Kings emerge victorious from the cage death match with the Jazz

After beating the Jazz 104-99 Saturday Night, I’m not really sure what to tell you. So, random thoughts via bullet points is all I got.

The 4 factors:

	Pace	Eff	eFG	FT/FG	OREB%	TOr
Sacramento	87.0	119.5	57.5%	40.3	14.3	11.5
Utah		113.8	52.0%	26.3	19.5	13.8

 

As you can see, the Kings really just shot the ball better than Utah.

* Paul Westphal’s postgame conference was interesting. He basically said Tyreke Evans is a future many time All-Star, that Spencer Hawes & Jason Thompson were critical to the offensive output regardless of how the boxscore looked, and that Donte Greene finally showed in a NBA game what the coaching staff had been asking.

Watch Tyreke Evans back to back Dunks:

Watch the nice Beno Udrih pass to Spencer Hawes for the dunk:

This is what Tyreke had to say after the game:

Some other players commented too:

* Tyreke Evans had by any realistic scenario a great game. 32 points, 7-15 shooting, 16-19 from the line, and was 2-3 from 3. More than that though, Evans had 21 of his 32 points in the 2nd and 3rd qtr’s when the Kings essentially won the game. In the 2nd & 3rd qtr’s, the Kings won those 2 qtr’s by a combined score of 66-38.

* Jason Thompson had a gaudy all around stat line, but Spencer Hawes is still the better defender down low. The maximum effectiveness these two will come when JT’s post defense improves and Hawes doesn’t have so many extremes.

* Sean May may have played his way out of the rotation. Ditto with Sergio Rodriguez.

* Donte Greene 4-4 from the field. Other than Evans, Greene is the clear winner with all the injuries. Getting time in part because of Omri Casspi’s own ankle injury, it makes a good deal of sense. Greene, though, hit 2 of 2 from 2 point land, including a tough layup in traffic, and 2 3 balls. Just as important, he didn’t force a shot. It’s clear that he is trying to do what Paul Westphal has asked. If Greene is going to make a case for consistent minutes, nights such as tonight are the best bullet points on the resume to make said case.

* Kenny Thomas was effective in his 15 mins. He hit both FT’s he took, had a tip in (that tied the game just before the end of the 1st half at 55), and grabbed 6 rebounds (1 that was the tip in). Just as importantly, Thomas played post defense and gave the Kings energy and fouls to use.

* I’m quite a bit surprised Jon Brockman didn’t see any action in this game. That either says a lot about Brockman, Kenny Thomas, or Spencer Hawes/Jason Thompson. I think it’s a bit of each, truthfully.

* The Kings won the game on the little things, and mainly hitting shots. Of the team’s 10 turnovers,  3 were shot clock violations, and 2 were offensive fouls. For such a young team to not turn the ball is beyond impressive. It’s mind boggling how it’s even possible.

* Beno Udrih won the game for the Kings down the stretch with his poise. As the Kings struggled to run their offense in the 4th qtr, the best shots usually came when Udrih created off the dribble. More than that, Beno showed some leadership and emotion in trying to help the Kings win. As reviled as he may be for being overpaid, Udrih showed that he can be valuable to this team in a limited role. If that happens, there is no question the Kings will be a better team. Beno Udrih, it seems to me, is best suited to be the 1st or 2nd G off the bench.

* Ime Udoka shot 2 for 5, but one of those shots made was a 3. That’s why he was signed, and Desmond Mason let go.

* Andres Nocioni was 5-10, including 4-7 from 3, for 14 points. Noc’s outside presence helped counter-balance Evans brilliance in getting to the line.

* The Kings as a team were 11-19 from 3, and 27-32 from the FT line. The Jazz were 5-15 from 3 and 20-26 from the line. Ballgame.

* I thought it showed a great deal of trust on Paul Westphal’s part to let the Kings play through their mistakes as the game wound down with several minutes to go. He showed a lot of trust in his team last night, and it showed with the confidence. The execution is lacking, still, but that’s to be expected. Paul Westphal, in my view, is laying the seeds to see this team win as many games as possible even with Kevin Martin sidelined.

* The Jazz were terrible tonight. You can bet that the Jazz will be far more hostile next game.

* The rebounding battle was even.

Tonight was a great night to be a Kings fan. Even if the Kings don’t get another high quality win on the road all season, it was nice to get a win in the face of the news of Nocioni’s suspicion of DUI and Martin’s injury news. With all the anger and bitterness of that looming, it was nice to see some high quality basketball played.

Last but not least, let’s play figure out which rookie is which:

Player A has 19 Assists and 20 Turnover’s. Player B has 25 assists and 14 Turnovers. Player C has 22 Assists and 16 Turnover’s. (Note: All stats are adjusted through tonight.)

If you guessed Player A is Jonny Flynn, Player B is Tyreke Evans, and Player C is Brandon Jennings, congratulations.

I don’t know if Tyreke Evans is a multiple time All-Star, a Hall of Famer, or a legend beyond comparison. The first would thrill me. I’d be speechless if Evans becomes a 1st ballot hall of famer. A legend beyond comparison is something that is reserved for very few players in the history of the league. I don’t know if Evans could ever do that.

I do know that the Kings do not turn the ball over very much, and a large part of that is that the team clearly prefers to take lesser shots than try to make the risky play. And, I can agree with that. A poor shot is always better than a risky pass that has a low chance of succeeding.

Through 6 games, the Kings are 2-4. If you told me 10 days ago that the Kings would have gotten smoked in OKC, Evans would have gone toe to toe with Chris Paul and survived, but lost a close game, the Spurs would have blown out the Kings with Spencer Hawes getting back on track, Kevin Martin turning in what Tom Ziller and Sam Amick each described as Martin’s best all around game, the Hawks out executing the Kings down the stretch int he 4th qtr to win, and the Kings coming into the toxic waste dump in SLC to win a game? I would have told you to let me smoke some of the good shit you’re smokin.

Don’t be shy! Puff Puff Pass!