#NeverGetsOld
A mopey and flustered team, yearning to find answers amid injuries and poor execution, saunters their way into tonight’s game at Philips Arena. Not only that… the Sacramento Kings will be there, too!
After a smoldering 1-7 start, DeMarcus Cousins and the Kings are the ones doing the crowning lately, winning three straight home games versus Eastern foes. They’re in the proper mood to kick off their Southeast Division road swing by toppling the Atlanta Hawks (8:00 PM Eastern, Fox Sports Southeast) for the first time in a long while.
The now 2-9 Nyets shook off their Hawks Hex last night, enduring a muffed final minute of play from the Hawks to notch their first regular-season victory over the Hawks in seven tries. That should definitely inspire the Kings (4-7), who have grown a bit tired of getting dabbed on (or, is that bapped on?) by the ATL. They haven’t defeated a Hawks team since Mike Bibby’s not-so-triumphant return to ARCO Arena in Feburary 2008.
How long ago was that? Sacramento needed a huge night from Ron Artest (three and a half years away from the epiphany before his name change) and a little help from Shelden Williams, to pull away from a playoff-starved Hawks team led in scoring by Josh Childress. The Kings' last victory at Philips came in March 2006. So, yeah, it’s been a minute.
It has also been quite some time since the Hawks (8-5) lost four straight games in an NBA regular season, as could be the case following tonight’s action. Midway through the fourth game of the Hawks’ six-game slide in March 2014 (and absent a streak-stripped Kyle Korver), coach Mike Budenholzer benched an ineffective Jeff Teague in favor of Dennis Schröder and Shelvin Mack, who promptly committed seven of Atlanta’s 26 turnovers as Minnesota cruised at home.
Two-and-a-half years later, Teague and Kent Bazemore watched the Brooklyn game from home (don’t kick the furniture!) while nursing their sprained ankles. And while Schröder (10 assists, 3 TOs) and Mack could not be directly blamed for costly turnovers, the lack of disorganization on the floor last night without Teague around was evident, well beyond the season-high 20 turnovers.
Veteran All-Stars like Paul Millsap (5 TOs) and Korver (2-for-6 3FGs, 3 TOs) looked lost on offense. And the speediness of Schröder could only be displayed in the halfcourt, as designed plays broke down and Schröder (2-for-7 2FGs, 1-for-4 3FGs) was often left to settle for drives into the teeth of the Nets’ defense for points. The inertial development of plays during possessions (91.6 pace, 3rd lowest of season; 88.8 pace vs. Utah) played right into Joe Johnson’s hands. And that was just the problems with the offense, as the Hawks put up a season-low 88 points and 96.1 points per 100 possessions.
“The execution was terrible, the defense was terrible,” Millsap admitted after the loss last night. He should know. Bench man Thabo Sefolosha’s total of seven defensive rebounds equaled the cumulative total of frontcourt starters Al Horford, Millsap (plus-minus of -16), and Tiago Splitter. That’s never a good sign when Cousins (28.0 PPG, 3rd in NBA; 11.0 RPG), the reigning Western Conference Player of the Week, and Kosta Koufos (12.1 O-Reb%, 11th in NBA) are in town after two days’ rest. While Cousins’ rebounding volume is down after shifting mostly to the 4-spot, he still ranks 7th in D-Reb% while taking time to shoot 44.8% on threes (take notes, Al-Star).
The Nets were turning the ball over nearly as much as the Hawks in the first half, featuring some egregiously unforced errors. But unlike Atlanta, Brooklyn found the spigot (3 second-half player TOs). Eight of the Nets’ 10 participants got at least one steal, including Thad Young, whose five steals outnumbered that of the Hawks’ starters (three). The Hawks are forcing 18.7 TOs per game out of opponents within the friendly confines of Philips Arena (11.0 team SPG), but just 13.8 per game away from home (8.3 team SPG). Hopefully, the defensive energy will pick up a notch tonight.
Meanwhile… turmoil? What turmoil? DMC knew what happened the last time he was forced to sit with an injury: by the time he returned last season, the coach he bonded with was canned and the carefully-crafted team mojo was gone. Forced to sit with an Achilles strain after two close losses to the Clippers and a 1-2 start to 2015-16, Cousins foresaw a McHaleian series of events unfolding again, when the Kings dropped four straight, the first two of the skid by double digits.
The grass-cutting, snake-showing tension that simmered all summer boiled over upon Cousins’ return, after an 18-point home loss to San Antonio. This time last season, Cousins could tear into Michael Malone with his building frustrations, and he could count on Michael Malone throwing verbal heat right back at him. But instead of going in on Cousins for chewing out both he and GM Vlade Divac, Kings coach George Karl thought it better to clam up, head upstairs, and tattle.
Karl pined openly for another shot as a head coach anywhere, and certainly knew what he was stepping into when he took the Kings gig almost a year ago. Yet essentially, Karl was all set to punish DeMeanUs Cussins for being DeMeanUs Cussins, marching up to Hotline Blinging team owner Vivek Ranadive to request his All-Star center be fined, if not outright traded. Still dreaming of a future with his pal John Calipari coming to Cowtown, Ranadive made it quite clear, to the NBA’s sixth-winningest head coach of all time, where his allegiances lie: if it’s down to He Goes or I Go, you may not like my response. Shut up, and coach.
Ranadive runs his franchise like a NBA 2K competitor, but his Players Over Everything stance seems to have steeled the resolve in the Kings’ locker room, at least until the next dovetail. Cousins has since redirected his frustrations toward the Pistons, Nets, and Raptors. In the last three games, the Mobile Marauder has averaged 36.3 PPG and 10.7 RPG and shot 60% on three-pointers while building a kinship with the similarly-seething point guard Rajon Rondo.
Remember when last season’s rumor mill had the Kings inquiring about acquiring Schröder and developing him into the “next” Rondo? Well, they’ve found their next Rondo and -- whaddya know -- it’s Rondo himself! Just when you thought Rondo’s menacing play was dead, a hand rises from the grave. Rondo ranks second in the NBA in assists (9.5 APG) and 7th in steals (2.1 SPG). Any schemes designed to get Rondo into foul trouble are good ones, as the alternate point guard options are of the shoot-first variety.
Steals aside, Rondo and the returning Darren Collison (out last five games, hamstring) have to do a lot of gambling and scrambling to make up for a defensively-challenged roster. As a team, the Kings are 28th in blocks (3.5 BPG) and 24th in defensive efficiency (104.4 opponent points per 100 possessions). No other team, not even (formerly) McHale’s Rockets, have opponents converting over 70 percent of shot attempts in the restricted area (73.9 opponent FG%).
That’s all with rookie Willie Cauley-Stein starting at center, and his status is up in the air after sustaining a head injury versus Toronto. Cousins almost has to stay at power forward for defensive purposes, as the alternatives (Rudy Gay? Caron Butler? Quincy Acy? Eric Moreland?) aren’t too hot. Koufos will likely get the nod if Cauley-Stein (70.6 FG%, because dunks) cannot go. Atlanta will need much more interior production out of Horford and a rested Tiago Splitter (12 minutes @ BRK) to counter Sacramento’s frontline play.
For Gay, the best defense remains a good offense (post-rookie career-low 18.2 PPG, 46.7 FG%; career-low 0.2 BPG and -1.0 defensive box plus-minus). Thabo Sefolosha and Kyle Korver have to make Gay pay whenever he’s lackadaisical on the defensive end.
At the other end, Atlanta defenders have to close out properly on Sacramento’s 3-and-not-much-D players along the perimeter, including starters Gay and Ben McLemore, and ex-Spurs Marco Belinelli (36.5 3FG%, team-high 4.7 attempts per game) and James Anderson. The challenge will continue to be heightened as Bazemore remains out for tonight’s action. Cousins’ newfound range is likely to draw Millsap and Horford even further away from the rim than they are already, and it’s intriguing to see how Rondo and the Kings intend to take advantage of that.
Whether it’s Teague (questionable to play), Schröder, or Mack handling the rock, their teammates have to create openings for their passes out of the paint. In particular, the bigs must roll to the basket with greater fervor if the Hawks are to successfully exploit the Kings’ defensive flaws tonight. After several games of futile execution, it’s time to acknowledge that Point Guard Drives Matter.
Let’s Go Hawks!
~lw3
