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still a bit strange being an elite team. I
thot B(i/o)bby did an incredible job on Iverson
tonight. o tried to take the offensive approach
by making Ivy work on D and i actually flat-out
SHUT DOWN Ivy on D in the second half (only
2pts for Iverson in the 4th!). How about that
block and fast break ending with Pager's 3???
And Hedo is beginning to be a big-time baller.
Even Mateen the Machine had some high-quality
PT. Very cool win.
Pondo
When
the game started it looked like neither team
wanted to make a basket. They threw up shots
and hoped they would go in. They tried layups
that never went down. Tipins did not go in.
In
the 2nd half things got going for both teams.
The 76ers went ahead in the score. Was afraid
they would keep up with their run. In the
4th quarter all of the Kings got going! To
me this was a Team Win! Playing defense, getting
out on the fast break and scoring!! Really
believe the Kings wanted this game more than
the 76ers.
Enjoyed
Scot Pollards after game interview with Koz.
Scot had the stats there and was loving the
rebounds and blocked shots! Good for Him!!!
It
was great to see the bench get into the game,
even for just the close of the game. To me
RA was watching the 76ers Coach to see who
he put in the game at the end and matched
him. When their starters went out so did the
Kings starters. They was no running up the
score and above all, no stars getting hurt!
Was
glad they were not looking to the Friday night
game before winning this one! Felt Doug C,
could not have played defense any better than
BJ did against AI! To me AI would have the
quickness in his favor. BJ was inside AI's
uniform! Great to see Bibby block AI's shot.
Scot
P., what can you say about his play except
it was workman like and great. He would keep
his arms straight up and not move his lower
body into the other player. By not leaving
his feet and using his head he was able to
block shots or really cause the player to
have trouble getting his shot off. He did
not give up on a miss but keep working.
kingme
It
was nice to see Cleaves get some minutes,
and I liked Price's 3! Adleman should use
him periodically maybe if some of the others
aren't hitting their outside shots. But I'm
still annoyed about Wallace. I think it's
highly unusual he doesn't ever play. Every
1st round draft pick, unless he's just terrible,
gets some minutes. I heard Wallace was a good
defender - remember he said now Kobe wouldn't
have any more 40 point game at Arco? Maybe
he's really raw, and not ready in any way
for the NBA. Petrie shouldn't have picked
him then. Or insist he play in the devlopmental
league, because I've heard from players that
it's very frustrating just sitting on the
bench, and not getting on-court experience.
Milos
Heh,
I wished for Iverson to shoot 10-30 and he
shot 9-30. Even better I woudn't mind Kobe
to shoot like that on Friday It will be interesting
to see who and how will defend him. It may
prove useful to test different players on
Kobe, maybe someone can earn the job of doing
that even with Doug back because as good as
he is he did have a lot of trouble guarding
Kobe in the past. Let's see if Peja, Hedo,
BJ or even Wallace can come up with something
new.
Flubber
played very well in the summer leagues and
even if that does not mean anything I still
hoped he would get more playing time. But
I expected that he won't get it. I like to
think that when the team leads by more than
10 points it is a good time to put one of
the unproven guys in and let him get some
quality time experience. Combine four regulars
with that player and see what happens. I like
to think that the possible gain of such experiments
is bigger than the risk of letting the other
team catch up with you. But it seems that
99% of coaches would not agree with me. Maybe
they know something I don't know.
BTW,
Pistons rookie White also isn't getting much
playing time. Same with Chandler and Curry
in Chicago - I doubt the Bulls could get much
worse by letting them playing more. Wallace
is only a year older than those two guys (right?)
and he has players like Peja, Doug and Hedo
at the same position.
GHorsey
What
a nice team effort. I am still hoarse especially
when the bad call took away Scott's throw
down. A nice job by everyone at different
times. Bobby played a great game, tough D
on AI all game long. Mateen played solidly
in his 2nd quarter stint as well with nice
D. Fundy made a crucial jumper in the 4th,
Scott Mutombo (Grin)matched Dikembe block
for block. Alhough the Kings shot somewhat
poorly at 42% with a lot of that being Bobby's
9 - 25, the effort was sure there. In one
sequence they got 5 opportunities because
of the hustle of Scott and everyone under
the offensive glass and finally out it in.
1-5 on that sequence but they got the bucket.
John114AAA
Wow,
Scott never ceases to amaze me. His performance
last night was nothing short of dominating
on defense. There is no doubt in my mind that
he would be the starting center on at least
10 NBA teams. I can hardly wait when he gets
back into his best role as coming off the
bench to back up Divac and Webber, depending
on the matchups. The positive side of injuries
is the playing time they give to allow key
bench players to develop their game and role
on the team and establish some respect from
referrees.
Coach
Rick is old school, in some ways, and can
afford to be very conservative and patient
with Wallace's development, just like he was
with Pollard and Peja and Hedo. It is such
a luxury for a team to not have to throw a
rookie in the line up and have them risk the
fate of so many rookies who lose their confidence
and never fully develop their games. There
are recent examples of this approach with
other good teams, e.g., Bonsi Wells at Portland,
and look at him now.
Now
we see opportunity for Bobby Jackson and Hedo
during Christy's recovery. Bobby made the
most of it last night and, like others here,
I think it will be Hedo's turn on Friday against
the Lackers.
I
expect that we will begin to see Wallace emerge
as the season goes on. Hopefully, it wil be
because of blow out games and not because
of injury to front line players.
GO
KINGS.... GO KINGS..... BEAT LA.....BEAT LA
Critic
I
watched most of the first quarter, some of
the second, third and fourth (channel hopping
when the Zards game was paused or at halftime,
etc.). The Kings' defense looked pretty good
to me. Bibby was playing better D vs Iverson
than I had been led to believe he could. Their
offense also looked good -- but only in the
first half. They had movement and screens
and looked super in the first half, despite
only Peja shooting well. In the second half,
although they continued to defend reasonably
well, they seemed to have switched to what
I call the "Four Statues" offense,
where one guy with the ball works to get a
shot and the other four stand around with
their thumbs up their butts watching. Very
curious -- obviously RA HAS a plan; you could
see it in the first half. Equally obviously,
there were stretches of the second half where
the players just stopped executing that plan.
BTW
if Danny Ainge isn't being paid by the Maloofs,
he sure should be. He and Big John once again
gushed about every single player on the Kings
to the point where it was getting old. Didn't
some here used to accuse Danny of not liking
the Kings? I think Danny and Big John always
say what they really think and they now think
the Kings are better than they used to be.
Hmmm, I agree with that.
Also,
let me be the zillioneth one to gush about
Peja. He really has game at this point. He
has always had that stroke that makes me surprised
whenever he actually misses a shot. But, he
is also driving and getting his own shot MUCH
better than in prior years. He moves well
without the ball. His Defense has continued
to improve to the point where he may now be
a better than average NBA defender and considering
that a couple of years ago he was nearly Rex
Chapman-bad, that is astonishing. He usually
boxes out (tho not always) and rebounds well
and seems to have much better court vision
than before and is joining his teammates in
being a good passer.
At
this point, what small forward would I prefer
to Peja? Well, if Garnett plays SF, then him,
but I think he may technically be a PF. Pippen
is over the hill. Carter doesn't play D and
doesn't fit into a team concept as well as
Peja and plays more SG than SF. Is Nowitzki
a SF? Sometimes he is and I'd rate him about
the same as Peja. Kobe and McGrady play more
SG than SF. MJ is too old to be compared to
anyone. Big Dog? D is lacking and I'm not
as much of a Big Dog fan as many. Grant Hill
is still hurt all the time and now more a
PG than SF. Sprewell? That's a good comparison
-- Spree plays better D and handles better
and is a bit quicker, but his shot isn't close
to Peja's and Peja has a size advantage on
him. Anyway, it is not crazy to consider Peja
the best SF in the NBA. He's surely at least
very close to the best. When CWebb is back,
the Kings certainly have the best pair of
starting forwards in the NBA and when you
add in their backup Forwards (Turkoglu, Pollard
and Fundy), they have by far the best set
of forwards of any team in the NBA, well ahead
of Dallas, who I would say has the second
best set of forwards.
Cleaves
looked like a useful player to me from what
I saw last night. The Kings have three PGs
who would start for my Zards.
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