Official Game Thread: Kings at Hawks

[lethalweapon3]

“KEVIN!”

 

My apologies, Sacramento Kings. I should be more familiar with your game.

I had been solidly in the Will Not Convey camp regarding the Kings’ 2024 first-round draft pick, conditionally due to our Atlanta Hawks’ salary downsizing via the 2022 off-season Kevin Huerter trade, subject to full-lottery protection this season. The Warriors’ Steph Curry going bonkers with a 50-piece in his road elimination game last spring was all the convincing I needed that the 2022-23 Kings’ long-awaited postseason breakthrough was but a one-hit wonder.

Surely, I figured, Sacramento would revert to being the fifth-best horse in a five-team Pacific Division derby. With the Warriors, Lakers, and Clippers getting healthier in the offseason, and with likely additions Bradley Beal and, eventually, James Harden steeling up the Suns and Clippers’ rosters, there was little reason to expect the Kings to place or show in that field, much less win.

Besides, that pick can wait a year or two (top-12 protected in 2025, top-10 in 2026) until the Hawks spiffy up their own scouting and player-development houses.

Much has been made of the Kings’ prior managerial regime blundering away their chance at corralling any of Luka Doncic, Jaren Jackson or Trae Young. The next season’s lottery pick already belonged to Philadelphia, thanks to a 2015 salary dump, shortly after Vlade Divac came on the scene. But in the years that followed 2019, at least Sacramento, led by current team exec Monte McNair has been able to build something substantive, around 2017 pick De’Aaron Fox (career-bests of 30.2 PPG, 5^th in NBA, and 39.6 3FG%; 6.1 APG), with their annual draft hauls, even when they decide to trade some of them off.

As splendid as 2024 All-Star host Tyrese Haliburton has been, no one around Sactown misses the 2020 lotto pick deeply. After all, it was his trade to Indiana that brought the Kings their game-changing center, in Domantas Sabonis (team-highs of 7.4 APG and 12.1 RPG; season-high 34 points @ POR on Tuesday). Wretched shooting and diminished playing time aside, Davion “Off Night for Him” Mitchell rarely gets off nights from coach Mike Brown’s rotation.

Same for Sasha, who has rarely been fierce, but Vezenkov giving the Kings bench minutes worthy of a long-awaited Euro-stash, acquired from Brooklyn in 2022. Like Vezenkov, undrafted rookie Keon Ellis draws over 13 minutes per game, and is a prime candidate to be elevated from his two-way status.  The fourth-pick in 2022’s Draft, Keegan Murray earned 1^st-Team All-Rookie, and the starting wing is good for at least one good shooting performance per week that leaves Kings fans wondering what they still need Huerter for.

Meanwhile, after years of cycling through Cam Reddish, Onyeka Okongwu, and Jalen Johnson, Atlanta has yet to establish a remarkable, dependable, starting-tier talent around Young (last 8 games: 31.3 PPG, 13.3 APG, 44.4 3FG%), whose 20-and-10 stat PADD streak continues even as his record-tying 30-and-10 run came to an close in Chicago on Tuesday.

Okongwu and his fellow maypole, starter Clint Capela, allowed the Bulls' fill-in starter Andre Drummond to have a field day off the glass, but it will help their cause, and the Hawks' (ATL 27^th in D-Reb%) whenever Young, Bogi Bogdanovic, Saddiq Bey and Dejounte Murray aren’t creating so many caroms by shooting a combined 10-for-39 from deep. Get back up to speed soon, A.J. Griffin (Welcome back! Will Coach Quin notice?).

One could argue that the closest to the pin the Hawks got was Huerter (12.8 PPG, 44.9 FG% and 38.9 3FG% in 319 career starts, incl. 216 w/ ATL, 117 career D-Rating, as per bball-ref), at least until De’Andre Hunter (14.2 PPG, 44.8 FG% and 36.3 3FG%, 224 starts in 224 games, 118 career D-Rating) returns from his latest injury hindrance to take umbrage. One can hope it will soon be Johnson, who has just returned from his own injury setback.

In any case, the Hawks get nothing of on-court value from last season’s first-round rook, Griffin, nor this year’s, Kobe Bufkin, the latter of whom will resume getting some burn with the Skyhawks following his return from a thumb injury.

It is of little surprise, then, that the Kings (17-12, 6^th in NBA West) have been holding court with their Pacific Division foes, just a half-game behind the Clippers despite a recent swoon, while the Hawks seem eager to cede the Dirty South division to Miami once more (save us, Orlando).

There are signs of trouble ahead for Team Will Not Convey, lately. A six-game homestand (must be nice) for the Kings concluded with beam-busting losses to conference leaders Minnesota and Boston. That homestand was bracketed by road defeats, in LA versus the Clippers and against The Fighting Duop Reaths in Portland, that dropped Sacramento’s away-game record to 6-7 entering tonight’s affair (7:30 PM Eastern, Bally Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, NBC Sports California).

Further, only the Jazz and the Spurs allow more PPG in the NBA West than the Kings, and Huerter is of precious little help in ameliorating that standing. There are calls to push Kevin to bring another dimension to the floor than just headbands and perimeter shooting, which has been hot-and-often-cold (35.2 3FG%, down from 40.2% last season, below his career-low of 36.3 w/ ATL in 2020-21; 26.7% in last 11 games; 20.5% in last year’s playoff round vs. GSW), if he is to maintain his long-held place within Sacramento’s starting five.

The Pac-5 division is separated top-to-bottom by just 3.5 games. Tack on the surging Timberwolves and Thunder to the exploits of the Itches, Luka and Nikola, and there’s not much more room in the Playoff Inn. I aver that it’s fine, because winning another mid-tiered draft pick that Landry Fields and Company are unlikely to do anything significant with, frankly, isn’t what’s hot in these streets.

Push it along a year or two, and perhaps, there’s someone other than Fields pulling the strings for the slip-sliding Hawks (12-18, 4-8 whenever they get a home game). Heck, maybe there’ll be a different Company altogether. In the meantime, please, just stay far away from Nicodemus Ressler, Vlade.

 

Let’s Go Hawks!

~lw3

[bird_dirt]

I came this -> <- close to buying a flight and tickets to this game. I recently realized within the past year I’ve been to MLS, MLB, NFL, and NHL games, so NBA was all that was left. But my buddy down there couldn’t get out of work

[lethalweapon3]

De'Andre (inflamed knee) is another week or so away, while Ko-B and Vit Krejci are on Skyhawk duty. Seth Lundy's untimely ankle sprain in the Bulls game will keep him sidelined for now.

The Kings' injury sheet is clean. Keon Ellis is with the big boys, and rookie Colby Jones is with the other two-ways, the G-Leaguers just trying to stay out of, um, trouble in Stockton.

~lw3

[ABH]

Hope Kevin goes off for 50

[macdaddy]

1 hour ago, ABH said:

Hope Kevin goes off for 50

In a Kings loss

[JayBirdHawk]

28 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

In a Kings loss

Kevin has shot 5 of 19 from 3 in his last 5 games. You know the mantra: if you are struggling shooting, play the Hawks  

[REHawksFan]

Gonna be at the game tonight with the family.  Should be fun.  Or aggravating.  Or both.  

[Chrimturn]

2 hours ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Kevin has shot 5 of 19 from 3 in his last 5 games. You know the mantra: if you are struggling shooting, play the Hawks  

This has the potential to be a real high scoring game….or really ugly.  

[Spud2nique]

9 hours ago, lethalweapon3 said:

Wretch

@Wretch gets a shout out !!! He earned it!  

 

9 hours ago, lethalweapon3 said:

Get back up to speed soon, A.J. Griffin (Welcome back! Will Coach Quin notice?).

I miss him. Love his street ball moves.

 

9 hours ago, lethalweapon3 said:

headbands and perimeter shooting,

It’s the Von of the K baby! He a bad boy doh  

Thanks @lethalweapon3 you da man !!!

I’m also worried about x Kentucky wild kitten Malik Monk. I heard he scores in his sleep wow A story like that’s gotta be true!!!

Vegas got Kings-1.5

2k Hawks by 6

”MVP MVP MVP MVP” chants heard from the ATL crowd as Trae wrapped it up at the line and secured a win! 47/13/5 from the SUPERSTAR  

GO HAWKS!!!!

 

[kg01]

This may be ugly tonite, folx. 

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Gonna watch tonight's game on my Oculus / Meta Quest 2 . . . that I won at work from our Employee Appreciation program.

 

 

This is pretty much like watching this game in a theater in surround sound.  Tried to get the 180 and 360 degree virtual reality to work on it, but it won't do it on the Bally's feed.  It works for Youtube videos though.

Battery goes quick though ( about 90 min ).  I'll see if I can keep the headset charged through my laptop while I watch the game.

 

Very cool experience.

Edited December 30, 2023 by TheNorthCydeRises

[TheNorthCydeRises]

1 hour ago, kg01 said:

This may be ugly tonite, folx. 

Sacramento is a good offensive team, but horrible on defense like us.

Mike Brown hates their defensive effort.

 

This should be a game that goes deep into the 120s.

over/under is 252.5 . . . which is crazy.

[SalvorMallow]

This 1st quarter has been a front row seat to Huerter's awful defense.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Got the VR to work.  Almost like being one of those cameras that hovers over the action.  Cool look, but distorted video.

Stadium look is much better.

 

Trae with 2 great passes to Capela for and 1s.  Then DJ gets in on the action.

Clint looking like prime Amare Stoudamire . . lol.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Is Clint a lurker on Hawksquawk?

He's thrown out 2 passes out to the perimeter already.

 

Hawks are on fire!

[kg01]

My goodness, is this what it looks like watching us "play" defense(sic)? 

[kg01]

Gahdayum, did SAC decided to use our late game playbook in their 1st qtr prep? 

Just toss it TF around.  Hope foh da best? 

[TheNorthCydeRises]

1 minute ago, kg01 said:

My goodness, is this what it looks like watching us "play" defense(sic)? 

They look fantastic tonight.

Even that last offensive sequence with the ball moving all around was tremendous.

 

But of course, these are the Hawks.  So this means nothing until we see how they play in the 3rd quarter.

[kg01]

And, trust me, I know good and heyul well were capable of giving this all back.  But right now, this is ridiculous.  

[Phunkabilly]

Look at that movement!!