26. Lifeboats Averted: The View from Sacramento

I still had the services of the 11 hardworking immigrants from Central America for one more day, so I asked 'em really nice to pretty please produce some "Points Per Possession" stats for 4 other NBA guards as sort of a baseline for the 4 Blazer guards...

We know how the 4 functional Blazer guards stack up against each other, but what I wanted to know: how do the Blazer guards stack up against their comparable NBA peers?

The guys I've chosen as baseline players for the Portlanders: 1. Deron Williams (my favorite PG in the NBA and the dude whose game is most similar to that of Brandon Roy); 2. Jason Kidd (a veteran peer of Andre Miller, a bit long in the tooth but still highly desirable and playing for a playoff-caliber Western Conference team); 3. Derek Fisher (the classic example of the "steady stable veteran" in the Blake mold, World Championship level vet mediocrity); and 4. my buddy Sergio Rodriguez (head-to-head competitor with The Rex here in Portland last season who has been proclaimed by some to be succeeding marvelously now that he's getting a little bit of run as a backup PG for the good old Sacramento Kings).

The numbers which appear in this post were run on Sunday night and make use of the statistics on each player's page at NBA.com.

My previous post, which includes the whole spread of numbers for Messrs. Roy, Miller, Blake, and Bayless through 24 games, may be viewed by CLICKING THIS LINK.

To review:

For purposes of this analysis...

I make the assumption that 9 out of 10 free throws taken are neither technicals nor AND ONE situations, so:

Points Per Possession = TOTAL POINTS / {FIELD SHOTS TAKEN + (.9 * FTs TAKEN / 2) + TURNOVERS}

Relevant disclaimers and rationales appear in the previous article.

Per 36 Minutes and Points Per Possession averages for our mighty Blazers were:

• Brandon Roy: 20.3 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 4.8 RPG. Turnovers = 2.24. PPP = 0.983
• Andre Miller: 15.3 PPG, 3.7 RPG, 5.8 APG. Turnovers = 2.83. PPP = 0.894
• Steve Blake: 8.6 PPG, 3.1 RPG, 5.0 APG. Turnovers = 1.85. PPP = 0.804
• Jerryd Bayless: 19.8 PPG, 2.8 RPG, 3.9 APG. Turnovers = 1.87. PPP = 1.092

Okay, hardworking friends, let's get number crunching.

An additional disclaimer here: I am making no effort to adjust these next figures for pace. So the Per 36 figures for everyone else will be slightly inflated vis-a-vis the Blazer guys since NOBODY plays as ploddingly as PDX.

DERON WILLIAMS — Royesque All-Star caliber PG of the Utah Jazz. 

• 21 games played, 39.1 minutes per game. 19.6 PPG, 4.4 RPG, 10.1 APG. Turnovers per game = 3.33.
• In Per 36 Minutes terms: 18.0 PPG, 4.1 RPG, 9.3 APG. Turnovers = 3.07.
• Two Point Shooting: 130-for-251 = 51.8%
• Three Point Shooting: 25-for-71 = 35.2%, effectively 52.8%
• Free Throw Shooting: 76-for-102 = 79.4%
• Points Per Possession: 411 / (322+32+70) = 0.969

JASON KIDD — venerable veteran PG of the Dallas Mavericks a la Andre Miller. 

• 24 games played, 35.4 minutes per game. 8.3 PPG, 5.5 RPG, 9.0 APG. Turnovers = 2.67.
• In Per 36 Minutes terms: 8.4 PPG, 5.6 RPG, 9.2 APG. Turnovers = 2.72.
• Two Point Shooting: 22-for-62 = 35.5%
• Three Point Shooting: 47-for-110 = 42.7%, effectively 64.1%
• Free Throw Shooting: 14-for-18 = 77.8%
• Points Per Possession: 199 / (172+8+64) = 0.816

DEREK FISHER — Blake's hero, winning another ring while doing nothing particularly well as a steady old vet. 

• 22 games played, 26.5 minutes per game. 7.0 PPG, 2.8 RPG, 3.1 APG. Turnovers = 1.18.
• In Per 36 Minutes terms: 9.5 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 4.2 APG. Turnovers = 1.60.
• Two Point Shooting: 41-for-92 = 44.6%
• Three Point Shooting: 17-for-55 = 30.9%, effectively 46.4%
• Free Throw Shooting: 20-for-22 = 90.9%
• Points Per Possession: 153 / (147+10+26) = 0.836

SERGIO RODRIGUEZ — former Blazer that rookie Rex couldn't quite get around. 

• 18 games played, 14.5 minutes per game. 6.6 PPG, 1.4 RPG, 3.3 APG. Turnovers = 1.39.
• In Per 36 Minutes terms: 16.4 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 8.2 APG. Turnovers = 3.45.
• Two Point Shooting: 32-for-66 = 48.5%
• Three Point Shooting: 11-for-25 = 44.0%, effectively 66.0%
• Free Throw Shooting: 25-for-28 = 75.0%
• Points Per Possession:  118 / (91+13+25) = 0.915

What Have We Learned?

1. Roy v. Williams. We perceive Roy as having a rather bad year, but so must be Deron Williams. Roy has shown a marginally better efficiency with the ball in Points Per Possession terms and is outscoring his counterpart in Points Per 36 minutes of play. Now admittedly, Deron's role calls for more passing and setting up of teammates than does Roy, so the two are not fully comparable... But still...  Advantage: Roy.

2. Miller v. Kidd. The games of these two oldies are exposed as diametrically opposite, with Miller unable to hit a 3-pointer while Kidd slays as a long ball shooter. Conversely, Andre's midrange game is proficient and Kidd's non-existent. Miller's turnover number is not obscene and his Points Per Possession is significantly more efficient than Kidd's. In Per 36 terms, Kidd has shown himself to be a better assist man, while Miller has demonstrated himself a far better scorer. Kidd's game is actually very Blakelike, I observe. Advantage: Miller.

3. Blake v. Fisher. Blake's stat line in Per 36 terms is very comparable to Fisher's, with Fisher demonstrating very slight superiority is scoring per game and Points Per Possession used. The difference is not decisive, but it can be discerned. Advantage: Fisher.

4. Bayless v. Rodriguez. The biggest eye-opener for me has been Sergio Rodriguez's new found ability to hit the 3-point shot. This year he is hitting them at a percentage which even exceeds that of Jason Kidd, who is off to the best start in his career in that department. Sergio's scoring is surprisingly efficient, particularly when one allows that he is a pass-first player, not adverse to the risky pass. His Per 36 scoring is simply unbelievable to me, exceeding that of Andre Miller, who has been solid if unspectacular. Sergio remains something of a turnover machine, but that's not such a big deal if he scores efficiently. His stats are not quite up to the levels of The Rex this year, but Sergio does seem to be showing that he's gonna stick in the NBA — much to my surprise, bordering on shock and amazement. Advantage: Bayless.

I guess the bottom line is this: would you rather have a guard lineup of Deron Williams, Jason Kidd, Derek Fisher, and Sergio Rodriguez, instead of Brandon Roy, Andre Miller, Steve Blake, and Jerryd Bayless? If so, you'd be taking a set of guards with inferior stats...

Now that we have benchmarks inserted: the Points Per Possession numbers show Rex as amazingly efficient and Blake as disturbingly challenged.

Here's how the 8 shake out in terms of scoring efficiency:

1. Jerryd Bayless — 1.092 Points scored Per Possession used
2. Brandon Roy — 0.983 Points scored Per Possession used
3. Deron Williams — 0.969 Points scored Per Possession used
4. Sergio Rodriguez — 0.915 Points scored Per Possession used
5. Andre Miller — 0.894 Points scored Per Possession used
6. Derek Fisher — 0.836 Points scored Per Possession used
7. Jason Kidd — 0.816 Points scored Per Possession used
8. Steve Blake — 0.804 Points scored Per Possession used

Interesting, no?

Okay, I've figured out why Steve Blake is playing max minutes this year for the Portland Trail Blazers.......... Seriously! I know!!!

We all know that Kevin Pritchard is a powerful and forward-thinking GM (not to be confused with a GM that thinks about Power Forwards). KP is always looking for new tools to help him analyze and interpret reality, giving him a pivotal lead in the race to the finish line with the Daryl Moreys and R.C. Bufords and Donnie Walshes of the NBA.

KP has discovered, I do believe, that NBA 2K10™® has a level of statistically-based authenticity which makes it an excellent tool for game simulations. He's an addict, I'm sure — maybe he has even stopped showing up in the Rose Garden to watch actual Blazer games (too much noise, expensive beer, dumb mascot) so as to allow himself more time whupping Casey Holdahl's poxy posterior playing, errrrrrrrr, that is running dozens and hundreds of game simulations on the XBox 360 in his office.

A virtual world has replaced physical reality for Kevin Pritchard, perhaps.

And we all know that KP is nothing if not thorough. Running NBA 2K10™® KP has tried Bayless and he's tried Blake with every possible permutation of a Blazer lineup and come up with the same result again and again and again... BLAKE RULES AND BAYLESS SUCKS!!!

KP has no doubt passed his carefully chronicled findings on to Coach Nate and Nate's little brother Dean with a sternly worded memo from the front office: "PLAY BLAKE MAX MINUTES OR ELSE!!!"  You see, KP has discovered that the more minutes Blake gets, the more amazingly awesome he is and the more the Virtual Blazers WIN WIN WIN!!!

The video which follows documents the source of KP's error... Praise be to basketball jesus that I have discovered it!!! I am almost Blakean in my amazing awesomeness for having done that... PLEASE watch this video!

IT IS IMPORTANT!!!

IT IS REVELATORY!!!

IT MIGHT BE THE MOST IMPORTANT PIECE OF PTB INFORMATION THAT YOU WILL ABSORB THIS WEEK, THIS MONTH, THIS YEAR!!!

PLEASE WATCH THIS 1 MINUTE VIDEO — IT WILL EXPLAIN EVERYTHING!!!

Ha ha, pretty funny stuff, huh?

Of related note — ripped from a BE Junk Drawer...

Blazer fan mood improving idea

Load up NBA 2k10 or another NBA video game, load up 1 on 1:

Play Bayless vs. Blake as Bayless. Jam in Blake’s face about ten times. I feel much better now and I think you will too.

"Good evening Blazer fans, wherever you may be!" -Bill Schonely

by skywaker9 on Dec 13, 2009 9:58 PM PST

Then there is the ongoing Eldrick Woods saga — losing one of his corporate sponsors, targeted in Doonesbury with a pretty hilarious strip about 13 lawyered up mistresses wanting to unionize, naughty "Tiger"™® jokes sweeping Twitter™®, linked up in the press to a doctor under investigation for possessing illicit Performance Enhancing Drugs...

Yes, these are serious times for Nike's Golden Child...

As usual, the BE Junk Drawer comes through!

Still, as they say
When it rains, it pours. Tiger Inc. is in full implosion mode.

by skywaker9 on Dec 15, 2009 11:03 AM PST

Which is why he shoulda been on Oprah's couch confessing as soon as possible after the initial news broke.

by Name's Ash on Dec 15, 2009 11:05 AM PST

Now he's relegated to Maury Povich

by The Arkitect on Dec 15, 2009 11:06 AM PST

Tiger
.
.
.
.
.
.
You ARE the father!

by Name's Ash on Dec 15, 2009 11:07 AM PST

oh, and she's really a he.

by The Arkitect on Dec 15, 2009 11:09 AM PST

Oh, well, on with the games.

I spent Sunday with the NFL. All 3 teams that I care about this year are progressing nicely, thank you very much: Colts, Chargers, Saints.

Colts are 13-and-0. Indy has all but admitted that they're going to be losing the next few games by playing scrubs and resting starters for a month... That's a dumb strategy, last time they did that they got torched in their first playoff game because they were rusty. But they can do what they want to do, I reckon. They think a rusty Peyton is better than a Peyton with a blown ACL... But I think they lose either way.

Saints want to finish the year 16-and-0 and are going all out for that goal. You go, Drew Brees! Saints have had two escapes by the skin of their teeth in the last fortnight and I'll be a little surprised if they don't crash and burn. But I think their concept is better than the Colts' for going into the postseason on a roll.

Chargers are finishing strong again, as they always do. They remind me of the OSU Beavers, who start slow and finish well almost every year. Hmmmm, OSU boss Mike Riley used to coach for the Chargers, I wonder if that's a lingering impact of his upon team culture... Nobody talks about Philip Rivers much, but he's probably a Top 5 QB, when you get right down to it. Just think that the Chargers had him AND Brees... And LT AND Michael "The Burner" Turner. Sheeeeesh, how did they NOT win it all?!?!

Here's one for the Trevor Ariza haters...

I was flipping it back and forth on the Bedge with a couple people over my Don't Trust Then Verify approach towards Drama Queen Jason Quick's initial report on the Rudy Fernandez surgery. DQJQ stated in The Oregonian that the Rudy surgery was necessitated by the Trevor Ariza foul of March 9, 2009 — a hit which was said to have caused a nagging injury which was then aggravated when Rudy inadvertently caught an elbow in the back coming off a screen in practice.

Quick's attribution of the origin of the injury to the Ariza play was based on the say-so of Rudy's Spanish agent rather than Rudy himself. This seemed to me to be insufficient for the floating of a provocative implication about the causation of a key injury during a superheated moment for Blazer fans.

At last we have Rudy's own words in a Dec. 14 interview with Sean Meagher of The Oregonian:

Meagher: Your back and leg pain had been bothering you for a while ... This is the best you've felt in how long?

Rudy: "Maybe in one year. After the Trevor Ariza (foul) I not feel good with my back. And this summer I played with the national team, too, and not rest a lot. Right now I feel very good, I feel better. I think this is the best opportunity for me to play hard and feel great."

The undersourced initial report is now verified. 

That is all.

Channel Surfing.

Monday, Dec. 14.

Oklahoma City Thunder (12-10) at Denver Nuggets (17-7).

Denver is off to their best start in franchise history while OKC was coming off of a loss to LBJ and the Cavs and looking to sneak past Portland into the 8th spot on the Western Conference.

Denver came out colder than Frosty's icy nuggets, putting on a 1-for-11 exhibition of chronic touchlessness over the first 5 minutes. For a time Anthony the Beast was the only Nugget that seemed to understand the concept of putting the round thing through the ring, scoring the first 9 points for the home team while his buddies continued to clank and clank and clank. But as Phil Jackson once pronounced upon the earthly host, NBA games are not lost in the 1st Quarter — and the Nuggets didn't.

The Thunder are more or less the 2007/08 Portland Trail Blazers of today — young and hungry and hustling, loaded with future stars like Russell Westbrook and Jeff Green and Kevin Durant. Still missing a couple parts, the main thing OKC needs to do is figure out how to win on the road. On that they are a work in progress, for sure.

In the 2nd Quarter the Nuggs started getting the ball low to Nene and Birdbrain, which opened up the perimeter looks for everyone else and Denver opened up a nice little lead. Nuggs had 15 up on 'em at the half — and it felt like it was over. And it was. Nuggets 102, Thunder 93.

Tuesday, Dec. 15.

Los Angeles Lakers (18-4) at Chicago Bulls (8-14).

Let's open the recap of this one with a pre-game zinger from our friend Dexter Fishmore of Silver Screen & Roll:

The United States has an unemployment rate of 10%, yet Vinny Del Negro still receives a paycheck for coaching the Chicago Bulls. This is called market failure.

Love those economics jokes! And ya know what? There's probably not a single Bulls fan in America that is ready to differ on Dex's tongue-in-cheek assessment.

Coming into this matchup with "The Best Team in the Universe," VDN probably had the following "Keys to the Game" written on the whiteboard in the home locker room:

• Hope that Kobe still can't hit a jumper with a splint on the index finger of his shooting hand.
• Pray that Pau Gasol goes down with some sort of foot, ankle, or leg injury.
• Exit the court expeditiously after you lose and keep one eye on the crowd for flying batteries and bottles.

Yes, friends, with the Lakers coming off of a rare loss, this one promised to be ugly...

Over the next 2 and a half hours, the Bulls played their hearts out, with Derek Rose particularly distinguishing himself getting to the rack. Joakim Noah was a beast on the boards, accumulating 20 rebounds, while Luol Deng matched Rose's 21 points with 21 of his own. The game played very evenly well into the 4th Quarter.

Laker Big Pau Gasol had a bad night, staggering around at times like a drugged moose. He finished the night with 10 points and 16 boards on 3-for-8 shooting, but he looked really bad doing it. Kobe Bryant, he of the fractured index finger, was the man with the big jock for the Lakers, lacing the Bullies for 20 points the 1st Quarter alone and finishing the night with a hefty 42.

It was a tough win on the road for the Lakeshow. They're gonna have a lot of tough road games like this one coming up pretty quickly here. Don't think for a minute that all the home games Team Purple had to open the season come free. Lakers 96, Bulls 87.

Sacramento Kings (10-12) at Portland Trail Blazers (14-11).

It's like this: if the Portland Trailblazers can't beat the Sacramento Kings in the Rose Garden, it's fanciful and silly to think they are a playoff team in 2009/10. A loss here, a loss there — that stuff happens. But when the last 8 games are L - L - L- W- L - W - L - L, and you are playing a young team that's just 1-and-9 on the road, you know it's time to sail the damned ship or man the lifeboats...

This game was not a convincing win, by any stretch of the imagination — the Blazers were down by 11 at the half, for goodness sake — but a win it was. "The bottom line is the bottom line," I always say...

In this, the 26th game of the season, Nate McMillan for the very first time all year started the Logical Starting Lineup: Andre Miller at PG, with Roy, Marty, LMA, and Pryzzy. Steve Blake was relegated to the bench and every indication was given in the run up that he was there in a position of parity with Jerrydus Rex.

Nate was true to his word, surprisingly putting Miller on the pine in the 4th Quarter to allow Rex and Roy to take turns knocking orange paint off the rim with their knuckles. Bayless repaid Coach Nate's trust in full putting 10 much-needed points on the board and finishing the game with 14, matching his season high. Roy and LMA were both excellent (a rare alignment of the planets these days), both finishing with 25 points and shooting at an efficient rate.

Joel Pryzbilla finished the night with a mind-blowing +27 showing in the +/- category, and don't think for a moment that wasn't indicative of something important... Every time he left the floor, future superstar Tyreke Evans and his mates drove the lane at will. Life sucks on the 1 Center court. Tough nuts, though, that's just the way it has to be for Portand until favorite son Gregory Wayne's triumphant return 10 months hence. Stay healthy, Joel!!!

The Blazers were clutch when they needed to be clutch and pulled out a narrow win over the young and exciting Kings. Blazers 95, Sacramento 88.

P.S. Third string Sacramento PG Sergio Rodriguez saw the court for a few ticks over 8 minutes, finishing with 2 points (courtesy D. Bavetta) on 0-for-3 shooting. He had 2 assists and committed 2 costly turnovers, the last of which brought a massive McMillanesque hook around his neck at the 11:00 mark of the 4th Quarter... ¡Bienvenidos, compadre! Come visit us again soon!

Okay, let's whip out our handy dandy Popcorn Machine GAME FLOW SUMMARY and we'll see if we can actually learn something... Just give that link a quick click, if you would...

Observation 1: The 1st Quarter belonged to Portland before they gave it away, the 2nd belonged to the Kings until they flushed it coming out of the locker room from halftime. A 19-6 Portland run flipped the game again.

Observation 2: Pryz was +27 playing Center and Juwon Howard was -16 trying to play Center. This is a perfect example of how single game +/- CAN be meaningful. Joel's defensive presence was decisive tonight. Pryz wound up playing over 30 minutes, which is getting up there for him.

Observation 3: Blazers finished on a 12-3 run and won going away. The clutch-time lineup was Rex, Blake, Roy, LMA, and Pryzzy.

Now pull on your comfortable slippers and please join me in watching the latest installment of

Skeets was sick so there was no show Tuesday but here is Monday's episode, just in case you missed it...

Okay, let's take a spin around the Sacramento neighborhood to see what poncy scribes and basement-dwelling dweebs alike are saying about the Kings' visit to Portlandia...

(1)

Kings: Udrih Shines in First Half

By Sam Amick, Sacramento Bee

PORTLAND, Ore. - Kenny Thomas had no interest in being his team's fortune teller.

Just two days before the Kings looked to get the road monkey off their back at the Rose Garden, the veteran forward said the youngsters all around him lacked the composure for this kind of challenge. They needed patience and poise in these settings, to make the right plays at the right times and finish one of the many strong efforts when away from Arco Arena.

But the Kings did none of that Tuesday night, wasting three quarters worth of mostly stellar play with an awful fourth in their 95-88 loss to Portland.

They hit just 6 of 19 shots and scored 15 points in the final period, with just two attempts coming from rookie guard Tyreke Evans after his dynamic third quarter had kept the surging Trail Blazers away. * * *

(2)

Maloofs Hope to Re-sign Kings Executive Petrie Soon

By Sam Amick, Sacramento Bee

PORTLAND, Ore. - Even after the Kings' franchise-low, 17-win season caused their owners much misery, the Maloofs' mantra of "In Geoff we trust" had remained as it pertained to basketball president Geoff Petrie.

Kings co-owner Gavin Maloof said as much Sept. 30, when he deemed Petrie "a King for life" entering the 2009-10 campaign despite the fact that Petrie has no contract beyond this season. But he also said they didn't need any such paperwork and there was no timetable set by which to draft such an unnecessary document.

Until now.

"We want to look at (negotiating an extension) within the next couple weeks," Kings co-owner Joe Maloof said. "We'll sit down with Geoff and discuss the state of the franchise, talk to him about his feelings on the team, how he feels about the situation and go from there and try to work a nice agreement for both parties." * * *

(3)

In-Game Blog (Portland 95, Kings 88)

by Sam Amick, Sacramento Bee

PORTLAND, Ore. - The road woes continue for the Kings, who failed to adjust to Brandon Roy's lockdown defense on Evans in the final quarter and are now 1-10 away from Arco Arena. The Portland guard focused on his defense after sparking the offense, as he scored four points to start the period during Portland's 9-2 run to start it.

Evans had just three of his 19 points in a fourth quarter in which he took just two shots, and the Kings scored just 15 points in the final period while hitting just 6 of 18 shots. Roy finished with 25 points and 10 assists. * * *

(4)

Game 23 Recap: Blazers 95, Kings 88

by Zach Harper, Cowbell Kingdom (TrueHoop)

The loss to the Blazers dropped the Kings to 10-13 on the season and 1-10 on the road.

And it's seemingly the same old story on the road: certain guys show up, other guys don't and the Kings can't get a full effort out of their regular rotation guys. * * *

And of course, there is Tyreke Evans. How do you keep finding ways to describing him on the court? You saw in this game two things: 1) how scary efficient he can be scoring the ball as he gets more comfortable finishing his attempts inside and 2) his composure on the court is kind of intimidating. He never looks rattled. When the Kings had Donté Greene in the backcourt with ‘Reke, he was able to use his everything to get past Blazers point guards. But in the second half and more importantly the fourth quarter, the Blazers slowed him down and pretty much neutralized him by giving Brandon Roy the Tyreke defensive assignment. * * *

(5)

Blazers Mount Comeback, Edge Kings 95-88

by Ziller, Sactown Royalty (SBN)

As Paul Westphal told the media and the cameras, the Kings did not play smart basketball in the fourth quarter, particularly on offense. But there's an asterisk: the Blazers threw something at the Kings that the players on the floor were unable to adjust to. Portland so wanted to stop Tyreke Evans (who was murder in sneakers all night) they pulled Joel Przybilla all the way across the lane to provide help on just about every Evans touch. The Kings tried to clear a side to allow Evans to go one-on-one against Brandon Roy or Andre Miller, but the help came anyways. Evans was unable to get the ball efficiently to the other side of the floor, and the Kings offense went blank.

The Kings ran a couple picks-and-rolls to create space, and it worked a bit. But not enough. It wasn't the only problem for the Kings, that fourth quarter offense, but it was the one most directly tied to Sacramento's defeat. Defensive rebounding was (surprise!) the problem. Portland had 12 offensive rebounds in 37 opportunities, and every last one came from a Blazer starter. You can't blame Jason Thompson (eight defensive rebounds in 40 minutes) or Evans (seven in 33 minutes). You can, however, blame Spencer Hawes (one defensive rebound in 28 minutes), who had perhaps his worst performance of the season on both ends. * * *

(6)

Those Blazer Announcers Again

posted to the Post-Game Thread at Sactown Royalty (SBN)

How awful are the Blazers TV announcers?

by Phil Perspective on Dec 15, 2009 9:32 PM PST

Indefensibly bad.

by iashwash on Dec 15, 2009 9:33 PM PST

I had to call my therapist
5 times to calm me down.

by Slaaam on Dec 15, 2009 9:33 PM PST

In Oregon, these guys are considered experts on basketball
Oregonians can be easily impressed.

by Kevin.S on Dec 15, 2009 9:41 PM PST

(7)

Strange Matchup

posted by "Coolcatreportdotcom" to Sactown Royalty postgame thread

Bayless hung Casspi out to dry

Strange matchup, but I guess you don't expect Jerryd Bayless to be the guy that beats you in crunch time. With the Blazers playing a lot of three guard, it was really a spot for Sergio, but Westphal obviously had no confidence in him.

(8)

Tough Loss

posted by "EDM7" to Sactown Royalty postgame thread

Tough loss

Another close one that the Kings let slip. They will breakthrough, it's just a matter of when. Once they do, it will feel good and it'll serve as a good example for how to approach future road games.

The effort is still there, and the good play is still there, the execution at the end of games is not there. Too many mistakes and too many missd FTs hurt us again. Luckily, there's no reason to believe this will not improve with experience and the development of the young guys.

We're only a little over 20 games into our first season with what looks to be a bright group of players that are still without one of the two best players of the team. We are far from a complete product and a couple more important pieces will be added sometime in the future.

I've already seen more than I expected from these young guys and they can only get better. Yes, this hurts like hell, but I'm still smiling because of what's still to come.

I love this team

(9)

Costs and Benefits

posted by "Mdme" to Kings Fans message board

NBA tickets..........50$

Popcorn and drinks for the game...........20$

Running an NBA franchise..............millions$$

Seeing Hawes pulled out of the game...........PRICELESS!

(10)

Kings Bigs Suck

posted by "SacKings7" to Kings Fans message board

* * *
I am VERY impressed with Beno Udrih. After a bad year last year, he's really surprised me this year with the way he's playing. I'm impressed with a lot of Kings, but I feel that I have to make my point about Udrih stand out, seeing as how I took him out of my rotation altogether in NBA 2K9.

After a year of being hopeful about our young bigs, this year I am NOT impressed with them. Either of them. Hawes just plain sucks at this point (I know, he's young) and Thompson seems to have a pretty low basketball IQ. I actually like Thompson but he could be much more effective if he made smarter decisions.

Also got to give props to Tyreke (my new favorite player), Casspi, Greene (big fan of his too, although he could work on his shot selection), Rodriguez and Udoka. I don't know about you guys, but I don't think we need Garcia when he comes back. I like our wing players, and I think we should look to trade Garcia, Nocioni and/or Martin, but only for the right deal in Martin's case.

(11)

3rd Quarter Collapse

posted by "Rainmaker" to Kings Fans message board

We lost the game in the 3rd, when Spencer got eaten alive over the first 4 minutes. We will never win on the road when we get 2 rebs from our center position, including zero in the 2nd half.

Most troubling thing about Spencer: I don't think his teammates have any confidence in him. Every time he doesn't get a reb or lays up some soft piece of crap that rolls off the rim, everyone else just kind of shakes their head. We haven't seen any improvement from him since game 1.

(12)

Postgame Recap: Kings @ Blazers

by Darryl Arata, Kings Full Court Press blog

December 15, 2009 - At the Rose Garden, LaMarcus Aldridge and Brandon Roy each scored 25 points as the Trail Blazers came from behind to hand the Kings a 95-88 loss. Sacramento led, 73-66, entering the fourth quarter, but the Trail Blazers tied the score at 81-81 with 5:57 remaining.

With Portland trailing, 85-84, Aldridge scored five straight points to give the Trail Blazers the lead for good, 89-85. * * *

This was only the third time this season the Kings were held under 90 points - 87, November 17 vs. Chicago and 89, October 28 at Oklahoma City. * * *

(13)

Defensive Centers are Useful

posted by "Wizenheimer" to Real GM Kings message board

* * *
Even though the NBA has changed rules and officiating emphasis to favor perimeter players, the value of a post presence is still huge. Przybilla isn't much of a presence on the offensive end other then offensive rebounding, but he's crucial for the Blazers on defense. They just aren't the same team without him. And when portland had the luxury of rotating Przybilla in for Oden, they were a completely different team.

I'm not sure where the Kings will find a defensive anchor like Przybilla, but if they could, the Kings would be a different team. If they can find a way for Evans and Martin to work well with each other, that will be a really dangerous team.

(14)

Przybilla was the Key

posted by "ICMTM" to Real GM Kings message board

Well, I hate to say I was right. Przybilla was far and away the MVP of this game — stats be damned.

Agreed with others — incredibly frustrating loss. The game was just so winnable.

Personally, I'm up for benching Spencer again — maybe give him another chance to get his head out of his ass. Stats don't even do justice to how bad he was tonight. But he also needs to be put in a situation where he can be the center of things more often. He scored on a couple of straight possessions in the second when given the ball. We just never give him the ball because he's currently a horrendous "incidental scorer". *  *  *

Back to Przybilla though — I hope this game is a reminder to those out there that consistently underrate the importance of an interior presence defensively. I'll say it again — the guy was absolutely huge tonight, and players of his type shouldn't be viewed as just off-the-bench role players. There aren't many defensive anchors in this league, and we need one. Having said that, a lot of it isn't really Spencer and Jason's fault. The other rotations now are pretty bad, and Jason and Spencer can both improve in their rotations a lot too--which they presumably will over time.

The Bottom Line:

1. Oh, we had this one in our paws and let it slip away... That sucks.

2. Our Kings are a great young team and we're still missing K-Mart. Coming off last year's suckabration, this team is a breath of fresh air on a warm tropical island with a cooler full of cold beer at our sides...

3. Pryzbilla and Bayless and Roy and Aldridge got us tonight, but we're on the right track.

4. We need a real Center instead of a marshmellow jumpshooter.

All you need is smiles...