Once they were Kings

Today, they are just a bad team, unfortunately.

And I say this as a former Kings fan: I used to root for the team with “deda” Divac, Bibby, Peja, Turkoglu, Christie, Webber etc when they were battling for the supremacy in the Western Conference with the fucking Lakers… now it’s just a nice memory.

Sixers (35-33, .515) made a quick work of Sacramento, on coast to a 100-112 W that wasn’t as close as the final score might tell.

We led by as many as 29 points, and let the Kings get closer only in the final period (92-103 with 5.40 to play), quickly putting them to sleep again after that “threat”.

The game was basically over after one quarter – which saves me a lot of typing, LOL. Sixers jumped to a 20 point lead (13-33) and closed the period at a comfortable 17-35. 

Iguodala simply DESTROYED Sacramento from the start, scoring 17 points in the first (!), on 6/6 shooting, including two treys and a couple of dunks. In the same period, Kings turned the ball over eight times (!!), many of them unforced.

Sacramento is a bad team, badly coached, and with horrible playmaking. Garcia did his best to keep them into the game (he was 4/5 from behind the arc at a point in the second) but he was pretty much left alone by his team mates.

Kings play few-to-zero defense, always fall for shot fakes and pump fakes, and when a man is beaten off the dribble no one comes to help, turning the painted area into a sort of a pool, where is fun to dive at will.

Don’t get fooled by Spencer Hawes’ stat line, he filled the sheet but his impact on the game was close to zero.

Iguodala, on the other side, continued his hot shooting night, going 10/10 before finally missing a jumper: too bad for Sacto, it happened just in the third !!!

It was the kind of game you can’t draw many conclusions from, given the value of the opponent. ome considerations could be the following:

1) Kareem Rush got finally some minutes. And not in garbage time, but in the second quarter (ok, we were already up by twentytwo, 25-47…). He played well, immediatly drained a three and showed some effort on D. The last time he played more than 10 minutes was on Dec 29 at Utah… The nice thing was seeing all his teammates cheering for him on the bench.

2) Lou Williams had a very effective game off the bench, except for a forced shot in the fourth, when Garcia knocked down his sixth three of the night, to cut our lead to thirteen, 90-103.

On the following play Kings scored again and “technically” it was still an open game, up eleven with 5.40 to play (92-103). But it was the same Lou to close it immediately with two consecutive baskets, so more power to him.

3) Marreese Speights was also very good, and his stat line shows it. He knocked down a lot of jumpers, and had 12 points at halftime. Good boost, one more time.

4) Thaddeus Young scored 18 of his 22 points in the second half, finishing the job initiated by Iguodala.

But to me the most shocking sighting of last night’s game was… CALVIN BOOTH ON KINGS’ BENCH !!! He is always as ugly as ever, of course.

I thought (better, hoped…) he retired, but it looks like he didn’t. Wanna know a funny thing? I think he’s still getting paid by the Sixers (maybe partially), because – and this is 100% sure – Billy King gave him a PLAYER OPTION for the second year of the two-year deal he signed with us… LOL

From Vlade Divac and the best Chris Webber (“When we were kings“, a fantastic movie I suggest you to watch) to Spencer Hawes and Calvin Booth…

The great Sactown Royalty blog is praising Hawes’ passing ability and links to a story that tells how Udrih’s days as a starter are numbered… anybody surprised??

Sixers improved to 2-2 in their five game road trip.

The upcoming game vs the Blazers will hopefully tell us something more about this enigmatic team. Check newly found Bust a Bucket for coverage about Portland, cool blog there.