When I was about seven, my family took a trip to the Great America theme park in Santa Clara. I was a newbie when it came to these kind of parks and there was one ride that I took a particular liking to. It was called "The Grizzly," this wooden monstrosity that was by far the biggest roller coaster I had been on until that time. The ride was fantastic and left an imprint on my memory for a long time. In the following years I would go to many theme parks and ride many coasters, but I would always fondly remember that one ride on "The Grizzly."

It would be at least a decade before I would find my way back to Great America park to ride "The Grizzly." But this time, I had an awful experience. It was one of those rides made of wood so it rattled to hell and back right in your ear the entire way. The seatbelt left too much slack so I was painfully bouncing up and down on the plastic seats. Moreover, the ride was just boring. The car would just go up a hill and come back down without any suspense. The twists and turns had lame speed and acceleration. The entire ride was barely two minutes long but I couldn't wait until it was over.

Tonight, with Karl in a hotel somewhere fighting off the stomach flu, that structure seemingly disappeared. The offense once again devolved into the chaotic free-for-all that brought so much inconsistency in the past. But this January we've seen what the team can do in a structured environment. Cousins is basically having the month of his career and the Kings were actually posting a winning record. They won five in a row against all ranges of competition, grabbing the coveted eighth spot in the West. Now it feels like all of that progress was reversed. Mathematically, it actually almost has; after a five game winning streak, the Kings have dropped three straight and are back out of the eighth seed.

Basically, the Kings need to become more disciplined and focused if they want to make the Playoffs. I've lost all hope in the defense, but if they can at least put in effort, they can sputter at least into the postseason. Today we got neither a focused team or one putting in the necessary effort, and the results speak for themselves. Onto the observations: