Well the Kings have officially erased all the momentum of that seven-wins-in-eight-attempt stretch and have now lost seven in a row, the third longest losing streak in the league behind the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Houston Rockets. Tonight they’re facing off against a beat-up Brooklyn squad that while hurt, still should NOT be taken lightly. While the likes of Kevin Durant and Jeff Green aren’t playing this afternoon, the Nets still have James Harden’s tubby stunt double and Kyrie Irving’s full attention and that’s well, pretty bad news considering just how much those two roughed up the Kings just eight days ago. If you’re still expecting playoffs from this Sacramento squad, you best start praying hard for these boys, because the basketball gods just aren’t hearing you. Let’s talk Kings basketball.
When: Tuesday, February 23th, 4:30 PM PST
Where: Barclay Center, Brooklyn, NY
TV: NBCSCA – Mark Jones on the call.
Radio: KHTK Sports 1140 AM
For Your Consideration
No Sleep Till Brooklyn: As the first half of this season winds down, I think it’s pretty much settled in the minds of the fanbase that this last stretch of seven games is more indicative of what the team is actually going to be moving forward than the previous eight before that. On any given night the Kings can be a fairly potent offensive team and on nights where Fox plus any other vet is on-fire, this team can keep up with most teams in the NBA… for 3 quarters or so. The Kings defense is worse than we seem to give it credit it for at times – by some metrics this is the worst defense in league history. Hell, the Kings defense is so bad they can’t defend their own teammates from getting smacked to the ground like an old shoe over a spider. Their stretch of seven wins in eight games might have saved Walton’s job till the end of the season but its obvious that no matter how much this team has “bought in” to what Walton’s saying, the investment isn’t in anything tangible and a change at the head coaching spot should be forthcoming. I wouldn’t expect the Ryan-Saunders-for-Chris-Finch turbo fliperoo, but at this point I don’t see Walton blaming his coordinators for a second season in a row and it actually sticking.
The trade deadline is 30 days away. I got asked very recently during a surprise visit on another site’s Instagram Live post-game if I realized that trading the vets would mean watching more losing basketball, as if this was somehow a scary proposition. As if I hadn’t watched the Kenny Natt and Keith Smart experiments. The truth is, all we’ve known for 14 years is losing basketball. It’s come in both disappointing and overachieving forms but more often than not, the Kings have lost far more than they’ve won. So would I have an issue watching Fox, Haliburton, Jeffries, Bagley, Holmes for the rest of the season with a bench consisting of Jah’mius Ramsey, Kyle Guy, Robert Woodard and whatever is acquired in the send off of vets? Hell no. I know what Buddy Hield is. I know what Harrison Barnes brings. I see them disappear every few nights now and while I’ve enjoyed them, I also know the investment in them isn’t bringing Sacramento what it needs. Long-term hope. So yeah, sure, Woodard isn’t ready to be an NBA kid getting rotation minutes, but I’d far prefer a game watching the kid figuring out how to play in the NBA and busting his hump every possession for a chance to stay on the NBA’s hardwood. Obviously this is my preference. After 14 years of losing, losing doesn’t scare me anymore. The prospect of another losing season is just the prospect of another season. I’d rather watch young upstarts trying to survive then overpaid vets trying to stay healthy till they’re moved. Okay. Enjoy this Brooklyn game!
Film of the Night
Rear Window (1954) Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock
(PG-rating)
What IMDB Says: A wheelchair-bound photographer spies on his neighbors from his apartment window and becomes convinced one of them has committed murder.
What Will Says: I hit you with something terribly morbid and dreadful for my first day back into these and I’d feel a little guilty if I did this a second time in a row. My original recommendation would have been Good Times, a Safdie Brothers movie about the scummiest of jerks, played by Robert Pattinson, who gets his brother (with undisclosed learning disabilities) locked up for robbery and then has one night to raise the money, by any means necessary, to bail his brother out. Its seedy, depressing and Robert Pattinson was just as deserving of praise for this film as Adam Sandler was for their follow-up film, Uncut Gems. That being said, I also can’t just toss you back the other direction and recommend to you something like Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse, a visually stunning animated film that is something literally anyone can get something out of, comic book fan or otherwise. So I’ll pick the middle ground here and suggest another favorite of mine: Rear Window.
Being a product of the 90’s, Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly were more figures that adults talked about when discussing the good ol’ days of cinema and the long gone era of Hollywood starlets. Hitchcock too was much more of a figure I was told about much more than I was shown. I could have named you a dozen or so of his films in high school but nary seen a one. That’s since change and with it my notions of what exactly a Hitchcock film was. This film is tense, it’s visually stimulating and the aforementioned stars of the film, Stewart and Kelly, play wonderfully off of each other. The concept of filming an entire thriller inside a single room is something that feels entirely modern. While current TV shows are forced into bottle episodes due to budgetary restraints, Hitchcock just seemed to enjoy just trying to craft a brilliant piece of cinema in a single location. Thelma Ritter, as Stewart’s chatty nurse and Raymond Burr as the object of Stewart’s character’s obsessive eye round out an cast that is pitch perfect.
I’m sure there are plenty of you who are old enough to have seen this naturally throughout your years, either in your early years or on TCM or some other channel on cable throughout the years. But for any of you youngins who are curious about what Hitchcock was all about: this is an easy entry point into his filmmaking. It’s quick, it’s entertaining and it’s better than watching Kyrie Irving hit his 9th three in 11 tries. You’ve heard about this movie, you might even know the plot. Believe me, it’s worth the watch.
Where to Watch:
- Hulu Premium Subscription
Trailer
Every trailer I found for this is one that spoils a good deal of the movie, so just trust me on this.
Prediction
Man, I just can’t even attempt to be funny right now. This team is rough in the least comedic way possible and it feels like I’m punching down with it. I mean I guess I could say something about Cory Joseph. He’s always good for a chuckle. Cory Joseph plays 30+ minutes and shoots 1-2 with 5 points…. Nope, nope still feels like I’m being mean.
Kings: 135, Nets: 129
Kings. Nets.
Next.
I have nothing to add to your article, but I’ll second a recommendation on Rear Window, which has a phenomenal new 4K transfer for anyone out there with a new 4K TV.
Also, Uncut Gems was my favorite of 2019, but Good Time is in a world of it’s own. My wife and I watched it a few weeks back, and it was one of those rare times that you get to excitedly watch someone watch a film for the first time. The tension proved to be too much to handle, and she ran to the bathroom and vomited as soon as the credits rolled, but still hasn’t stopped talking about it.
Good Time was certain a movie that when I described it to friends or family, they asked why the hell I would watch something like that. My reaction to the movie was so strong and the entire drive home I was scowling and conflicted about what I saw.
I could never watch it again and still remember exactly the things that caused me to react with emotion. The ending scene especially was a gut-punch to me.
Once more into the lurch with the Nets
With their stars, that’s as hard as it gets.
They could sit a big gun
And still have more than one.
Meanwhile we have so few top assets!
To be fair, I don’t remember this happening last season:
They replaced Igor and Beyer because they chose to take jobs elsewhere
This wasn’t after or tied to their replacement by either during or post-bubble. I’m trying to find his comments but it was a semi-lame attempt at trying to toss the Kings struggles to one of the assistants.
Rear Window is one of a handful of movies where if I’m flipping around and land on it, I’m in for the duration. It’s one of those films that’s even better than anything that you’ve heard about it.
I would recommend watching it instead of this game, which could possibly give you cancer.
Cancer can be put into remission but no cure for Kings love !ð
I”m thinking this game, Kings at Nets is going to resemble:
Man, I watched Midsommar without knowing anything about it and I finished it quite disturbed. I had trouble sleeping that night. It still gives me the heebie-jeebies.
Avoid the director’s other effort like the plague, then. It isn’t any easier.
I liked Hereditary a lot!
It’s one of the films that really deserves to be seen on the big screen, with a great sound system like they have in movie theaters.
When things eventually open up, I’m going to be going to our neighborhood Laemmle theater every week.
I miss being surrounded by people all laughing and enjoying a movie together.
(not laughing during that particular movie, of course….but all feeling terrified together is also fun)
I don’t do horror movies, but I’ll give you a rec because I really miss going to movies too. You just can’t beat the big screen.
Thanks, SMF-PDX 🙂
How about thrillers? You get the intensity without the gore.
Or at least like ghost-stories? Kwaidan is more of a ghost-story than a horror movie. It’s beautiful.
Yeah, movie-going is something special. I hope theaters don’t disappear eventually because of giant streaming business models.
I really enjoy thrillers, especially action thrillers. I think the last one I really liked was Atomic Blonde. My favorite movies are the ones that immerse you with the visuals and the sounds, and that one really put the chilliness of Cold War Berlin in the bones.
One of my favorite past times was going to the movie theater. If I wanted to watch a film that none of my friends were interested in, I wouldn’t mind going by myself (although there was this one awkward time I went to see that Mr. Rogers documentary in the theater and then one of my friends and her boyfriend walked in the theater too). Before the theaters around my house started to all be reserved seating, I totally would try to get the most out of my money and movie hop. There were a few times were I would literally watch three movies in one day….being at the theater from late morning to night. I just always remembered to bring my lunch with me in my backpack.
Yeah! I can watch movies in a theater by myself. And I can eat a nice dinner at a restaurant by myself, surrounded by couples (and no smartphone). Doesn’t bother me one bit!
I always sometimes felt awkward coming in to a sit down restaurant alone when pretty much every single other table had at least a duo to their party. And now it’s going to be weird going back to that when it is safe to do so considering I haven’t eaten out for pretty much almost a year!
So, stabbed and hung before being frozen, burned, and tossed off a cliff? Christ.
If not that, then:
Fourth quarter: ending scene of The Vanishing (Spoorloos)
One of my favs.
I’ve found my people!
Hi-five, ajon_es!
How does it hold up after an initial viewing? I bought the Blu-ray several years ago during a Criterion sale and it (along with Don’t Look Now for the same reason) still sits in plastic. I loved it, but repeat watches of “shocking finale” movies don’t work out for me very often (everything from OldBoy to Sleepaway Camp come to mind.).
The music is very 80’s synth-y, so it definitely has a dated feel to it in that respect. And of course relative to modern movies it’s a lot slower paced.
But it’s still great storytelling!
I know the shock value is lost once you know what’s going to happen, so I either watch it to pick up on things I missed on the first viewing, or just to marvel at the editing/direction, …..or watch it with someone else who has never seen it before, just to be there when they have that horrified feeling wash over them.
I like Don’t Look Now a lot, too. 🙂
But yeah, the passage of time really does affect how we view things, eh?
I’m wondering if it’s similar to how people watch highlights of NBA players from a few decades ago.
With the Nets biggest weakness being lack of big man depth, and their rumored interest in Drummond, Whiteside would be ideal on the Nets roster.
Whiteside for Claxton works for me.
I’d happily throw in a 2nd as well.
That’s the kind of small move that I can get behind. I only worry that nobody likes Whiteside so none of the star players actually want to play him.
So then we’re Jimmy Stewart, spying into the Kings front office, convinced we’re seeing evidence of competency, but both our neighbor and girlfriend tells us we’re just seeing things from the medication we’re on?
Anyone else use MUBI for film-watching?
I used to use FILMSTRUCK, but they went caput, sadly.
KANOPY is nice, though they use the library system (can only rent so many films per month, but it’s free with a public library account)
HBO Max got most of Filmstruck’s library, I believe, or at the very least all of the Criterion stuff.
!! Thanks for the tip, MyNeighborTurturro. 😀
Criterion Channel is $12/mo. Definitely recommended with all of the bonus content they provide. Interviews, “making of” sessions, etc.
That’s a good deal! Thanks!
I second this rec… LOVE my Criterion Channel subscription.
Not a movie, but I just recently binged Watchmen after getting a family HBO Max account.
Wow. I’m gonna say that was better than anything the Kings have done in their entire time in Sacramento outside of building the G1C and the 2002 run.
So good! The episode where Regina King is tripping on Nostalgia blew my mind.
So much for spoiler alerts for those who haven’t seen it!
Although, yes, it did come out two years ago now, which might as well be fifty years ago after the last year.
Just wait till those who haven’t seen it get to the episode about the giant psychic squid’s family and their lives after the giant psychic squid dad disappeared out of the tank and into thin air one day. Really compelling stuff.
Will the Kings continue their free fall? All signs point to a resounding “yes.”
I have so many questions… But in my heart of hearts I truly want to believe that this guy successfully Mary Poppins’d all the way down to Earth.
Will this be a net loss for the Kings, or a Nets loss?
I’m guessing it’s going to be horrifying to watch…
73 degrees this afternoon in Sac. Go outside in beautiful weather or stay inside to watch a train wreck into a dumpster fire… Tough decision.
Maybe watch the game on your phone while relaxing by the river with a picnic?
I have to stay inside and work while watching the game. 🙁
At least we can watch the Kings lose 3 hours earlier than usual.
Hey that’s a positive!
The East Coast games are great because by the time I finish work, I already know whether or not I’m going to keep watching.
Full disclosure: I almost never stop watching because I hate myself.
Badge Legend