KINGS GO ONE FOR NINETEEN BEHIND THE ARC

Feistyfan

Well - 93 to 85 loss to the Lakers. This, in a game where the Kings missed almost all of their 3 point shots, and had a couple of silly turnovers. The officiating didn't get in the way of the game tonight and you know something is amiss when the Kings have scored in the 80s.

All in all, it is disappointing - but why don't I feel as bad about this loss as I should?
Could it be because over 20 points of scoring is about two weeks away from coming back into the lineup?

I am not entirely unhappy with the way we handled Shaq tonight. Kobe is Kobe and will always end up getting his points, but I think we learned something tonight - and if it weren't for a poor 2nd half of the 4th quarter, we would have won this game.

Yeah we should have won. Yeah, Bibby had some TOs that were unwarranted and unforced, and Yeah, we had control for most of the game.. but the Kings just look like they are learning how to beat this Laker team, and I think we're going to start seeing it pretty darned soon.

JB

Cant play this poorly and expect to win. Turnovers, poor free throw shooting and non-existent 3 pt shooting. I'm surprised they were ahead for so long.
Not really a big measure of both teams at this point. The Kings are still without Webber and the Lakers still aren't playing at the top of their game. Gotta shake it off and take down the Rockets. Losing to them would hurt.

SandB Bill

Four things kept us from winning this game..

1) Three Point Shooting
2) Free Throws
3) Bibby
4) Hedo

We never miss that many open shots, The only thing you can do is keep hoping your shot comes back.

We have to make the free throws, If we are not going to make them, there is no sense in drawing the fouls.

Mike was shooting bad tonight, and the turnovers at the end really hurt us.

Hedo has to learn to play team ball, this one on one that he is turning towards more and more has to stop.

The Kings got their share of calls tonight, so all and all I would say they were offset and the officials just sucked.

That elbow throwing should of got Walker ejected, that is crap, someone could of really got hurt from that.

All and all, the Kings lost this game on their own.

Q

The Kings threw away another game. This one was more important than you may realize. The Kings will be 7-3. They missed at least 9 free throws and missed at least 15 threes and turned over the ball way too much, especially at the end. The officials helped swing the momentum the Lakers way, but the Kings did not take the opportunities the officials gave them. The Lakers will be 8-1. I am pleased with the fact that the Kings outplayed the Lakers for 3 1/2 quarters but horrified that they fell apart in the last 1/2 quarter (again). It leaves a sick feeling and makes me wonder why they fall apart like that. They couldn't make a shot to save their lives at the end and then just fouled to give Kobe lots of garbage points at the end. Not again! Oh well...a 8 to 10 win streak will help me forget this one. But right now I need a rest from Kings collapses in the second half. They cannot do that and expect to be great teams on the road. Neither Hedo nor Mike pleased me at the end. If they had kept their focus and not tried to force things, they could have won this game going away. (Sigh.) But I will be looking forward to their stellar play in games to come. If the Lakers won because they wanted it more, what does that say about the Kings? I hope that is not true. And I hope the Kings finally wake up!

Ceez01

Even with Webber we would have lost tonight the way we played. Did we run a single play on the fourth quarter?!?!?!?! All I saw was one on one garbage. Even if the opponent tights up their defense, the Kings need to move the ball looking for an open man. Bibby needs to step up in the fourth quarter, be a leader!!! He seem unsettled during the fourth quarter commiting 3 unforced turnovers.

ozzie

Can't win many games shooting 37% or 1-19 from beyond the arc. Peja was 11-20 but missed timely shots. The Laker board is in a total uproar over the officials but total fouls were even at 22. The Kings played their worst game so far except for the defense. Bibby and Hedo need to run the offense a little better. And how can the Laker fans think Walker is an upgrade over Grant. Someone mentioned it before but that elbow incident was uncalled for.

LAKERS-KINGS

RPO

I don't think that the Kings necessarily need a team psychologist as someone suggested. I think they need a new attitude. They need to expect to win against lesser teams, which is what the Leakers really are (regardless of what their fans think).

I also agree that Bibby and Hedo played really crappy today. I'm still waiting for both these guys to live up to the hype that

surrounded them during the summer. Bibby's been a decent scorer, but he's only getting 4 assists per. I know that the offense is running through Vlade, but at some point Bibby's gonna have to start being the PG and stop being an SG. That's what we got him for. And I was hoping that Hedo would have a break-out season and garner consideration for MIP. He still might, but so far he's been playing only like an OK (occasionally good) reserve.

Big G

I think all outside shooters other than Peja have been awful so far. Peja is doing good because he is probably the only player who gets quality passes. He is a good shooter but he is unable to create for others when he is double teamed. That's the problem you have when your best player on the court is an outside shooter. When Webber returns we should see a much more balanced play from all guards and Hedo. Webber will attract so much attention so that the guards and Hedo will attack the basket more frequently. Adelman always kept Webber in the game when the 2nd unit came into the game in the 2nd quarters. It is also no coincidence that the Kings crash into the wall in the 4th quarters. The opponents are spending less energy without having to guard a quality player like Webber.

Reno Lady

The Lakers team as a whole shot very poorly last night, even worse than the Kings, & the Kings failed to capitalize on that. To take a page from the Zen Disaster's book: "We beat ourselves". Even though the Lakers stepped up their defense in the 4th quarter, the Kings still had plenty of open looks & failed to make the shots - and they stopped moving the ball around - and they stopped moving around too. You can't beat the Lakers by playing one on one ball - as the Kings hopefully found out. I agree with Sioux-where was Pollard in the 4th? We needed his rebounding & his size in the 4th. That's not to take anything away from Fundy however, who played a good game.

And the FTs reared their ugly head again....the Kings got to the line 9 more times than the Lakers did, which says they were doing a good job at going to the basket - but they missed 9 of their attempts - those shots alone could have given the Kings the impetus to win the game.

On the positive side the Kings did a great job of keeping both Shaq and Kobe under 30 points last night; the defense on both was better than usual & Kobe was frustrated - a good sign that Christie's starting to get into his head a little bit. He had to resort to playing just regular basketball last night....the only fancy stuff he did was on the fast break. Anytime a team with what many call the 2 best players in the league (something I disagree with about one of those players) is held to under 100, the other team is doing something right. The block by Peja was beautiful.....I don't care how many angles it was shown from, it was clean. Fox picked it up in the 4th and Peja let himself get frustrated by it - he needs to go right at Fox & send a little message of his own.

Another positive - as someone pointed out: The Kings are learning to beat the Lakers, one game at a time. This was a well-played game for the most part but the Kings have to realize that the Lakers' modus operandi is turning it on in the 4th, something they did during the playoffs and something they're still doing, & if you're going to beat them you have to recognize that and be ready to combat it. This is strictly a mental adjustment for the Kings - they have everything they need to beat the Lakers but the belief they can do it.

Webber might not have made a difference in the outcome, but if you substitute Webber's play for Fundy's last night you have to wonder. For the Kings to have played this well against the Lakers with both Shaq and Kobe healthy and w/o their own best player says an awful lot about just how good this Kings team is.

Highlight of the night: Vlade knocking Shaq on his butt!

Bonsy

That was one of the first times we've played the Lakers where the officiating was actually even.

Walker's elbow throwing foul drew boos from the crowd because Laker fans have been trained to believe that is a legel move. Shaq does it at least 3-4 times a game and it's "legal" for Shaq.

I knew we were going to lose mid-way through the 4th when I saw the one-on-one play and no ball movement. What I've been struggling with is was it the Laker D on Peja and Vlade that stopped the ball movement, or were we just STUPID!!

I couldn't believe how often Hedo got the ball and it never left his hands except for a poor shoot at the hoop. He's got a lot of learning to do there.

I was disappointed in our shooting throughout the game. We looked tense and too tight.

My positive from the game was our own defense. Shaq and Kobe can score 40+ in games and I think keeping them under 30 each is, oddly, a good thing. They were both frustrated and acting like babies with the officiating. I thought Christie got in Baby Kobe's head. Christie was great, except for his own shooting.

I hate the fouls put on Shaq when he's going for a dunk. JUST LET HIM GO! You're never going to stop him when he's that close and you only give him an and-1. It's a total waste of a foul. I think the Kings actually know that better than some other teams, but we still had a couple of them last night.

So, in summary, Shaq and Kobe on offense really don't scare me. It's our own offense that needs to play Kings ball through the whole 48 minutes.