3
he just is not a starter on a quality nba team. not a criticism. the simple truth.
by lchristmas on Feb 21, 2010 11:18 AM PST via mobile up reply actions
He'd do fine
in a Keith Bogans, Bruce Bowen, complimentary type role. He’s certainly suited much better to start with Tyreke than Beno is.
What we've got here is, failure to communicate. Some men you just can't reach.
Cisco is the perfect compliment
to 15 minutes a game off the bench.
Have to agree with you.
To be the best, you have to do your best. Otherwise, you are only second-rate.
I don't take too much from this one
other than Landry had a real bad game and still showed how good he can be. I think before long he will be scoring 20 points a game. Other observations is no way is Cisco ready to play starter minutes at SG. And Tyreke needs to find Omri more often than he does when Omri finds an O rhythm. Tonight will be better, at least in terms of flow and pace. Look forward to see Amare vs. Carl. Last time, Amare destroyed the Kings at will. I expect slightly more resistance tonight.
Landry didn't even come to us with 20 points per game. He has 16 points per game.
Landry had a real bad game and still showed how good he can be. I think before long he will be scoring 20 points a game.
Are you getting his stats confused with Kevin Martin’s? Kevin left Sacramento with 20 points per game.
To be the best, you have to do your best. Otherwise, you are only second-rate.
To be fair,
Landry was averaging 16.6 points in 27.1 minutes. Statistically, he would average 20 points with 33 minutes, which he could very well get here.
SACTOWN ROYALTY - Try our thick creamy shakes!
Your'e right. I thought that right after I hit the "post" button.
To be the best, you have to do your best. Otherwise, you are only second-rate.
yep
I don’t have the numbers in front of me but someone at another forum calculated his averages from all the games where he played at least 30 (more accurate than simply extrapolating per minute, I’d imagine) and he was averaging 21 or so points per.
Best part about the recap
Sam Amick quotes Paul Westphal as saying the team spent Saturday morning’s shootaround working on teaching the defense to the new Kings
PW: “Ok, so Carl, Joey and Dominic, I know you guys are used to bodying up and boxing out. We don’t do stuff like that. Also, be nice sometimes and just let your guy get completely around you with as little effort as possible. JT has a really good defensive technique of just fouling the heck out of everyone. I think you’d be good at that one Joey.”
Carl: “What about help defense?”
PW: “Well when you see a guy drive to the rim, you automatically come over to double team him. Make sure you leave a good 3 point shooter wide open, like Kobe Bryant or Eddie House. We really want to make this a team effort”
Grandmaster of the "Never let AnotherStupidSN forget what a Sham-Wow is" Order and Originator of the "Brock Ness Monster".
by Aykis16 on Feb 21, 2010 10:44 AM PST reply actions 6 recs
It hurts because it is true.
Another flaw in the human character is that everybody wants to build and nobody wants to do maintenance. Vonnegut
I represented for the new blood...

but to no avail.
Why won't that stupid StR let me into their crappy club for jerks?
You make that?
Grandmaster of the "Never let AnotherStupidSN forget what a Sham-Wow is" Order and Originator of the "Brock Ness Monster".
D'oh! Reply fail.
Yes, but my apologies to B-Jax.
Why won't that stupid StR let me into their crappy club for jerks?
Sacrilege and Blasphemy
To the stocks!
Grandmaster of the "Never let AnotherStupidSN forget what a Sham-Wow is" Order and Originator of the "Brock Ness Monster".
Almost looks like a photo right before ya jumped over the edge...
…and with the way the Kings have been playing, it would be understandable.
Hard work beats talent when talent is hardly working...
Thoughts on the game
We desperately need Landry to step up and score. He is supposed to be good at that and will likely bring it (eventually), but I am not so sure he is a defensive presence down low. Actually, I just don’t think he is the low post defensive answer. I think that he played with better defenders in Houston and his lack of D just didn’t stand out as much because of it. That was my biggest problem with his pick up. Sure we need more low post scoring, but we need defense even more. The stats on second quarter D really worry me…
I think we will miss Sergio a lot more than maybe most thought. Our offense tends to grind to slow motion with no movement and Sergio always picked up the pace when he came in. His ability to get guys running and zip up the court in a couple of seconds really helped. Even when Tyreke is looking to pass the ball it usually isn’t in transition and is off of a failed attempt to penetrate. He is getting better, but has a ways to go.
Mustang
I’m not saying, but Tracy McGrady played the best out of Kevin Martin and Carl Landry yesterday. I don’t think that’s going to happen long term. Hell, Eddie House played better for the Knicks than Kevin and Carl played for their new teams.
It will take some of these guys a little while to adjust.
Grandmaster of the "Never let AnotherStupidSN forget what a Sham-Wow is" Order and Originator of the "Brock Ness Monster".
Agreed about Sergio.
We lost that quick up-tempo lift, with his trade.
But, give Landry a little time. His whole routine world just got turned on its head overnight. He had to leave his home, pack quickly, jump on an airplane, adjust to a whole new team all in a short period of time. That is a lot to ask of anyone. All said, I don’t think he did that badly and he showed glimpses of what he can bring to the table. He will be fine.
To be the best, you have to do your best. Otherwise, you are only second-rate.
I don't expect overnight results
I think that it will take time to figure it out. I am a bit concerned about having him down low offensively when Tyreke drives as that will create too many defenders in the paint, but that is something this team has been working on.
I think he will be fine, offensively, as well, but his defense may never provide what we need. It will be interesting to see if he can step it up on that front.
Is this what Westphal wore to the morning's shootaround?

www.mancancook.net
by vfettke on Feb 21, 2010 12:11 PM PST reply actions 3 recs
This is pretty funny.
To be the best, you have to do your best. Otherwise, you are only second-rate.
He's got Bloody Balls...
…and NO I do not want to know why… like a train wreck I looked when I shouldn’t have.
Hard work beats talent when talent is hardly working...
I wouldn't have noticed that, except you pointed it out!
Now that I see it, I wonder how I overlooked it in the first place.
To be the best, you have to do your best. Otherwise, you are only second-rate.

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