Grades v. Mavs 1/10/2013

[Chupacabra]

It's nice how Smart has turned this team into one of the worst rebounding teams in the league. He just has no idea what a rotation is. Nice call on putting Thornton in during the 4th quarter when he hadn't played the entire game! The Kings should demote Smart to the D-league.

Good point. Smart has been successful in turning a pretty good rebounding team into one that gets destroyed on the boards by teams like Dallas.

[jalfa]

it's impossible to express how incredibly stupid that 3rd quarter lineup was. the game was going completely in the Kings favour, the reserve lineup in the 2nd had worked very well and here coach Smart goes "experimenting". just...why? doesn't he see that winning games and decidedly winning games is something that needs to happen right now, unless he wants to lose the team? can't he give Jimmer and Thornton minutes in a lineup that we'll actually use some time down the road? couldn't he see the OJ Mayo layup line and Vince getting hot? why did he not intervene, declare the experiment failed and end it before the Mavs really got rolling? this game was as blatantly lost by a coach, as you could ever wish to see and in so unnecessarily a fashion that Smart really should be fired on the spot. incredible, just...incredible. I can't even blame the players for their selfishness in the fourth (the vote did go to Salmons though), I would never be able to trust anything that idiot would ever tell me to do, after seeing what happened there.

[Flopi]

Same here.
I've never been a hater guy and I never write in any fire/trade threads because I always try to think basketball as a collective game.
But I think this loss is 100% Smart fault.
Actually, I've never been so furious about the coach that during this game.
The team played pretty well during 3 quarters and, suddenly, Smart decided to try several brand new (and completely stupid) rotations in the 4th : a small ball lineup that totally put Dallas back in the game (during nearly 6 minutes !!!!), playing Marcus Thornton who was coming back from an injury and completely out of rythm, playing Tyreke at the point, ...
In fact, he came back with his starting lineup only with 1:45 remaining ! During that time, the mark came from +10 to -3 !!!
I can't blame the players whose selfishness looked more like a panic mode.
Absolutely amazed by the coaching as I think Smart would not have act diffenterly if he was trying to deliberately lose this game.

[kupman]

Woohoo, look at me pretty much agreeing with swisshh! What's next? Cats with dogs? Kardashians with class? Kings coaches with smarts?

Maloofs with integrity?

[LWP777]

Maloofs with integrity?

I like it

[Kingsguy881]

Maloofs with integrity?

George getting a hair cut?

[Jordan Goins]

Did Chuck Hayes play last night?

[VF21]

Yes, but not for very long IIRC. There's a link to the box score for the game in the OP.

[jalfa]

Same here.
I've never been a hater guy and I never write in any fire/trade threads because I always try to think basketball as a collective game.
But I think this loss is 100% Smart fault.
Actually, I've never been so furious about the coach that during this game.
The team played pretty well during 3 quarters and, suddenly, Smart decided to try several brand new (and completely stupid) rotations in the 4th : a small ball lineup that totally put Dallas back in the game (during nearly 6 minutes !!!!), playing Marcus Thornton who was coming back from an injury and completely out of rythm, playing Tyreke at the point, ...
In fact, he came back with his starting lineup only with 1:45 remaining ! During that time, the mark came from +10 to -3 !!!
I can't blame the players whose selfishness looked more like a panic mode.
Absolutely amazed by the coaching as I think Smart would not have act diffenterly if he was trying to deliberately lose this game.

we seem to have shared the very same experience. your first few lines apply to me, pretty much exactly, too, at any rate.

another thing that pissed me off, and even more so in retrospect: why the hell did Smart not sit Cuz down when he got his third foul? bring back Chuck, who had another kinda nothing game, except for the assists, but clearly wasn't hurting anything we were doing. we were comfortably ahead at that point and even if the Mavs rally a bit, and they did not seem to have that in them against any of our semi-serious lineups, you can bring back Cuz in the 4th rested and with fouls to spare, to really decimate them, if need be. the way it went, Cuz picked up his 5th quite early and proceeded to play no helpside defense whatsoever, out of fear of fouling out and the layup-line was on. made me sick.

[Hadlowe]

My analysis

1st quarter: both teams had ups and downs, about even.

2nd quarter: second unit of brooks, evans, johnson, robinson, hayes plays great team defense and extends our lead, starters come back in and close out half fine.

3rd quarter: Starters find their groove, Cisco gets hot, Isaiah and Cuz playing great. Mavs aren't comfortable on offense. Then all of a sudden with the Mavs on the ropes ready to go down, in comes the heavyweights to deliver the final blow, Brooks, Jimmer, Thornton(who hasn't played in a week and a half), with Tyreke moving to PF because he's the best option we have to guard Dirk. Mavs start rolling on our no defense lineup.

4th quarter: the midget lineup stays in and squanders the lead, finally Smart goes the complete opposite way and puts a big lineup out there with Tyreke as pg, problem? Tyreke shouldn't be the primary ball handler, and was doing best on the wings. With 2 minutes left Smart finally goes back Isaiah who somehow banks a 3 to send it to overtime.

Overtime: Other than cousins flagrant (should have been a 1), we got what we deserve.

So the first question i have to ask is if you need to get your starters rest with a double digit lead, why didn't he go back to that defensive lineup that worked in the 2nd quarter? At worst we maintain the lead, or probably bury the Mavs from the defensive efforts that Evans, Johnson, Hayes and Robinson can give. Its just mind bending to think this wasn't the obvious thing to do.

Pretty much exactly this. When you're up by double digits in the fourth, you don't need a ton of offense. You just need to stop the opponent on more than half of their offensive possessions. Whatever measly offense you put together will be fine.

I'm an idiot and I can see that. Here's hoping that the new ownership, whoever that turns out to be, fires Smart on day 1.

[gatoradeSD]

I cant believe you gave Salmons a C- he basically lost this game for us

[Reke 13 Havoc]

how about when Carter hit Cousins and knocked him down?

[LWP777]

Sorry...I have to be honest again....DMC with another A-??? 5 TO's, 6 miss FT's, and a F2 that sealed our fate does not equal an A-!!!!

[Reke 13 Havoc]

^as much as this guy likes to find every reason to bash DMC, i have to agree with that post

[UK_King]

...

[kupman]

Overall, our chemistry has faded in the past 2-3 games and along with it TO's have increased and assists have decreased. It can be hard to win when the team turns the ball over 20 times.

[Bricklayer]

Sorry...I have to be honest again....DMC with another A-??? 5 TO's, 6 miss FT's, and a F2 that sealed our fate does not equal an A-!!!!

And 29pts and 9 rebs on 9-14 shooting as he carried us. While his tag team oppponents (Kaman and Brand, tow old former All Stars) combiend for 10pts.

Which BTW makes him the best center in the game.

[ppine]

I did not see all of this game. What was obvious to me in the fourth quarter with Evans bringing up the ball at the point was that he absolutely killed the Kings' offensive momentum. He walks the ball up or trots slowly like he is resting. The ball gets to the offensive end with about 16 seconds left. He dribbles a few times and looks around and makes a pass with about 12 secondsl left on the 24 second clock. Half the time allotted for the offense is used up before anyone else touches the ball. The Kings' stand around a lot, then someone throws up a shot with a hand in their face to beat the buzzer. Evans is coming back from an injury and did some good things last night, but he is absolutely, positively not the guy to play the 1. I have believed this all along.

Contrast the style of Thomas at the point. He pushes the ball often getting a pass to a teammate with 20-21 seonds left on the clock. He drives and dishes a lot. He can't drive as well as Evans, but still gets to the hoop and doesn't get snuffed as much as Evans. He can shoot better than Evans.

The Kings played their best ball against the old and creaky Mavs by pushing the ball, beating them down the floor and getting them tired. Once they played the slow half court game like in the fourth quarter their fate was sealed. Playing at home against a team that had lost 10 of 11, they gave away the game by getting away from everything they did right in the first 3 quarters. I am completely miffed that Evans receives an A- for his effort.

[The_Jamal]

And 29pts and 9 rebs on 9-14 shooting as he carried us. While his tag team oppponents (Kaman and Brand, tow old former All Stars) combiend for 10pts.

Which BTW makes him the best center in the game.

Kaman is beyond crap. There's a reason the Mavs went small-ball with Dirk at C most of the 2nd half. And Brand is pretty much a defensive stud/jump shooter offensively these days. So while Boogie playing nice defense was really nice to see, I'll hold off on calling him the best C in the game until he shuts down The B. Lopez/ Dwight/Horford's of the league. The guys who actually have skill

[Bricklayer]

I did not see all of this game. What was obvious to me in the fourth quarter with Evans bringing up the ball at the point was that he absolutely killed the Kings' offensive momentum. He walks the ball up or trots slowly like he is resting. The ball gets to the offensive end with about 16 seconds left. He dribbles a few times and looks around and makes a pass with about 12 secondsl left on the 24 second clock. Half the time allotted for the offense is used up before anyone else touches the ball. The Kings' stand around a lot, then someone throws up a shot with a hand in their face to beat the buzzer. Evans is coming back from an injury and did some good things last night, but he is absolutely, positively not the guy to play the 1. I have believed this all along.

Contrast the style of Thomas at the point. He pushes the ball often getting a pass to a teammate with 20-21 seonds left on the clock. He drives and dishes a lot. He can't drive as well as Evans, but still gets to the hoop and doesn't get snuffed as much as Evans. He can shoot better than Evans.

The Kings played their best ball against the old and creaky Mavs by pushing the ball, beating them down the floor and getting them tired. Once they played the slow half court game like in the fourth quarter their fate was sealed. Playing at home against a team that had lost 10 of 11, they gave away the game by getting away from everything they did right in the first 3 quarters. I am completely miffed that Evans receives an A- for his effort.

You people are amazing. Really. You get a guy who scores 20pts for you on 8-11 (72.7%) shooting. Grabs 7rebs. Turns it over only 1 time. Plays great defense. And you're miffed when he gets an A-, the minus BTW being precisely for those minutes at PG, which he asked for no more than he aksed to be played at PF.

Maybe you jsut think more hihgly of Rek than I do. Maybe 25pts 10rebs on 100% shooting is an A- given his talent. But then what would be an A or A+? But I think I'll stick to reality where a guy played a great highly efficient game on both sides of the ball, pretty much marred only when his coach suddenly decided to start linuep experiments.