San Antonio Spurs – Page 11 – Sports Radio Service

Warriors start slowly but comeback in the second half to defeat Spurs 112-92

Published on November 2, 2017November 3, 2017 by rxsluggerLeave a comment

Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) celebrates with his team during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the San Antonio Spurs, Thursday, Nov. 2, 2017, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

by Jerry Feitelberg

San Antonio, Texas – The San Antonio Spurs took it the Warriors in the first quarter to earn a 19-point lead. The Spurs were making three-point shots, rebounding, and shooting well as they appeared to be ready to blow out the Warriors. The Spurs were without the services of Kawhi Leonard and Tony Parker, and they wanted to send the message to the Warriors that they could win without those two stars. The Spurs also knew that they usually beat the Warriors at home. That did not happen as the Warriors righted the ship late in the second quarter and shut the Spurs attack down in the second half to win by twenty (112-92).

The Spurs held a slight 10-9 lead in the first quarter. They went on a 21-3 run to lead 31-12. The Warriors ended the quarter on a 12-2 run to close the gap to 33-24. Steph Curry and Draymond Green led the charge. The Warriors tried to close the gap, but the Spurs were double-teaming Kevin Durant every time he touched the ball, and at one point, KD missed all of his first eight shots. The Warriors started to play better defense and kept chipping away at the lead. The Warriors offense was led by Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green. The Warriors finished the first half trailing by five (55-50).

The Warriors, as they have done so many times, won the third quarter as they outscored the Spurs 34-23. They took the lead 60-57 for the first time early in the quarter. The Spurs and Warriors exchanged buckets, and the game was tied at 63. The Warriors took over and did not relinquish the lead. Kevin Durant started to make baskets, Steph Curry, who had to leave the game in the second quarter as he tweaked his knee, returned to lead the club to an 84-78 advantage after three periods of play. The Warriors shut down the Spurs offense in the fourth quarter. They outscored them 28-14 to win 112-92.

Game Notes – Spurs’ coach Gregg Popovich left the game in the fourth quarter when he was charged with a double technical.

The Warriors did not allow the Spurs to make a three-point shot in the second half. The Spurs made seven in the first half. The Warriors were led by Klay Thompson’s 27 points. Klay mad five threes. Steph Curry tallied 21, and he had four assists and eight rebounds. Durant, who had just five points in the first half, ended with 24. KD had five assists, eight boards, and three blocks. The Warriors shot 51.8% from the floor, made fourteen threes, had 30 assists, 11 steals, and 11 blocks. They committed nine turnovers in the first half, but just five in the second.

After the game, coach Steve Kerr said the Warriors had a “great response to the early shock we took. We weren’t ready for battle early, that’s why we fell behind. We started competing, running, and passing the ball.” Kerr also remarked this about the Warriors’ defense: “The last two games have been our best defensive efforts.”

Curry was asked how the Warriors rebounded from the big first-quarter deficit and he said that the team was “sticking with the program.” He also said the team was “starting to gel.” Curry left the game with a slight knee injury in the second quarter, but he came back to play in the third quarter. Curry said it was “a little scary, but I got out all right.” The Warriors coaching staff, players, and fans let out a collective sigh of relief when he came back into the game.

The Spurs’ offense was led by LaMarcus Aldridge, Kyle Anderson, Pau Gasol, and Rudy Gay. The Spurs lost their fourth consecutive game in a row and are now 4-4 for the season. The Warriors improved to 6-3 and have won five of the last six games. The Warriors travel to Denver to face the Nuggets Saturday night. Game time is at 5:30.

Young Kings can’t make it two wins in a row over Spurs; lose 113-93 on the road

Published on October 7, 2017October 7, 2017 by Charlie O. MalloneeLeave a comment

spurs WCS by Charlie O. Mallonee

The Sacramento Kings learned the very tough lesson on Friday night that all NBA teams must learn – it is very tough to win on the road in “the Association”. After beating the Spurs in their preseason opener in Sacramento, the Kings suffered their first loss of the preseason on Friday night in “the Alamo City” losing to the Spurs 113-93.

Sacramento came out of the gate fast

The Kings outscored the Spurs 24-15 in the first quarter of the game on Friday night. Buddy Hield led the Kings scoring barrage putting up eight points in the first 12-minutes of the game. Willie Cauley-Stein and Frank Mason added four points each in what would be a 24-point first quarter for Sacramento.

Unlike Monday, it was the young the Kings who were chosen to start on Friday night on the road. Malachi Richardson, Skal Labissiere, Willie Cauley-Stein, Buddy Hield and De’Aaron Fox were the starting five in San Antonio.

The Spurs outscored the Kings in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th quarters

The Spurs outscored the Kings by 12 points in the second quarter, six points in the third quarter and by 11 points in the fourth quarter.

Danny Green led the way with 20 points for the Spurs. LaMarcus Aldridge shot 5-for-10 from the field to score 10 points for San Antonio. Brandon Paul, Bryn Forbes and Davis Bertrans scored nine points each against the Kings.

The Spurs shot 55.4-percent from the field and 48.4-percent (15-for-31) from 3-point range. San Antonio had 28 assists and 17 turnovers. That is not the ratio a team wants to have but is was good enough to post a win on Friday night.

The Kings young players were featured on Friday

spurs hield

Willie Cauley-Stein was the Kings leading scorer in game with 14-points. He also grabbed nine rebounds and turned the ball over just two times.

Skal Labissiere had a 13-point game for the Kings on Friday night. He went 6-for-10 from the field, hauled in two rebounds and did not turn the ball over in 25-plus minutes of playing time.

Buddy Hield and De’Aaron Fox each added 12-points in their time on the floor.Georgios Papagiannis played 29-minutes and recorded 10-points and three rebounds. Marcus Williams who is fighting for a spot at the end of the bench put up nine points in 13-minutes of playing time.

The Kings shot 45.2-percent from the field and 26.7-percent from 3-point land. Sacramento had 32 rebounds and 13 turnovers.

The bottom line lesson

Winning on the road in NBA is very hard. Unfortunately for the young Kings, that is a lesson that will be a lesson that will be learned many times in 2017-18.

Up next for Sacramento

The Kings will return to preseason action on Sunday night in Las Vegas when they will face the Los Angeles Lakers. Proceeds from the game will be donated to victims of the tragic shooting of the Route 91 Harvest music festival.

Harry Giles update

The Kings have revealed that Harry Giles will not be available to play until January 2018 as he continues to rehab from his surgery for an injury to his ACL. Giles who was originally projected to be the number one pick in the 2017 NBA Draft Lottery has suffered setbacks due to knee troubles.

Giles is just 19-years old so the Kings can afford to patient. He has been most often compared to Chris Webber. If he can be close to Webber, waiting until he his fully healthy will be worth the wait.

Spurs take the Kings to school as they break a two game losing streak

Published on March 19, 2017 by Charlie O. MalloneeLeave a comment

by Charlie O. Mallonee

Coach Gregg Popovich is notorious for resting players whenever he decides it is necessary. He does not care what the league, broadcast executives or fans have to say about the practice. A team in the Kings situation is praying that “Pop” will rest a few stars against them.

Unfortunately for the Kings, San Antonio had lost two games in row coming into Sunday’s game, and there was no chance that the Spurs were going to rest anyone unless they had opened up an unbeatable lead. All the Kings could do was suck it up, give it their all and hope to keep the game close to have a chance at the end.

Sacramento came out of the gate starting quickly – something they have not always done this season – and put up 27 points in the first quarter. The Kings held a six point lead after the first 12-minutes.

Coach Pop got his team’s attention in the second quarter and they outscored the Kings 37-22 in the second 12-minutes. The Spurs took a 58-49 lead to the locker room at halftime and they would never look back after that.

The Spurs did not let up after halftime as they put up 41 points to the Kings 25 in the third quarter. After 36 minutes, it was a chance for the Spurs to rest the starters and for the Kings to go to school against a championship team.

Ultimately the Spurs (53-16) won the game 118-102 to drop the Kings record to 27-43 and to 1-2 on this three-game road trip.

Buddy Hield got back on track

Hield did not have the game he wanted to have in OKC on Saturday. On Sunday in the Alamo City, Hield put up 18 points. He shot 8-for-14 from the floor and went hit 2-of-3 from beyond the 3-point line. Hield also grabbed five rebounds, dished out five assists and made one steal. He played 32-minutes in his start versus the Spurs.

Look out here come those Kentucky guys

Willie Cauley-Stein got the start at forward and took advantage of that opportunity. He scored 18 points to tie Buddy Hield for the team high. WCS also pulled down four rebounds, distributed five assists and had a blocked shot. He shot 5-for-11 from the field and converted 8-of-11 from the free throw line.

Skal Labissiere did not start but he added 14 points. The rookie big man hit 7-of-9 from the floor to go with seven rebounds. Labissiere did all of that in just 23-minutes on the floor.

Papa G grabbed some serious rebounds

Georgios Papagiannis spent 24-minutes in the game versus the Spurs. The big rookie scored just six points going 2-for-7 from the field, but he grabbed 10 rebounds – including four offensive rebounds – in the contest. “Papa G” is getting the opportunity to learn on the job against some of the best players in the NBA.

Temple played well against Kawhi Leonard

Garrett Temple played tough on defense helping to hold Leonard to just 12 points in the game. At the same time, Temple scored 15 points hitting 3-0f-3 from 3-point land. Temple continues to be a solid leader for the Kings.

Kings had some solid team numbers

Sacramento shot a respectable 49.4-percent (41-for-83) from the floor. They shot 7-for-10 (70-percent) from beyond the 3-point line. The Kings had a very acceptable 29 assists to 11 turnovers posting for the game.

Why did the Spurs win

San Antonio scored more points in the paint, had more second chance points and had more fast break points than the Kings. That pretty much guarantees a win for your opposition. In this case, it did.

Up next

The Kings are off until Wednesday when they will host the Milwaukee Bucks at the Golden 1 Center. The Bucks are battling to hold on for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference of the NBA.

It’s Just My Opinion: KD’s absence puts speed bump on Warriors’ season

Published on March 1, 2017March 1, 2017 by jhawkes51Leave a comment

AP photo file: Former Sacramento Kings forward Matt Barnes, right, goes to the basket over Chicago Bulls center Robin Lopez during the first half of an NBA basketball game Monday, Feb. 6, 2017, in Sacramento, Calif. Barnes returns to Golden State in light of the Kevin Durant injury on Tuesday night (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

By Joe Hawkes-Beamon
Sports Radio Service Writer

OAKLAND, Calif — OK Warriors fans you can breathe a bit easier this morning after hearing that forward Kevin Durant’s knee injury isn’t season-ending.

Durant injured his left knee in the first minute of Golden State’s 112-108 loss to the Wizards in Washington Tuesday night. The injury occurred on a loose-ball situation after Wizards center Marcin Gortat fouled Warriors center Zsa Zsa Pachulia, who then fell back on Durant’s left leg. Durant jumped back and tried to run off the injury, but was in obvious pain before walking off the court on his own power and into the locker room.

Durant will miss at least four weeks with a sprained MCL and bruised tibial bone in his left leg, the team announced Wednesday. The small forward will be out indefinitely, but will be re-evaluated.

Durant leads the team in scoring (25.3 points per game), free throw makes (5.5) and attempts (6.3) per game, rebounding (8.2 rpg) and blocks (1.6 bpg).

The Undefeated’s Marc J. Spears received a text message from Warriors forward Draymond Green said that he is “relieved” by the diagnosis.

“I’m definitely relieved. I thought it would be way worse,” Green wrote. “Being away weeks sucks, but we will take that over what was initially thought.”

The Warriors (50-10) have the best record in the league and now with Durant’s injury, their perch atop the Western Conference could be in jeopardy with second-place San Antonio (45-13) hot on Golden State’s heels at just four games back.

San Antonio rocked Golden State 129-100 in Durant’s first game with Golden State at Oracle Arena after nine season with the Seattle Supersonics/Oklahoma City Thunder organization.

The Spurs and Warriors meet up twice this month, both in San Antonio.

For Golden State, it will be second game of a back-to-back after playing in Minneapolis and Houston respectively the previous night.

The play of Green, and guards Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson will need to step up their individual games even more. Durant’s absence will be felt, but it will be up to the Warriors other three All-Stars to lead Golden State down the stretch heading into the playoffs.

Curry and Thompson both have struggled to shoot the three-ball post the All-Star break.

Curry is really in a shooting slump, connecting on just 2-of-20 of his 3s in his last two games. The two-time league MVP was converted 41 percent of his 3s before the break, but is just shooting 32 percent from beyond the arc post break.

Thompson is shooting just 31 percent from 3 post break after shooting 42 percent before the break.

Before racking up 24 points, 25 assists, and 14 rebounds while shooting 11-for-21 from the field in his last two games, Green struggled in the two games prior, totaling 12 points, six assists, and 14 rebounds.

Golden State is expected to sign free agent forward Matt Barnes for the remainder of the season in the wake of Durant’s injury, per Chris Haynes and Marc Stein of ESPN.

The Warriors will reportedly first sign free agent Jose Calderon, fulfilling their pledge to the 12-year veteran, before adding Barnes to fill void vacated by Durant.

Barnes was averaging 7.6 points and 5.5 rebounds per game with the Kings before being waived shortly before Thursday’s trade deadline last week.

This will be Barnes’ second go-around with Golden State.

Barnes played with Golden State from 2006-08 and was part of the “We Believe” Warriors team led by Baron Davis, Stephen Jackson, and Jason Richardson that squeaked in the playoffs as an eight seed and knocked off the top-seeded Dallas Mavericks in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs in 2007.

Barnes told Spears of The Undefeated that his return to Golden State is “a dream come true.”

The versatile Barnes, who turns 37 on Mar. 9, brings another solid defender with toughness on the wing to go along with Green and swingman Andre Iguodala for Golden State.

The addition of Barnes isn’t a earth-shattering move by Golden State, but it does give the Warriors some flexibility to sustain Durant’s absence for the foreseeable future.

NBA D-League: There are eight types of players in pro basketball’s minor league

Published on November 14, 2016 by Charlie O. MalloneeLeave a comment

kings-bighorns-logos

by Charlie O. Mallonee

In talking or reading about players in the NBA D-League, you will often come across different designations for players. For example, Lamar Patterson who was the leading scorer for the Reno Bighorns on Sunday is listed as an “affiliate player of the Sacramento Kings”.

What does that mean? There are several categories of player in the D-League, so let’s try to work our way through the basics.

NBA Affiliate Player

As NBA teams waive players in the preseason, they have the first opportunity of signing those players to their D-League affiliate.

Teams can designate up to four “affiliate players”. These player remain free agents in the NBA and those players are free to sign with any of the 30 NBA organizations. The affiliate status allows teams to keep players they like learning their system should the need arise for a player at the NBA level.

Only 22 teams can have affiliate players because not all teams have a dedicated D-League team associated with their organization.

Lamar Patterson and second-round draft pick Isaiah Cousins are affiliate players with the Kings who are playing for the Bighorns.

Returning Players

NBA D-League teams retain the rights to any player who has played for that team within the last two seasons – as long as the team has not released that player.

The Bighorns have two returning players – forward Kadeem Jack and guard Mark Tyndale.

NBA Assignees

NBA organizations can assign players with three years or less service to their D-League affiliate an unlimited number of times. Unlike baseball with the its complicated options rules, NBA can move players up and down as often as they see fit.

For example in 2014-15, 56 different players were assigned to D-League teams a total of 195 times. Because most the development teams are in close proximity to the parent clubs, free movement between the organizations is very feasible.

The Kings have three players assigned to Reno in this designation: forward Skal Labissiere, center Georgios Papagiannis and guard Malachi Richardson.

reno3 — Labissiere, Ricardson and Papagiannis Photo credit: NBA.com

NBA Draft Rights Players

These are affectionately known as “domestic draft-and-stash” players. The “draft rights player” rule allows D-League teams to directly acquire players from their NBA parent team’s draft list bypassing the usual D-League player selection processes.

The Oklahoma City Thunder was the first team to use this rule in 2012 when they selected Josh Huestis from Stanford in the first round for the purposes of sending him to the D-League.

Oklahoma City Thunder v Miami Heat — Josh Huestis OKC Thunder Photo Credit: Getty

NBA Draft-Eligible Players

These are players who are eligible but have not entered the NBA Draft. They can instead enter the NBA D-League and keep their NBA Draft status.

If a player signs with the D-League before the season, he is eligible to enter the D-League Draft. If the player signs mid-season, he is available to D-League teams through the wavier pool claiming process.

NBA Draft-Eligible players cannot be called up by NBA teams. This the only category of players in the D-League that has that limitation.

Players who have used the route to eventually enter the NBA are: P.J. Hairston – who is back in the league with the Vipers, Thanasis Antetokounmpo and Glen Rice,Jr.

pj-hariston — P.J. Hairston Photo Credit: Sergio Hentschel/Getty Images

Local Tryout Players

These are my favorite players. Guys who have not given up the dream and believe if given the chance, they can make it happen. D-League teams can invite up to five players from their open tryouts to join their training camps.

Jonathan Simmons who played college basketball at Houston attended an open tryout for the Austin Spurs in 2013. He was added to the San Antonio Spurs roster in 2015 and is now a major component of their second unit this season.

Other ways to make the D-League

D-League Draft: around 200 players are signed by the league in put into a draft pool. Approximately half of these 200 players are selected on Draft Day.
Free Agents: there will be an influx of free agents hitting the market for the D-League as winter approaches. Players will be returning to the country from playing overseas and there will be NBA players who been released who are trying to work their way back into the league. These players are selected by the D-League teams on a rotational wavier system.

Information supplied by dleague.nba.com was used in the writing of this article

A battle royal in Portland:Kings lose to Trail Blazers 122-120 in OT

Published on November 12, 2016November 12, 2016 by Charlie O. MalloneeLeave a comment

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Photo credit: Craig Mitchelldyer, AP Photo

by Charlie O. Mallonee

We spit on your statistics about back-to-back games in the NBA

The statisticians, experts, journalists and oddsmakers all had written off the Sacramento Kings as having any chance to defeat the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday night in the Rose City:

The Kings had suffered a devastating loss to the Lakers 101-91 on Thursday night in Sacramento
The game in Portland was the back end of a back-to-back home/road set with the average chances to win the game at 37.3-percent historically
The Trail Blazers are seen as a more talented team than the Kings and are expected to make the playoffs and possibly go on to the second round while Sacramento is expected to be in the Draft Lottery … again
The game in Portland would be the Kings 11th contest in 17 days and the team needs a break to rest and recoup
Sacramento entered the game a 6.5 to 9-point underdog

What no counted on was the Kings forgot to read the script before the game and they came to play. Somehow they survived a first half that ended with the Blazers leading 62-57 and came out ready to to battle in the second half despite all of the odds being against them.

The Kings rode the play of Cousins, Gay, Koufos, Afflalo and Collison in the second half to outscore the Blazers 49-44 to force the game into overtime.

The teams tied the game up five times in the five-minute overtime session. With the Blazers up by two points with 14.3 seconds to play, Cousins missed a 26-foot jump and Rudy Gay missed a 16-foot desperation turnaround fadeaway shot with one-tenth of a second left on the clock. When the horn sounded, Portland had won the game 122-120 but they knew they had been in a battle royal.

Cousins was a different player on Friday night

Cousins put his inconsistent Thursday night performance behind him to lead the Kings in scoring with 33 points to go with nine rebounds, three assists, two blocked shots and one steal. Cousins did all of this after being assessed a technical foul in the first quarter for exchanging shoves with Meyers Leonard. Cousins knew his limitations and worked with them of Friday night.

Rudy Gay is proving to everyone that he is worth the new NBA pay scale

Gay may have given notice that he plans to opt out of the last year of his contract with the Kings but he is not playing like a man who does not care. In fact, it is just the opposite. Rudy Gay is giving it his all on the court every night and not in a selfish way.

Against Portland, he posted a double-double scoring 29 points and grabbing 14 rebounds. Gay also added three assists, two steals and one block. He shot 50-percent from the floor (9-for-18) including going 2-for-4 from 3-point range. Gay went 9-for-10 from the free throw line.

If Vivek Ranadive and Vlade Divac are serious about building a contender, they need to get out the checkbook and get ready to start participating in the bidding war for one Rudy Gay.

Has there been a changing of the guard?

The man on the point who made it happen on Friday night for the Kings was Darren Collison. Collison played almost 40 minutes scoring 20 points while dishing out four assists and hauling in five rebounds.

The Kings starting point guard Ty Lawson played just 15 minutes and had four assists. That is not to imply Lawson has become obsolete but most observers felt that Collison would establish himself as the number one point guard at sometime after his return. It appears Collison decided he would declare himself number one a little sooner than anyone expected.

Ty Lawson will not be going anywhere. He still has a very vital role to play for this Kings team. Look to see more sets with Lawson and Collison on the floor together in a “small ball line up”.

Head Coach Dave Joerger’s thoughts on the game

Our team played hard
We were playing on fumes – 11 games in 17 days
Turnovers were catastrophic – 15 that resulted in 25 Trail Blazer points
Portland’s guards were fantastic – starters Lillard and McCollum combined for 67 points
Rudy (Gay) and Cuz (Cousins) gave their all on the court at all times in the game
It was a fun basketball game
Our group is resilient – they can take a punch – they don’t go away
He’s (Cousins) engaged – he’s all in

What’s coming up for the Kings

Thankfully for the Kings after the brutal 11 games in 17 days schedule they have four days off. There will be some practice/shoot-arounds, but they will also be lots of rest on the agenda.

The Kings next game will be on Wednesday night at the Golden 1 Center when the San Antonio Spurs come back to town. The Kings will have four more home games before heading back out on the road.

Hello Biggest Little City in the World

Three of the Kings rookie players have been assigned to the Reno Bighorns of the NBA D-League. Skal Labissiere, Georgios Papagiannis and Malachi Richardson will be playing with the Bighorns.

The fact is these young players would not be seeing any significant playing time in Sacramento. The second fact is they need significant playing time to prepare for the NBA. The solution is to play significant minutes in the D-League.

Do not expect to see the players move from Reno to Sacramento often unless they are needed to cover a roster spot because of an injury to an active player.

We will keep you up to date on their progress in the D-League on a weekly basis.

The Golden 1 Center opens on Thursday night ; the Spurs beat the Kings 102-94

Published on October 28, 2016 by Charlie O. MalloneeLeave a comment

Photo credit: Sergio Estrada USA Today

Charlie O. Mallonee

Sacramento – Thursday night had all the pomp and circumstance of a Hollywood premiere as the long awaited official opening of the NBA home season took place for the Sacramento Kings. The NBA commissioner was there along with the former commissioner David Stern who sat with Governor Jerry Brown. Out-going mayor Kevin Johnson received his standing ovation for his efforts to build the arena. In-coming mayor Darrell Steinberg and members of the city council managed to get some face time.

Former Kings player Chris Webber and Washington Nationals manager Dusty Baker were seated courtside. If you were anybody in Sacramento or thought you were anybody, you were in the Golden 1 Center for the game on Thursday night.

DeMarcus Cousins officially welcomed the fans to arena on behalf of the team. Majority owner Vivek Ranadive took great pride in welcoming fans to the state of the art arena the ownership group promised them when they bought the team.

The opening was really something to see. If you missed it, you can go to Kings.com and take in the highlights. It will be worth your time.

Then, there was the game between the unbeaten San Antonio Spurs who shocked the Golden Stated Warriors on Tuesday night in Oakland and the 1-0 Sacramento Kings who dominated the Phoenix Suns on the road in their season opener on Wednesday night.

The Kings knew they would be in for a fight because they had to face the team that is picked to win the Southwest Division – even without Tim Duncan- on second half of a back-to-back, away-home schedule. Even though the team was full of adrenaline to do well in front of their faithful fans at the opening of the Golden 1 Center, the task before for them was a difficult one at best.

The Kings played with tenacity and gave the crowd cause to cheer often,but ultimately the talent of Spurs and the fatigue of the back-to-back games caught up to them in their pursuit of a win. The Spurs defeated the Kings 102-94 in first ever regular season NBA game in the Golden 1 Center.

Kings (1-1)

DeMarcus Cousins led the attack for the Kings against the Spurs. He scored 37 points and pulled down 16 rebounds to record a double-double in the game. Cousins shot 10-for-22 from the floor, 3-for-5 from beyond the 3-point arc and went 14-for-16 from the free throw line. The Kings big man spent much of the second-half under the basket involved in a very physical battle with LaMarcus Aldridge and the San Antonio front line. At times, Cousins temper seemed to be very close to boiling over, but he managed to keep it in check.

Rudy Gay had to do battle with Kawhi Leonard all night. Gay finished the game with 17 points with 10 of those points coming at the free throw line. He hauled 7 rebounds, had two steals and two assists as well.

Ben McLemore finished with 10 points in the contest. His best efforts came in the first-half. McLemore shot 3-for-4 from the field and 4-for-4 from the free throw line. Unfortunately for him, it will probably be back-to-back turnovers that resulted in back-to-back personal fouls in the fourth quarter that many of the fans will remember.

Ty Lawson did his job at point guard for the Kings. Head coach Dave Joerger had said that Lawson would see heavy minutes of playing time and he worked 35 minutes on the floor versus the Spurs. Lawson dished out nine assists and turned the ball over just one time. Lawson added seven points, four rebounds and one steal.

Kosta Koufos scored eight, Arron Afflalo seven, Matt Barnes and Willie Cauley-Stein three points each and Anthony Tolliver had two points.

As a team, the Kings shot 40.0-percent (28-for-70) from the floor after shooting 51.4-percent in the first-half. They went 6-for-20 (30.0-percent) from beyond the 3-point line while going 32-for-38 (84.2-percent) from the free throw line. They matched the Spurs by grabbing 40 rebounds. The Kings tallied 22 assists against 15 turnovers.

Spurs (2-0)

To no one’s surprise, Kawhi Leonard led the Spurs scoring against the Kings. Leonard scored 30 points shooting an impressive 11-for-21 from the floor. He was a perfect 7-for-7 from the free throw line. Leonard also distributed five assists and recorded five steals. He played the last half of the fourth quarter with five personal fouls but it did not seem to slow him down.

LaMarcus Aldridge – the supposed discontented member of the Spurs who wants to be traded – added 16 points and five rebounds while giving DeMarcus Cousins fits under the basket for the entire game. Aldridge played hard and did not give off any signals that he was a player who wanted to be in another uniform.

Dewayne Dedmon and David Lee both had an impact in the game off the bench with 12 points each. Dedmon also had seven rebounds while Lee dished out two assists and had two steals.

San Antonio shot 45.6-percent (36-for-79) from the floor and 33.3-percent (6-for-18) from 3-point land. The Spurs went 24-for-27 from the charity stripe. They recorded 40 rebounds, 23 assists and 10 assists. The Spurs turned the ball over nine times.

What they had to say after the game

“Good game, good effort,” said Kings head coach Dave Joerger. “As competitors, you never want to say you played hard but you lost. But I liked a lot of the things I saw tonight. I thought we ran out of gas a bit. I think out turnovers were deadly and I think they made some tough, tough shots down the stretch. I thought our half-court defense was very solid. When our defense was on the run after turnovers, it’s very difficult to get back and defend.”

“Yeah, it was a big night for everybody. Us, playing in front of the fans and for the fans. This is a lot – this is a new era of basketball in Sacramento and it was good to be a part of it,” said Kings forward Rudy Gay. “Obviously the fans drive us to a new level. This was a playoff atmosphere and it’s good to have that.”

“Coach Joerger is a hell of a coach,” said Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich. “He’s got them playing defense already after one game because of the way they played defense in Memphis. That’s because he knows what he’s doing, obviously. But, that’s a tribute to those guys to pick that up and jump in. If they sustain that, that’s going to be a good basketball team. You can see his stamp all over it defensively.”

Notes

The first home game at Golden 1 Center was a sellout with 17,608 in attendance.

The Kings next opponent is the Minnesota Timberwoles on Saturday night at 7:30 PM at the Golden 1 Center.

The Spurs will have their home opener on Saturday night when they host New Orleans.

Golden State Warriors Tuesday game wrap: Big Tumble–The San Antonio Spurs trounce the Dubs on Opening Night.

Published on October 25, 2016October 26, 2016 by rxsluggerLeave a comment

by Jerry Feitelberg

AP photo: Golden State Warriors Stephen Curry can only roll on the floor in the first half after being overwhelmed by too much San Antonio Spurs in Tuesday night’s game at Oracle Arena for the home opener

My oh my. The San Antonio Spurs spoiled opening night by trouncing the Golden State Warriors 129-100. The Spurs, led by Kawhi Leonard, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Johnathan Simmons outplayed the Warriors in every facet of the game and sent the sellout crowd home wondering if the Warriors are in trouble. Golden State did not look at all like the team that won 73 games last year. They are still a very good team, but it may take a little time for all the pieces to mesh together.

The Dubs took the lead 16-14 with 5:54 left in the first period. That was the only lead they would have the entire night. The Spurs outran, outshot, outrebounded and beat the Dubs on defense all night long. The Spurs, Kawhi Leonard who was second in last year’s MVP voting, scored a career-high thirty-five points. Big LaMarcus Aldridge knocked down twenty-six and had fourteen rebounds. The Spurs bench outscored the Dubs’ bench by an astounding 45-13. Every time the Dubs made a run to narrow the gap, the Spurs answered the challenge. Leading 18-16 late in the first period, they went on a 13-4 run to lead 31-20 at the end of the first period. The Spurs scored thirty-three in the second period as they took an eighteen-point lead at the half 64-46. Steph Curry and Kevin Durant led the Dubs’ attack with eighteen and fourteen respectively, but Klay Thompson had just two points and was one for seven from the floor. The Warriors made just four three-point shots in nineteen attempts. San Antonio made six treys in just ten attempts. Leonard, Aldridge and Jonathan Simmons, off the bench, were the key players for San Antonio.

The home crowd was hoping for a patented Warrior come-from-behind surge in the third period. However, The Spurs continued to beat the Dubs on offense and continued to disrupt the Warrior attack. The Spurs led by twenty at the end of the third and won by twenty-nine 129-100. Leonard finished the game with 35, Aldridge with 26 and bench players Simmons had 20, Mills with eleven and the veteran, Manu Ginobili pitched in with 10. Kevin Durant led the Dubs with 27 points and ten rebounds. Curry scored 26, and Draymond Green knocked down 18 to go with six assists and twelve rebounds. Klay Thompson finished the night with 11. The Spurs dominated the board on both ends of the court. They outrebounded the Dubs 62-41. They had the edge in offensive rebounds 20-8 and 34-27 on defense. The Dubs turned the ball over sixteen times to add to their woes.

The Warriors are a work in progress. The Warriors lost six key players. The new players have shown that they can play in the NBA. However, it takes time for the players to mesh together and find the rhythm that the Dubs had the last two years. They have 81 games left, and the Spurs are an excellent team and will be in contention for the best record in the Western Division. The Dubs play the next three games on the road. They face the New Orleans Pelicans Friday night. They then travel to Phoenix on Sunday. They are in Portland next Tuesday to face Damian Lillard and the Blazer. They return home November 4th to face the Oklahoma Thunder, Kevin Durant’s old team. Talk about a grudge match. That game should be a barnburner.

Kings come up short in San Antonio 104-94

Published on March 5, 2016 by Charlie O. MalloneeLeave a comment

NBA: Sacramento Kings at San Antonio Spurs — Photo Credit: Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports

by Charlie O. Mallonee

George Karl has talked all season about the tendency of his Sacramento Kings (25-36) to fall into “black holes” and lose games because of it. A black hole to Karl is a loss of momentum that continues for seven to eight possessions allowing the opponents to go on a scoring run that the Kings ultimately cannot overcome.

The Kings played well in the first half against the Spurs (53-9) trailing by just three points at halftime, 57-54. As the third quarter began, Sacramento fell into a proverbial “black hole” and allowed San Antonio to go on a 12-0 run led by Kawhi Leonard’s nine points in the opening minutes of the period. The Spurs would outscore the Kings 29-13 in the third and would go on to win the game 104-94.

As the game began, it appeared the Kings had drawn the lucky straw. Spurs head coach Greg Popovich had decided to rest Tim Duncan and Danny Green. A third San Antonio starter – LaMarcus Aldridge – was unable to answer the bell due to a migraine headache. A situation that should have been advantage Kings was negated by the outstanding play of Leonard and Manu Ginobili who returned to the team after missing 12 games due to surgery.

Kings

Sacramento was led by DeMarcus Cousins who scored 31 points and grabbed nine rebounds. Cousins shot 50.0-percent (10-for-20) from the floor and hit on 10 of 15 free throw attempts.

Quincy Acy had a monster game starting at forward for the Kings. Acy – who is known more for his defense that his offense – scored 16 points for his team. Acy was a perfect 7-for-7 including two 3-pointers from the field.

Rajon Rondo had a quiet night scoring nine points, recording just one rebound and dishing out eight assists.

Darren Collison continues play well off the bench adding 12 points, seven assists and three rebounds.

Marco Belinelli – who had two strong outings heading in San Antonio – had a tough night versus his old team. Belinelli scored seven points going just 3-for-11 from floor.

Rudy Gay scored nine points, Ben McLemore (3), Omri Casspi (6) and Willie Cauley-Stein (1). Kosta Koufos was not available due to a case of food poisoning.

Sacramento shot 45.7-percent (37-for-81) and hit on six of 16 (37.5-percent) from 3-point land. The Kings struggled from the free throw line going just 14-for-21 (66.7-percent) at the stripe.

The Spurs out-rebounded the Kings 46-33.

Spurs

MVP-candidate Kawhi Leonard led the Spurs with 25 points despite going just 9-for-24 from the floor. Leonard made it a double-double game by hauling in 13 rebounds.

Manu Ginobili played just 15 minutes in his return to play but he scored 22 points in that limited playing time. Ginobili shot 8-for-12 from the floor and went a perfect 5-for-5 from the free throw line.

The Spurs shot 49.4-percent (40-for-81) from the field. They were just 8-for-23 (34.8-percent) from beyond the 3-point line. San Antonio shot an impressive 84.2-percent (16-for-19) from the charity stripe.

The victory lifted the Spurs record to 30-0 at home for the season.

Up next

The Kings will wrap up their four-game road trip on Monday night in New Orleans. The Kings are 0-2 versus the Pelicans this season. Sacramento desperately wants to finish 2-2 on this road trip to keep their slim playoff hopes alive. They will have to play better against Anthony Davis and Ryan Anderson than they have so far this season if they want to post a win in “the Big Easy”.

Sacramento Kings Thursday night game wrap up: Kings end four game skid in Dallas, win 104-101

Published on March 3, 2016March 3, 2016 by Michael MartinezLeave a comment

by Michael Martinez

picture credit Ronda Churchill/AP

Wednesday night in Dallas was an important match up for the Sacramento Kings. The team headed into the night on a four gaming losing streak and a 22 game losing streak on the Mavs’ home court. Overall, the Kings put in a tremendous team effort and were able to defeat the Western Conference’s sixth seed, Dallas Mavericks, 104-101.

Rudy Gay was in the starting line up for the Kings who played tough against Dallas in the first quarter. The Kings’ only flaw was five turnovers but they did a great job of rebounding and passing the ball. Rajon Rondo had four of the Kings’ eight assists in the quarter as he headed back to Dallas.

Sacramento struggled with the three ball to start the game, 0-7, but managed to stay in it. Nobody on the Kings scored more than four points and the Mavs got a nice first quarter out of David Lee. After one, the Mavs led Sacramento, 24-19.

The Kings played an even better second quarter. Marco Belinelli came alive with eight points to start the quarter for the Kings, who would go on an 11-4 run. Sacramento moved the ball extremely well throughout the half, but best of all they played great defense. The Kings did not allow the Mavs to get inside and forced Dallas to shoot out on the perimeter, who shot 1-11 from beyond the arc at the half.

At the half, the Kings held a 50-45 and shot well in the half. The team did a better job with the ball, only one turnover in the second quarter. DeMarcus Cousins and Rondo had a team high with eight points apiece with Rondo adding seven assists.

The Kings did much of the same in the third quarter as the second.

The Kings kept the momentum from the second quarter.With 7:38 remaining, Ben McLemore had a fast break jam causing a timeout by Dallas with the Kings up 60-55. Out of the timeout, Sacramento went on another run, 7-2, which finished with a sweet McLemore crossover who nailed a three off the dribble. Dallas was forced to call another timeout. The Mavs did answer back with eight straight points of their own

The third was a very clean half four both teams and Chandler Parson kept finding a way to score for the Mavs. Through three, Sacramento was able to shoot over 50% from the field and hold their lead, 73-69. The quarter was pretty even and both teams had 46 points in the paint. The Kings defense was still very solid, however.

In the fourth, the Kings went on another run, 7-2, to start the quarter off. The run would become an 11-2 run in a little less than four minutes. Belinelli was once again clutch for the Kings as he hit a three to put Sacramento up, 89-76, as Dallas took another time out.

The Mavs were able to make a push and after being down by 14 at one point, were only down by five with a little over a minute left to play. Unfortunately, the Kings could not make a free throw to save their life. At the 35 second mark, Cousins was fouled and missed both free throws. Darren Collison was fouled 12 second later and went one for two at the charity stripe to lead 102-97. Dirk Nowitzki scored very quickly to cut the lead to three.

Belinelli was fouled and missed both free throws. On the second miss, the Kings fought for the rebound and the ball squirted out. Both teams scrambled for the loose ball and Collison came up with it and fouled.

Collison finally put down two free throws for the Kings to go up 104-99 with four ticks remaining. Nowitzki was able to put in a late lay-up for a final score 104-101.

Many Kings player had great games. Cousins finished with 22 points and 13 rebounds. Rondo notched 18 points and tallied 12 assists.

Off the bench, Collison had 14 points and Belinelli added 16. Belinelli appears to be coming out of his season slump and was a huge spark for Sacramento. The Kings shot the ball extremely well shooting at 52.5% although their three pointers were mostly off. Parson finished with 28 points in the game but the Kings defense was able to hold on and they closed out a fourth quarter for the victory.

The Kings are now 25-35 and will head to San Antonio on Saturday. The team faces off against the Spurs, who clinched their 19th consecutive playoff berth in their last game. Tipoff starts at 5 p.m. as the Kings look to redeem a loss to San Antonio from a couple weeks ago.