Sacramento Kings: Grinding is tough

Sacramento Kings’ Isaiah Thomas (R) guarded by Mike Conley of the Memphis Grizzlies

By Ryan Rodriguez

I’m back after a small hiatus and for three and a half quarters last night, I thought the Kings would out grind the Memphis Grizzlies to victory, but unfortunately, the Grizz have perfected grinding over the last three years and pulled away for a 99-89 victory. Without DeMarcus for the fourth straight game, the Kings struggled to put the ball in the bucket against a team that has made their identity on defense. In no small part, this happened because the Kings turned into a jump shooting team of the highest order, taking only 8 free throws the entire game. I repeat, only 8 free throws the entire game. To me, this stat is a microcosm of the game, the Grizz worked to keep the Kings out of the paint and force jumpshots, while the Kings completely obliged. There is no way that you can beat a team that prides itself on defense without shooting free throws unless you get ridiculously hot from the floor, and that was not the case last night at all. The team battled, but without DeMarcus, there is no one who can really stand up to the trio of Mike Conley, Marc Gasol, and Zach Randolph on the Kings and it showed.

Some notes on the game.

• You can see the toll it takes on Isaiah when Boogie isn’t out on the court. Too much of the offense falls onto his shoulders, and though he has balled this year, he’s not at that stage where he can beat a team of the defensive caliber of the Grizzlies with only one other helper (Rudy Gay). He seems to be laboring out there sometimes and I think that shows with no free throw attempts. What sparked IT at the beginning of the year was his ability to get to the line, and though he was getting into the paint yesterday and making some shots, the freebies are what has improved his efficiency, and that’s what he was missing yesterday. 24 points on 21 shots, even if he shoots 47%, is too inefficient.

• Aaron Gray was pretty fun to watch in the first half. He did everything he needs to do to succeed (screens, boards) and even added some nifty passes inside that set up teammates for shots. Without Boogie, it was good to have someone drop a couple dimes from the frontcourt to create easy shots. I’m still holding out hope that Gray gets some minutes when Boog comes back.

• Rudy Gay looked pretty good yesterday, not settling for deep jumper after deep jumper and working to make his post ups as close to the key as possible. He did a decent job as well of accepting a more of a playmaker roll with out DeMarcus, dishing out 5 assists. He also dropped a couple highlight reel tomahawk jams that were quite enjoyable.

• Derrick Williams just looks lost in my eyes. He can only score if he has a wide open lane to the hoop. If the defense has defenders in his path, he does everything in his power to avoid contact and ends up missing the layup. On top of that, he adds little to the team in terms of ball movement, rebounding, shooting, and defense. He sadly seems to be a power forward trapped in a small forward’s body, someone whose hope is to play like Blake Griffin but isn’t quite as tall or athletic. Looks out of place any time he’s at small forward.

• Ben McLemore could only sustain his good shooting for two games. Despite how he shot the last two games, I still feel like every shot is going to miss. I’m not exactly sure what’s wrong, but someone who was as good a shooter as he was at Kansas should not miss open shots on the reg like he does. I hope they start falling, actually, I pray they start falling because the team needs him to be a building block.

Next game at Dallas on Friday.