Hoops

Are the Kings back?

Billy,

Based on your post a few hours ago in the Cairns v Hawks thread, I can only assume your knowledge of the Taipans is limited and that you are "huge" in respect to your physical attributes. :-)

(and Bubbles doesn't make his car park shots)

No, Kings are not back. Unconvincing win against the Bullets, but a lot more promising attitude and defence against NZ, which turned it around... If they show that against United (and Bubbles doesn't make his car park shots) to get the win, it will be a different story...

the most telling moment for the Kings (v Adelaide i Think) was when a pt up, 5 secs on the clock, Powell has the ball and throws it full court and out of bounds. Opposing team scored from the throwin.

That extra win would have had the Kings "safe". Powell has had many brain explosions, but that is the biggest brain fart i have seen.

"Warranted"??

Getting yourself thrown out of the game over a nothing (missed) call like that is never warranted. Show some passion by playing hard until the end of the game, not by leaving your already shorthanded team even more shorthanded. I'll live with the "passion" of the first tech. After that he was a dickhead

Sayonara Brissy, and very likely United too.

Sayonara Kings.

Yeah Carter was totally frustrated by that point and wasn't entirely his fault. Kings won the game by 27 but his +/- was -37! He must've felt his teammates and the refs were letting him down hence the emotional blowup.

The actual foul sequence wasn't even clear on replay. Lisch might have tapped his arm as he put up the shot but on the way down after he rebounded his own miss Lisch's strip looked clean. The techs were mainly due to his expletives and carrying on J.

I'm not certain if the kings are back or not but sometimes coaches get lucky and with Jackson out Moller got more time and as a neutral watching the game live the amount of defensive work he does and sets the defence up was outstanding. Both assistant coaches spent time talking to him through out the game, he looked great, his combination with Whittington was good. Tommy best game this year and also stepped it up on the defensive end. Hill looked good to, still think Josh powel has to lift but Maric was also good at both ends.

Duke the fan he showed more passion in that moment than any breaker the entire game. The game was over and tensions boiled over he reacted like a guy who gives a damn would. No need to call him a dickhead, ofcourse not ideal reaction but warranted.

If they beat Melbourne next week I think they'll make playoffs as they'll have 14 wins and the split over NZ, Cairns and United.

If they beat Melbourne next week I think they'll make playoffs as they'll have 14 wins and the split over NZ, Cairns and United.

"What did Paul carter do for three technicals in one go?"

I'll say what I said in response to Henare's question in the telecast "What was the last one for?"

Being a dickhead

Very ordinary actions from a player whose team was down on personnel and completely selfish

The Kings clearly wanted it today. Whittington stayed out of foul trouble and played the best D he's played since the first month of the season, Maric was incredible in the 1st half, and although Powell couldn't buy a bucket he looked the most motivated I've seen him since he came here, and he was hustling back on D and getting out on the break on O.

Kings aren't "back" by any stretch of the imagination, but they are showing a pulse.

What did Paul carter do for three technicals in one go? Or was that satire?

The Kings are back NOT!! They only beat NZ who is most likely still mentally fried from the incident in their last game and probably played their worst game all season.

Whilst they sing their victory song posted by the teams camera man powell, they shouldn't get too excited because they are not playing like a finals teams.

Gaze should still have sleepless nights worrying about his teams in ability to play DEFENSE, play smart, play with energy for 4 quarters!!

IMO they will miss out on the finals!!

I suspect what we saw is similar to what we have seen all season: When the Kings are good enough to get comfortably in front early and run with it, their quality shows throu. But when things get tough, Drewie is not up to the job.
(Undoubtedly 10x the coach I would ever be, but out-coached by everyone else in this league.)

As to the OP's stated question. The league remains very close, I don't thing the Kings ever really dropped completely out of contention, and they are definitely in the finals race.

And yes, this was an unexpectedly strong performance, and should give both them and their fans renewed confidence.

Guys I feel like the Op wants everyone to agree the kings are in fact back. Couple of subtle rebuts. So in the interest of making him/her a happy camper sure they are back baby!! Reality no.

Sorry I was distracted by the Bo Liu substitution as I was about to post on this thread... probably more appropriate in the actual game thread.

As per OP's question, no the Kings are not quite back yet. The two wins this week were more due to good fortune than brilliant strategic turnaround. Outside shots were falling in and the ref calls went more or less in their favour. Moller (of all people) hit a few three pointers and Paul Carter got 3 tech fouls in a row.

Yes, Gazey made some more small improvements today by rediscovering his transition offense and how to properly utilize Moller but those are not significant enough to claim that their championship form is back. If anything, there are still far too many issues that have yet to be addressed: too many perimeter shots, no low post strategy, lack of dribble penetration and soft interior defense.

Even the rediscovery of their transition offense is dubious as they went up against the most turnover-prone team in the competition. Gazey would have to be very concerned with the form of Powell in the last few games as well. Attitude aside, I have a feeling that Powell may not have been applying himself fully during practice or scouting reports/briefings.

NZ smacked them 67-48 on the boards, including 16-9 offensive boards. NZ committed 25 turnovers to 9 (points from turnovers accounted for the winning margin) and had 6 assists to 20.

I think a team that wins the board stats so convincingly but is thrashed so resoundingly in the floor game stats can safely be called a "rabble".

Sydney will need to fix its rebounding to be declared as "back".

Yeah I'd say they're back. Why not

Bo Liu hit the court, the humiliation is almost complete I suppose.

Yes the experts were all tipping the Breakers to smash the Kings. So much for that.

Not everyone. Just a few knee jerk reactions overall consensus is kings have mass amount of work to do. As does every team not named the adelaide 36ers.

Everyone on this forum reacts so much to every win/loss by every team lol. If a team wins suddenly they are the #1 contender, if a team loses a game apparently they won't make the playoffs.

NZ are woeful.

No

Easy champ. They are beating a mentally defeated breakers team that looks very flat.

The New Orleans Hornets are currently the hottest team in the league with a 9 win streak and are also the best story in the NBA at the moment.

To quote Joe Gerrity from hornets247.com

"The love could even reach levels unseen since 07-08 because of all the drama that has surrounded the team lately. From a sad summer riddled with rumors of Chris Paul’s alleged unhappiness, a complete front office overhaul, and a winless preseason, to the ownership situation falling apart, and an attendance problem, this has been a tough year to be a Hornets fan. They are just about the ultimate underdog in the NBA. Hell, they don’t even have a real owner. And national TV? I think there has been one game on so far, and there is one more scheduled. It’s about time that changed."

Coming off games where they beat Atlanta 100-59 and San Antonio 96-72, today they overcame all sorts of adversity to extend the streak to 9 against all odds, thanks to a David West game winner. Not to mention it was during the Thunder game that they cracked the attendance benchmark, ensuring the teams immediate future in New Orleans. After all their suffering, the Hornets are deservedly the best current story of the NBA.