(Aside - I plan to be in or east of Tulsa Tuesday evening, so I post this now.)
Since everything around me has a story, I figured I'd pour out this one now. I was stationed just outside of Sacramento in '85, the year the Kings moved there. The years prior, they'd primarily been situated in Kansas City, but they played a few home games in Omaha as well. What an awkward situation. How could anyone be surprised about the team not thriving in that situation? Who back then would have been eager to tell Kansas City fans "the team has a 'home game', but it's three hours north on I-29?"
Fast forward nearly 28 years, and the more things change, the more they stay the same. The franchise is unstable, with a proposed sale/move looming. In addition, its' best player is having issues controlling his emotions. The Sacramento Kings are hamstrung by all sorts of off-court and on-court events.
It appears the team will be sold to a group in Seattle. While I'm happy for the fans of Seattle getting a team, the fans in Sacramento deserve a better fate. The Sacramento fans have been some of the most loyal and passionate fans in the Association.
DeMarcus Cousins, their best player, has as much sheer physical talent as any big man in the game. With different focus, he could be one of the top ten players around. He leads the team in scoring, rebounding and steals. He can score from inside and from the perimeter. When he's motivated, he can get the defensive rebound or blocked shot, sprint from end to end, beat his opponent down court and show great footwork & strength to get a bucket.
Unfortunately, with his hair-trigger temper, he can also get ejected from a game at any time. That 4 Feb game at Utah, where he got ejected at the start of the halftime break? Unfortunate, but not surprising. Whatever anger issues are going on in Cousins' head appear to get in the way of his ascension to the upper ranks of best players in the NBA.
I can't say enough about Cousins' talent. Some nights, like this upcoming Tuesday night, he could be the best player on the floor. It will take a team effort to slow him down. He's too quick for Randolph and too strong & versatile for Gasol to keep in check. Arthur coming off the bench may be a factor for short spurts. The key matchup is whichever Grizzlies' player is assigned to cover Cousins. Can the Grizz keep Cousins in check, relatively speaking?
The last two games, the Grizzlies' offense has shown signs of life. The last two games, the Kings have scored 120 and 117 respectively. This matchup is like the circus coming to town - lots of light, things spinning around, folk jumping around in colorful costumes. It's the last game before the All-Star break for Memphis, while Sacramento plays at Dallas on Wednesday night.
My guess: Memphis 112, Sacramento 107. Cousins could go for 20-18 with several blocks, or he could get ejected before the 3rd quarter is done. As always, my guessing is not for gaming purposes but for comparison, heckling, personal satisfaction, etc.
Well After the Game: Grizzlies 108, Sacramento 101. Gasol (24-12) went toe-to-toe with Cousins (23-7). Gasol had 5 turnovers, though (yikes). The Grizzlies had a 21-19 assist-to-turnover ratio (yikes again). However, Tony Allen scored 19, and grabbed 8 rebounds & 2 steals. Since the Rudy Gay trade, I think Allen's scoring has gone up, and his shooting percentage has improved.
One thing I noticed during Gay's time in Memphis was his habit of dribbling away the shot clock, sometimes looking up to see he was double-teamed with 5 or so seconds left, then passing to a teammate in poor position. The resultant shot, more often than not, missed the mark. Allen was a regular recipient of those late passes.
Now, it appears the team is moving the ball in a crisper fashion. Allen, among others, is getting the ball earlier in the shot clock, with time & room to manuever. That should help overall shooting percentage. The team shot 54.7 percent against the Kings. Allen went 8/12 FG/A, and I would guess quite a few of those were layups or mid-range jumpers.
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