The Golden State Warriors defeated the Sacramento Kings 130-125 on Sunday. The Kings surrendered a 50 point second quarter and trailed by around 20 for most of the night before making it close at the very end. It was, to put it mildly, a mostly very bad game.
We’ll have a full recap up in the morning.
Tonight’s Operation MCNaIR charity info:
Tonight’s Operation: M.C.N.A.I.R. donation of $10 goes to @MySisters_House for their work w/ underserved Sacramento women/children impacted by D.V.
Feel free to post your donation below!
Site: https://t.co/gEceLrPsG2
Donation: https://t.co/xCsuqBk3Nk#OperationMCNAIR
— Will Griffith (@WillofThaPeople) October 24, 2022
This year’s first players-only meeting could come sooner than usual.
Should be a daily event at this point.
Back to the root of the problem, building around Fox instead of Haliburton
Fox played his heart out. Not sure how he is the issue.
Fox scores but he will not lead or take over a game.
The Kings wouldnt have the same record replacing Fox with Haliburton so far?
Fox’s trade value wouldnt land Sabonis.
Traditionally I’m not Fox’s biggest fan but he has been doing his part
I’m not sure if that’s damning of Fox or Sabonis, at this point. At some point during his tenure here, I’d like to see Sabonis show he was worth trading for. So far, he hasn’t.
When the trade was made, Fox’s contract was looking ornery and you wouldve been lucky to get expirings and a weak pick or two
The fans ire should be directed at Vivek for his win now mandates which forced Monte’s hand at trading Hali for Sabonis, though even that trade hasn’t played out. Sabonis can look better, and Fox is much better without Hali
If its Fox or Hali its pretty much Fox/Sabonis or Hali
I’m definitely eager to see if Sabonis can look better than he has since he got here. Though, I’m beginning to believe he is who his is. Fox looks the same though, the numbers are a bit bigger, but they still come in losing efforts.
That said, I’m of the belief that this organization is doomed as long as Vivek is in charge. Our issues have and still do start at the top.
Genuinely curious what specific complaints you have about Fox after these last 3 games, because to me he’s been the best thing about these first three games.
Oh just the usual, the team still can’t win when he scores a bunch. Yes the roster is still trash but I’d take my chances with Hali cause it hasn’t been working with Fox for the past 3+ years
We don’t have Hali so instead of being negative on Fox, who IMO is playing great even on defense, start supporting the guy.
He’s been playing great individually, but they haven’t been translating into wins. We have been playing tough teams so time will tell when we go against lesser opponents
Fox was good, again
Sounds like it was a weird game. Glad I missed it. The unintentional tank is picking up speed.
Every year they suck you in with good vibes, hope and positive expectations.
This year I wasn’t having any of it.
sad, but at least not deflated.
This
Heh, I pretty much stopped expecting things to be good and adopted a “prove it to me with results on the floor” mindset. I had been fooled too many times in the past with the team getting new players and saying the same things during media day and training camp. After the 2015-16 season I stopped having high expectations, so while starts like this have been sad, I haven’t been surprised or devastated. 2013-14 (before Malone got fired) and 2018-19 (Dave Joerger’s last full season) were the lone seasons that actually surprised me and I was invested in watching the team, but other than that, it’s been pretty much the same.
I always say I would love to be proven wrong, but most of the time it doesn’t end up happening.
Actually, this game was much better than I expected from the Kings. Instead of being blown out badly, the team fought back, and almost won. I attribute that to Brown. Change is coming slowly, but it is coming. There is a need for some personnel moves, a rim protector is desperately needed (where is Damian Jones?).
If anything, this was a more troubling game for the Warriors. The Warriors have played poor defense for 3 straight games, handled the ball lackadaisically, and almost let a mediocre team come back and steal a game from them at home, after having lost the previous game.
The wins and losses may not show it this year, but if Vivek sticks with McNair and Brown, the team has turned a corner.
The hope that the Kings will be an overnight sensation are disappointing to the most anxious of us – but not surprising.
The record is 0-3, but this is not your usual Vivek 0-3 team!
as pathetic as that sounds, I believe this season’s Kings are a step up. A baby step mayhaps, but progress, no matter how small, is progress.
Mike Brown’s Kings have to have a better second half of the season to build something out of the nothing – because this first half is gonna be brutal. We have to wonder when the first win will be? In November?
Keep your chin up, Kings!
I think it’s gonna come together, but it might take a while. If someone is just looking for wins and losses only as the bar, yeah, everything is crap, but honestly, I see so many positives that tell me that they are trying to get it all to gel, and that is a really good thing. It’s hard to be patient though.
I’d have to disagree. The Warriors are an elite team that just won the championship. They went out and smashed the Kings in the face, this game was 100% never in doubt.
warriors have a confidence and can turn it on at will. There is no reason for them to go all out and beat the Kings by 30 in October when they can cruise and still comfortably win.
Similar to a starting pitcher in baseball. The good ones don’t throw as hard as they can and show all their pitches in the first inning. They pace themselves so they have something in the tank for the 6-9 innings.
I agree with this. They are the Champs. Poole, Wiggins, Steph, man, they are operating in a well known system that plays 100% to everyone’s strengths. Their player’s abilities are known entities and every single team in the league has to have a great, great game to beat them on their home floor.
I do not agree with the repeated “same old Kangz” refrain and similar comments that imply that we already know how this team will develop in the course of the season. New coach, several new players—the team is struggling. So what? Let’s see how it plays out.
A lot of teams get markedly better over the season. Under the circumstances, the Kings may be one of them. Just sayin’…
Yes. If the Kings were playing OKC, The Knicks, the Magic and Indy, we would be looking at a very different record. The schedule is also an opponent, for sure. I’m not panicking yet.
I agree that I like the effort out there. We fought back. I think the schedule is just brutal.
Regular season NBA rosters are pretty good. Brutal.
Not all of them.
Less than two but not two and they have a lion.
Oops, I meant our roster
.
Fox is supposedly a PG? Does he make the players around him better? Or is he good at getting his? This feels like Tyreke 2.0, instead of 20/5/5 and losing it’s 30/5/5 and losing.
This.
Random thoughts:
Only the most optimistic Kings fans thought this team would be better than 1-2 at this point. They’re really only a game behind where they were realistically going to be. And the schedule isn’t getting any easier over the next few weeks.
Some too early praise for both Brown and McNair, which is going to turn into too early condemning the same guys. Example: How much of a genius McNair is for acquiring Huerter, based on a two game sample. Then he drops a 1 for 8. If a 38% shooter goes 11 for 17, a 1 for 8 is coming. Law of averages. Huerter is fine, but he’s in his fourth season and he’s never hit 40% on threes. There’s nothing wrong with that. He’s a quality NBA player, but he’s an above average (not elite) three point shooter and not a ton else. Probably a good value trade, but we should expect Huerter more or less to be what he’s been over his career. And same for Fox, Sabonis, etc.
Some too early condemnation of Davion Mitchell, in particular calling him a bust. I’m not saying the guy is ever going to be more than a better defending Corey Joseph, but I’m not sure a #9 can bust. It’s low enough in the draft that it’s sort of a crapshoot anyway. Mitchell is an older player for his experience and he may never be able to shoot the ball. Lots of NBA players work for years and never really get any better. Or Mitchell (whose shot actually looks good this year) might turn a corner next week and get to where he’s close to an average shooter, which means he’s good backup point. Whatever he is, it’s going to take until at least sometime later this season to really know.
Some “If the Kings only did X, they would have won the game!'” Huerter and Fox shot 19 for 31 on threes in the first two games. If the Kings did do X, those guys might have been closer to their career averages on threes and the team would have lost anyway. It’s still early and there are surprise teams every year. The Kings could be that team that year, but I’m not putting money on it.
Not many analysts picked this team to win 40 games. The collective sense seem like that they’re right on the cusp of being the worst non-tanking West team. That’s about where I have them. So they’re probably going to lose more than they win, and they’re going to lose games like the last two.
This should be a billboard.
A truly special piece of marketing genius.
Good stuff, Carl.
Still not underperforming as bad as the Lakers
Summary of games
Game 1: Closing
Game 2: FT
Game 3: 2nd quarter punched in the nuts
0-3 is not surprising and if they are 6-14 after 20 games, I still won’t be surprised.
This current iteration of the Kings is really no better than a play in. What’s more concerning os the defense looks no better than last year. The team plays well for spurts then returns to old faithful. I am not sure how much Brown can influence that.
Fox is playing his heart out these first 3 games. But, is he an integral number one on a playoff team? I don’t think so.
Sabonis numbers looked good tonite. But , don’t let that fool you. The word is out.
Put physical guys around him this year and he gets flustered, teams know he’s not a threat from outside And not a rim protector.
The Ghost of Barnes is also killing the team.
Murray looks special. That is something to look forward to.
I love Murray and yes, he is making a lot of rookie mistakes, for sure. To be expected. And I think the new system is really tough for these players to adjust to, when they have the pressure of the the real Season on their backs. These games count, so they are all playing tight, and maybe just not quite in the flow of the offense and defense yet. Hoping they can pull it together in a few weeks…. I’d love to see Harrison Barnes too!
Against Playoff Opponents the Outcomes were not Completely Unexpected.
Yes, the Blazers game was technically ‘winnable’, but the system is new, there are a ton of new players and it is reasonable to think that it’s going to take time.
Basketball is super fast, and the reaction times for most players has to happen without thinking, whether that’s decisions on who to switch for defenders or make a pass to the open guy who is supposed to be cutting or on the corner, and I see a lot of different errors that seem like they are happening because players are trying to ‘think’ their way through the game and the new system Brown is inserting.
For example, Barnes had a great start to the season last year, right out of the gate, because he was very familiar with Walton’s ‘system’ (if that is even a thing!????)
He could work in that system, and score, and he of course knew he wouldn’t be pulled out of the game if he didn’t play defense, and so he could put all of his energy into cutting and scoring.
He feasted on the excellent passing by Sabonis last spring, until Sabonis was hurt.
This year, he looks lost on offense and his defense still is dubious, and that’s pretty frustrating for him, I would imagine. He looks frustrated so far.
If Barnes was scoring 12-16 points a game, we might win the Blazers game, or maybe even last night.
If the Kings could make free throws against the Clips, maybe we win that game too.
But against these quality opponents, I fully expect that they are going to lose a lot in the next two weeks, maybe three, until they figure out the system and start to gel.
Everyone is still doing a little too much hero ball, (Davis, I’m looking at you!) but I do believe that they will settle down and figure it out.
Of course, we are all impatient for that to happen, but for me, I’m going to say that I believe that the Kings of preseason can return, and when they do, it’s going to be a LOT better.
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