Pacers Clobber Kings – Frustrations Mount

If you read over the Bee’s recap from last nights thumping, one thing was made extremely clear – somebody is annoying the holy shitting crap out of the majority of this squad. Carl Landry, Luther Head, Jason Thompson, Sammy Dalembert and even Coach Westphal all laid their best smack down on somebody(s) for their lack of execution and playbook knowledge. I thought it was a bit ironic coming from Head of all people, but, guess that’s a whole different argument.

Either way, removing the quoted players, that only leaves a handful of suspects. Of the remaining few, the name that seems to make the most logical sense would be Evans who hasn’t found a shot he didn’t like this year.

Again, it’s simply speculation and he’s clearly having health issues so I’m not trying to pile on the guy, but, he’s been playing poorly and his decision making could be rivaled by that of a mentally challenged grasshopper. Yes, he does rack up the assists but most come from botched drive attempts and/or last second kick outs to an open shooter. Not that those are always bad, but, attempting to bowling ball yourself into four defenders for a last second shot clock 28 foot jumper isn’t the most efficient of plays.

But like I said, they could be speaking in a general sense (I doubt it….) and the lack of execution applies to pretty much everybody, sans one or two. To harness all the blame on Evans is wrong, but he’s certainly not helping the situation either. He still has a lot to learn about the game (which is fine) but the learning progress from last season looks to have regressed a touch, not improved. Is it the health issues that are causing that? I’m sure it’s part of it, but Evans is still very much a work in progress.

As for the rest of the game, the Kings once again hung tough until halftime much like they did in their previous game, but came out flat in the second half and were pretty much blown out from that point on. DeMarcus Cousins had his own little party that got the Kings within single digits mid-way through the fourth, but, it never got any closer than that.

For about a five minute stretch, you saw why the Kings were so high on DCuz. There wasn’t a player on the court that could stop him. From passing to defense to banging in the block, he was making a play every time down – on both ends of the court. The consistency isn’t there yet, but once Cousins learns how to play the game….he has every tool in the world to become a force. And frankly, despite his questionable decisions and childish antics, his effort is fantastic and I wish it would rub off on the rest of the team. Cousins finished with 20 and 8 in only 22 minutes.

The tough times are bound to get tougher for the Kings as they will play the Lakers and Mavericks in consecutive nights later this week before heading back down to Los Angeles where Blake Griffin will attempt to pillage them one more time for an early Christmas present.