Minnesota Sports Forum

Yep, the Sac-town travelling circus is in town. Let's catch up on what's happening with the Kings. Rajon Rondo returns from being suspended for calling an NBA ref a sexual preference slur...and it wasn't even directed at Violet Palmer. And DeMarcus Cousins' manager was thrown out of the last game for slapping Jason Terry. (I'm sure we all can identify with DMC's problem...it can be so difficult sometimes to control our "managers". WTF does a manager do anyway, other than slap Jason Terry?).

The problem is that the Kings are actually kind of good. They have won their last 3 games including a 10-point win over Houston Tuesday. Offensively they are a very sound team...3rd in scoring, 7th in shooting percentage and 5th in 3-point shooting. Defense is a different story as they give up more PPG than any other team, but their defense is probably better than the Wolves during the recent Martin administration.

But despite being a (gulp) 2 point underdog to the Kings, there are some reasons for optimism tonight. the Kings are not a very good road team, only 2-8. And the Wolves get KG back tonight...they are always a better defensive team with KG in the starting lineup (and Martin out of it).

It will be interesting to see who Sam starts tonight. This actually might be the night that Zach gets the start at SG...Sam is all about matchups, and Sacramento isn't very big with McLemore at SG and Gay at PF. But I think he is frustrated with his team's defense the past 10 games, and will try to slow the Kings down by starting the defensive lineup he began the season with.

KAT hasn't played against DMC yet, so that will be an interesting matchup to watch. I'd like to see KAT draw DMC outside to give Wig more room to operate inside. Casspi scares me with his 43% success rate beyond the arc, so I'd prefer to see Tay and Wig on him rather than Bazz.

Being an underdog to an average team at home shows how far the Wolves have fallen. A win tonight could get them back on track.

Always refreshing when we play a team more dysfunctional than we are (see also Philly) but those might be the only 2. I'd rather see KAT go after Boogie and not rely on the outside shot. I'm guessing he'll do both equally well, but I wanna see KAT let him know who's the new boss.

Big KAT doing work

25-15 in the first...nice to have KMart on the bench and Sam's preferred starters on the court. I think this is his vision for this year's team...textbook defense by his best defensive five at the start of the game to frustrate the other team's starters, and KAT and Wig taking 9 of the first 16 shots with the other three guys picking and passing. Now, the reserves have to play even with Sac-towns reserves.

Gorgui the first off the bench...in for KG at PF.

Belly looks nothing like the guy we enjoyed watching at the start of the year. Looks like the NBA grind is really getting to him. I'd be giving his minutes to Payne for awhile.

Old man miller with a nice backdoor cut. Playing small ball now.

Painful to watch a defensive unit with Miller, Bazz and Martin all out there. So many dumb plays.

What a terrific offensive rebound and putback by Bazz! Our athleticism is really on display tonight. But our second unit poor defense has pissed away most of the 10-point lead the starters gave them.

Good...Ricky back in

Why is martin still in the game? take him out now!