(Image from the Sacramento Bee. Click here to view more images from the game.)
What a win. It was a wild one, especially in the first half. We [Sacramento Kings] were down by 17 in the first quarter. In frustration, I was about to turn off the TV, but the teaml called a timeout. I wanted to see if they would respond. They did, going on a 17-0 run to tie the score and eventually was up by two at halftime. Crazy. Crazy Kings.
I had marked this one down as a loss when I saw the schedule over the weekend. But shortly before the game started, I thought we had a chance after learning that Kevin Durant would be out because of a toe injury. Then I found out that Omri Casspi, one of our most consistent players, won’t be playing because of a sore back, and my optimism dimmed a bit.
Even with no Durant, I didn’t think we could win though. Sacramento Kings always had trouble with Oklahoma City Thunder. Demarcus Cousins have struggled against shot-blocking extraordinaire Serge Ibaka and whichever big men he teams up with to stop Cousins. Plus, for some reason, the Kings would always leave Ibaka with wide-open jumpers, and he doesn’t miss many of those. And then there are Durant and Russell Westbrook. We didn’t have to deal with Durant this time, but his team is still pretty good without him, at least good enough to beat non-elite teams like the Kings.
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised because the Kings are just so unpredictable. They’ll beat teams that they have no business beating, and lose to teams that they should beat.
One thing I’ve noticed with this team this year is that they’re an explosive offensive team. They can easily go on a 17-0 run. The only problem is another team can also easily make that kind of run against them. So you just never know.
At least this year, they’re responding. After every losing streakr, they’ve responded with a winning streak.
As a fan, it’s frustrating to see them play hard and beat the good teams, but play lazy and lose to the bad teams. Why can’t they play scrappy all the time. Hell, they don’t even have to be scrappy, they just have to show more effort. In games they’ve lost, they don’t go after loose balls or chase rebounds. It’s just frustrating to see three or four players just standing and waiting for a missed shot to land on their hands instead of going after it; in most of those cases, an opposing player would jump in between them and grab the ball.
But let’s not go there now. That’s in the past. In the last two wins, they’ve played hard. And they’ve won.
Let’s hope they can do it again tonight, playing against another good team in the Dallas Mavericks. It’s gonna be tough. It’s a back-to-back on the road. The Mavericks have lost their last two games and have lost a previous game against the Kings; they’re ready for revenge and ready to get back on the win column.
