The Sacramento Kings were blown out. That’s a lede you may have seen from Sacramento’s previous game, as the Portland Trail Blazers blew out the Kings 125-99, a day after the Kings lost by 21 to the Toronto Raptors.
Sacramento struggled immediately out of the gate. CJ McCollum sliced the Kings’ interior and perimeter defense, en route to 12 first-quarter points, including two triples. Jusuf Nurkic played give-and-go passes with McCollum and Damian Lillard as well, and the Kings failed to hinder those entry passes. After the give-and-gos decelerated, Portland started to attack Marvin Bagley III on pick-and-rolls, and boy, they scored inside the paint with ease. Carmelo Anthony also hunted Nemanja Bjelica on isolations; Bjelica garnered three fouls in five minutes as Melo finished the period with eight points. On the other side, Tyrese Haliburton, who received his first career start after Richaun Holmes’ was ruled out with an injury, accumulated four assists in eight minutes. Harrison Barnes continued to shine, racking up eight points and four rebounds in nine minutes. However, Sacramento trailed 38-24 after one.
Sacramento attempted to run a zone defense to moderate Portland’s offense, but it didn’t work as McCollum and company continued to wreak havoc on all levels. The Kings utilized the right corner on offense to obtain good looks, as Glenn Robinson III swished a triple, followed by a Barnes three. Robinson later used the corner to boost towards the baseline and kicked it out to Buddy Hield for three. But for every good Kings play, Portland answered with ten of their own (not exactly, but the point remains). Despite shooting 0-5 from deep, Lillard and company led Sacramento by 17 at halftime. Sacramento had zero scorers in double-digit figures.
De’Aaron Fox, reportedly on a minutes restriction, buried a three in rhythm early in the quarter. It was a promising sign that did little to motivate the team further. Portland pursued to hunt Bagley on defense; it didn’t matter if they were attempting threes over him or scoring at the rim. Hassan Whiteside received additional burn to assist in Bagley’s deficiencies, but he had minimal impact. Whiteside airballed a deep two late in the quarter, a clear symbolization of the game. Sacramento trailed 93-69 going into the fourth.
Despite the blowout score, Luke Walton kept the starters on the floor. Justin James played more than usual, including a three-minute spurt late in the second; Chimezie Metu entered at the five-minute mark; Robert Woodard and Jahmi’us Ramsey each played right at the end. The game finished with Portland on top, 125-99.
Takeaways
Walton elevated Tyrese Haliburton into the starting lineup, but the rookie was inaudible in the scoring column when it mattered. The points came eventually, but by then, it was too little too late. Still, he finished the game with 12 points, eight assists, two rebounds, one steal and three turnovers – a rare blemish on his stat sheet.
De’Aaron Fox and Buddy Hield were both lackadaisical tonight, compared to Portland’s energetic backcourt. Fox struggled on the SEGABABA against Phoenix earlier in the season, and he came out sluggish tonight with 10 points (3-9 FG) and two assists. Hield’s shooting woes continued, as he went 2-8 (25%) from three for a total of eight points. Eighteen points out of your highly paid backcourt is substandard.
Glenn Robinson III wasn’t perfect, but he was easily the best bench player, going for 11 points (3-5 FG, 4-4 FT), four rebounds and one assist. When DaQuan Jeffries returns, Robinson will be solid wing depth to have.
Marvin Bagley III concluded with 15 points (5-14 FG, 1-2 3P) and eight rebounds in 24 minutes. He really needs to convert those bunnies down low, because the lack of touch is glaringly perceptible. His defense did him no favors, either.
Next Game
Sacramento continues their home stretch against the Indiana Pacers (6-3) on Monday, Jan. 11 at 7:00 p.m. PST.
Holy shit, Kayte actually making sense about the crap defensive switching. Yeah, let’s watch the guards continually not fight through screens leaving Bagley to get torched by Curry, Lavine, Dame, etc.
I disagree. Teams are keying in on Bagley and purposely setting high screens to get the defender to go under and switch to the screener (as they rightfully should on high perimeter screen) and ultimately get the switch to Bagley.
Teams are running a basic PnR to get the easy switch. Bagley is the target because he is the weak link.
It’s like a weak DB in football. They’ll keep going at him until he proves he can defend.
Knowing that Bagley gets picked on, you’d want to see the guards fighting through the screen to stick with their man. Why does a screen equal must switch to a horrid mismatch? They get screened and hug the screener like an old girlfriend, then stand and watch an automatic basket. Fight to stay with your man when you know there’s a weak link constantly getting burned alive. Seems simple to me.
The problem with that is if that happens it’s not like Bagley is going to protect the rim anyway. If by some miracle they miss the layup Bagley wont get the rebound because he doesn’t box out. So they most likely end up with points regardless.
If they do that the roller gets an easy pass and lay in. They do that because Bagley is consistently in the wrong spot to pick up either the ball handler or the roller. He always seems to be in that dad man’s zone.
There was a play tonight, I think in the 2nd quarter where Bagley was caught in that example. CJ took the screen, Bagley sagged off, CJ jabbed in to bait Bagley and the lob to the larger roller resulted in an easy dunk.
Adam, I know it’s convenient (and quite accurate) to blame most of Marvin’s issues on his father, but this goes too far.
I’m sorry, Bagley just grinds my gears. But Adamsite put it better. I will also add if the guards did successfully fight over the screen, most likely the big will just turn around and set another pick. The Blazers were basically playing chess. Bagley and his low BBIQ was the weakest point of the defense, and he was anchoring the defense. They avoided the guards for a reason.
Why not both?
Other teams are targeting Bagley, but our guards are also bad at fighting through screens. Fox especially. And that makes it easier for the opponents to create the mismatch they want.
I disagree as well. They are supposed to switch. Reference Lebron or any star player in the post season. They always set the high screen to force a mismatch. Its called winning basketball. De’Aaron should be doing the same thing to opposing bigs.
The whole point of the pick-and-roll is to make defenses uncomfortable and force them to make an accurate switch or rotation.
Switching either has to be a blend of switch and not switching certain matchups, or switch everything but followed by a second help switch for mismatches. We just switch everything and leave the mismatches, it’s idiotic.
Meanwhile, Luka gets yet another triple double, and Bagley remains a gaping hole on offense and defense. Fack my life. For someone who has a TON to play for and to prove, he really doesn’t show any development.
Love that Tyrese is looking stellar, and how much IQ and fundamentals he has and brings to the team. They play so much better with him on the floor. Between Bagley and Buddy we have way too many people that are interested in ISO hero ball rather than the team.
With all the wrath directed at Bagley and Hield, it gets kind of lost how underwhelming Fox has been. He has not been their level of bad, but the biggest chunk of the team’s salary is tied up in him. That means he should be held to a higher standard but we seem unwilling to do.
Apart from his steal and block rate, all his advanced stats are down from last season, with the most significant drops in assist rate and TS%. Still early, but not looking great.
Fox isn’t doing it for me either, especially the missed free throws. He’s abysmal from the line, as well as a lot of the other Kings players.
I’ve been wondering what a Fox trade might net us in return. I have a hard time seeing many other teams looking at Fox, with his contract, and wanting to offer anything substantial in return.
The problem is the Kings can’t really trade him until the offseason. His extension doesn’t kick i until summer. Trading him on his current contract is somewhat problematic.
Another problem is the Kings don’t have anyone more talented on the roster. And Fox isn’t exactly a finished product either.
Fox is not too far behind in dribble, dribble iso ball !
testing
I have tried to post some Gifs….but it said “Awaiting for Approval”….
Does anybody knows why and how to deal with it ?
I’ve gotten something like that before when I tried posting a bunch of gifs all in one comment.
Maybe there are too many gifs in one comment?
yup,, I think so…
So, I deleted some Gifs and post again at another comments..
Thanks, Kosta
Otherwise you can always – say it with me:
WIPE YOUR CACHE!
🙂
Well that was a doozy. We have obvious trades that should be happening.
Who are our favorite draft prospects other than Cade? I like Mobley from USC if we don’t get Cade.
Scottie Barnes from Florida State.
A Hybrid SF/PF.
At 6’9³, 227 pounds, he has the body of a 4 or 5, plus the ability to face up and dribble, pass or finish on the move. He leads Florida State in assists (4.3) and steals (1.8) per game, and while it’s usually hyperbole to say a player can guard every position, he legitimately can with his size, length, foot speed and hounding pressure.
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It looks like he is mocked to us on tankathon right now lol
This is the guy i am hoping falls to Kings. I literally watched hours of Youtube videos on him. I feel like the Kings might be around 9-10th seed and Scottie will be gone by then. I’m hoping he falls, that would be amazing if we can grab him.
Bagley’s screens are downright embarrassing and deserve an article all their own. It’s as if he screens the area where he thinks the defender should be, rather than the actual defender. Even worse, he then rolls to the basket shoulder-to-shoulder with his defender like two old pals skipping home from school. There is almost no chance of being open for a dunk. Making it worse is Mark Jones calling it out out as Bagley sets the screen, when it’s clearly a token screen by a player fixated on getting his.
The gloves are off. Marvin Bagley is garbage at nearly everything. Slop centers are a dime a dozen and Vlade wasted an elite ping pong ball on a poor one.
I don’t want to hear anyone on the broadcast talk about Bagley’s skills, because they simply aren’t there. Come back from Future Make Believe Land and watch the damn tape.
It is worse than that. He rolls early before the actual pick INTO THE PATH OF HIS BALL HANDLER. I counted twice where Fox had to adjust his drive because Bagley was rolling into his lane…and that was only when I was paying attention to that glitch. I’m assuming it happened more than twice.
The one bright side was seeing Metu give a good showing in the ending minutes. He seems to have a really smooth touch and doesnt move like a gazelle
My question to this…
What are the development coaches doing? Do they practice on how to rectify this? At their game review meetings, do they just talk about it and continue to allow this to happen?
The after game reviews, everyone talks in general like they know the problem, but don’t know how to start rectifying issues, or implement plans to develop into a solid core.
Perhaps a question that can be answered in this forum, how did Buddy play tonight? Another low scoring output from him..
Bagley can go 25 and 12 the rest of the season and I wouldn’t care if he’s not better at making basic basketball plays. I saw LaMelo set a solid screen today and he weighs less than Haliburton. Bagley has no excuse. Why would Vlade draft a left handed big who can’t shoot to build around a left handed PG who thrives by getting in the lane? He just mucks up everything and looks so lost off the ball
What a block !!!!
No Look pass to Bagley..
Another highlight reel from Metu….(if he dunked it)
 
Metu already out-performed Bagley in less than 7 minutes of playing time, this guy made an impact on court and deserve significant minutes….
Just play Metu and bench Bagley, Coach Walton !!!
To add on
Metu’s defense vs Bagley’s defense…
Metu moved his feet so fast to stay with his man, and Grent Jr missed the shot, while Bagley left his man 4 steps behind…..
Posts like this just prove that no matter what he does, people are going to talk shit about Bagley. These are both good defensive plays by Bagley. The first one Bagley plays good help Defense that stops the penetration and forces the jumper. On the second one it’s James who plays this one poorly. Bagley approaches the high pick and roll as he should. He opens up so that James has the space to fight through the screen. James should have gone under the screen this far out. There’s no need to go over the screen here, the guy wasn’t going to bury a half court shot. James gets caught on the screen so Bagley steps up to slow down the penetration. Even after playing the screen bad James has a brief opportunity to recover to his original man and let Bagley keep dropping into the paint to cover the roll. Instead he sticks with the roller leaving Bagley on an island trying to cover the point guard. Blazers recognize this, spread out and away to the ball so as there won’t be an opportunity for a guard to switch back onto him. Bagley stays in front and contests the jumper. Nothing else he can really do there. The switch scheme, and James puts him in a tough spot and he played it decently enough.
After tonight, coaching aside, Bagley and Buddy hold this team back so much. They reek of bad shooting, bad turnovers, low BBIQ, and entitlement. Bagley has to sack up on the defensive end or he is going to have a long season. This is a copycat league. It was a mistake for him to put that on film. Trade both of them yesterday. Not just soon. Yesterday.
Do the Kings have a coach, you know, someone who teaches players stuff they should have learned in 5th grade
Your next comment answered that question. It’s not about the coach as much as it is about the lack of talent.
I wouldn’t jump the gun and start unloading players. Without a decent coach, how will we fully know the personnel we have? I’m afraid the Kings will waste another season of development, which is a long time.
outside of Hali, this is a bunch of one dimensional players who sometimes sink to zero dimensions when there is an opposing team on the floor.
This was a pretty poor effort by a team that should have come in embarrassed. This team isn’t a team and until they start playing both ends like a team they will be a losing bunch of individuals. Plenty of bad play. Plenty of soft players. They played soft!
Kings need to make entire team available (other then Hali) for assets or prospects, w particular focus on offloading Buddy, Bagley, Belly, CoJo and James.
Fire Walton. Promote Kalamian to interim head coach.
Tank for top-5 pick while teaching young core proper defense.
Clear cap space to sign solid player to go w Hali, top-5 pick, plus your other draft capital and/or young talent pick ups.
I agree. Except you keep Walton until the end of the season, for tanking purposes.
The players suck and they’re obviously not playing for Walton or buying into him.
I agree. Keep walton all year for draft position.
Well, this is getting less fun.
My whole game was just like BJelly……………………(Except the last 3 mins plays from Metu)
That’s pretty pathetic to be honest.
For those wondering why I’d criticize a coach for not masking up properly, just see the situation unfolding across the 76ers, Celtics, and Wizards. Frequent testing is not a panacea to avoiding an outbreak.
But y’all don’t have a problem with the twenty players on the bench not wearing them… Or the ten on the floor… Because science.
I wonder if the knicks would be dumb enough to trade us Randle for buddy and bagley. I’d love some passing in the front court but Randle’s price is probably going up with the season he’s having
Man, I’ve wanted Randle for years now.
In 2018, my hope was simple. Draft Luka and sign Randle.
We’d have a scary core right there, but we’d also probably still have vlade if he managed to pull that off lol. I just think Randle would be perfect with holmes in the front court and would take a ton of pressure off fox and hali with playmaking. That would be my dream scenario if we decide to make moves.
Also if you told me at the time of their draft that Randle would end up the best out of wiggins, parker and him I would never believe you but man Randle has developed so nicely
In that 2018 summer Randle signed with the Pels for less than $9M. He then signed a deal cheaper than Buddy to go to the Knicks. There are would have been no need to trade for Barnes.
The Kings could potentially been rolling out a core of Fox, Buddy, Bogi, Luka, Randle. Had they still signed Holmes in 2019 the core would be even better.
Three main takeaways: overall, they came out flat to start the game. The Kings defense has been horrible without Holmes. Metu is better than Bagley.
Another game closer to the coach getting axed, cannot complain about that!
We made our run when Whiteside was inserted in the 2nd quarter, he made an immediate impact, swallowing up plays in the paint and discouraging drives, which begs the question, why was he ever removed from the rotation in the first place?
When we were 3-1 Whiteside was infusing our guys with confidence to scramble and overplay , knowing that protection was back there, how can a coach not see that?
Whiteside has a place on this team, and if it comes at the expense of Bagley, so be it.
Without Holmes, I like a lineup of Hali-Fox-Buddy-Barnes-Whiteside, a starting lineup I was advocating before the seaon began. This coach has not played this line up once!
Here’s the problem with Bagley, one of many, sadly.
Bagley gives up space then still gets blown by. He is still backing off the defender aplenty, then gives up penetration. Whiteside backs off perimeter plays too, but he will erase your sh*t when you come into his neighboorhood.
This coach does not know the meaning of impact player, choosing non-impact bums like Bjelica and Joseph, two insufferable slogs, over impact players like Whiteside and Kyle Guy.
Jospeh is going to end the coaching career of Fluke Walton, he is riding and dying with him into the proverbial grave.
Anyway Bagley gets down into a defense crouch like he means business. It is farce. It is nothing but show with his no functional purpose just like his silly hand gesture after he scores. Dedmon bugged me with his “call me” gesture after his infrequent 3 point make, Bagley is working on my nerves the same way.
This habitual mindless reaction after you score is symptomatic of a guy who is not fully present, it is weird thing. His heart, body, mind, and soul are not one, in the present. I get the feeling Bagley would rather be making a sh*tty rap song than hooping.
You cannot play Bagley at defensive center. I said it in October! Now he has a reputation as a weak link teams are picking on him, just like with Willie last year. Whoever he guards sets the high pick to force the switch…
Then you have loser players like CoJoSlow and BjelicaBjum and Hield all too willing to switch and it is game over.
Bagley did not work hard enough on his physique. I have more muscle definition in the upper body and I am not a professional athlete.
Walton is over-substituting too. Why is he taking Fox off the floor 4 minutes into the game? He needs a blow after 4 minutes? It is pathetic!
We have two “core” players who are absolute trash right now : Buddy and Bagley. So we can either give up on them or try to help them. We need complementary players around them to play to their strengths and de-emphasize their weakness. The complementary players are Whiteside and Guy, not Bjelica and Joseph.
Does anyone realistically think that two pedestrian plodders are going to lift the collective energy and fortunes of their teammates including a former #2 and #5 pick playing their way out of the league.
Yes, a “core” player should not need help and special conditions to achieve that status. But that does not mean you should not try to optimize conditions for the collective good. We need motion and movement that we get with Haliburton and Fox and would get more of with Kyle Guy.
How many times does Joseph methodically get the ball into the frontcourt then go stand in the corner? The guy is trash. Bjelica knows his limitations and limits mistakes but he cannot move. He mades Melo, 36 year old, look like he has lightening quick speed.
You can disagree all you want but that does not change that everything Bjelica and Joseph can do on the court is more than offset and then some by what they cannot do. And this ineptitdude trickles down to the whole team including Buddy and Bagley. Their weaknesses are magnified instead of better concealed as they would be with Whiteside and Guy taking their place.
But having said that, if Bagley does not figure out a way to improve by 30-50% defensively, he is going to be a bust. He is on his way to being unplayable in the absence of improved offensive effeciency. Bagley weak hands and poor spatial awareness of where the defense is. It is also myopic to think that straight-line drives into the teeth of the defense are going to bear fruit.
If you have no juke moves, no wiggle, no creative counter to a set defender than to try to go through and around him, you are beclowning yourself. This was the issue I had with Barnes but he got healthy and fit and has more wiggle to his scoring prowess, and it is paying off!
Where is Bagley’s creativity as a scorer? He has none. Strength? Also missing! Mindful effort and engagement? Nope!
Then you compound the problem with a lameduck coach who magnifies insteads of hides his weakness by benching Guy and Whiteside, and you have a recipe to ruin said player.
Good times! But at least we have Haliburton, a joy to behold!
,
You are beclowning yourself MBIII!
how do you try to improve on that?
fire Luke
Time to give the young guys more run. This team has given up at least 124 points the last 4 games, and don’t seem to give a damn about DEFENSE!
Let Hali, Rhamsey, Woodard and Metu get more floor time and bring that young energy. Sit the sulking vets who are playing uninspired, selfish basketball. Will it get more wins? I doubt it, but it will sure as he’ll be more fun to watch than the trash we’ve seen lately. Buddy and Bagley should be ashamed of their effort and defense. Whiteside is right; these guys should be flat out embarrassed getting torched nightly
Make that 5 games out of 6 with losses. If Walton isn’t fired immediately, I’m done with this team.
Forget Bagley, Buddy, Fox’s subpar performance.
Walton has to go.
These guys (I won’t say team because they clearly aren’t one) are already checked out three weeks into the season. Even as a tank commander, I worry the immediate damage of his incompetence will have greater repercussions than the positives of letting him guide us into the top 5.
He’s got to go, and if I were in Sacramento, I’d go tape a paper with it to the front door of the G1C.
I understand why Walton has such a tough time in Sacramento; he is the only person in the organization with championship rings. Not another player, coach or member of management does.
Harrison Barnes, Cory Joseph and Joe Dumars say hi.
Not sure regarding Cory !
San Antonio in 2014.
The Warriors trainer has 3 !
“Forget Bagley, Buddy, Fox’s subpar performance.
Walton has to go.”
Bingo.
Why do I always do this? Like every season. The Kings win a few games-I get a little hope and then they just rip my heart out. What did we expect?
The Kings are a 4-6 team led by Harrison Barnes, a rookie (who I love), and Richaun Holmes. What did we expect?
At this point-let the tank roll…make some trades, develop the young kids, and on to the next season.
Watching the games-there are so many players that play losing basketball. It’s like the Singletary quote – Can’t win with them, can’t do it.
Kinda like being a Raiders fan, too many similarities
Kings ain’t any good on defense. What a shock that is.
These are the types of weekends that get coaches fired.
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