Boogie Roll

Season 48, Game 09
Sacramento 94, San Antonio 91
5-4, 9th in the West

DeMarcus Cousins is a bad, bad man.

Baynes couldn’t stop him. Ayres couldn’t stop him. Bonner couldn’t stop him. Hell, even Duncan couldn’t stop him. (Hurry back, Tiago!) Foul trouble was about the only thing to slow him down (and an inadvertent hit to the head from Manu), but all it really did was rest him for the stretch run. In the 4th quarter of a close game, Cousins got a great shot whenever he wanted. The Spurs were able to craft some decent looks from their clever offense, but in the end, the brawn of Cousins overpowered the machinery of the Spurs.

Of course, the machinery isn’t in top form right now. Three-point shooting is such a vital cog to the smooth running of the offense, and the team is just not hitting 3-pointers consistently enough to open up the offense and allow the other aspects to shine. Three-point shooting stretches the floor, opens up the passing and driving lanes, and forces defenses to collapse as they get stretched too thin. For now, defenses are able to stay compact and forceful, and the Spurs’ low-output offense reinforces this.

There are a few things at work here. For starters, the team is just not shooting well overall. Green, Bonner, Diaw, and Manu are off, and the absence of Mills and Belinelli is quite noticeable. Also, defenses are more prepared for the Spurs, so defenders are closing out to shooters a lot quicker. And even when they’re still a step or two behind, there is a lot more hesitation from the shooters. Joseph and Leonard in particular always seem a bit hesitant to shoot the long-ball, and even a moment of hesitation usually closes the window on the shot.

This is why I worry about Cory playing with Manu on the second unit. As great as he is playing, his greatest strength is driving to the basket.

But that is Manu’s role with the second unit, and the shooters are ready when the ball swings to them. But when the ball swings to Cory, he re-drives, effectively re-setting the offense oftentimes. I’d like to see Cory shoot it more in those situations. (I also think the inevitable return of Marco will help out a bit.)

The interesting thing is is that Cory is playing a more Tony-like role better than Tony many nights. There were times in this game that I was actually happy to see Cory brought back into the game to replace Tony in critical situations. Overall, I really trust Cory’s floor game and ability to drive the offense right now, and he is proving a reliable scorer when the offense is stalled out. There is definitely a spot for Cory on this team, I’m just not sure exactly where it is yet. If nothing else, when Patty returns we’ll have the deepest PG rotation in the league.

On the flip side, Tony’s hot shooting start to the season masked a pretty mediocre beginning overall. With his jumper not falling tonight, his out of sync floor game was quite obvious. I thought he hurt us more than he helped us tonight and hasn’t been a net-positive nearly enough this season.

I was also surprised at Kawhi’s defensive ineffectiveness against Rudy Gay. Perhaps it was the early foul trouble, but Kawhi seemed quite passive and really didn’t stop anybody nor gum up the Kings’ offense in general.

Kawhi was really solid on offense, and I’m liking his aggressiveness in getting his own shots, particularly from post-ups. His stroke is smooth, and his turnaround jumper is pretty un-guardable. It’s still a learning curve getting both sides of his game in sync together on a nightly basis.

Still, the Spurs fought hard and were in this game until the very end. They had two very nifty plays to seize the lead late, both born of the Big 3’s decade-plus court time together (one a back-cut from Tony to Manu, the other a nice high-low switch and back-cut from Tim to Tony on the low block); and then two very bad possessions, one with Tony hoisting a prayer after 23 seconds of inaction, and the other a set where the team clearly wasn’t all on the same page and wasted precious seconds in the final minute. (The team was also unlucky, essentially losing two possessions with a bad offensive rebound and the ball getting stuck in the rim, leading to a jump ball instead of a defensive board.)

On the second night of a back-to-back (and the tail end of 4 games in 6 nights, all on the road), it was a strong effort. A 3-1 California road trip should be seen as a success, full stop. The team hung tough, but just couldn’t make the plays necessary to pull off the upset. And for tonight, at least, the Kings had the best player on the court.

The Spurs return home to play the Sixers, led by former assistant Brett Brown, on Monday night. Philadelphia is very bad, which makes the game particularly dangerous.

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