Who has the list of games the Kings should've won and could've won but didn't? Sadly, it's already time to add a team.
I can almost accept the woeful shooting numbers – Minnesota was a top 10 defensive team last season, and the Kings were getting open looks (some very open). It's very tough to watch the two guys that shoot the most miss a combined 29 shots and still be in the game with two minutes left.
But damn. What the hell happened after Maurice Taylor's ejection? No one could keep their hands on the ball, no one could dribble, no one could make a simple pass. The offense was almost as bad as it was during last season's disaster in Utah.
Overall, the offense was very lackluster (obviously). I'm not going to fault Ron Artest – he was out of his gourd on defense, even by his standards (12 boards, seven steals) and he rebounded several of his own misses (including two double-offensive-board possessions – that shows up as 2-6 for four points and four offensive rebounds in the box score).
Mike Bibby and Brad Miller couldn't do anything on either end. I've never seen the pick-and-roll look worse between the two – the spacing was off, the passes were late, neither was getting any separation. It didn't help that neither could shoot the ball – all three of Miller's makes were at the rim, and Bibby just couldn't get to the rim.
Shareef Abdur-Rahim should get more of Kenny Thomas' minutes, if he can stop turning the ball over. (It was a problem in the playoffs last season, too.) Thomas rebounded well, but was a liability on offense, missing layup after layup. Abdur-Rahim might be one of the top three individual offensive weapons the Kings have, and it's clear the offense isn't all together yet. Just give Shareef the ball.
The rebounding all the way around was simply magical. Twenty-two offensive boards in 54 opportunities (40 percent)? That probably won't happen again this season. The defensive rebounding was also solid, at about 80 percent. In total, the team rebounded 57 percent of its chances, which is even better than it looks because the Wolves didn't miss tons of shots and the Kings did.
The great thing (besides the defense and rebounding) is that this was Game 1. There are 81 to go. No worries.
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