Kings 97, Magic 104: Turnovers and Threes Ruin an Otherwise Spirited Performance

that really makes this stand up awesome.

BraVo!!

I must have missed that meeting as well

not every play requires commentary Billy.

Has never watched a kings game before in her life, and she said during the game, “I don’t know who that guy [Bill Walton] talking is, but I don’t like him. He’s dumb and his voice is annoying.” Yes sweetheart, welcome to the family." We also went to a Jazz game last week and she said, “Wow, that number 35 on the hornets [Chris Kaman] Is really ugly. Maybe that’s why the Jazz keep missing their shots when he’s on the floor.”

never shuts up, its unbelievable. The only thing I can appreciate about him is that I think he mirrors the sentiments shared by much of the media in regards to our players, so you don’t get the “homer” takes that Jer and Grant spoon feed us. That and he really does stand behind his opinions. That being said, 2 quarters of the guy is too much. And every time they cut to Jim Grey, I throw up in my mouth a little bit. Urrrrgh. I mean, one of his recent post game interviews (you know, one of his responsibilities for Maloof Sports and Entertainment,) was with a player from the other team. WTF, Jim~!? I really don’t care what ANY player on the other team has to say. Or you, for that matter. I could deal with one or the other, but the 2 of them together are too much…

Smart keeps a tight rotation, and our guys will have to be in better shape to play the way he wants them to, that’s for sure.

I also think it was a result of the team playing with so much energy to start the game. They’re pumped with the new coach and haven’t settled into pacing themselves just yet. But they will.

But I also thik no one should be scaring 40 minutes this season

There is no question we need a veteran point guard. We need someone to help get these young guys in line when they start “forgetting” the play calls – especially towards the end of the game – don’t think its a matter of fatigue so much as confidence down the stretch.

Sure, we ran the ball a lot tonight on fast breaks, but most of those were unassisted drives to the hoop. We can’t keep getting more turnovers than assists if we want to win games. Jimmer looks lost out there often, IT doesn’t quite have it together, and Tyreke too often tries to finish at the rim when he should be kicking the ball back out. This was especially evident during the last two minutes when he tried to finish a layup circus-style with his back to the basket.

I wouldn’t be suprised at all if Petrie makes a trade for a veteran point guard some time in the next few weeks. Need a little less flamboyance, and a little more structure.

Wish to see more of Jimmer and Reke together at the same time but dear lord the way both get absolutely destroyed on the pick and roll I can’t see them working out defensively too good together at this point.

Cousins can be the greatest and worst player on the floor at the same time (his defense went from awesome to horrible at any given moment back to awesome). There was no reason for Big Baby doing what he did out there.

Our small forwards behind Salmons are playing really bad. Like, Salmons can play 34 minutes a night and I won’t even complain much bad.

Reke was awesome. I know he got 8 assists but there were still times he should have dished and it would have been fairly easy for him too.

Loved what we saw from Jimmer in the first half.

Work in progress. Overall enjoyable game. Forget the loss and just focus on what’s ahead possession by possession.

Been there!

If you could’ve photoshopped Salmons face on the salmon, this would be rivaling the Simpsons’ one up top.

Ideally however Orlando had some size.

Year 4?

What game were you watching? Played fine defense, and set people up at the rim constantly. Not his fault they won’t pass it to him when he is wide open.

But Walton absolutely needs to go.

grant “brought to you by Jack-in-the-box”

Walton “i love jack-in-the-box!”

Wish I wasn’t out of town.

he hits big shots whenever we win….

but he’s been quite terrible… but some part of me i cant explain likes him more than most… his moves look cool, i like the way he dribbles and shoots, beautiful form…. but um, lol

Yep, lost in the last 5 minutes. They played like a young, inexperienced team, took themselves out of the game.

if Kirilenko would have been doing good at that spot, alot of people were somewhat high on him… and he probly wouldnt have played the 4 spot alot for us

At first it obviously made for Tyler to play behind Cisco, Travis and Donte but they’re all under-performing so badly that I think it warrants giving Honeycutt a try. And while John is and has been playing better than the other 3 if he doesn’t start playing at a consistent and starter level I wouldn’t be against letting Tyler start altogether but of course we’ll need to see how he does with regular bench minutes first. Ultimately though at the end of the year I want Honeycutt to be the only 3 left. Kill this damn sorry-ass Hydra already

I thought with Thornton Jimmer along with Salmons and Cisco (both decent career 3 pt shooters) that we could spread the floor better. It looks a little better spread with Smart, lets hope it looks good within 10 games or so.

Will open up the lane ,ore if defenders know he can stopnand bury the elbow shot.

Its almost good enough to be real but its bad enough to make me believe our own military propaganda machine put this out.

stop giving up the ball to DeMarcus and JJ when they’re 20 ft from the basket, what usually ends up happening is an offensive foul, turnover or contested bad shot.

That’s OK if you’re truly running a high post. But the whole point of the high post is the rest of team moving off the ball, opening up passing lanes, drawing people in and out of the paint etc.

So it doesn’t work if the rest of team doesn’t move properly and just leave a big guy with the ball in hands wondering what to do. The result is too often what you just said or (you forgot) a handoff to a guard for a little mo’ dribbling late in the shot clock.

I just don’t understand why there is so much standing without the ball. How about some screens and cuts? Tyreke especially should cut to the basket without the ball.

He got 6 in the first and while his offense was unimpressive, so was Clark’s who he was defending. Clark had 0 pts and 1 reb. Smart used Donte in the 4th to give JJ a rest while DMC sat in foul trouble. Donte held Ryan Anderson to 0 pts and 1 reb. While Donte had only 1 rebound himself, we was defending the outside shot most of the time. He also took a nice foul on Howard that saved a point.

On Donte’s offense, I believe that if Smart gives him the clean slate that he promised, Donte might not push has hard as he has. Donte’s taken 14 shots 8 from 3pt range in 25 minutes played. And even thought he’s averaging 1 pt per shot, I think he’s trying too hard to show that he deserves more PT, and it’s hurting his FG%. He needs to relax and gain some confidence.

He’s going to open for it a lot if he plays at the same time a D Howard this year.

Orlando averages 26 attempts at the rim when Howard is on the floor. Without him last night they only took 14 attempts. Orlando normally takes 23 shots from beyond the arc, but last night they took 32 most of which they missed.

Where we failed to adjust is that they were getting all the long rebounds off of their missed 3’s. Davis, Anderson and Howard combined for 23 of their 43 rebounds. The other 20 went to their guards and wings. Between our turnovers and their offensive boards, they ended up taking 17 more FGA’s than the Kings. And, they turned most of those extra shots into 3pt attempts.

Even if we had the same amount of turnovers, without the additional offensive rebounds and 2nd chance points, we might have won.

Which is fine as the spark plug off the bench carrying the second unit. Jimmer still needs to adjust to the speed of the league. But long term, I could see Reke and Jimmer starting with Thornton coming off the bench and providing instant offense a la Bobby Jackson.

Neither Thomas or Fredette is a better PG than Evans today. Maybe someday, maybe not. But not today, and for emphasis, especially when you factor in the defensive side of the ball, where half the game is played.

can’t flip out after getting run out the gym (and it will happen). Just got to focus on each game one quarter, one possession at a time.

This situation is somewhat reminiscent of the Thunder a few years back.

P.J. Carlesimo was playing Durant at SG and had a very convulsed system and a supposedly promising team started the season 1-12 and faced a lot of criticism. Carlesimo was let go and Books made some simple changes, such as moving Durant to SF and getting the ball to his best players where they could score. Real rocket science. They were a bit up and down, but finished the season on fire.

I could see a similar situation here. Westphal got too “creative” for his own good. Smart’s best moves so far have been getting Evans and Cousins in positions to run the offense and score. There are other small tweaks he can make over time, but really playing to the team’s strengths should make a huge difference. Smart may not be a great coach, but he could be our Scott Brooks.

Cause I think Thorton’s only had three good games and played more consistently last year. Maybe this says more about the lack of 2 guard talent in the NBA right now. Not a lot of impressive names on the list below Thorton.

More like a consistent 20-30. Although I suppose he can get to the line a bunch if he wants to.

76ers are playing really good and very much up tempo