Tag: National Basketball Association

No Boogie, No Problem as Kings defeat Bucks,129-118

Published on by Michael MartinezLeave a comment

by Michael Martinez

photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images

SACRAMENTO- For the 6th time this season, the Kings had to play without their All Star big man, Demarcus Cousins, who sat out with a lower back strain. Prior to tonight’s game, the Kings were 0-5 with Cousins and 11-39 in the 50 games Cousins has not suited up. Nonetheless, the Kings were able to put together an offensive showcase with smart, quick ball movement while shooting at a high percentage. Although all the Kings starters played well, namely Rudy Gay and Rajon Rondo, the bench made a large impact. The Kings (5-10) win over the Bucks (6-8), 129-118, was an overall team win and a huge boost of confidence to pick up the victory without one of their team leaders in Milwaukee at the Bradley Center.

The 1st quarter was an offensive flurry for both teams and Gay started off the game hot, which would continue for most of the game. Gay made the Kings first 6 points and finished the quarter with 14 points, going 6-7 from the field and adding 2 boards. The Kings started getting the ball moving early on and pushing the ball towards the hoop. The team had 26 points in the paint in the 1st quarter and Rondo’s 7 assists in the quarter helped the Kings on the offensive end and he totaled 6 points as well. The whole team did a good job of getting it inside especially to Kosta Koufos who had 8 points in the 1st. The Kings shot the ball at an incredible 77.3% in the first although their defense was not the best especially their transition defense. The 1st was very back and forth with little turnovers, but the Kings closed the quarter on a 14-7 run to take the leader, 40-33, heading into the 2nd quarter.

The Kings offense and lights out shooting slowed down  in the 2nd quarter, however the bench started to step up big. Omri Casspi shot the ball well and attacked the hoop. He was able to get to the line on 2 occasions, going 3-4 from the charity stripe, while shooting 2-3 from the field. Marco Belinelli put up 7 points in the quarter and although his 3 point shot was not quite there, he was able to still find some offensive rhythm. While Rondo got some well deserved rest throughout the 2nd, Darren Collison kept the ball moving with 3 assists in the 2nd and totaling 6 points on 2-3 shooting. The Bucks bench also did a good job of scoring and making the Kings defense work. The Bucks outscored the Kings, 33-29, and had a slightly higher shooting percentage, 52.4%-50%. George Karl picked up a technical foul in the quarter, but the Bucks missed the free shot. To end the quarter, Gay drove to the hoop and made a nice lay up, which was answered by Jarryd Bayless with a buzzer beating 3 pointer. The Kings still led heading into the locker room, 69-66, even after being out rebounded 22-17 especially on the offensive end, which allowed the Bucks to get 2nd chance opportunities.

Coming into the 2nd half, both teams picked up where they left off. The action was once again back and forth with Gay making it look easy. The 3rd quarter for the Kings was a huge team effort as they did a good job of finding the open man throughout the 3rd and the entire game. None of the Kings players put up double digits in the quarter, but everyone who played in the quarter scored. Gay continued his hot shooting, 3-6 in the quarter, with 6 points. The 3rd ended and Gay had 26 points, while Casspi and Belinelli had 14 points each. Casspi and Belinelli’s bench play helped the Kings stay ahead throughout and Rondo kept pushing the ball up court, adding 4 more assists. Giannis Antetokounmpo showed up in the 3rd quarter where he scored 10 points, 3-5 from the field. Khris Middleton did a good job of scoring, with 8 in the quarter and 15 at the end of the 3rd. Luckily for the Kings, Middleton got into early foul trouble in the quarter and the Bucks slowed down a little bit. As the clock was winding down, Belinelli was able to hit a buzzer beater from behind the arc to give the Kings the 96-92 lead at the end of the 3rd.

The Kings did a better job on the defensive end against the Bucks, while Gay’s stroke was still smooth as butter. Gay was able to get to the line and was flagrantly fouled early on, by John Henson as he attacked the hoop. Gay put up 10 points in the 4th quarter, which was matched by Darren Collison. Collision continued the theme of solid bench play in the 4th quarter with his hustle and dribbling ability helping him get to the basket. The Kings started to pull away from the Bucks towards the end of the 4th as they did a good job with their help defense and getting stops on that end of the court. The Kings held their biggest lead of the game, 12, in the quarter. Frustration poured over for the Bucks as Michael Carter-Williams picked  up a technical. That would not be the only tech, as the Bucks head coach Jason Kidd got furious over not getting foul calls. Kidd approached referee Zach Zarba, giving him an earful and swiped the ball out of Zarba’s hand. Kidd was immediately ejected from the game and had to be held back, leaving the court to a standing ovation from Bucks’ fans. The Kings’ offense was just too much for the Bucks and the Kings were able to get just enough stops to pull out the win, 129-118.

Without Cousins, who is averaging 27.9 points a game according to ESPN.com, the Kings needed players to step up on the offensive end. Overall, the Kings did just that with the whole team playing well. Although their defense is not quite where it needs to be, their 57.1 shooting percentage, 42 rebounds and 23 assists was just enough. Gay had a game high 36 points, 13-21, while Rondo was one rebound shy of yet another triple double. Rondo finished with 10 points, 9 rebounds, 13 assists as he continues to pass the ball on an incredible level. Rondo’s vision and patience allow him to see the play he wants to make ahead of time. Koufos benefitted from Rondo’s passing ability, totaling 14 points. Casspi scored 19 points and grabbed 7 boards, 6-9 on field goals. Belinelli posted 18 points, 5-10 from the field, 3-7 from downtown. Collision put up 18 points as well and finished with 3 assists. Those 3 were the only Kings bench players, but helped the bench total 55 points.

After a great team win, the Kings are now 6-10 and will take on the Minnesota Timberwolves at home. Picking up their 2nd road win on the season, the Kings look to continue their hot shooting and hopefully can start causing more disturbance on defense as last year’s Rookie of the Year, Andrew Wiggins, and rookie Karl Anthony-Towns head to Sacramento.

Kings downtown arena: STOP withdrawal signatures signals momentum for Kings arena

Published on by lleonardbwLeave a comment

by Ken Gimblin

SACRAMENTO–The campaign by the anti arena group STOP or Sacramento Taxpayers Opposed To Pork which looked like they were picking up some momentum this past summer as it looked as they would have enough signatures to put a disclaimer on the ballot before any new sports or entertainment facilities could be built, that would ask the voter if they apporove public monies to pay for such new buildings.

The campaign was required to present 22,000 signatures to be turned into the Sacramento registrar of voters, so far 14,012 withdrawal cards of the 15,277 forms that had been turned in by the downtownarena.org/Crown Downtown have not been counted. What hurts STOP’s campaign even worse is that there are a good number of reported unregistered voters who will be dropped out of the petition drive if that can be verified by the county registrar.

As of Monday 9,576 were counted as valid voters well short of the 22,000 needed to make the disclaimer a requirement on June ballot. It was also reported that some of the voters that signed the petition were not in the boundaries of Sacramento when the signatures were checked by the register’s office. Also it was said that some of the 34,000 signatures that were turned of those signatures the names might have been of voters names of who didn’t even sign the petition in the first place.

According to Jill LaVine Sacramento county registrar not only were there people who might not have signed the petition or did not live in Sacramento but they also may not have signatures that match against their registered signature in previous balloting or their registration cards on file with the county, “We will verify the voter was an eligible voter in the city limits, at the address listed, on the dates the petition was circulated, and the signature matches. If there is a withdrawal on file, it will link up and that signature will be noted as ‘withdrawn,’ said LaVine.

Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson also said that STOP will be resposible for the bill for the time and labor from the office of registrar. At one time STOP looked like they would have enough signatures to get the disclaimer on any future ballots but with all these factors now involved the Mayor and the city are planning one final crushing blow to STOP’s efforts by deferring the costs of the registrar’s office to the non-profit group, “(STOP) are not folks who have Sacramento’s best interests in mind. For me this isn’t what it appears to be, this initiative is like a trojan horse, it’s like a bait and switch.” said Johnson in a recent interview with the Sacramento Bee.

Johnson said that Sacramento was misled into thinking that STOP got these signatures legitimately, “we are ready to fight especially attacked from outside our community, we’re not going to be fooled. We’ve been here before.” Hedge fund manager Chris Hansen who tried to buy and move and build a new arena for the Kings in downtown Seattle. Later the NBA ruled that Sacramento should keep it’s team if they can get a new arena built by the 2016 season. Since Hansen lost his bid for the Kings and later he spent $100,000 of his own money for the petiton drive to get the facility subsidy disclaimer on the coming June ballot in Sacramento.

Hansen who would have had another shot at an NBA team in Seattle lost his credibility after it was found out that he was behind the campaign to undermind the Kings aspirations to build a new arena in downtown Sacramento.

Worse Hansen was fined by the registrar of voters for campaign violations to the tune of $50,000. STOP continued the campaign taking the signatures. STOP’s president Jullian Camacho says the mayor is misleading the public over his fight against the signatures, “he’s grasping at straws, if there are outside interests, they are centered at Region Builders (a pro arena group) not in STOP’s organization. Moreover the mayor’s statement is highly indicative of the misinformation that’s plauged this effort, an effort by local folks to be more involved in the long term direction of the city.” said Camacho. STOP turned in roughly 40,000 signatures on Tuesday at the city clerks office.

Ken Gimblin is covering the NBA for Sportstalk radio

Kings arena: anti arena group to ally with non-union contractors

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by Ken Gimblin

SACRAMENTO–The new ownership of the Sacramento Kings might have to dig in at the ballot box politically this coming June as a anti arena group has geared up to oppose the new arena proposal. The new group Voters for a Fair Arena Deal will not be working with Sacramento Taxpayers Opposed To Pork or STOP. Non-union contractors who appeared at one of the Kings rallies at the Westfield mall the site of the proposed new Kings arena are joining the protest against the new arena and plan to support VFAD.

The non-union contractors are upset that they were not included in any process of the new arena build, the new arena is expected to be built by only union labor.VFAD is separating itself from the better known group STOP due to questionable petition gathering by STOP and how signatures were gathered by STOP were in question. Also STOP’s involvement with Seattle hedge fund manager Chris Hansen who paid $50,000 to have signatures gathered by STOP. Hansen who lost his bid to move the Kings to Seattle might have been seeking a way to stop the Kings from building a new arena in Sacramento if it were put to a vote regarding public funding.

Hansen later said he had nothing to do with paying the $50,000 for the signature gathering after receiving heavy criticism by city and NBA officials behind closed doors sources say to put a ballot measure to have any new public funding for any new sports facilities built in Sacramento to be voter approved first.

The public’s share of subsidizing the new Kings arena downtown is around $258 million. Hansen later backtracked after realizing he might have damaged his chances to buy, build a new arena, and own an NBA team in Seattle. VFAD is going forward with the petition campaign saying they want the public funds policed for new sports facilities which should be voted on by the Sacramento voters.

The non-union contractors who will not be involved in any of the construction work are willing to contribute to the ballot measure effort by donating $15,000-$25,000. VFAD will not be joining STOP to work in concert with getting the measure on the ballot distancing themselves from STOP because of what is considered questionable campaigning in obtaining the petition signatures and their involvement with Hansen.

Community activist Craig Powell from the group Eye on Sacramento said, “we are not opposed to the new arena, we are not opposed to the public subsidy for an arena. What we are in favor for is a subsidy we can afford.” Craig has said that the price tag of $258 million in public subsidies is too much and will do damage to the city budget.

Ken Gimblin is covering the Sacramento Kings for Sportstalk with game day reporters Tony Renteria and Charlie O

Kings arena: public subsidy losing support as voters want to withdraw signatures

Published on by lleonardbw1 Comment
by Ken Gimblin
SACRAMENTO–The anti Sacramento arena group Sacramento Taxpayers Opposed To Pork or STOP have admitted that of the over 22,000 signatures to put a ballot measure asking voters should the city use public subsidies for any new sports facilities and this would include the new Kings arena project at the cost of $258 million are not sure of those signatures whose are legitimate.
Stop’s spokesman John Hyde said of the signatures, “we really have no idea who these people are” and admitted that some of the forms that STOP had signed might have been submitted by people who never signed STOP’s petition in the first place. If it turns out to be so this will further damage STOP’s credibility as they were involved with Seattle hedge fund manager Chris Hansen who lost his bid to buy and move the Kings out of Sacramento to Seattle and now there’s questions as to the signatures of the petitions that their holding.
Hansen was fined for missing the registration deadline of filing the petitions for the ballot measure and had to pay a $50,000 fine to the department of elections. Hansen has since disavowed his involvement with the petition campaign despite sources saying Hansen had paid a Los Angeles law firm Loeb and Loeb to organize and represent the campaign.
Upon learning of Hansen’s dealings voters who signed the petition are now moving to have their names removed from the forms according the Joshua Wood of DowntownArena.org. Withdraw forms were submitted to the city clerk’s office. The city clerk is going through some 1,500 signatures to see if they are valid if proven to be valid it would increase the withdraw volume up to 3,100.
Wood said that the great number of withdraws are unprecedented and that it’s a reflection of Hansen’s involvement with the signature campaign and then backing out and saying he wasn’t a part of it and apologizing for being involved in the campaign. Hansen thought the better of it after the NBA said they were not please with his actions and that his credibility with the league was near shot over this in any future bid to get an NBA team.
The city council agreed to a subsidy on public funds back in March by barrowing off any future sales tax that will pay back the public funds from arena parking and city public parking, also from ticket and concession sales made at the new downtown arena.
Ken Gimblin is covering the Sacramento Kings with Charlie O and Tony Renteria for Sportstalk radio