Overreaction: Game 12/82 - Raps had the Kings' Heads Spinning

1st Quarter

9:27  What's up with the slow starts recently? Opened up with a miss, a couple of turnovers, and an Ibaka miss. Lowry bailed the team out with a buzzer beater 3.

7:13 Transition basket off a miss. I thought Lowry was passing to Kawhi who was really fast to the offensive end. Well, Pascal was faster.

6:42 Plenty of sloppy plays on both ends for the Raps. Teams are starting to make business decisions about shooting with Ibaka in the vicinity. Speaking of Ibaka, I wonder why it wasn't JV that started with WCS on the floor? Maybe Nurse is thinking that JV can match up better the Kings' backup Cs?

4:48 Raps struggling. Bogdanovic is back, this is great for me, he's on my fantasy team.

3:29 Fox's speed is a problem. Pascal over Bjelica mismatch will be there all day. Kawhi's timing looks off. Danny Green should not be allowed to have more than 5 dribble and steps combined.

0:00 Lowry does not like Mason III. Interesting sub pattern here. Siakam left around 8mins, only to come back for the last minute to replace Lowry. Kings' bench sucked, so the Raps find themselves up 3 at the end of the quarter.

2nd Quarter

8:47 Siakam looked so confident right now. Bagley's only going two ways: left and extreme left.

6:55 Nurse is pushing the right buttons right now. Taking advantage of all the mismatches on the floor. I really like this young Kings core, and if they don't eff this up, they could position themselves well in the next few years.

5:18 Kawhi getting these superstar calls (valid calls) got the Kings into the penalty early. The Kings kids are playing at an all-time high confidence. Even Dave Joerger thinks that WCS vs Ibaka is an exploitable matchup. Raps up 10 all of a sudden.

3:20 DeAaron Fox will be a problem for the league if he can consistently knock that long ball.

2:19 Danny Green finally warmed up, hitting back to back 3s.

1:37 did OG make a no-look steal?

3rd Quarter

8:32 Another slow start, giving up 6pts and putting up nothing. What do the Raps do? go back to the mismatch. Siakam's making Bjelica cry. Also, here's my updated top five lefty right now:

1. James Harden
2. Joe Ingles
3. Ben Simmons
4. DeAaron Fox
5. Manu Ginobli (I refuse to think that he's retired)

6:00 Nurse calls a timeout. Kings make a run, Raps only up 7 via Buddy Hield and a 4-pt play off a Lowry foul and a fastbreak alley-oop dunk from Hield to WCS. Raps just racking up turnovers. Very sloppy. Time to put JV in?

4:13 Kawhi and Lowry restored some order.

0:53 Lowry+JV pnr why isn't this happening often? Bagley not only cannot defend, but he also can't box out either. Looks like Lowry's 10+ assist streak will be over tonight

4th Quarter

9:00 Kings bench made a push as the Raps got sloppy again. Raps still up 10. Surprised that they went away from Siakam.

7:33 Raps bench settled down. They went back to Pascal again and they're back up to a comfortable 14pt lead. Kings called for a timeout to put their starters in -- will we see Lowry and/or Kawhi again?

4:52 Kawhi went back to work, but JV's just gonna keep missing or turning them over. 8-2 run with the Raps still up 7. Sloppy defence and sloppy finishes.

2:43 Kawhi and Serge with clutch 3s. Lowry takes a charge. Pascal connects with Lowry for a transition dunk. Raps up 14. This game's pretty much over.

Parting Shots

It's really fun to watch Danny Green chase faster guys, yet he gets there pretty much on time all the time. It's way different from how Norm Powell is chasing his man. Very efficient, reading where the guy is going.

I'm not 100% sure, but it looks like OG had a "no-look" steal w/o diving for the ball. Insane.

Divac's Picks:

2015 - WCS

2016 - Bogdan Bogdanovic, Skal, Papagiannis, Malachi Richardson

2017 - DeAaron Fox, Frank Mason, Justin Jackson, Harry Giles

2018 - Marvin Bagley, Gary Trent Jr

Either Vlade's getting better or he's a volume shooter.