Monday Morning Rush: Kings must hang on to the rock

In our weekly collaboration between sites, Blake Ellington of Bleed Black and Purple  will start our week off with the Monday Morning Rush and tell us some of the key things that we should focus on as we watch the Kings this week and I will follow up with the Weekend Wrap in which I break apart the week that was. Without further adieu, we bring you the Monday Morning Rush.

Contributed by guest blogger Blake Ellington

Monday Morning Rush: Kings must hang on to the rock

 Last week, we expected it would be tough against some talented teams. It was, and the outcomes weren’t all that pleasant, but the Sacramento Kings played hard against the Bulls, Mavericks and Rockets. It just seemed like it was never enough. The momentum of the four-game winning streak didn’t carry over even though the tough play did. The ups and downs of this young team will continue. As mentioned last week, however, the goal now is to hover around that .500 mark. This week’s schedule does present the potential of maintaining that record. Continued tough play, a healthy Tyreke Evans and three of the next four at Arco Arena should be enough to win a few games.

Let’s take a look at some key things Kings fans should watch for this week:

1. Hang on to the rock: Last week, the Kings turned the ball over 21 times against both the Bulls and Mavericks. They turned it over 14 times against the Rockets. In every instance, the other team turned the ball over significantly fewer times. Though a typical sign of a young team, there is no way you are going to win in the NBA turning the rock over that often. No single player is responsible for all of the turnovers, it is more of a team effort. Getting out and running the floor after a defensive rebound or steal is exciting to watch and can result in easy baskets, but the Kings can get ahead of themselves once in a while in these situations. This leads to careless passes and balls dribbled off of knees. Some of the turnovers just can’t be explained and will take coaching to fix. Watch the turnover numbers at the end of the games this week to see if this problem has been alleviated in any way.

2. Closing out games: This is always easier against teams without winning records, but it is something the Kings are going to have to learn how to do if they want to stay around the .500 mark. They must score when open shots are available, make the right passes and not turn the ball over in the closing minutes of quarters. Good teams can make that jumper with seconds left right before the half. They also can execute a designed play in the last minute of a close game. The four teams the Kings play this week have 13 wins combined so there should be ample opportunities to practice this goal. Head Coach Paul Westphal has the team working on their closing game sequences a lot in practice and it has yet to show. That practice will surely continue; the fans will just have wait to see if it translates into better execution.

3. Omri Casspi’s role:His minutes are up and down, but the kid can obviously play. On Saturday, he filled in for the injured Tyreke Evans and scored 17 points and pulled down 8 rebounds. His country is watching and so are we. Opponents know when Casspi is in the game. A few weeks ago, Stephen Jackson said Casspi wasn’t going to make an impact in the league, but he is already making an impact on this Kings roster. The fans have to be hoping Evans returns from his hand injury as soon as possible, but it is good to know Casspi can pick up the slack in scoring and rebounding if he can’t go. While Kevin Martin and Francisco Garcia (yea, remember him?) are sidelined, Casspi will have plenty of minutes to illustrate his abilities. The home crowd also loves him for his effort. Look for Casspi to log at least 20 minutes a game this week depending on matchups.