Trouble in Hollywood
Well, at least Boston was fun, right? Friday night introduced the beginning of the George Karl era to Sacramento and it started off with a bang. After being down by as much as 16 points in the first quarter the Sacramento Kings fought back to beat the Boston Celtics 109-101.
It was a game that was needed in order to get morale on track. The Kings were losers of five of their last six games with the sole win coming from a game-winning jumper by DeMarcus Cousins at home. After the win at Sleep Train Arena morale was high and the fans were satisfied. Rudy Gay went for 28 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 blocks, Omri Casspi grabbed 12 rebounds off the bench and Cousins proved, once again, that he was worthy of the All-Star nomination earlier this month. He also sent twitter into a frenzy after dunking on Jae Crowder on a fast break. If you haven't seen it, you should Google it. It's worth your time.
Which leads us into today's game against the Los Angeles Clippers. The Clippers are a championship contender. They've been one for a few years now. As soon as Chris Paul arrived he made the team legitimate along with Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan. Even as the Donald Sterling drama was happening they made it to game six of the second round against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Still, the Kings beat them to start the year and held tough with them on January 17th without Cousins, losing 117-109.
The first quarter saw the Kings up 29-24 and everything was going according to plan. Ray McCallum was getting into a flow and Cousins was able to do what he wanted down low. This however was the calm before the storm.
The second quarter started and, all of a sudden, all hope was gone. It was the equivalent of having the Novocain slowly fade away after you having your wisdom teeth removed. The first hour or so feels fine. You may not be 100%, but you feel good enough. Then the drugs stop working and all you feel is pain and regret.
That pain and regret came in the second quarter. The Kings lost the second quarter by a score of 42-18. The score at the end of the quarter was 66-47 and the confidence of the first quarter was gone.
Now, as a fan, you're worried. Then again, this same team came back from 16 points down the previous night. Maybe the third quarter would turn out positively for the Kings.
No. Not even a little bit. If you want to look at this as a glass half full view then at least the third quarter was better than the second. Instead of losing by 24 points the Kings only lost by 13. However, at the end of the third the Kings were losing 97-65 and any trace of confidence was long gone. If the Los Angeles Clippers were held scoreless in the third quarter the team would still have been winning by one point heading into the fourth. Yikes...
The final score: 126-99 Clippers win. The leading scorer for the Clippers… Can you guess? Was it DeAndre? No. Chris Paul? No. JJ Reddick? No. The leading scorer was Austin Rivers with 28 points. The same Austin Rivers who averages a little over seven points a game. Not only was this his season high in points, it was his career high in points for a game, including the preseason.
The trio of Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan make them a tough out for anybody but I doubt anybody saw Austin Rivers leading the team with 28 points in 26 minutes. That includes his head coach (and father) Doc Rivers.
Now, to be fair, this isn't meant to take a flamethrower to the team. Are they a contender to win the NBA Championship? No. Are they a playoff contender? No. However, they're still a team that can serve as a legitimate roadblock to playoff teams before they head into the playoffs. This team will get better. The addition of Andre Miller gives the team a veteran presence that knows how to run a George Karl offense and someone that is widely respected around the league. The Kings are going to have games like this. Don't panic when it happens. Instead, use these last 28 games as a way to see how the team is adjusting to their third head coach of the season.
Imagine yourself in this scenario. Imagine having three different bosses over the span of a few months. All of them have different philosophies about what they want. It takes you a little bit of time to adjust. The first game was a euphoric win. Saturday night fell flat. Now the team welcomes the Grizzlies on Wednesday. At the very least they'll protect the rim at the end of the game... hopefully.
