ABOUT THE KINGS (3-7): Cousins scored 21 points in the third quarter on Friday, including 19 in a row, after a sub-par first half and ended up going 12-of-17 from the field after the break.
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“It’s a locker room that is really dedicated to the team rather than the individual”. “When he’s playing well, the team’s playing well”. Sacramento has just 15 players. “Together” is the most common phrase the players used when asked to describe what they have learned about themselves since the team meeting. Let’s keep this whole winning thing going. In the paint, driving to the rim, mid-range jumpers, hell, even threes. Stevens is a brilliant and open-minded basketball mind, and his greatest attribute just might be getting through to young players and getting the most out of them. Above all else, the chemistry is taking shape.
“I never doubted this team from day one”.
Cousins would be reunited with former Kings teammate Isaiah Thomas, giving the Celtics a very risky inside-outside combination. Cousins, who acknowledged cussing out coach George Karl in the locker room and apologized later, has been on a one-man tear since then.
“Incredible talent, but everybody knows that”. Earlier in the day, the Kings assigned rookie forward Duje Dukan to the team’s D-League affiliate in Reno, Nevada….
The Kings aimed to become a playoff contender this season after throwing everything at the wall this summer [Editor’s note: This has been true for a decade now, since the Kings last made the playoffs in the 2005-06 season]. They have been playing better in transition as well, and switching more frequently.
We heard the rumblings before the season that Cousins would start shooting threes, and he came out and made 4-of-5 from three in the opener.
Mo Williams (20 points) helped James on the scoring front, including hitting a jump shot with 41 seconds remaining to put the Cavs ahead. Karl wanted to suspend Cousins but Sacramento Kings president Vlade Divac blocked the suspension.
A few wondered how Cory Joseph would fare in what was expected to be a larger role in Toronto after being a small cog in the San Antonio Spurs machine for four seasons. “So we needed to be in a tighter shell to make him pick the ball up and play to his tendencies”, Lionel Hollins said.
In other words, there was no need to panic. According to Sam Amick of USA Today, Karl could be the one out as the Kings favor Cousins as their franchise player. Instead, everyone stayed the course and at the moment that is turning out to be the right move.
“Wednesday seems like more of the target date”, Collison said. All of us are accountable.
Though it is fairly early into the National Basketball Association season, it is easy to identify the weaknesses of certain organizations. The Raptors played the first of five consecutive games on the road against Western Conference teams.
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Cousins’ game-high 36 points marked his third straight 30-point contest, but guard Ben McLemore’s slashing, acrobatic layup inside a crowded key that gave Sacramento the lead for good with 1:40 left.
