Tag: David Stockton

Warriors hand Kings fourth consecutive preseason loss on Friday 117-106

Published on by Charlie O. MalloneeLeave a comment

by Charlie O. Mallonee

Where was the TV broadcast?

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Sports fans the story should be the game in Oakland and the loss by the Kings to the Warriors, but this reporter has to ask why was the game shown in the Bay Area and not in Sacramento and the Valley? Frankly this this reporter is still scratching his head trying to figure out why the rabid Kings fans were not able to watch their team take on the best team in the NBA even if it was a preseason game.

The majority of Kings fans will not be able to see the Warriors play their beloved Kings in person this season. They would love to see their team in action against the NBA’s best anytime they have the opportunity to see it happen. So why did Bay Area fans have the opportunity to watch the game while Sacramento fans had to depend on the radio broadcast and internet feeds? There really is not a logical answer. One would think advertisers would have been thrilled to support a broadcast that featured the Kings versus the NBA’s  best.

The Kings held their own in this game

Sacramento trailed just 54-51 at halftime. They were still hanging in there trailing by just three – 84-81 at the end of three quarters. Ultimately, the Warriors were just too strong coming down the stretch as they outscored the Kings 33-25 in the final frame to take the game 117-106.

This game featured 12 lead changes and was tied seven times. The longest point run was a 7-0 run.

Top scorers

stockton layup

David Stockton – who was just added to the Kings roster – was their leading scorer with 23 points. Stephen Curry led the Warriors in scoring with 18 points in just a little over 18 minutes of playing time.

Top rebounders

skal gsw

The Warriors Jordan Bell was the leading rebounder in the game with 11. Skal Labissiere was the Kings top man off the glass grabbing eight rebounds.

Assists leaders

David Stockton of Sacramento was the games top assists leader with eight. Klay Thompson was the man for Golden State dishing out six dimes.

Team stats

The Warriors outrebounded the Kings 47-40. Golden State grabbed 21 offensive rebounds to Sacramento’s 13. The Kings controlled the defensive boards 27-26.

GSW dished 34 dimes to the Kings 27.

The Kings made six steals to the Warriors four thefts.

Golden State blocked four shots while Sacramento blocked just two shots.

The Kings turned the ball over 16 times while the Warriors turned it over just 12 times.

Overall shooting percentage: Kings 48.2-percent (41-for-85); Warriors 46.9-percent (46-for-98).

3-point shooting: Sacramento 10-for-22 45.5-percent; Golden State 15-for-33 45.5-percent.

Remember this was a preseason game

No matter how exciting this game was fans cannot forget this was a preseason game. It was in no way representative of what a regular season game between these two teams will be like. That is not to say the regular season games will not be competitive and exciting, but they will be different than the game on Friday night.

The countdown to the regular season is on

The regular season will begin on Wednesday when the Houston Rockets visit the Golden 1 Center to take on the Kings in game one of the 2017-18 season for Sacramento.

The NBA D-League comes to Sacramento for one night only

Published on by Charlie O. MalloneeLeave a comment

by Charlie O. Mallonee

d-league-mag

SACRAMENTO–There was a time if you did not make the roster of an NBA team going overseas to play basketball was really a players only real option. Yes, there was the Continental Basketball Association that ultimately gave way to the NBA Development League, but the money was not good and the chances of moving into “the Association” were slim to none.

Now that players are being drafted after just one year of college basketball experience, the need to have player development teams similar to the system baseball uses has become a necessity. Rather than losing control of players to teams in Europe and Asia, NBA teams are establishing a true player development system of their own.

There are currently 22 “D-League” teams and the league will expand to 25 teams next season. It will not be long before every NBA team owns a D-League team of its own. The new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) expands each teams roster from 15 to 17 players next season. There are special pay provisions for players 16 and 17 on the roster depending on whether they on a the team’s D-League roster or NBA roster. A D-League team could have up to five NBA contract players on its roster beginning next year.

The sleepy, little D-League is now a thing of the past. The D-League (which next season will become the NBA Gatorade League) is about to become the most important player development tool the NBA has in its arsenal.

The game on Friday night featured the Reno Bighorns (owned& operated by the Kings) and the Raptors 905 (owned& operated by the Toronto Raptors).

This was my first time to see an NBA D-League game in person

I was interested in seeing several things in this particular game:

  • I was curious to see the level of play and where it fits between college and the NBA game
  • This game also offered a chance to see center Georgios Papagiannis play extended minutes that he does not get with the Kings
  • This match up also provided the chance to see one of the best teams in the D-League. Raptors 905 came into the game with the best winning percentage in the league

By halftime I had some answers

  • The level of play was obviously not NBA-like but it was also a real cut above Division-I basketball. The pace was fast and furious plus they love to shoot the ball from beyond the 3-point arc
  • Papagiannis was very interesting to watch work around basket especially with his soft-touch half-hook shot that can be very effective and almost impossible to stop because of his height and length
  • 905 showed why they win so many games by outscoring the Bighorns 36-16 in the second quarter and took a 57-42 lead into the locker room at halftime

Bighorns made it close in the third but could not hold on in the fourth

The Bighorns behind the play of David Stockton (6 pts, 1 ast) and Kendall Marshall (6 pts, 5 ast) outscored 905 26-20 in the third quarter to cut the Raptors lead to 77-68. It appeared that the momentum had swung over to Reno but things changed rapidly in the final period.

Both teams shot 6-for-20 (30-percent) from the floor in the final period. The difference came in 3-point shooting. 905 converted 3-of-8 from long range while the Bighorns hit only 1-0f-6 shots beyond the arc. The Raptors won the quarter 17-13 and the game 94-81.

Raptors 905 now has a record of 30-9 on the season and 6- 0 versus Western Conference teams. The Bighorns are now 13-25 for the season.

The Wrap

Raptors 905

  • Brady Heslip was the game’s leading scorer with 33 points in 33 minutes on the floor. He hit 8-of-15 shots from beyond the 3-point arc
  • Yanick Moreria and Antwaine Wiggins each added 11 points
  • 905 hit 12-of-31 (38.7-percent) tries from long-range
  • Raptors are now 6-0 this season versus Western Conference teams
  • Their road record improves to 15-2

Bighorns

  • Former King David Stockton was the leading scorer for Reno with 20 points. He also had three assists and three steals
  • Georgios Papagiannis posted 17 points shooting 8-for-19 from the floor. The big man also had six blocked shots in contest
  • Kendall Marshall recorded a double-double with 13 points and 13 assists
  • Isaiah Cousins — who the Kings drafted in the second round — scored 11 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Cousins played his college basketball at Oklahoma with Buddy Hield who just joined the Kings in the DeMarcus Cousins trade with New Orleans