Sactown Royalty

Kings Whip Out 104-99 Win Over Jazz in SLC

2009-11-08T15:28:32Z

More photos » by Steve C Wilson - AP

Early last year, the Kings had what I believed to be a signature win -- at home over the Lakers. Before a raucous crowd, the Kings flew around the court, nailed tough shots, worked the ball around, and did just enough to vanquish the hated Lakers. Though Reggie Theus's second season had begun poorly overall, it was a glimmer of hope for the rest of the schedule.

I really hope this game -- a pretty danged shocking 104-99 win at Utah, without Kevin Martin and Omri Casspi -- doesn't fortell the same letdown. Awful teams (like the 2008-09 Kings) win these games a few times a season. Bad teams win them once or twice a month. Not-altogether-horrible teams mix them in every couple weeks. I think "not-altogether-horrible" is about the most optimism I can squeeze out right now, so one of these wins every couple weeks will have to do.

Whether this is imminently repeatable has so much to do with Tyreke Evans, and how he attacked the Jazz defense.

There's really nothing like a 32-point, 7-assist game to buoy your numbers, especially early in the season. Evans (16-19 from the line) pushed his season free throw shooting near 70 percent, pushed his per-game scoring up above 14, and finally took over the per-game assists lead from Jason Thompson. (Evans is now at 4.2 -- behind only Stephen Curry [5.8] and Brandon Jennings [4.4] among rookies.) But all the numbers ... all those numbers are products of the style Evans played Saturday. Those will come if this continues.

Four of Evans's FGAs were long two-pointers (he hit one), three were three-point attempts (he hit two), and the other eight shots came in the paint (he hit four). He drew nine fouls for 19 FTAs, all of those also coming in the paint. So basically: 17 shots in the paint, three behind the arc, four in no man's land. All for 32 points.

I can take that.

The assists weren't always beautiful. In fact, I don't remember any of them being beautiful. But people forget this about Chris Paul: he doesn't average 11 assists on 11 alley-oops. Most of the assists in today's NBA come on perimeter shots. Drive-and-kick, passing to a teammate who is coming off a screen ... we think of point guards earning their numbers with wrap-arounds and no-look bounce passes, but that's not how it works. Getting the ball to your best shooters in positions where they can score -- that's the name of the game.

That's why the second half of the fourth quarter was so troubling -- the team couldn't get anything it wanted, save for a few plays. The sphincters tightened up and the entire squad began playing conservatively. 'Reke stopped attacking, shooters started hesitating when receiving the pass, forcing a drive and dish, and another hesitation, and ... blah. It was one of those moments when you'd actually pray for a rushed Francisco Garcia three, or a frantic creation by Donte Greene.

Ahem.

DONTE. GREENE.

The Show played almost the entire second quarter, in which the Kings were a +11 (+9 when DG was in). Perfect shooting (4-4 with two threes), decent defense in the 2-3 zone (Orangemen!), and a beautiful spirit (pause). Evans owned the game, and Jason Thompson and Beno Udrih played Pips. But Greene was the spark, and he lit that thing on fire. A thousand claps of applause for DG.

One more player deserves commendation: Ime Udoka. His defense was loads better than I'd seen from Desmond Mason, and he was often seen communicating with Paul Westphal and his point guard (usually 'Reke, but also Udrih and a less-than-receptive Sergio Rodriguez). Udoka's help defense made Sean May look like a capable defender! It was a brilliant debut, and I hope he continues to prove him wrong by becoming a vital cog in the Kings machine.

Four Factors

NBA Stats

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Post-game Interviews

Post-Game Thread: Kings at Jazz

2009-11-08T04:30:16Z

Next Game

Sacramento Kings
@ Utah Jazz

Saturday, Nov 7, 2009, 6:00 PM PST
EnergySolutions Arena

Preview: Kings at Jazz, Game 6

posted by Ziller about 2 hours ago

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Kings win! Kings win!! Kings win!!!

Open Game Thread: Kings at Jazz

2009-11-08T02:00:29Z

Go Kings.

Follow up to Amick's article about Kevin being soft and Peaches being a douche, doctor

2009-11-07T23:23:25Z

Follow up to Amick's article about Kevin being soft and Peaches being a douche, doctor

Extended quotes and more opinions from Napear, Bobby J, coach Westphal, Cisco, and Kevin.

Preview: Kings at Jazz, Game 6

2009-11-07T20:00:32Z

by Rich Pedroncelli - AP

View full size photo »

THE OPPONENT

The Jazz come in at a deceiving 2-3. In the ledger, Utah is only one game better than Sacramento. But look at that impossible schedule for the Jazz: at Denver, Clippers, Rockets, at Dallas, Spurs. Maybe you'd dream of 3-2 or even 4-1 as a Jazz fan. But 2-3 ain't a sneeze. That schedule has two potentially great teams and three good teams. All of them should be in the playoff picture for a long while, with the Clippers perhaps dropping out in February or so.

The last game for the Jazz was a TNT Thursday dissembling of the mighty Spurs, who actually don't look too mighty allofasudden, with losses in Chicago, Salt Lake and Portland. The Jazz jumped on S.A. from Go, running up a 32-22 first quarter lead. Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer shared focal point duties, a familiar story. D-Wil is at 23/9 early on, while Boozer is rolling with 15/10. The team offense hasn't fully come together yet, and surprisingly Paul Millsap is only at 24 minutes per game.

			FG			3PT			FT			Rebounds			Misc
	G	M	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	Off	Def	Tot	Ast	TO	Stl	Blk	PF	PPG
Deron Williams	5	39.4	8.6	18.4	46.7	1.2	3.8	31.6	4.8	5.6	85.7	1.0	4.0	5.0	8.8	3.0	0.6	0.2	4.2	23.2
Carlos Boozer	5	33.6	6.2	14.8	41.9	0.0	0.0	0.0	3.2	4.0	80.0	2.0	8.0	10.0	3.8	2.4	1.4	0.6	3.4	15.6
Mehmet Okur	4	33.3	5.5	12.3	44.9	1.0	2.3	44.4	2.5	2.8	90.9	1.8	5.3	7.0	2.0	2.8	1.0	0.8	3.8	14.5
Ronnie Brewer	5	36.0	5.0	9.2	54.3	0.2	0.6	33.3	3.6	5.2	69.2	0.8	3.4	4.2	1.6	1.4	0.8	0.2	2.2	13.8
Andrei Kirilenko	5	38.2	4.0	9.0	44.4	0.4	1.2	33.3	4.2	5.0	84.0	1.0	3.2	4.2	3.6	1.4	1.4	1.6	1.6	12.6
Paul Millsap	5	24.0	3.8	7.2	52.8	0.0	0.0	0.0	2.2	2.4	91.7	2.0	4.2	6.2	0.6	1.6	0.2	1.4	4.4	9.8
Wes Matthews	5	12.4	2.0	3.8	52.6	0.2	0.8	25.0	1.0	1.8	55.6	0.2	0.8	1.0	0.4	0.2	0.4	0.0	1.0	5.2
Kyrylo Fesenko	5	9.2	2.0	3.0	66.7	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.2	0.0	0.6	0.6	1.2	0.2	0.0	0.0	0.4	1.2	4.0
Ronnie Price	5	13.4	1.6	4.0	40.0	0.4	1.4	28.6	0.4	0.6	66.7	0.4	1.0	1.4	1.6	1.0	0.6	0.4	2.4	4.0
Eric Maynor	4	3.5	0.5	1.3	40.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.5	0.5	100.0	0.0	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.5	0.0	0.0	0.3	1.5
Kosta Koufos	5	3.4	0.4	1.2	33.3	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.2	0.2	100.0	1.0	0.6	1.6	0.4	0.0	0.4	0.2	0.4	1.0

SLC Dunk is my source for silky Jazz analysis.

THE KEY BATTLE

Lost in all the Soft Peaches hubbub is the fact that despite Paul Westphal naming Beno Udrih as the new starting two-guard, Tyreke Evans and Udrih himself both told The Bee's Ailene Voisin that Udrih will be the point guard. This is really all semantics -- positions don't really matter as much as we believe, and this is especially true in Westphal's system, where Kevin "Not a Point Guard" Martin brought the ball up a ton in the first five games.

The question Ailene fairly poses is that if Evans performs better as a two-guard, will all the "Tyreke is a point guard!" posturing be for naught? The catch that Ailene doesn't mention: it's pretty much a given that Evans will perform better over the next two months ... because he has been pretty bad so far, at least by the numbers.

			FG			3PT			FT			Rebounds			Misc
	G	M	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	Off	Def	Tot	Ast	TO	Stl	Blk	PF	PPG
2009 - Tyreke Evans	5	31.0	4.4	12.4	35.5	0.2	1.8	11.1	2.2	4.0	55.0	0.8	2.2	3.0	3.6	2.4	1.6	0.0	3.2	11.2

Unless Evans continues to shoot 36 percent with few assists and rebounds, the next two months alongside Beno will look better on an individual level. So this is almost a foregone conclusion, with the only question being team performance. And while I think Evans can make it sharing a backcourt with a true shooting guard like Martin, I'm not in the business of rooting against the team's success for that point to be proven.

We can't assess how that will all go down until the day comes. Suffice it to say that no matter what position Evans is playing, we hope for a load of improvement. That starts tonight, with a truly elite player in Deron Williams at the point, and a feisty troublemaker in Ronnie Brewer at the two. Another big challenge for Evans.

POETIC DIVERSION

A Robert Frost piece titled "Lodged," dedicated to our friend Kevin Martin.

The rain to the wind said,
"You push and I'll pelt."
They so smote the garden bed
That the flowers actually knelt,
And lay lodged -- though not dead.
I know how the flowers felt.

I'm not sure comparing Martin to a garden bed helps anything, but whatever.

INTERESTING SIDESHOW

Since the day former Kings head coach Phil Johnson took a job as Jerry Sloan's top assistant in Utah 21 years ago, the Kings have had 10 head coaches. Exactly two of them (Bill Russell and Rick Adelman) have a career coaching record above .500, and only one (Adelman) had a Kings coaching record above .500. In fact, the second best record as a Kings coach since 1988: Reggie Theus's 42-62 mark. Mon dieu!

BOLD PROCLAMATION

Andrei Kirilenko will block a Tyreke Evans shot into the third row. Later, Evans will switch hands 14 times on a driving layup attempt.

DETAILS

This is a 6PM game on CSN and KHTK. All viewers are on high Grant Napear anger alert. Repeat: all viewers are on high Grant Napear anger alert. Game thread at 6PM, post-game thread at 9PM. Recap by Wednesday.

Grant Napear Named Kings Medical Advisor

2009-11-07T16:39:27Z

SACRAMENTO -- Kings television play-by-play announcer and award-winning* radio host Grant Napear will add medical advice duties starting immediately, Kings president Geoff Petrie announced** Saturday.

After showing an impressive ability to diagnose injuries without any formal medical experience and without actually looking at potential injuries in any detail, Napear suggested to Kings management he may be able to determine whether players under contract should play or sit in future games.

"(For years) players have sat when they could've played. That bothers me," Napear told Sacramento Bee reporter Sam Amick.

Napear feels so bothered by the prospect that highly-paid professional athletes could actually be weak Nancy boys he publicly advised this week that Kings guard Kevin Martin might be soft. According to Amick, Napear took to the airwaves before Wednesday's game against the Hawks to state that if Martin, who at the time was considered questionable with an injured left wrist, did not play against Atlanta, it would be fair to call him soft and to question his toughness.

Martin played in the game, totaling 29 points and 11 rebounds. On Thursday, an MRI revealed a fractured navicular bone in Martin's wrist. He will undergo surgery to repair the fracture on Monday, and is expected to miss eight weeks.

In his role as medical advisor, Napear will be asked to make snap judgments without the benefit of medical examination, as he did Wednesday by accusing Martin of a lack of toughness and advising the guard to play without having any clue as to the severity of the injury. Napear also filled this role in an unofficial sense late last season, when on the radio he ripped Martin for failing to play in meaningless games for the worst team in the league due to a serious bone bruise in his ankle. Napear, without any medical background whatsoever and with no suggested inside information as to the nature of Martin's ankle injury, said repeatedly that Martin was weak for failing to play out the season.

In his interview with Amick, Napear continued to press this point.

"I don't change my stance on (his view of Martin's ankle injury) at all. If a player can play, I think they should play," Napear said.

Napear said Martin's current injury is different, that while Martin could theoretically play with the injury -- as he did Wednesday -- a broken bone is a "real" injury, as opposed to a deep bone bruise in the ankle, which is something you just "have to rub some dirt on and tough it out." As a part of his official duties with the team, Napear will be compiling a list of maladies which are eligible for treatment and which must be played through by Kings players. In a preliminary list, Napear lists "breaking your face" and "breaking your leg" as injuries eligible for rehab. Muscle strains and sprains, flu-like symptoms, bone bruises and in some cases death are not eligible for time off, because "someone without medical experience or an X-ray machine cannot necessarily see those injuries with his own eyes, so they might be faked," Napear said.

As per team policy, the details of Napear's contract were not released.

* Grant Napear won eight consecutive National Association for the Advancement of Gingers (NAAG) NBA Broadcaster of the Year awards from 1997-2005. Bill Walton actually won the popular vote in 2004, but Napear filed a successful appeal calling into question the Just for Men habits of the former Blazer superstar. Ric Bucher has won the award each year since 2006.

** Psych your mind, Frankenstein.***

*** I mean to say that this is satire.

Amick rips Peaches

2009-11-07T08:37:53Z

Amick rips Peaches

Sam Amick, Kevin Martin, and even Bobby Jackson say what they think. Great, great article.

Sacramento Kings guard Kevin Martin discusses his decision to have surgery on his left wrist, which...

2009-11-06T23:24:31Z

Sacramento Kings guard Kevin Martin discusses his decision to have surgery on his left wrist, which will keep him out a minimum of eight weeks.

Beno Udrih to Start Saturday

2009-11-06T22:08:19Z

Beno Udrih to Start Saturday

Amick: Kevin Martin Forced Out of Action

2009-11-06T21:11:42Z

The Bee's Sam Amick has the scoop:

It remains unclear whether he will have surgery or simply put the wrist in the cast, but Martin won't be returning to the floor anytime soon. He met with a local hand specialist this morning and had the MRIs examined and all involved said he had to allow the hand to heal.

It looks like the option of playing with a fractured wrist should never have been on the table. Martin still must decide whether to cast it for several weeks, or to undergo surgery.

UPDATE: It's surgery. Monday.

[Bobby] Jackson ... was the warrior of a sixth man who somehow found himself being dubbed soft when...

2009-11-06T19:23:36Z

[Bobby] Jackson ... was the warrior of a sixth man who somehow found himself being dubbed soft when his abdominal strain kept him out of the 2004 playoffs. Some of those same uneducated voices are the ones questioning Martin's heart now, just as they did last season when his left ankle bone bruise kept him out of 31 games. Equally unjust.

There are credibility issues all over this thing, but the fact of the matter is that much of the skepticism sprouts from in-house and spills over into the mouthpieces who set the tone with the fans. It's a big problem that could have big consequences.

Amick shoots, Amick scores.

Quick Math on the Kevin Martin Injury

2009-11-06T17:06:53Z

Games Kevin Martin would miss if he had his fractured wrist surgically repaired or allowed it to heal, assuming the longest stated schedule for recovery: 29.

Games Kevin Martin is under contract for with the Kings: 323.

***

Would you rather have Martin miss 29 while letting a fracture heal, or would you rather he play injured for eight weeks, then spending the rest of his lucrative contract hobbled by arthritis? Are the next 29 games more important than the subsequent 294?

Kevin Martin's No-Win Situation

2009-11-06T15:49:19Z

More photos » by Darren Abate - AP

Browse more photos »

Kevin Martin's really in a pickle. The Bee reports that today Martin will decide whether to undergo surgery to repair his broken wrist (missing 6-8 weeks), sit 6-8 weeks in the hopes it will heal on its own, or slap on a soft cast and play through it, risking a full break (and a longer recovery).

The "smart" move would be to get the wrist fixed. You don't drive on a tire with a leak, and you don't play professional basketball with a wrist fracture that could turn into a full break. This isn't a Kobe's finger comparison. Kobe tore the ligament on his pinky. A broken wrist is just a bit more serious. If you doubt that analysis, go join a pick-up game with your pinky taped to your ring finger, and compare that with trying to play with one arm taped behind your back. Comparing this to Kobe's finger injury is disingenuous.

But Martin has an unfair reputation around here as being soft. Because, you know, men plays on crumbling ankles and shredded groins. It's as if it is Kevin's fault he experienced a bone bruise last year! Not to (again) draw someone else's name into this, but you don't see anyone questioning Francisco Garcia's toughness, and he will have missed more games than Martin over two years. Is it because we know what a broken arm looks like, but we can't quite envision a serious bone bruise in the ankle? Is it because a catastrophic exercise ball failure is more illustrative than a degenerative condition made worse by activity and better only through rest? Are we really that simple, Sacramento?

Because of that unfair reputation, if Martin decides to heal it, he will be pilloried on sports talk radio, by national yuks-yuks, by commenters everywhere. It's 100% bullshit, but it's what will happen. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if some within the franchise turn on him. There's a lot at stake this season, and clearly -- clearly -- Kevin Martin is the most important King in terms of wins and losses. Those with jobs on the line (this means within the front office) could see Martin allowing the fracture to heal as a sort of betrayal, a lack of consideration for the own futures. Which is of course -- again -- 100% bullshit.

This is the pressure Kevin Martin faces today. It's unfortunate the situation has gotten to these depths locally, where a team's star player has to worry about his reputation when making a very serious medical decision. I hope he ignores the haters and does what he really believes he needs to do, whether that's to heal or to risk it. We're fans, and we support the team, and we all will be affected by his decision. But it's his decision, dammit, and it's Kevin Martin who has to live with it.

Kings Practice: Kevin Martin 11/5/09 (via kingsflix)

2009-11-06T01:08:03Z

Kings Practice: Kevin Martin 11/5/09 (via kingsflix)

Kevin Martin Has a Hairline Fracture in Left Wrist

2009-11-05T23:16:31Z

Kevin Martin Has a Hairline Fracture in Left Wrist

The Kings haven't decided on treatment yet. If he sits to let it heal, it could be a couple weeks.

Kings request waivers on Desmond Mason

2009-11-05T21:18:17Z

Kings request waivers on Desmond Mason

A Young Team With an Aversion to Youth

2009-11-05T20:16:15Z

The signing of Ime Udoka, like the signing of Desmond Mason before it, portends little for the Sacramento Kings. Udoka, like Mason, is an aging defensive roleplayer whose a bit of a drain on offense at a position where the Kings have plenty of talent. Udoka turned 32 years old last August, having only three seasons of real NBA experience. He served as Portland's starting small forward in the halycon Death to Z-Bo 2006-07, 32-win season. Udoka spent the last two seasons as a Bowen Memorial player off the bench in San Antonio. Portland brought him to camp this fall but cut him, and no one had been rumored to give him a serious nibble in the two weeks since.

Except Sacramento.

Before Udoka, the Kings could be considered deep at two positions: point guard (Tyreke Evans, Beno Udrih, Sergio Rodriguez) and small forward (Andres Nocioni, Omri Casspi, Desmond Mason, Donte Greene). The Kings have the youngest frontline (21-year-old Spencer Hawes and 23-year-old Jason Thompson) in the league, and one of those dudes led the entire NBA in fouls last season. Behind them, Sean May has proven to still be 15-20 pounds too heavy to be consistently effective, Kenny Thomas has proven to be too stonehanded to play more than spot duty, and Jon Brockman has rebounded his tail off but can't get consistent minutes. And all three of those dudes are undersized. At the two-guard, the Kings have literally no one but Kevin Martin (until Francisco Garcia returns sometime after the All-Star break, which is about 50 games away). Udrih, Evans and Casspi have all played at two-guard; it hasn't really worked out.

If the team is to sign a free agent right now, the player should do one of two things: fill a positional need (Udoka played the two forward positions exclusively last season, so he ain't a big or a two-guard) or add a real asset to the team's cupboard. A 32-year-old minimum-salary player no one else wanted is not an asset.

As I said back when I argued against the Mason signing, this team -- this young, building team -- needs to spend these roster spots, these minimum salary contracts on players with potential. The best-case scenario with Udoka is that he replaces Mason as the starter at small forward, allowing Nocioni to get back to his mixed-results PF/SF bench role, pushing Casspi back in the rotation and guaranteeing Greene's ticket to Reno. And at the end of the season, what has happened? You've put a used Band-Aid on a gushing wound, and the used Band-Aid a little closer to ruination.

That's the best-case scenario. What's the worst-case scenario if you sign a young big man or two-guard? Honestly? I mean, the team signed Bobby Brown (a young point guard prospect when the team was hurting at the position) last year, and the worst-case scenario came to fruition: the team had to trade him for expiring contracts. Brown had been absolutely awful ... and he was able to be traded despite a second year of guaranteed money. You don't have to guarantee a second season for these young cats. And they also happen to be a bit cheaper than your average Ime Udoka.

It's like Justin Williams getting caught in a threesome made Geoff Petrie and the front office scared of every D-League prospect in the country. It was a bad idea to sign an aging, without-promise Desmond Mason, and it's a bad idea to replace him with an aging, without-promise Ime Udoka. End the cycle!

***

When Mason is released -- and he will be -- it's going to be pretty sad to hear the send-off. I mean, what can the front office possibly say? "We didn't realize he was this bad, even though all data suggested he was really this bad." How do you justify signing a player for his leadership and defense ... and then signing his replacement five games into the season? It's absurd. Talent is the name of the game, and if Udoka has more talent than no less than two dozen D-League or European league players, call me Mary. Add in the age factor, and it's inconceivable as to why these decisions continue to be made. What's the plan here?

Nocioni Arrested on Suspicion of DUI

2009-11-05T16:35:11Z

Nocioni Arrested on Suspicion of DUI

Lietothegirls broke the news in the recap thread, Sims found the link. Posting this here so we can discuss it separately from the game recap.

Kings Crumble in Fourth, Fall to Atlanta 113-105

2009-11-05T15:28:15Z

More photos » by Rich Pedroncelli - AP

Browse more photos »

Wednesday against the Hawks, the Kings defense visually looked better than it did at any point in the 2008-09 season. The pick-and-roll defense was solid, the help defense came appropriately at least half the time, and for the most part Hawks wings were forced into jumpshots while Hawks bigs were denied embedded position. There were some serious mishaps, leading to flying Josh Smith dunks and whatnot, but for the most part, the defense was solid.

It never really stopped Atlanta, though, as those guards made lots of jumpers. Through three quarters, the Hawks had shot 35-66, a 53 percent clip. In the fourth, the Kings defense -- visually solid but effectively bad throughout -- just went sour. The Hawks shot the lights out (11-19) and the Kings fell.

And so it remains -- the Kings' major downfall is shooting defense. Rebounding has improved. The turnover situation in undeniably good. For a night the opponent didn't live at the line. But it's for naught when the Kings can't force a bad shot.

The Kings won all Four Factors but shooting. (Statsheet.com has really awesome embeddable charts showing this now.)

NBA Stats

The defensive rebounding wasn't too good ... but the Kings -- err, Jason Thompson made up for it on the offensive glass. (Kevin Martin, by the way, had nine of the team's 24 defensive rebounds.) The Kings scored more free throws and committed fewer turnovers. Sacramento had 11 steals (three for Tyreke Evans, two each for Thompson and Spencer Hawes), to only two for Atlanta.

But that shooting. Even with Martin having another stellar shooting night (29 points on 24 shooting possessions, a 60 percent True Shooting clip), the Kings shot just 43 percent on two-pointers, and 33 percent on threes. The Hawks, meanwhile, shot 58 percent on two-pointers and 38 percent on threes. You can't make up those gaps on offensive rebounds and turnovers. Not without perfect timing, which the Kings didn't have in the end.

It was a disappointing night for Hawes, but a killer performance for Thompson, who scored 22, added 12 rebounds and five assists with no turnovers. On the season, Thompson has 19 assists and only two turnovers. (Point-center Hawes has 11/10. Point guard Tyreke Evans has 18/12.)

Speaking of Evans ...

I thought this was a worse offensive game than his halted San Antonio performance (though 'Reke's defense on Wednesday was far superior, his best effort since New Orleans). Right now, Evans is too often letting the opposing defense dictate his play. The Hawks sagged far off Evans in the second half ... and Evans rewarded them by taking the long twos. That's bad shot for most players, and especially for someone like Evans. In three of five games this season, including Wednesday's Atlanta game, Evans has only drawn two free throw attempts. For a player whose offense should be completely based on getting to the rim, that's too few. Al Horford and Josh Smith blocked him a few times, and perhaps that aided the decision to fire away from long range. But Evans needs to make better decisions. He has a few quality scorers on the court with him, between Martin, Thompson, Hawes, Andres Nocioni and Omri Casspi. They used to play off Rajon Rondo like that, and he used the opportunity to pass the ball. Evans should do the same.

Post-Game Thread: Hawks at Kings

2009-11-05T06:00:22Z

Next Game

Atlanta Hawks
@ Sacramento Kings

Wednesday, Nov 4, 2009, 7:00 PM PST
ARCO Arena

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