Cisco in the Starting Lineup - Yeah, Why Not?

Sacramento Bee sports writer Ailene Voisin suggested that Paul Westphal might change the starting line-up again, and she's thinking it be Francisco Garcia for Omri Casspi. I agree with her, although I said it a couple weeks ago.

Omri Casspi is a talented player, but his defense needs work. He's 6'9", but he's not strong enough to defend power forwards and too slow to defend small forwards. Francisco Garcia has always been a decent defender. You also don't lose much in offense. With him in the starting line-up, there'll be better ballhandling too.

Sure, it's a small line-up, but Omri Casspi's not really using his size to his advantage. Fancisco Garcia and Tyreke Evans are both big enough to defend other small forwards.

I think Tyreke should let Beno or Garcia push the tempo more. Tyreke tends to walk the ball up the court which allows other teams to set up their defense. The Kings, as of now, don't have a good enough post player to play half-court offense. Not until DeMarcus Cousins get more games under his belt.

Make That Fifth in a Row - And a New Title for This Blog

Kings lost another one at home. It's a close one, but we were down for most of the game. I'm surprised that Paul Westphal justified this loss by saying that the Detroit Pistons is a playoff team in the East. I don't know. He may be right, but they have pretty much the same group of guys as they did last year. They didn't make the playoffs last season.

Sure, you can blame the 3-ball. We were 2 for 18. Still, we actually have some post players now. Why aren't we going inside out? Why aren't we going down low to DeMarcus Cousins or Carl Landry more often down low instead of relying on our jump shots.

At least Carl Landry had a decent game again.

DeMarcus Cousins continue to rack up fouls and make careless turnovers. Sure, he's a rookie, but he needs grab the rebound and find his point guard.

At this point, I'm starting to think it's the coach's fault. He has decent players, but I don't feel like he's making the best use of them.

Fourth in a Row After Phoenix Loss

I wasn't expecting a win. For the third game since starting Samuel Dalembert, the offense has been lowered. Defensely, it's definitely better. At least we're not getting abused in the paint anymore. Those are frustrating - when you allow layups and dunks.

I still like Dalembert as a starter. We can start from here. I think the team is still adjusting to him. You still a bunch of unforced turnovers. Frustrating, but I assume that these will be fewer after more games. DeMarcus Cousins has been pretty careless with the ball lately. He'll accidentally kick the ball or tab the ball out of bounds when there's no opposing players around. That's just focus and probably tired legs. And again he fouled out. A couple of them are just unnecessary reach-ins. Plus, he's gotta move his legs.

The Kings did came within two early in the fourth quarter, but then Steve Nash entered the game and put it away. The Kings just didn't have an answer for him.

Better defense, worst offense. I'll take this. Start with better defense, then tinker to improve the offense.

I'm beginning to wonder if the Kings should start DeMarcus Cousins and Samuel Dalembert. This will give the team defense and offense in the paint. Cousins can post up and draw double teams. Dalembert can defend the paint. This line-up might be slow, but it'll be a big line-up.

It's Almost Time for Phoenix Suns

If we can't beat the Minnesota Timberwolves in Sacramento on their second game of a back-to-back, how can we beat the Phoenix Suns on the road? We can't - even without Amare.

So why are am I still watching it? For the small chance that we can. Let's see what Paul Westphal can do. I'm beginning to think it's more of a coaching problem now than it's a personnel problem. If the season continues to be up and down like last season, then it's most definitely a coaching issue.

Paul Westphal needs to stick with a starting line-up. There's a reason why coaches stick with one line-up, and make changes during the game. Constantly telling his players that it depends on the match-ups or their performance from game-to-game will only lead to instability.

The Phoenix Suns and Sacramento Kings currently have the same records. Let's see who goes down tonight. Even though I'm expecting a loss, I hope we'll be moving up.

It's Gonna Be a Really Long Season

It's official, these Kings have a lot to work on. You can't be heading in the right direction when you lose to the Minnesota Timberwolves at home in their second game of a back-to-back. We just have no answer for Michael Beasley. Sure, we were in it until Tyreke Evans fouled out late in the third quarter.

That's three games in row we lost. Los Angeles Lakers. They're the champs. Memphis Grizzlies. They're a decent team. Minnesota Timberwolves? There's no excuse.

On the positive side, having Samuel Dalembert at center does improve our defense a lot. We actually held a team below 100 points for the first time.

Still, it's gonna be a lot like last season. Up and down, mostly down. Oh well. And I thought we improved.

Miami Heat vs. Utah Jazz Game was Crazy!

It's gut-wrenching loss for Miami Heat fans, but haters probably loved it. I only saw the last 5 minutes of the fourth quarter and overtime. At the time, the score was tied (or maybe Utah was down by 1) and Ronnie Price had just committed a fragrant foul on James Jones. After a couple minutes Miami was ahead by 8 with about 30 seconds to go. It looked like they got this one, but then Paul Milsap hit 3 three-pointers and a layup in between foul shots by Miami to send the game into overtime. Crazy game.

Overtime was just as thrilling. Dwyane Wade made a three-pointer to tie the game with 4 or 5 seconds left. Francisco Elson was fouled with 0.4 seconds left and made two free throws to give Utah a two point advantage. Miami missed the final shot and loss the game.

In previous seasons when Carlos Boozer was injured, Paul Milsap was the one taking over his scoring and rebounding load. Now that Boozer is gone, it's time for him to shine. And he did against Miami - 46 points and 9 rebounds.

This is just one of those games for Miami. They didn't get beaten badly. It was a game that got away. Overall, through eight games so far, they still played pretty well. Their glaring weakness is interior defense. Chris Bosh isn't known for that.

I Knew Memphis Was Gonna Be Tough

The Memphis Grizzlies is a solid team. If they were in the East, they would make the playoffs. In the West, it's just too stacked. Maybe this year they can make it. Phoenix looks like they'll drop off the playoff map, so there's an opening.

The Kings started Samuel Dalembert, and the defense looks better. They only allowed 100 points. Before that game, they were allowing about 10 more. Paul Westphal made his adjustment a bit too late. Zach Randolph was destroying Carl Landry. Westphal tried DeMarcus Cousins on him for stretches, but couldn't really slow him down. That is until he put Darnell Jackson on him. He caused Randolph 2-3 consecutive turnovers. Bad turnovers too. Randolph ran into a brick wall. Unfortunately, it was too late in the game to make a difference.

We also had no answer for Rudy Gay. Although I think Jason Thompson did a decent job on him. He forced him into some tough shots. But again, it was too little too late. He had already done his damage against Omri Casspi and Francisco Garcia - mostly on Casspi.

The Grizzlies forced the Kings into a lot of turnovers. There were so many unforced turnovers too - traveling, palming, offensive foul, etc. It was an ugly game.

Oh well. It's time to move forward with the Minnesota Timberwolves. That's team we can beat, and we should on Wednesday. If not, then I'm giving up on the season.

As of Right Now, Kings Would Make Playoffs

Heh. Gotta stay positive. As of right now, Kings are tied with Oklahoma City Thunders for the seventh spot in the Western Conference. I don't think we'll stay there for long, but gotta celebrate it while we still can. Gotta take this one game at a time. If we beat the Memphis Grizzlies tomorrow, we stay up there. Denver, Utah, and Houston won't stay out of the eighth spot for long.

Can Kings Fans Stop Giving Our Female Sports Writer Such a Hard Time

It's getting annoying. Each time she puts out an article, Kings fans would bitch about every aspect of her writing. It's sexist and looks bad on the city. That's is all for today.

Oh, yeah. Samuel Dalembert will start at center for Saturday's game against the Memphis Grizzlies. It's refreshing to hear that DeMarcus Cousins didn't make a big ruckus over it. He even supports it. So far, so good. He's more mature than what the media made him out to be. It's a good move.

The team is also moving Jason thompson to the small forward spot. This, I'm not sure about. He's 6'9". I don't think he's fast enough to defend other smaller small forwards. I've seen this big line-up that Rick Adelman tried in the past with different players, and the results are not pretty. It's too slow. Other teams get many easy fast-break points. Omri Casspi already has a tough time defending other small forwards, a bulkier Thompson will be even slower.

Anyway, let's get back to Memphis this Saturday. It's gonna be a tough game. They won 40 games last season in a very tough conference, so they're a solid team. To our advantage, it is their second game of a back-to-back. Let's hope we take advantage of it. We've been so up-and-down, it's hard to predict what's gonna happen. If we lose another one at home, we'll lose all the momentum we got from those road wins.

Damn Those Lakers

I knew we're not gonna beat them, but we've been more competitive in the past.

As usual, it all comes down to defense. It was horrible, especially the first quarter. There were just too many easy alley-oops through-out the game. I'm thinking since Samuel Dalembert is healthy now. He should be starting instead DeMarcus Cousins. Cousins still has a lot to look in terms of defense. It's not active enough. He also took one too many ill advised, quick shots - a couple from beyond the arc.

Ron Artest was defending Tyreke Evans for most of the game, but Evans still scored 21 points. He twisted his ankle at the end of the first quarter, but came back later.

Kobe took Omri Casspi too school. Omri just gives him too much space to operate. Omri had a terrible game.

Francisco Garcia had a great game. He's also a decent defender. Our defense would be better with him in the starting line-up instead of Omri.

Carl Landry and Darnell Jackson are dependable as always. You can always count for Landry for 18 points and 6 rebounds.

We were following the same script as the previous four games. It's just this time, it's the Los Angeles Lakers. You can't give him a 20 point head start and expect to catch up and win.

This is only one game, but I'm thinking if we want our best defensive group out there, it would have to be with Garcia and Dalembert instead of Omri and Cousins. I think that's our best defense and offensive line-up. It's better for ballhandling too.

Toronto Raptors: It Looked Ugly Early On

Samuel Dalembert. Awesome. On the stat sheet, it didn't show that he blocked any shots. Here's a case of a player's contribution not being shown in the stat sheet. He altered a number of shots and grabbed 14 rebounds in just 22 minutes.

What's going on with Donte Green. He didn't play at all this game. Sure, Paul Westphal favors Omri Casspi, but no playing time?

Darnell Jackson continues to impress with his limited minutes. He's pushes people around in the paint, and scores with putbacks or short jumpers. Great pickup.

Omri's been pretty shooting the three pretty well.

Tyreke is himself. It's strange that he drives to the hoop all the time, but there's nothing the opposing team can do about it.

I knew the Kings would have a tough time defending Andrea Bargnani, a seven-footer who can shoot three's. He's a tough a match for any center. I'm not sure what opposing teams can do about him other than to send a small forward to defend him. Kinda like what some teams do to defend Dirk.

Tonight is the Lakers. For some reason, we always play them well at home. I don't think we can win though. I always remember the game where Kings were up by 5 with 5 seconds to go, and Kobe Bryant won it by making two 3-pointers in a row (and the Kings missing their free throws in between).