Post Game Thread - vs Sacramento Kings, Home

[bobheckler]

After the loss to Detroit I would not have thought we'd have so much trouble beating the Sacramento Queens.

GREAT first quarter.  GREAT ball movement, made the extra pass, got open looks and knocked them down.  Shot 57% in the 1st.  We were down to 43% at halftime, a 7-22 2nd quarter.  Despite scoring only 17 points in that quarter we trailed by only 1 point at halftime thanks to the Kings only scoring 18 points in the 2nd quarter because, well, they're the Kings.  We do that against a playoff team and we'll be in big trouble.

Al Horford is a stud, Al Horford is a stud, Al Horford is a stud.  The first time in NBA history a player has recorded 26 points, 6 blocks, 4 3ptrs and 2 steals in a game and he did it against one of the league's best centers.  

Michael Pina
@MichaelVPina yesterday
Al Horford doesn't want any help on Boogie. Just waved off his teammates after another double led to an open bucket.

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To be honest, that last block, the last play of the game, looked more like Cousins brought the ball up into Horford's chest and knocked it loose himself, more of a steal or a turnover than a block, but Al got the block stat and that put him over the top.  I said, on the Game On thread, that I am thinking that signing Al Horford was a better signing, FOR US, than Durant (now watch, Durant will score 40 and Al will go into a slump and I'll flip-flop).  Last night, though, we saw something special.  He doesn't qualify (yet) for the leader board, due to the games he missed, but Al Horford is leading the league in blocked shots with 2.9 blocks/game; ahead of Gobert, Jordan and Whiteside.  Horford is saying that playing PF has increased his block rate.  Imagine if we were to acquire a player who was a force at the rim.  A player like, oh, I don't know, say,...

No player generates stronger opinions than DeMarcus Cousins.  I'm not going to change anybody's opinion here neither, but look at his stat line:  28 points in 34 minutes, 10-26, 9 boards, 3 assists and 2 TOs, 4 blocks.  The other 4 Kings starters combined for 31 points.  Think of that.  Boogie almost outscored the rest of his starting lineup, and they lost.  How would that make you feel if that happened often (and it does) for 6 straight seasons?  He took an accidental shot to his eyebrow from a teammate that needed stitches.  He went to the locker room and told the trainer to just glue it closed so he could come back out and finish the last 5+ minutes of a close game, which he did.  He needed 8 stitches over his right eye after the game.  That's a warrior.  And then there are these:

Jared Weiss
@JaredWeissNBA yesterday
Crowder on Cousins: He just plays the game the right way. He's a dog down there. He's a bull. #Celtics #SacKings

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Jared Weiss
@JaredWeissNBA yesterday
Crowder says he's become friends with Cousins just playing against each other. "That's my guy." #Celtics

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So, maybe the whole "DeMarcus Cousins is a problem child" thing is a product of fans' perceptions and not what is happening in the locker room or on the court. Perk used to get T'd up all the time,  ALL the time, famously played with a scowl on his face, but nobody accused him of being a problem on the team.  Maybe if we started thinking of Boogie as just an immensely more talented Kendrick Perkins that might help us get past his visuals and body language and more into his game.


Their bench was great, ours sucked.  Terrible.  Rozier had some big defensive plays, steals, but otherwise we were completely outplayed.  Our saving grace was that Matt Barnes was 3-11 in 31 minutes.  He had 16 rebounds and 2 steals, overall a fantastic game, but his shooting saved us.  Sound familiar?  A 6th man who plays great defense and gets a lot of stuff done but shoots 30% on double-digit fgas and the team loses?

Speaking of:  Smart was 1-4 for 2 points, 3 assists and 4 TOs.  Not a good stat line, but this was a good game for him.  Other than his TOs (some were bad decisions by him but some were just flow of the game TOs) he didn't hurt us with empty possessions.  Not one of his better games, but not a bad one neither.  He makes bad, bad shooting decisions.  Great decisions on other things but bad, bad shooting discipline.

Rozier with a 1-7 night but his 3 steals were very timely and impactful.  Real momentum changers.

Jaylen Brown with 4 minutes.  Is he going to be packaged?  If so, don't you have to showcase him a bit?  If he isn't being traded then does this mean he is not doing as well as a #3 pick should do?  Or are other players being showcased and that's why they are playing?  Who knows, I just know the distance from his dog house and Gerald Green's outhouse is 4 minutes.  


PLEASE, let there not be a let down in Philly!



bob


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