Alvin Gentry pushing for more consistent pace

The Sacramento Kings defeated the Houston Rockets Friday night 126-114. The Kings, for the second game in a row racked up assists and attacked the basket, finishing with 33 assists and 60 points in the paint.

The Kings played with good pace in this game and in the previous game against the Los Angeles Lakers. The Rockets are the No. 1 team in the league in pace, the Lakers are No. 3, and the Kings are No. 8, so the matchups probably played a little into the Kings playing quick. Against the Rockets, the Kings played downhill and attacked Houston’s poor defense repeatedly at the rim, playing in transition and driving and kicking. De’Aaron Fox also was a big part of it with 27 points and 8 assists, and Marvin Bagley’s 26 and 13 rebounds.

Head coach Alvin Gentry wants the Kings playing with pace like this more consistently. In fact, he wants them to play more like the Rockets, despite their 12-32 record.

“They get out and they run. That’s the thing that I would like to see us be what they are right now and that’s leading the league in pace and attacking all the time. I thought we did a much better job tonight of doing that, but I still think we’ve got to become consistent. They do it night in and night out, we’ve got to come to the point where we’re doing that night in and night out,” Gentry said.

Gentry has talked about increasing the pace since he took over as the interim head coach. He said what is preventing them from reaching the level of pace he is looking for is consistency, but also not having enough “natural runners.”

“I don’t think we have natural runners. And if you don’t have natural runners it’s got to be something that they are very conscious of every single play, and we’ll do it over a stretch and then we’ll kind of fall back,” Gentry said. “I think what you see with them [Rockets] is that they’re pretty much doing it all the time, they’re the No. 1 team in the league in pace and I think because of that you can see that they get a lot of easy baskets. They cause a lot of mismatches because if you cross match in transition you don’t have an opportunity really to just get back to your guy so you end up guarding a guy and it could be a mismatch so they do a lot of things.”

The Rockets, are however, 29^th in the league in defensive rating. The Kings aren’t much better at 27^th, so not far from playing more like them consistently there.

Following the game, Bagley and Fox’s performance, as well as the ball movement and attacking the paint were topics of discussion.

Marvin Bagley’s Performance

Alvin Gentry: “I thought Marvin played really well, I thought he did good job of finding open spots when we drove the basketball and even when we would drive the baseline and what we call the Nash where you’re driving baseline and circling back. He just found those open holes in the defense and was able to just finish at the basket. I thought he shot some really nice shots and had some really nice touch on the ball.”

“I thought that he was very active tonight. I thought he did a good job on the boards also, I thought the way he rebounded the basketball and how he went after some of the balls even in the crash zone, I thought he did a good job with that. We need that kind of play out of him and we need that for the remainder of the season, that’s what we would like to have.”

De’Aaron Fox: “He was great for us. Getting out, obviously, we all know he can run he’s athletic. As a team when a big is getting an early post seal you want to be able to get them touches so we were able to do that. He finished, got to the free throw line, made his free throws, he was good for us all around today.”

“You kind of start playing a little bit more free knowing that you will be out there, and like I said, with us just being able to get him touches in the flow of the game I think helps everything. When you are getting touches everybody feels a little bit better you do a little bit more. He was definitely great for us tonight and I think he’s been good for us since he’s been out there, since he’s been starting. Defensively, I think he’s got a lot better. He’s a good rebounder, he always does that and tonight he showed a lot of his offensive game.”

Marvin Bagley: “I’m just trying to stay locked in on what we’re doing, just showing up every day with a good mindset, just trying to keep my body healthy, and just staying positive and playing hard as I possibly can every time I step out there, so that’s been my mindset and it’s been working out for me. I’m just happy I’m just able to come in and contribute to the team winning.”

“Whatever I can do to help the team win, if that’s rebounding, if that’s scoring, if that’s getting steals, blocking shots, I’m going to try to do it, but I come in playing hard and whatever comes out of that I can go home and look myself in the mirror and be, not satisfied, but just know I gave it all that I could that night, that day in practice, whatever it is.”

“Tonight, getting in those pockets after setting a screen and finding the open spots in the defense to get the ball and get my shot up, that was just me playing and natural instincts of being out there and playing basketball and having fun with it.”

Ball Movement/Paint Points  

Alvin Gentry: “They’re [Rockets] very good at attacking, but they also are not very good at defending attacks, so they’re first in attacking and then I think they’re 29^th or 30^th in the league [in defending] so we said we have to get the ball to the paint and we have to be able to score from the paint. We had 60 points in the paint tonight and a lot of those come from attacking early, trying to be in transition and then driving and kicking or driving and laying it up.”

De’Aaron Fox: “I think with the pace that we’ve been playing at just being able to get out and run with the points in the paint that we have, I think those assists definitely come with the way that we’ve been playing.”

De’Aaron Fox’s Performance 

Alvin Gentry: “When he’s scoring like that, No. 1 it gives us an opportunity to set our defense so they’re not running off misses and it’s a lot easier to run off misses than it is makes so when he’s that efficient and doing what he did tonight, getting the ball in the paint then it helps us in all areas.”

De’Aaron Fox: “Tonight I was able to get a lot more layups, the three went in, I wish I didn’t shoot as bad as I did from the free throw line tonight, but those things happen.”

A Few Takeaways

• I thought Gentry’s comment about not having a lot of natural runners was interesting. Makes you wonder if getting more players like that alongside Fox could be one priority approaching the trade deadline (depending on which of the variety of needs this team needs can be filled). This team is still a far cry from playing with the speed we saw under Dave Joerger.
• Following the Lakers game, Gentry complimented his team for following the game plan, which shouldn’t usually need applause, but hey, here we are. Following the Rockets win, he was a little more critical: “I thought we got a little bit away from the game plan tonight and we gave up too many open threes when we should have been switching, or we had drives to the baskets when we should have been in coverage.”
• Bagley has played better under Gentry in general. Having starting minutes and the trust of his coach has probably helped. As Fox mentioned, Bagley knows he’s going to be in the rotation, and it possibly allows him to get a little more comfortable and play within the flow of the game. Over the last three games, he is averaging 16 points and 10 rebounds, and in the last two games, he was a +16 and +8.
• Bagley is playing through a thumb injury on his off hand. He had this to say: “It’s been nagging. Every time you think it’s about to heal, get hit on it again and it just re-injures over again, but that’s something I’ve been having to fight through. For me, I’m all about adjusting to whatever atmosphere or whatever it is that may be going on. I’m about adjusting to it, and that’s another thing I’ve got to adjust to right now until it is ready to completely heal and get back to normal. But I’m just staying focused and trying to look at the bigger picture and keep continuing to compete.”
• Gentry said Chimezie Metu experienced some knee soreness so they held him out as a precaution.

The Kings take on the Rockets again tomorrow at home.