Marcus Thornton remains out with a left thigh contusion, the Sacramento Bee's Jason Jones reports. Thornton will sit for the Kings' Friday night game against the Houston Rockets. Jones also reports that Jimmer Fredette will continue to start in Thornton's place.
The two-guard missed games Tuesday and Wednesday on the road; Fredette started each, and Sacramento split them. Fredette in the starting five has shifted Tyreke Evans to shooting guard. Evans scored big on Wednesday against the Raptors, but the team has struggled to pick up many assists, even more than usual.
On Wednesday, the Kings had 13 assists on 30 made field goals. (Jimmer had zero, and Isaiah Thomas had six off of the bench.) On Tuesday in a blowout loss to the Sixers, the Kings had 16 assists on 34 makes, with Jimmer picking up three.
The Rockets are just 3-7 this season, with the league's No. 15 offense and No. 26 defense. Houston is 2-1 at home. Jimmer and Tyreke will have their hands full on defense against Kyle Lowry and Kevin Martin.
0 recs | 149 comments
Early prediction:
DMC gets into early foul trouble against Scola, but comes back in the 2nd quarter and dominates the game from there on. K-Mart has an awful shooting night but still ends up with 24. Tyreke is the player of the game with 30-9 boards-11 dimes.
diehardkingsfan5 - January 13, 2012
Who will guard Jimmer?
I would guess K-Mart since Ariza and Lowry may be covering Salmons and Tyreke. If they do try to hide K-Mart on Jimmer, I hope Jimmer hits his open shots. Then again, they may be able to hide K-Mart on Salmons the way the fish has played.
SharkKings49 - January 13, 2012
Lowry
Ariza plays for the Hornets now.
StevenG - January 13, 2012
Good call
mental lapse
SharkKings49 - January 13, 2012
I have an odd feeling that Salmons is going to have a good game tonight
Tyreke should have a field day on this defense and hopefully he’ll be able to find Cousins for an easy dump off once Scola commits .
HeuristicLineup - January 13, 2012
I hope
that feeling right…
nohops - January 13, 2012
Is Right...
nohops - January 13, 2012
Jimmer may just have his first good game
with Kevin Martin guarding him (……….holding my breath……….!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
yaboyrafa - January 13, 2012
Problem I see with Martin on Jimmer
is Martin’s length
HeuristicLineup - January 13, 2012
Yes, Will Jimmer put up shots in a timely manner?
or defer and hesitate too much again?
lietothegirls - January 13, 2012
Martin would have to move his feet to stay in front of Jimmer for his length to be useful
HighTops - January 13, 2012
I don't really take Jimmer as the kind to blow past you
Even if it’s someone like Martin
HeuristicLineup - January 13, 2012
Some teams use these things they call, uh let me see - oh yes - screens.
lietothegirls - January 13, 2012
Hmmm....
I’m reading my Sacramento Kings encyclopedia and I see no mention of this “screen” thing you are referring too.
HeuristicLineup - January 13, 2012
Rick Adelman stole that page when he was fired
SharkKings49 - January 13, 2012
I see no mention of a Rick Adelman
I got King Westphal version.
HeuristicLineup - January 13, 2012
Rockets might go small
with Lowry and Dragic in the game and KMart at the small forward spot (they finally did that for extended minutes against San Antonio)
wallywagon11 - January 13, 2012
Did it work?
raiderking21 - January 13, 2012
Why would Martin be on Jimmer???
StevenG - January 13, 2012
My thought was because he has no chance against Tyreke
Salmons is another story. Salmons should be able to abuse Martin when Salmons slashes, but Salmons is awful so he probably won’t.
SharkKings49 - January 13, 2012
So then who
does Lowry guard? Salmons? Parsons on Tyreke?
StevenG - January 13, 2012
The Rockets look pretty bad
I’ve never watched Parsons, so I don’t know what he is good at, but based on his stats, I would welcome him on the kings as a SF.
If Parsons isn’t a good defender, I think our guards can dominate the game. I would think Lowry has to guard Tyreke since he is the only starter that I know of that cares to defend. I don’t think they can count on an out of shape Sammy to stop him in the paint alone, but he’s better than nothing. Outside of Sammy, they have no post defense to stop Tyreke’s drives.
SharkKings49 - January 13, 2012
You know Lowry is 6'1" right?
So you want to put the 6’1" guy on the 6’5" because the Rockets’ 6’5" guy “has no chance” against Tyreke but the 6’1" does because he cares to try? Sorry I’m not following the logic here.
And when I say "guard’ I mean defensive assignments. I’m not implying a certain player can shut down the other.
StevenG - January 13, 2012
you should watch Lowry play D
guy is a bulldog
wallywagon11 - January 13, 2012
You should know, when it comes to good defense, height sometimes isn't a factor
Now it is a factor sometimes, but with a defender as good as Lowry, he could guard taller SG’s in this league
raiderking21 - January 13, 2012
If Lowry is on Tyreke to start the game
(in my best Chris Webber voice) “Good luck.”
StevenG - January 13, 2012
If I were the Rockets and it was between Lowry and Martin
I would put Lowry on Tyreke every time.
SharkKings49 - January 13, 2012
My issue with Martin on Tyreke is that I haven’t seen Martin show the defensive quickness and dedication to defend one of the best slashers like Tyreke.
SharkKings49 - January 13, 2012
If Tyreke could hit his outside shot or post up, I'd agree with you
But, Evans is a slasher who doesn’t use screens, so Lowry should be able to stay in front of him. Tyreke’s size advantage doesn’t matter if he can’t shoot over the top, or post him up. Evans is shooting 30% on the long ball, so Houston would love for him to try and shot over Lowry rather than drive to the rim where he shots 60%. As for posting up Lowry, you’d think Evans could do that but how often does he?
HighTops - January 13, 2012
Yup, whenever I see Reke post up he inevitably settles for a fadeaway jumper
SMH
Shizzo - January 13, 2012
Same reason why I'd rather have 6-6 Chuck Hayes guard the opposing big man
than the 6-10 J.J. Hickson
Aykis16 - January 13, 2012
It's paint players who really guard Tyreke
lietothegirls - January 13, 2012
Seriously DMC's rebound numbers could be absolutely ridiculous in this one, especially in the second half if he is not in foul trouble
Chandler Parsons – kind of like him
Lowry – Man crush
Dragic – No clue why I like him
wallywagon11 - January 13, 2012
Dragic is a more athletic Beno.
Aykis16 - January 13, 2012
And in other news!!
Snails are more athletic rocks
HeuristicLineup - January 13, 2012
hahahah
mbcarval - January 13, 2012
Jordan Hill had 12-12 in 10 minutes the other day.
caseycheesecake - January 13, 2012
He has had some very nice games this season
I can’t believe NY included him in that trade
MichaelMack - January 13, 2012
Reunion night!
Chuck Hayes
Donte Greene
Kevin Martin
Samuel Dalembert
HeuristicLineup - January 13, 2012
K-Mart vs. Tyreke. Sammy vs. Cousins.
Sweet. Look for Isaiah to play a lot against Kyle Lowry. Seems like Kings like his defense against small quick PGs.
bench_blob - January 13, 2012
Not sure if that is a trend we’ve necessarily seen yet.
wallywagon11 - January 13, 2012
They Love Chuck Too
Per Jason Jones twitter:
#12Pick...who? - January 13, 2012
I can only imagine how disappointed he must be to not be able to play this game
Shizzo - January 13, 2012
Contusion?
Is this just a bruise?
misterbrister - January 13, 2012
SOFT!
wallywagon11 - January 13, 2012
Back in the day
Charley Horse (The term may date back to American slang of the 1880s, possibly from the pitcher Charlie “Old Hoss” Radbourn who is said to have suffered from cramps)(hopefully not once a month).
betweentheeyes - January 13, 2012
Dwight Howard
That’s being on the wrong end of a man-crush
lietothegirls - January 13, 2012
Salmons lost about 10 days of preseason with a thigh contusion.
So, Thornton will probably miss another couple games, if not another week.
Wonderchild - January 13, 2012
Moar Coaches!!!
Per Sam Amick’s Twitter:
#12Pick...who? - January 13, 2012
Alex English
He could be the ex-star that could mentor Cousins, once he tells Cousins who he is.
SharkKings49 - January 13, 2012
8 time All-Star and scoring champ?
Can he play small forward?
StevenG - January 13, 2012
Im okay with jimmer to start tonight. He needs to gain NBA experience as much he can get
SaKINGS - January 13, 2012
Go Kings!!
polotown - January 13, 2012
sure would be nice if jimmer wouldn’t pass up the open shots , I’d like him to shoot them BYU 3s. that would be nice instead of salmons.
Beer_man - January 13, 2012
I love how much we promote a mid 30 percentile shooter to shoot more
I’m all for it as well, I just find it funny.
HeuristicLineup - January 13, 2012
I don't think Jimmer's in the 30 percentile of 3-point shooters in the NBA
Hasn’t been shooting well, but not that bad.
Mr. Rockie - January 13, 2012
He's only shooting 31% from 3 so far
Only 35% from the field
raiderking21 - January 13, 2012
To be in the 30th percentile means 70% of NBA players are shooting better than him from 3-point land
and he is only shooting better than 29% of them. Percentiles are percentages are very different.
Mr. Rockie - January 13, 2012
*Percentiles and percentages are very different.
Mr. Rockie - January 13, 2012
85th out of the 112 that have shot enough to qualify
That would put him in the bottom 25%.
section214 - January 13, 2012
yeah i know , isaiah thomas is being Isaiah thomas , i don’t see jimmer being jimmer , shoot the ball! just saying ,lol.
Beer_man - January 13, 2012
I really would love it if Jimmer had the type of game that IT had on Wednesday night.
I want to see Jimmer succeed, maybe it would help some of the fans that think he’s already a bust back on the Jimmer bandwagon.
DiegoKing - January 13, 2012
I like the fans that are already writing Jimmer off as a bust
It lets me know quite early to never take anything they say seriously.
HeuristicLineup - January 13, 2012
I've criticized him a couple times when he's deserved it,
but by no means do am I writing off Jimmer as a bust. That’s as short sided as it gets doing it 11 games into his NBA career, lol.
DiegoKing - January 13, 2012
short sighted* durp
DiegoKing - January 13, 2012
More of this
Less of this
DiegoKing - January 13, 2012
Alright Jimmer... Time to shine.
haglnuts - January 13, 2012
Rockets have a lot of bodies to put on DMC
Patrick Patterson will probably give him the most trouble. Also will see Dally and Scola guard him some.
Wonderchild - January 13, 2012
I would love to see Scola guard DMC
Maybe will get that elusive 20-20 game
SharkKings49 - January 13, 2012
Maybe a Dwight-like 45-30.
caseycheesecake - January 13, 2012
Hopefully his experience playing with Patterson will help him out
CoolFinity - January 13, 2012
Completey irrelevant but I don't care
This video made ever so happy. The music, the dunks, the cheeseball intro, all of it (just wish there were more Sprewell violent dunks)
wallywagon11 - January 13, 2012
KJ dunking over Eaton was awesome
Think I even saw a little Kenny Smith on the Kings
SharkKings49 - January 13, 2012
Irving's Cradle Dunk (damn straight I am going to capitalize that) on Michael Cooper still gives me chills
wallywagon11 - January 13, 2012
okay I dunno if I was born yet but seen it a ton of times and still love it
wallywagon11 - January 13, 2012
No KJ on Hakeem?
I was specifically looking for that dunk when I saw KJ was included, but I didn’t see it.
#12Pick...who? - January 13, 2012
Damn, that's a nice video
I never saw that Jordan alley-oop (early in the video), that’s bananas.
lead_pipe - January 13, 2012
Jimmer has this great shot
Jimmer needs to shoot better but I see him developing this great Dirk Nowitzki type of shot. He dribbles to the paint or around it and then he turns and shoots this fade away shot.
If he can start hitting 3 pointers and he perfects that shot it will be hard to guard him. Watch tonight. He will dribble into the paint, turn and shoot a fade away shot.
Polomontana - January 13, 2012
Jimmer's shooting mechanics are no where near what Dirk's are
their shots are in no way similar
wallywagon11 - January 13, 2012
I said Dirk Nowitzki type of shot
I never said anything about Jimmer’s mechanics being like Dirk’s. It’s a fade away shot that will be very hard to guard if he perfects it because other guards would have to foul him to try and block the shot.
Polomontana - January 13, 2012
Seems Like
a shot to work on. He has the strength to make that type of shot work.
nohops - January 13, 2012
sorry what I am trying to say is
Jimmer’s fade away has very little chance of being great like Dirks. I do understand though that the shot makes you think of Dirk given it’s a fade away but Dirk can get it off effectively because he can put the ball over the top of his head and still make it and is 7 feet tall.
wallywagon11 - January 13, 2012
What you're missing is
Jimmer doesn’t need to be over anyone’s head with that shot. Have you seen the defense trying to block it? Nope, because they can’t..
I saw it blocked once when a taller forward switched to him. You could see Jimmer trying to adjust the shot when he’s facing taller players.
If he perfects that shot and learns how to adjust it when facing taller players, it will be hard to stop.
Polomontana - January 13, 2012
Well yeah if he perfects that shot he's golden
just good luck getting a the proper arch on that shot consistently. That’s why you don’t see a ton of guards perfecting it. Believe it or not but it’s a tad bit harder for Jimmer given … he’s not 7 feet tall.
That’s a mighty tall order.
wallywagon11 - January 13, 2012
Not Really
Jimmer has good hang time with that shot and like I said, I’ve only seen it blocked once by a taller forward and he hasn’t perfected it yet.
Polomontana - January 13, 2012
lol
never said it would be blocked but alright
wallywagon11 - January 13, 2012
I am not saying Jimmer is going to get swatted all over the place
clearly he will use what you described as hang time and perhaps shoot it at a different angle (like Stephen Jackson or Tyreke does with the insane high arc fade aways that either swish or go bouncing way up in the air off of the rim and often on top of the backboard or out of bounds). I mean it’s more difficult to make it when one has to shoot it at such angles which Jimmer will.
wallywagon11 - January 13, 2012
and without using his legs in the shot
wallywagon11 - January 13, 2012
Nope
This is why you perfect the shot to make it less difficult.
Polomontana - January 13, 2012
lol
oh all he has to do is perfect it. Nevermind!
wallywagon11 - January 13, 2012
That's a shot Jimmer consistently took and made in college.
Not all of his points came from 3-pointers and layups.
Mr. Rockie - January 13, 2012
I know
that’s a real difficult shot in the NBA for a guard. All I was saying is that Jimmer’s fade away has very little chance of being great like Dirks. That’s it. I think that is really diffiult for him to “perfect” even though yes he will have to use it time to time.
wallywagon11 - January 13, 2012
I'm not sure it's fair to compare a rookie's shot
to a possible Hall of Fame veteran Nowitzki.
Mr. Rockie - January 13, 2012
absolutely unfair
wallywagon11 - January 13, 2012
ridirkulous in fact
lietothegirls - January 13, 2012
Co
Crocoduck - January 13, 2012 via mobile
Come on Wally!
You know that Jimmer’s yet to be perfected spin move fade away jumper in the lane is unstoppable. Kareem’s skyhook has nothing on that!
Crocoduck - January 13, 2012 via mobile
Isaiah is more NBA-ready than Jimmer. Therefore, he should start. Isaiah is a BEAST.
MitchRich2 - January 13, 2012
Nope, Isaiah shouldn't start
Right now, I think Jimmer’s +/- in the first quarter is good and that’s why Smart is starting him.
In Philly, they were basically tied or up by no more than 4 when Jimmer was in the line up. When he came out of the line up Philly went up by 10.
In Toronto he did the same thing. One of the things that have hurt the Kings is slow starts. They get down by too many points and it’s hard to come back.
Polomontana - January 13, 2012
technically
Isaiah’s on court/off court and simple +/- rating is much better right now. Just sayin
wallywagon11 - January 13, 2012
Nope
When Isaiah came on the court in Philly, they went up by 10 on the Kings and they kept passing the ball to whoever Thomas was defending.
In Toronto Thomas didn’t have someone like Holiday guarding him.
Polomontana - January 13, 2012
I was talking about the total season, Isaiah clearly has a better +/- so far.
and Jimmer didn’t have someone like Holiday guarding him in the Toronto game so I dunno what to tell you there
wallywagon11 - January 13, 2012
Jimmer still did good
That first quarter, Toronto couldn’t get a lead when Jimmer was in just like Philly couldn’t.
Thomas has a better +/_ for one game. In Philly the Kings dropped down by double digits when Thomas entered the game.
Polomontana - January 13, 2012
Personally I think both are games are a small sample size regardless
Either way you said
And I am just telling you that technically Isaiah’s +/- for entire games right now is actually better. That’s it. Nothing fancy to draw from it. I have zero clue what Jimmer’s +/- for the first quarter of all the games for the season is right now but just pointing out that for the season right now Isaiah actually for all four quarters is better. Can it change? Of course it can.
wallywagon11 - January 13, 2012
Nope
You can only say this about one game. Also, you have to have quarter by quarter break downs. Any “Smart” Coach knows this.
Polomontana - January 13, 2012
lol
awesome. You honestly think Jimmer’s +/- so far for the season has been better.
1 is a higher number then 2 apparantly
wallywagon11 - January 13, 2012
Again
If you don’t understand that a Coach will look at quarter by quarter break downs, then you don’t know basketball.
Polomontana - January 13, 2012
Never said ... they didn't
by the way did you know that +4.4 is larger than -6.6?
wallywagon11 - January 13, 2012
...
otis29 - January 13, 2012
I love how responses like that can not be deleted
wallywagon11 - January 13, 2012
Any "Smart" coach knows
that a better first quarter +/- clearly means a Player A has a better season +/- regardless of whether Player B has a better season +/-.
So long as Player A is Jimmer of course. Oh and he can simply perfect incredibly difficult shots whenever he chooses to.
wallywagon11 - January 13, 2012
Player A + Player B is 50%
HeuristicLineup - January 13, 2012
That was funny
raiderking21 - January 13, 2012
Please stop talking about +/-
even in jest
lietothegirls - January 13, 2012
+/- is one of my least favorite stats
maybe ever
SharkKings49 - January 13, 2012
almost worthless
lietothegirls - January 13, 2012
Re-make
lietothegirls - January 13, 2012
Or he can just come of the bench
And still be a “BEAST”.
Crocoduck - January 13, 2012 via mobile
yeah both are going to get burn with Thornton out
doesn’t really matter which starts
wallywagon11 - January 13, 2012
I can't remember
But did people go this Thomas crazy when he had that decent 16 point game last week?
Crocoduck - January 13, 2012 via mobile
don't recall to be honest
wallywagon11 - January 13, 2012
Good Point
I think Thomas had a good game but Thomas needs to play more off the bench with teams like Toronto or he should have played more against the Knicks early. They don’t have anyone to guard him but against taller guards that are just as fast like Derrick Rose or Jrue Holiday, he will have serious trouble like he did in Philly.
Polomontana - January 13, 2012
Nope
F3RRi3R - January 13, 2012
I don't see how IT gets playing time unless they only sub him in when Dragic is in.
He just can’t defend Lowry or any of their SGs.
caseycheesecake - January 13, 2012
I think he'd bother Lowry more than Jimmer will
I’d be surprised if he didn’t get some decent minutes.
Crocoduck - January 13, 2012 via mobile
I think he'd bother Lowry more than Jimmer will
I’d be surprised if he didn’t get some decent minutes.
Crocoduck - January 13, 2012 via mobile
Isaiah is pretty good on defense.
bench_blob - January 13, 2012
Yeah, he has been so far
otis29 - January 13, 2012
Not if you post him up
lietothegirls - January 13, 2012
Mark Jackson would have destroyed him!
wallywagon11 - January 13, 2012
Does Lowry have a post up game?
raiderking21 - January 13, 2012
He's been very solid on defense to this point, and I haven't seen many guards try to post him (yet)
So I don’t think it’s a reason to pre-emptively pull him from the lineup due to a bad matchup. If he starts getting abused, then pull him.
otis29 - January 13, 2012
They've posted him up and definately shot over him.
lietothegirls - January 13, 2012
Hmm...haven't seen a lot of that
Or at least, I haven’t seen a lot of that work successfully.
otis29 - January 13, 2012
Flavor of the week syndrome
let’s see when teams actually start game planning for him.
lietothegirls - January 13, 2012
That's what I'm waiting to see as well
I can’t imagine any of them have to this point.
otis29 - January 13, 2012
we should start Honeycutt :)
wallywagon11 - January 13, 2012
True, my post skills are pretty lethal
bench_blob - January 13, 2012
Here's a couple fun Jimmer games for people to watch in the meantime.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6mqFMdhDe4&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dZ-cBDchTk&feature=related
Mr. Rockie - January 13, 2012
And here's one more
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWjwlSGIch0&feature=related
Mr. Rockie - January 13, 2012
So
He’s always been a master of the jump pass…
Anton - January 13, 2012
Good court vision
Maybe the jump pass is not such a great idea, though…. Is that what you’re saying?
Mr. Rockie - January 13, 2012
It's a good thing when it's planned and you know what you are doing
It’s not a good thing when you use it as a last resort and you don’t know what you are going to do with it after you leave your feet which Tyreke and Jimmer have had a problem with.
raiderking21 - January 13, 2012
He usually seemed to know exactly what he was going to do with it at BYU.
Just seems confused this year.
Mr. Rockie - January 13, 2012
That first one you post against Gonzaga
Its a masterpiece. But Jimmer lost his confidence somewhere around the second game of this season. I hope he finds it soon.
Poodytang - January 13, 2012
It's easier to play when
the ball is always in your hands, you know you will get 25 shots per game, and you are given the ultimate green light. In the NBA Jimmer will never be able to have such offensive freedom. He won’t be allowed to play through mistakes and cold stretches. He’s not dominant enough to be given that kind of freedom. How he reacts to becoming a more conventional basketball player, with a shorter leash and smaller margin for error, will ultimately tell the tale regarding what kind of career he has. Thomas’ improved play may mess with Jimmer’s psyche / confidence even more, or it may be a catalyst for him to realize that the best thing to do is be himself and do his thing.
Kingstime - January 13, 2012
I feel
a breakout game for the Jimmer. That 0 assists last game isn’t truly indicative of what he did on the court. I remember several great set-ups for his teammates. Jimmer needs to shoot the ball if he has an an opening. Jimmer is a much better option than Salmons or Outlaw shooting 3’s.
F3RRi3R - January 13, 2012
I agree with you wholeheartedly
and if it doesn’t happen tonight than I feel the same next game. If it doesn’t happen next game than it will happen the game after that. Or after that. Or after that…
betweentheeyes - January 13, 2012
tonight!!!
F3RRi3R - January 14, 2012
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