The Weekend Wrap: Tough Week

After a fantastic week last week, in which the Kings went 3-0 and pushed their record over .500 for the first time in three seasons, they reversed course this week and have dropped all three contests and now find themselves at 5-7 on the season. It certainly doesn’t help that the injury bug continues to plague this squad and both Andres Nocioni and Tyreke Evans were forced to miss games. Nocioni was forced to sit out Tuesday’s game against Chicago with an injured hip, but was able to return for Friday’s contest against Dallas. The former Bull was likely very disappointed at being unable to suit up against the team that traded him last season. Tyreke Evans suffered a sprained finger in the Dallas game and is listed as day-to-day. Without Evans, the Kings have little chance at competing on a nightly basis and are hoping that the injury doesn’t keep him sidelined for long. Earlier this week, in the Monday Morning Rush, Blake Ellington of Bleed Black and Purple, had us focus on a few key things. Let’s take a look at how they went down this week.

What we were watching for this week:

1. On the road again – The trend of losing on the road has continued as the Kings are now 1-5 on the road this season. There is reason for hope, however, as they are battling in every game no matter what the environment. They lost 104-102 to Dallas and continually made runs to get back into the game, but Dallas did what good teams are supposed to do and put the Kings away. On the following night in Houston, the Kings fell 113-106 to the Rockets. The irony is that the Houston game was much closer than the score suggested and was contested throughout the game as the Kings held several leads after fighting back from 15 down in the second quarter. The Dallas game was never in doubt for the Mavericks, but the Kings had a flurry at the end to make it appear closer than it really was. The positive thing to take from these games is the willingness of this team to battle back and play hard for a full 48 minutes, something that was lacking last season.

2. Kenny Thomas – Kenny Thomas is still a King, despite several rumors that have tied him to potential trades for Samuel Dalembert and Emeka Okafor. I really didn’t like either of those deals for the Kings as it meant taking on bad contacts for players that clearly aren’t worth the money they are being paid. I’d rather see them let Thomas’ contract expire or get a player that they truly want over taking on further bad contracts. The Dalembert deal would have involved them moving Andres Nocioni, so it would have been a net savings this season, but $12 million is still far too much to commit to Dalembert for next season. I think they are better off waiting for a backup center next year that they can sign for less than that or making a play for a player that they really want. The expiring trade chip of Kenny Thomas’ contract is much too valuable to trade away on the first offers. Even the scenario of his contract expiring is more appealing to me than taking on Dalembert or Okafor at this point. Thomas continues to see time off of the bench and log between 15-20 minutes as a defensive stopper and rebounder for the Kings.

3. Opponents’ scoring – The Kings continue to allow far too many points to their opponents and gave up an average of 106 points in their three contests this week. The Kings outshot their opponents in the Dallas and Houston games, but still came up on the losing end. One of the main culprits for the high scoring by the opposition, other than poor defense, has been the large number of turnovers that the Kings gave up this week. They turned it over 21 times in both the Chicago and Dallas games and 14 times in Houston. If they continue to give the ball away for free, they are going to lose a lot more games. They did a better job in the Houston game, but the Rockets noticeable tried to push the tempo with Kyle Lowry and Aaron Brooks in at the same time with a smaller lineup, knowing that Beno Udrih was the only guard that the Kings were starting that evening with Evans and Martin on the shelf. Regardless of the reasons, the Kings must do a better job in the future of limiting their opponents.

 As always thanks for reading and catch up tomorrow morning with The Monday Morning Rush when Blake Ellington tells us what we should watch for next week.