A Royal Pain
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GameDay Notebook: Kings (14-19) at Pistons (9-23)

By Tony Xypteras

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I was really hoping we’d be talking about a Kings blowout win in Minnesota from Thursday in today’s preview, but that just isn’t what happened. The Kings beat the Timberwolves, but much like their win against the Knicks from last week, I’m having a hard time feeling particularly good about it.

You can read more about the Kings win in Minnesota here and here.

This team isn’t playing defense anymore. We knew that already, but watching bad team after bad score at will against the Kings just confirms what we thought already. Whatever positive defensive principles this team established earlier in the season left when Michael Malone was fired.

This isn’t a knock on Tyrone Corbin. I couldn’t be more sympathetic for the no-win position the Kings front office has put him in. It’s not like he’s telling the Kings players that they don’t need to play defense. Corbin has acknowledged that the defense needs to be better, but the Kings just aren’t playing with the same emotion and togetherness that they had under Malone.

The players aren’t blameless here, either. Vivek Ranadive and Pete D’Alessandro have taken a bulk of the criticism, but at some point here the players are going to have to show a little more profession pride. Get back on defense to stop transition, help your teammate when he gets beat off the dribble, close out on shooters with purpose, etc. A lot of the Kings defensive issues are effort related, and that is disappointing.

If I can say anything positive regarding how the month of December played out for the Kings, it’s that the players themselves are acknowledging their need to play better. They are saying a lot of the right things, but we’re getting to the point where that talk has to translate over to the court. It hasn’t yet.

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    • The Kings will be about as well rested as you can be during a four game road trip when they play the Pistons tonight. Detroit is currently riding a four game winning streak that started as soon as they released former Kings trade target Josh Smith. Three of those four wins have come against the Pacers, Magic, and Knicks. Certainly not the NBA’s elite, but wins are wins.

    The Kings started Derrick Williams in Thursday nights win over the Timberwolves. It’s hard to say if that spot start for Williams was a matchup decision, or if Corbin is actually going to use him as his starting power forward on a consistent basis. If Williams starts again tonight, he’s going to have his hands full trying to defend either Greg Monroe or Andre Drummond. This feels like a good night to put Jason Thompson back into the starting lineup for defensive and rebounding help, but we’ll just have to wait and see.

    The Kings have the ability to match up and defeat this Pistons team, but Detroit is clearly playing better basketball right now. A win today wouldn’t shock me, but I have a hard time expecting that after watching how the Kings have looked over the past month.

    As usual, check back in to A Royal Pain after tonight’s game for our postgame coverage.

    Sacramento Kings at Detroit Piston

    Where: The Palace of Auburn Hills – Auburn Hills, MI

    When: 3:00 PM Pacific, 6:00 PM Eastern 

    Broadcast: Comcast Sportsnet California

    Radio: KHTK Sports 1140 AM

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