Sacramento Kings head coach Mike Brown has been preaching pace and physicality the whole series against the Golden State Warriors. In Friday’s Game 6 win it was on full display, and an adjustment from Brown and his coaching staff kicked it into an even higher gear.
By going small, it spread the floor out, reduced Kevon Looney and Draymond Green’s effectiveness in defending the paint, completely took the Warriors out of their element on their home court, and sent De’Aaron Fox and Malik Monk into beast mode attacking the paint for 54 combined points.
Instead of having a true big on the floor, the Kings used Trey Lyles at center for much of the night. Monk and Fox were relentless in their speed, agility and maneuvering. Looney, who has been tremendous defensively in this series, was beat up the court repeatedly in transition before he could have an impact at the basket. In the half court, the handles and change of pace by both Fox and Monk with the live dribble had Looney dancing. The Kings speed beat the Warriors size in these lineup matchups.
“We all felt we wanted to go to Trey [Lyles], but just mainly, let’s just keep shooters on the floor, touch the paint and spray it. We felt that Looney has been kicking our behind. So, it’s not like going to Trey or going to somebody else from time to time would hurt us on the glass because he’s been already doing work,” said Brown, who credited his coaching staff for driving the decision.
Brown also has repeatedly said he wants his guys to get to the paint and spray the ball out for three. Monk and Fox both took turns doing this. If the shot wasn’t available at the basket, a quick kickout was there and the threes, unlike in the other games in the series, were dropping left and right. There was no worrying about the refs, just relentlessness (on the defensive side of the ball as well), and the Warriors looked stunned and tired.
“The Kings outplayed us, out coached us, deserved to win,” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said. “It was a great adjustment by Mike to go small and to get more space in the half court and open up the floor a little bit. They were able to make 17 threes tonight, and I don’t think they’ve made that many in the series. … They had more space to work with and we did not respond very well.”
The Kings responded well to the moment in what Fox called the best game the Kings played all season.
“I think, especially with our pace, I feel like we were in control, basically, the entire game tonight. From start to finish, I feel like this is probably the best game that we’ve played this year,” said Fox, who finished with 26 points, 11 assists, 3 steals, 1 block with 1 broken finger – legendary.
Now, game 7. Sunday. Sacramento. Oh. My. Goodness.
“Everybody doesn’t get to experience a Game 7, but not a lot of people get to experience a Game 7 in Sacramento. So, I feel like this is going to be rocking,” Fox said.
Game 7 tips off at 12;30 PM PT on Sunday on ABC.
Keep pushing that pace!
Like the Warriors starters, I’m probably an old, grumpy get of my lawn type of dude, but what is up with that “spraying” term that I suddenly hear non-stop?
Is there anything wrong with the word “passing”?
Since when does using slang mean that there’s something wrong with the standard word?
The word “spray” was meant to convey that the pass went from the center to the outside. Hence not all passing is spraying in MB’s sense.
I think Brown is saying the ball should get kicked out of the paint in all directions, wherever a shooter happens to be open.
I don’t like it either. Wink wink drive-by shooting references aren’t so funny these days.
Yeah like, “wants all the smoke.”
Why is Looney allowed to play a one man zone and just sit there in the paint when he’s not even guarding anyone? There are rules against that kind of thing, right?
Only if they stay in the restricted area for more than 3 seconds.
3 seconds in the key doesn’t apply if your man has the ball. Warriors have been taking advantage of this by sagging Loony off of Sabonis so far that’s he’s almost constantly in the paint and it’s not a violation.
San Francisco was overcome with purple.
for game 7, I expect Draymond will try to punk Trey and Keegan, try to rattle them, bully them, etc. Gotta take it in stride and keep playing your game!
Nice to see Vivek having fun:
I saw this first without sound and I was trying to figure what he was saying and I got “Shaka! Pizza!” and I thought, yeah, OK, that seems right.
It’s better with your interpretation! haha
I just noticed that if you type “sactownroyalty” into your URL it immediately goes to kingsherald.com
Deleted that site mid season. Useless and always 3 daya behind.
Living in southern California wearing my Kings hat, I’ve had so many people tell me they are “rooting for us”. Backhanded compliment. They think they want the Kings. Be careful what you ask for. The warriors wanted the same thing.
funny how that is. Minds get sclerotic and stuck in old thoughts.
If we can get past Warriors, the mext great rivalry with the Lakers awaits! Malik Monk will have something to prove!
Next!
I love how Kerr admits that the Kings just flat out beat them, but if you talk to Warriors fans they seem to think they are getting screwed in this series. They don’t know what it looks like to just be beat, but to be fair, many also don’t know who Jason Richardson is.
Keep in mind, those fans haven’t seen the Warriors loose a Western Conference playoff series in 9 years, and I imagine healthy chunk of today’s fans weren’t even paying attention a decade ago.
Karen-State-Wankers
Holy moly. Do they sell t-shirts with those three words??
The fact that they think they’re getting screwed by the refs is completely insane to me. I’m in the Bay Area and I hear it CONSTANTLY.
Tony’s tweet cracked me up 🤣
https://twitter.com/tonyxypteras/status/1652140741706096641?s=46&t=XLGv6OyYLKLc-NhwJJKHcw
Wow. Barkley just picked the Kings to go the conference finals after beating LA. He told Ernie to write it down on Inside the NBA.
(I don’t know if this is a jinx considering the last time he said they were going to beat the Warriors, we lost).
Hey man, there’s a path to that. Just take care of Game 7, and play another older team in the Semis. The message remains the same, KEEP THE EFFING JETS ON!
Did any one else hear Kenny turn to Shaq and say that the Lakers brought their own referees to the 2002 game 7? 🤣
I did not but I really want to see it!
I think it’s in there.
Game 7 on my 44th birthday tomorrow. I’ve watched almost every game since 1986, with my dad, my high school friends, my wife (we lived in LA during the Kobe/Shaq era 🤮) and now my kids. My friend called me losing his mind when the Richmond era Kings won their first playoff game against the Sonics. My kids are just old enough to appreciate basketball and have no clue the Kings were ever bad. I’ll never get back the years lost watching Jason Thompson and Donte Greene but this team is so good it makes the misery almost worth it. Go Kings.
The Kings were the dominate team Game 1 and Game 2.
It is my belief, that with them not playing their best and still controlling both home contests, Sac went over to Chase Center and met a desperate Warrior team that downed them.
Game 4 was anyone’s game and Golden State took it by one with the Barnes miss and De’Aaron’s broken finger.
Game 5 shifted – now the Warriors looked to be the dominant squad and Sac couldn’t keep up.
With the Dubs confident and playing at home, it is my opinion they relaxed, expected the win, and the Kings squashed them, tying the series 3-3.
Game 7 should be a dogfight. Sac will have the advantage of young legs with less than 48 hours rest, but the Champs have more firepower and more experience and the officiating. Home court is another Kings advantage though this is a bus ride road game for SF.
Coin toss. Hope Sac gets a heady win and kicks GSW’s tail.
I am hopeful, not confident.
So Fox has 8 total points and Curry has 28 in the third. Ummmm.
THIS IS REALLY BAD COACHING – WHAT IS HE DOING????
This is my nightmare. Going full KANGZ in the third — our rebounding is totally inexcusable. Totally. And now Fox is going to try to force it and turn the ball over. I get using TD for offense in the first half, but leaving him on Curry that long was HUGE TACTICAL ERROR. HUGE. He’s is now in a rhythm and he’s going to explode in fourth b/c our defense has been so weak. UGH. C’mon Kings, you cannot go out like this … Looney is the MVP of series.
Our inexperience is showing. Our rebounding and our defense on Curry has ben INEXCUSABLE. INEXCUSABLE — you cannot let him just trot to the rhythm, repeatedly. We were good in the third all season, but apparently saved one of our worst for game 7 … This fourth quarter is everything. If we don’t play like we want it more, and execute, then we very much deserve to lose. We’ve got to do better. Play smart. LETS GO KINGS – LETS MFING GO …. PLEASE SAVE US MONK, LEAVE IT ALL OUT THERE SABONIS. This is it. omg. All the sudden KD is getting tons of minutes – makes no sense.
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