Kings 100, Lakers 91: Marcus Thornton Beats Kobe Bryant At His Own Game

I will be happy, win or lose (But I have a feeling that if they play this way all year it will be more win than lose).

If they even make it. They haven’t looked all that impressive in any of their games so far. Bynum will help shore up the D when he returns but they’re still missing efficient offense in a big way.

The Kings looked fantastic. As I said when I was watching “Man, Marcus Thornton is REALLY GOOD!”

The guy that blamed the coaches for the 21-35 night from the line. Brilliant!

Love that it was the hated Lakers they took down too. Makes it all the sweeter. And love that Kobe was so pissed about it.

“It’s not a rivalry,” Kobe Bryant said. “We beat them every year. Oh my God. I don’t care if they beat us tonight. I like (Kings owners Joe and Gavin Maloof). I hope they enjoy this.”

Everyone looked good. John Salmons does great things one minute & then drives you crazy the next with bad shot selection & not making the extra pass. Marcus Thornton is a superstar. Tyreke played great. Jimmer played well despite not pulling the trigger on several outside looks. Cousins is a much smarter player now. Hayes was huge. I loved what I saw from everyone. We can play with anyone.

He is really pushing the guys now to show what they are truly made of, I like it

-I too was very impressed with Hayes when he encouraged Jimmer after Hayes drew that charge. Jimmer was obviously a little tentative this game, and I loved the leadership of Hayes to make a point of encouraging him. He’s going to have a great effect on the team this year.

-Cousins seems to have grown up a ton since we drafted him, and it’s really fun to watch. He plays with so much passion, and I loved the way he hustled tonight.

Seeing the Kings play this well was so fun!! I’m still terrified of making the playoffs and losing a first round pick in this year’s stacked draft, but I’m slowly feeling better about it. Wins are fun.

He looks like he might be a great influence in the locker room. Also, anyone who beats the Lakers is my best friend. Woot!

Thornton looked fantastic, at times seemingly scoring at will.

Cousins did a great job of making an impact, especially on the glass despite working through foul trouble.

I also liked that the Kings have a lot of depth (they went 11 deep I believe).

And while Jimmer did look a bit cautious, I do like that he didn’t try and force his shot. I’m sure that as the season progresses he’ll become more aggressive.

All in all a really solid and fun game.

We host 46% and 50 from 3.
Lakers shot 42 and 6 !!! percent from 3.

I worry about the bad decisions/shot selection of Salmon, Reke, Outlaw, and Cousins. But Reke let the game come to him, when he shares, he’s much better.

And I think Jimmer and Hayes add some bball smartness to the mix. I liked how the entire team was huddling up and talking a lot more tonight then I remember. Good communication can only help.

We have a lot to improve on—but solid start. Are rooks look exciting. Isiah breaks em down on the floor, Jimmer in the air.

Fredette. He gave a good accounting of himself against a still-formidable team as a ROOKIE IN HIS FIRST REGULAR-SEASON GAME. However, when the Lakers turned up the heat, he got caught in their web as did Thomas. The Kings will need to work on their offense alot more and get some sets in there if the intend to have a winning season. But on the whole, a promising start.

What I noticed about Jimmer is one huge glaring flaw. He jumps to pass and gets caught in air. This has to be corrected immediately. Did anybody else notice it?

Portland saw Matthews and Aldridge play 40 and 41 minutes, respectively. On a back-to-back, that is definitely going to wear on them.

Jamal Crawford only got 21 minutes with the team going 10-deep. I’m interested to see how he is used against us with Matthews tired from tonight. He’s their X-factor coming into the game against us tomorrow night, but I think we can handle him as long as we play as well defensively as we did tonight judging by Kobe’s inefficiency.

The Positives:
Donté was very effective for his one minute (+2!)
The starting backcourt scored well and often (47)
The starting frontcourt, the 4/5, had 20 rebs
Have to love the rooks – Jimmer’s first half was great, It’s IT second half was a treat
The team weathered the storm. They were outplayed on the 17-4 run and then Lil’ Buckets took over when we all expected them to crumble (including the Lakers)
DMC has to have the quickest feet of a 285 lb male in the history of basketball
The Negatives:
60% FT shooting
16 assists
Other than Boogie and Purple Hayes, JJ and JT were the No Jays. Nearly invisible.
Outrebounded by a small Laker frontline.

Nice win, nice energy.

Amazing how fast they’ve fallen… If they keep this kind of basketball up, the Western Conference just opened up even more.

Only one game (2 if we count preseason) but there was minimal, if any, complaining to the refs by DMC. even when he found himself in foul trouble he just took the calls and moved on. That was great to see and, to a degree, even better than the actual contributions that show up in the box score.

When DMC sat on the floor with his legs spread wide clapping his hands when he got the foul called

Love the Hayes signing. A player like him will do wonders to make this theam develop. I also love how DMC was a target of the lakers, always throwing two guys at him and trying to make him mentally break and he just responded with more hustle and a stronger showing. I’ll be at the game tomorrow night with a bunch of friends that have to wear kings jerseys. Can’t wait to see the kings come to Portland and smack the blazers in the mouth like they did the lakers tonight.

MT was amazing, DMC was as great in the 2nd half as he struggled in the 1st. The Chuck Wagon was excellent. Reke and Salmons had very good games, was especially happy with Reke’s 0 TOs. I liked what Outlaw brought. It got a little shaky in the 4th, but we closed it out well.

Great win. Let’s make it a double tomorrow night.

OT. Just finishing up watching the OKC-Minny game, Rubio with at least 4-5 great passes, Williams looks good too.

Sorry, I got excited. I really loved what I saw out there tonight from both the team and the fans. What Chuck Hayes did tonight…wow…I just don’t think I can begin to explain how impressed I am with him. Oh yeah, anyone want to tell me the Kings overpaid for Marcus Thornton after tonight.

The vision of the game was essentially a k*be highlight package. They finally got around to showing the Kings, but cut the vision before Marcus’ money shot left his hands.

As for the game, I am happy to report the Kings lived up to the ‘best case scenario’. There were some silly mistakes, but nowhere near the last couple of seasons – which is awesome considering the err… interesting preseason the Kings have had.

The Lakers starting the season 0-2 makes me a very happy camper. It’s obviously VERY early, but it is glorious to see LA behind the 3 other California teams. Hahaha.

But did anyone else notice Adrienne trying to use the kings to sell her stupid fucking shoes? Its on the kings youtube and Grant & Jerry talked about it. I hope she doesn’t sell a fucking pair.

Can anyone find kobe’s interview after the game on video?

I may be in the minority, but I thought Jimmer’s debut was fine. He wasn’t a real liability on the defensive end, and I don’t think the offensive side of things will be in question – you can tell he errs on the side of “team player” almost to a fault. Go ahead and release those wide open threes, young man!

Tyreke was so impressive on the defensive side of the ball – and I think his value as a defender gets overlooked by his critics quite often. Nice to see only a few instances of him taking the air out of the ball (Salmons as well).

DMC absolutely owned the Lakers late in the game. His energy was too much for their old legs.

Isaiah Thomas was eye opening last night. Even being stuck defending Kobe, he held his own.

This team’s going to be tough in a compressed season – the Lakers lack of depth was glaring in contrast to the Kings ability to throw out a chain of fresh, talented players all game long.

Oh, and Matt Barnes is still a douche, and if MWP didn’t get hot there for a stretch the Kings would have won this by 20.

Not getting any burn? Are we just too filled at the swingman positions for him to get much run?

And what a great game.

This is the type of game that makes you excited. We got to see all the little pieces come together. Some thoughts:

-My goodness Tyreke’s jumper looks smooth. I hope it looks like that every night. If he consistently shoots like that, the league is in trouble.
-Every time the offense started to stagnate, Chuck would appear. Movement off the ball, setting screens, all those little things that didn’t happen last season.
-Perhaps inspired by Chuck, the Kings did a much better job of moving off the ball.
-Tyreke’s defense looked better, but he still needs to work on fighting through screens.
-I loved the way Cousins and Hayes frustrated Gasol all night. Absolutely loved it. Towards the end of the game it was all DMC, and Gasol was clearly rattled.
-Jimmer looked very, very nervous. I expect that he’ll settle in and be just fine.
-Buckets, man. Buckets.

So many things to comment on, most covered already. But what impressed me actually was the offense. Not perfect, but it looked nothing like the offense we ran last year. I loved it. And then the defense was incredible. I’ll take holding the lakers to 90 points all day.

The man sets a perfect screen almost every time. I was extremely impressed with our gaurd penetration, and almost all of it came from a awesome Chuck Hayes pick.

Everyone looked unselfish for most of the game other than a few possessions when the D picked up and the offense got stagnate. Overall good ball movement and balance.

DMC looked like he was having a blast in the 4th and really got the fans going. There was one point when he was shooting his second free throw where you could tell he was trying not to smile, but he couldn’t help it and let it slip. Way to keep it together despite the fouls and win the game big man!

Wow, is all I can say after last night. Our depth is the best we have had in some time. Was surprised to see IT getting early burn but showed great poise. Am loving this team.

Young team on the road in a loud building on a back-to-back.

The new competitive fire is BRILLIANT. No more whining (we let Kobe do all that last night, it was awesome!) and no more sulking, just fired up basketball.
The depth is impressive, though we’re not very tall. Despite this, we frustrated the crap out of Gasol all night. He was fluid early then had to play out of his comfort zone thanks to a healthy dose of DMC and Chuck. The height factor could be a problem against “bigger” teams, but we seem to be able to compensate so far.
Tyreke has MAD handles and MT23 aka Mac Buckets aka Honey Badger doesn’t give a shit if you defend him cuz he’s a hungry little bastard.
Jimmer was tentative last night, but he played within the context of the offense, didn’t force anything, made good decisions for the most part (for a rookie, especially) and played respectable defense. A solid piece to the puzzle so far.
The Lakers will be a playoff team, they almost took that game last night, they just couldn’t hang with our energy. We played them tough, aggressive, and didn’t back down when they threw a couple of good punches. I like the composure and attitude of our boys so far, the chemistry is looking good (from section 202 last night, merry Christmas to me!!!)

Knowing the Lakers are on the downswing is (almost) even better!

Go Kings.

It baffles me why the Kings cannot make free throws. This has been a bug-a-boo for the last few years. As a team they are pretty good shooters until you put them on the free throw line. Games are won and lost at the line and maybe in the future things will get better.

Likes:
Reke with no turnovers is awesome.
Chuck Hayes is the best post-defender the Kings have ever had.
MT23 is a perfect backcourt compliment to Reke. He can create, dish, shoot lights out and get to the rim.
JJ was active and seems to know his role.
Jimmer had good court vision, made some plays and wasn’t horrible on D.
Cousins, given his foul trouble and limited action, still had one of his best games as a KIng. More of that please!
IT on Kobe. That was awesome.

Dislikes:
Travis Outlaw needs to play a lot less. Why was he getting so much burn, especially at the four?!? I’ll give him a chance, but if he plays like he did last night, no thanks.
Jimmer needs to be more confident (that will come).
Salmons overall was okay, but there were more than a few sequences where he needed to dish the ball. Don’t want to see the Old Salmons come back.

Overall:
A great start to the season. I’d just like to see a little more JT and less Troutlaw. After the starters, I think a good rotation would be Jimmer, IT, JJ and JT. At this point, if we can get AK47, I think it guarantees the playoffs. DMC, Hayes, AK47, Thronton and Reke to start. IT, Jimmer, Salmons, JJ and JT off the bench. A nice 10-man rotation to get us through the grueling schedule.

Cousins(2) and Evans(0) combining for 2 turnovers…for the entire game! We may not get out of the 1st quarter for the rest of the year below that number.

I’ll save you guys from my individual analysis because I think everyone has mutual feelings about how the game turned out and who should get more burn and not.

DeMarcus’ putback on the Jimmer miss was so phenomenal and agile of him. I nearly woke up the whole neighborhood. I felt as if he should’ve had a couple of more easily, but was getting hacked up a storm in the paint and with no whistles at all. I’m sure he’ll get more calls as he becomes a more established player.

Chuck Hayes is great though. With those perfectly white sneakers and the black jerseys, he reminds me of that older guy in his late 30s – early 40s that would show up at the local courts when you and your friends were playing and call next game. He won’t razzle-dazzle you, but he’ll play hard, hustle, and rough. Love that he’s on our team.

I was a little disappointed by Donte to be honest. I mean he only got 2 minutes of play, but usually he’s one of the biggest cheerleaders on our bench and always comes out to give guys a high 5 on time outs, but he just wasn’t happy sitting there you can tell. I don’t expect most players would, but the scowl on his face rubbed me the wrong way. Love the kid, but he needs to earn that playing time and when he gets it, keep those minutes with consistent play. (To be honest, i felt like he should’ve been in there a lot more than Outlaw).

Is that I think that by a long shot our front line can and will play better.
Cousins was treated badly by the officials but showed some early signs of being more mature about it. He’s clearly going to have many 20-10 games this season. Hickson can play a LOT better (I think) and Outlaw is still feeling his way. Chuck was as advertised a nearly immovable object in the post.

Jimmer will also have many many better games than this, though I thought considering the circumstances he did OK. Gotta take a few 3s though son. Just a few.

Even this early It sure seems that way. We’ll know more in a week or two.

Very excited to see how we match up against PDX tonight. (yes, I know they aren’t in our division)

GS, LA, LA, Phoenix and us

Hmmmm. After the first two days it sure seems like the Clips may have the edge – though I don’t know what they do in the front court off the bench, or if either Griffin or Jordan miss more than a game or three.

Shot the 3 ball well, played good hard defense, and created his own shot when the shot clock was running down. Hopefully he can maintain the way he played tonight, because I loved the way he played. Welcome back Mr. Salmons!!

I’m traveling over the holidays, and live on the east coast anyway, so of course I missed the game. But YESSSSSSSS. That is all.

The Stars performed as we hoped and expected they would. Hayes and DeMarcus make a good starting duo at the 4/5. Tyreke and Thornton were impressive. I was especially impressed by the 11 turnovers but not so impressed by the 16 assists. I’ve expressed my concerns about the lack of assists before, so I hope this doesn’t continue to be a trend.

As excited as I am to beat LA, the Lakers aren’t the same team that beat us 9 of the last 10 games.

We’re still the jump shooting team that we were last season. And, when we’re hot shooting the jumper we can beat anyone. But, we’re not going to shoot 50% from 3 and MT isn’t going to score 27pts on 13 shots. He’s a high attempt cold stone shooter who historically averages 1.1 pts per shot.

There were 12 games played yesterday. Of the 24 teams only TWO scored less points in the paint than the Kings did. The Kings had 30 of their 100 points scored in the paint. The Nets who only scored 90 pts had 28 in the paint, and Detroit who only scored a total of 79 pts for the game had 28 in the paint. The Kings were outscored by the Lakers 44 to 30 in the paint. The average for all the games played yesterday was 39pts with the TWolves scoring 60 of their 100pts in the paint.

I’m going to be very interested to see how our undersized starting front line does against Aldridge, Wallace and Camby tonight. Especially since Spencer Hawes went for 10pts, 14rebs and 9 assts against them yesterday.