Effort Key in Kings Victory Against Grizzlies

Who expected this?!

The Sacramento Kings have won their second game off the Karl era, but what makes this victory so impressive is that it was against a competitive Memphis Grizzlies team that is in contention for a first place in the ultra-tough Western Conference.

The Kings started the game out well, but sizzled out a bit in the third quarter. Fortunately a subpar third didn’t knock the Kings out, as a strong fourth solidified a victory for the purple and white tonight 102-90.

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One thing that was certain was that the level of effort was consistent throughout the game. Even when the Grizzlies made a run in the third quarter, the Kings didn’t back down, and remained strong until the final seconds ticked off the clock.

The high level of effort also resulted in the Kings out rebounding the Grizzlies as well, which was a big key to Sacramento’s victory. With a frontcourt containing Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph, it is hard for opponents to get rebounds, but the Kings efforts were too much for the pair tonight. As a result, the Kings out rebounded the Grizzlies 47-38.

The bench from the Kings has also been playing great as well. The play of Omri Casspi, Derrick Williams, and Andre Miller have definitely given the Kings a spark to rely on when the starters are sitting, which I will explain more in my final thoughts.

Rudy Gay also played a big role in the Kings victory tonight. In a way this was vengeance for Rudy, playing against his former team and also showing no mercy.

Rudy was hot throughout the game as he was making shots from almost anywhere on the court, as well as getting his teammates involved in the game too. As a result Rudy ended with 28 points, 5 rebounds, and 6 assists.

Final Thoughts- The Kings offense has definitely looked better under Coach Karl’s command. You can see in just the last three games that the ball movement and the quantity of high percentage shots have dramatically increased since coming back from the All-Star Break.

The offense has looked better, but it can still improve. The Kings are still having trouble turning the ball over, and until they can get this problem solved the offense will never reach its full potential.

Although Coach Karl’s system may be the prime component to the Kings recent success, it is important to factor in that the level of effort has also increased. It seems that the hiring of Coach Karl has definitely rejuvenated a (at the time) hapless Kings team. It’s good to see that the Kings have finally solidified a system for their future, therefore are going to continue to play hard until season’s end.

What has also been eye opening for me is seeing the level of productivity from the Kings bench. The bench, who has had a reputation of being insufficient, has showcased their best basketball so far this season. Casspi and Williams have been the stars of the bench in terms of statistics, but I think the true catalyst of this bench has been newly acquired guard Miller.

I think that it is safe to say that the fans of the Sacramento Kings love Miller, at least more than former King guard Ramon Sessions. Although the stats won’t knock your socks off, Miller has been successful so far in running the offense the way Coach Karl envisioned.

It also helps that Miller has been coached by Karl before, therefore being familiar with the style of play Karl expects from his team. Hopefully Andre’s presence will help players like Darren Collison and Ray McCallum improve on knowing how to run Karl’s system at its best.