The Sacramento Kings have traded for the backup center of the New Orleans Hornets, Hilton Armstrong, for a future conditional second round draft pick and an undisclosed amount of unmarked, non-sequential $100 bills that will be placed in a silver suitcase in a bus stop locker at the downtown Greyhound station.

It was a salary dump in tough economic times for the Hornets and the Kings gave up virtually nothing for him. Kings needed a backup center so they acquired Hilton Armstrong.

Personally, I feel like they still need a backup center. Hilton Armstrong has been one of the worst players in the league since he entered four years ago and has actually gotten worse. Yes, it’s a low risk move. Yes, they gave up nothing to get him. Yes, a change of scenery for young big men can fix initial problems in guys’ careers and help them blossom into a contributing, functioning member of their next organization.

That isn’t happening with Hilton Armstrong.

Here’s an email exchange with Ryan Schwan from Hornets 24/7 (Ryan is one of the smarter, more in-tune bloggers to his team and organization):

Me: “Kings just traded for Hilton Armstrong. I’ve always contended he’s one of the worst players in the league. Do you have any analysis for me that says otherwise? Appreciate any help with this.

“Ryan: “No.  That’s accurate.  He’s terrible, awful, and miserable.  He okay at defense, and has a nice turnaround jumper, but his turnovers, stone hands and rebounding makes him impossible to play.”

Me: “Is there any reason to believe he’ll be better off playing with Tyreke Evans and Beno Udrih when Chris Paul couldn’t even make him good?”

Ryan: “The guy makes Andrea Bargnani look like a rebounding champion, and he can’t dribble or catch the ball.  Those aren’t things teammates can help with. Let’s go to something Kings fans would understand: If I had the choice between playing Kenny Thomas or Hilton Armstrong, I’d pick Kenny.”

I’d say that he’s going to find a nice spot next to Sean May and Kenny Thomas within the month.

There are positives with this move though. It shows that the Kings are trying, willing to spend more and are committed to getting this thing right. It’s an easy rental and cost-effective way of finding a backup center during a season in which they need size. If he finds a way to be competent, the Kings win. If he doesn’t, the Kings still win because there is no commitment to him.

I believe they call that a win-win. More to come later…

One-Four Flat.

That’s the key phrase from this win over the Nuggets. Flat could describe the Kings and their effort in the first half of this game. They came out and didn’t seem very interested in trying to bang with the Nuggets (aside from Jon Brockman of course) or keep them from scoring easily.

One- Four could easily describe the Kings’ assist to turnover ratio throughout much of the first half of basketball and even that would be a little too generous. They had one assist and seven turnovers after the first quarter. They had four assists as a team and 11 turnovers after the first half (Kenyon Martin had five assists at this point). Hell they even finished the game with more turnovers than assists but for a long time, it was at an embarrassingly low assist to turnover ratio that would make the And 1 Mixtape Tour legends laugh hysterically.

But at the end of the game, One-Four Flat was the play called to get Tyreke Evans another chance to win a ball game against a top team in the NBA. They tried it many times in the game against Cleveland in which Evans saw himself going against LeBron James. They saw it happen against the Lakers at Arco when he went against Kobe Bryant. Both times it didn’t work and both times they failed to get a shot off. So after Chauncey Billups hit a ridiculous three to tie the game at 100 with 11 seconds left on the clock, there was a question of whether or not they’d go to it one more time against one of the better teams in the NBA.

Well, for Paul Westphal there probably wasn’t that question. He knew the answer and he figured it would get the result it was designed to accomplish – a game-winner by the 20-year old rookie. This time, Kenyon Martin got switched out on Evans during the inbounds play. Omri Casspi tossed it high into the backcourt, which stopped hearts. But Evans tracked it down and brought it up against Kenyon Martin. The fortunate thing about that play was it gave Tyreke a lot of room to move and a lot of time to move in.

It took one crossover dribble to get Martin off of him just enough. He took the ball to the lower left block, did his best Dream Shake impersonation and let a 10-foot shot rip through the net with 0.7 seconds left. He made the same move against LeBron towards the end of the home loss to Cleveland, except that time it was on the right side and the result was a six-foot airball. But this time, it gave the Kings the win.

While many fans were thinking this past loss to the Warriors was something that could break a young team like this, they should feel the exact opposite about this win. They were playing flat, unimaginative basketball throughout the first 24 minutes of this game. But they turned it around and they turned it around with offense AND defense. They outworked a tough Nuggets team. I don’t care that they were missing Carmelo Anthony. The way this game started out, Carmelo wasn’t the missing piece. And with Chauncey Billups and Earl Smith III (or JR as some of you like to call him) scoring in the fourth quarter, they didn’t exactly miss him there either.

The Kings have a rough stretch of games coming up that will either make or more likely break their season. Responding to games like last night with games like this one tonight are exactly what a young team needs to keep chugging along. This is the time of the rookie wall. This is the time for tired legs. This is the time for the dog days of the NBA. So for the Kings to come out and take a game they tried to give away in the first half is big.

This doesn’t give them a lock on a playoff spot and it doesn’t give them the inkling to clear off trophy space for Larry O’Brien’s hardware. But on nights in which Jason Thompson is completely neutralized by a tough defensive frontcourt and the ball is being turned over more than an old mattress, it’s big for a young team to have guys like Jon Brockman step up in a starting role, Spencer Hawes to accept the brief move to the bench and come in to produce offensively, Beno Udrih providing some clutch scoring, Ime Udoka bringing the scoring load off the bench when Donté Greene is out, Omri Casspi knocking down a huge three on an off shooting night and Tyreke Evans taking over the game at the end.

One-Four Flat is going to be a factor in the Kings future.

Get used to the phrase and winning because of it.

Final Game Notes

- Jon Brockman got the first start of his career and made the most of it. He had nine rebounds in his first 19 minutes and finished with 12 rebounds in almost 38 minutes of play. Not only did he sufficiently bang with bigger Nuggets frontcourt players inside but he also busted Chauncey Billups in the mouth on one occasion.

- Omri Casspi’s three was HUGE. He was having a terrible night and had been outplayed by Joey Graham for the entire first half (which is one of the most embarrassing things that can happen to an NBA player). So for him to knock down the big three from the corner showed that he doesn’t worry about a 4/13 shooting night. He knows the next one is going in.

- I’m really tough on Spencer Hawes. I’m not a big fan of him when he’s playing soft. I think he needs to man up and play tough inside. Well, he did his part from all over the floor against Denver. 17 points in 26 minutes off the bench is really good and when he does it on 8/10 shooting, it’s even more impressive. He also grabbed five rebounds, dished out three assists and made a big three of his own to tie the game in the fourth.

- At one point late in the game, J.R. Smith hit a big three and started mugging all the way up the court. He was being brash and kind of a “something that rhymes with hay-pole.” It was at that point that I wanted to remind him that he inbounded the ball on a missed shot earlier in the game.

Are you kidding me?!?! That might be the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen on a basketball court! You’re an NBA veteran! You’ve been in the league for six years! How do you make that play?!?

Editor’s Note: Sorry for posting this so late. Coached last night and didn’t get to the game until this morning. Then I couldn’t find time to write the recap until right before tonight’s game.

Well, that was disappointing.

The Sacramento had this game won. They were beating the Warriors by 18 in the third quarter. The Warriors are a very bad team. Don’t let the high scoring and the hype around guys like Monta Ellis, Anthony Morrow and Anthony Randolph fool you. They’re a very bad team. So when you put them into a nine-possession game, you’re usually going to come out on top.

However, you have to finish those games with the same intensity, fight, and execution that got you the big lead. And that’s something the Kings flat out couldn’t do. When the Warriors started to make their run towards the end of the third quarter, you could sense a different level of energy on the court. The Kings seemed to think the game was over, or at least that’s what the body language would tell you. The Warriors, however, seemed to get a spark out of Corey Maggette who began attacking the basket.

When the Warriors get momentum, they pick up the defensive energy a lot more. They don’t necessarily start playing sound, San Antonio Spurs level defense but they do get more active, take more chances, and cause a little more chaos than usual. And that’s exactly what happened. All of a sudden, the Kings were turning the ball over and the Warriors were tipping everything from dribbles to cross-court passes to basic post-entry passes.

In the first half, Monta Ellis was able to score (18 points on 7/13 shooting) but they took away a lot of looks he would normally be able to get. They cut him off going to the basket (for the most part) and made him work hard for what he scored. But in the third and fourth quarters, he completely took over on the offensive end of the court. He pushed the tempo, shoved the envelope and got basket after basket at the hoop.

So why did the Kings lose this game? Three simple answers – they missed threes, they didn’t finish strong around the key, and they turned the ball over.

The Kings shot 6/23 from behind the arc against the Warriors. I’m no mathematician but that’s just a hair better than making one-quarter of your three point attempts. And last I checked, that’s not good shooting. So maybe you’re saying to yourself, “why are they taking so many threes when they aren’t falling?” Well, I think they were primarily good shots the Kings SHOULD have taken, even if they weren’t falling.

Remember, this is the Warriors. If you put a little pressure on them, they usually break. It’s nearly impossible to keep up their pace of the game and do it efficiently so they usually end up giving up more runs than they make for themselves. The Kings are shooting 35.7% from three this season (good for 10th in the NBA). You want them taking those shots, especially if they’re open. And trust me, they were open. We’re going to classify open threes in this game as either no defenders around them or horrendously late closeouts on the shooters that made them pretty much wide-open. The Kings missed 11 of those “open” threes. Normally, the Kings would have made eight of those 23 attempts, which puts them behind by one in this game. But if you factor in the amount of open threes, they probably make two or three more at the minimum on a normal shooting night. They just flat out couldn’t hit them (especially, Nocioni who missed five open threes).

The Kings also didn’t finish well around the key. I blame this on them being worried about Ronny Turiaf. Turiaf was extremely active early and even blocked a shot or two. It seemed like because of this, the Kings were really timid around the key. They missed some easy buckets because Ronny Turiaf established that early as his area. If they had remember what type of player Turiaf is, he fouls a lot more than he blocks. Give him a pump fake and he’ll fall for it. He’ll most likely foul you and be on the bench in foul trouble in no time. Then you have battle either Andris Biedrins or something called a Chris Hunter inside and you’ve successfully established the inside game.

Lastly, they turned the ball over WAY too much at the end of the game. The ten turnovers were bad but we’re also going to throw the terrible possession after terrible possession that the Kings threw out in the fourth quarter. They played the old prevent offense that you might remember from their road win in Utah way back in early November. In that game, they were able to hold on to their big lead and eventually squeak out a win because they went to the free throw line and were just good enough offensively and defensively to outlast Utah’s run.

They weren’t so lucky against the Warriors Friday night. Tyreke Evans capped off a seemingly spectacular evening with an atrocious fourth quarter. He only got three of his 25 in the fourth and ended up with more turnovers in the quarter than points. But don’t blame this loss on him – it was a total team effort to blow this game. They let the shot clock run down way too much on far too many possessions. They only scored three points in the final five minutes of the game.

Final Game Notes

- Anthony Randolph apparently fractured his ankle. Watching the play in which he got hurt, you just feel really bad for him. It’s rare that you’re hoping it’s a bad sprain. To find out later on that it was a fractured ankle, you can pretty much write him off being effective for the rest of the season. If it’s a serious fracture, you want him to rest, recover and get healthy for next season. No sense rushing back.

- On the brighter side (for Kings fans), Jason Thompson dunked on Randolph earlier in the game.

- It appears from the box score that the Kings defended the three very well. The Warriors made just three of their 11 attempts. But the 11 attempts are where you should be tipped off. The Kings did a terrible job of protecting the interior. They closed out on shooters well but didn’t recover and rotate in order to keep them out of the paint. And when they weren’t being scored on inside, they were giving up points at the free throw line.

- I can’t believe I’m going to say this but why didn’t Spencer Hawes play more? 10 points in 15 minutes isn’t bad. In fact, it’s pretty good. And he only committed two fouls. Sometimes, I feel like going small is not the way to go after a Don Nelson team. Go big, make them adjust to you and punish them inside. This didn’t happen Friday night.

This is a guest post by Sacramento Kings fan, David Ford.

By the time the Sacramento Kings were making the 23^rd pick in the 2009 draft, they already looked like one of the winners of the night getting a player like Tyreke Evans. He was NBA-ready and one of the best pure talents available.

Then came the selection of Omri Casspi, the small forward from Israel. If you were to ask any casual NBA fan who this player was, chances are you wouldn’t find anyone who knew of him.

Casspi is the 21-year-old who played just 13 minutes per game for Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Euroleague. He was looked at as a work-in-progress who had the potential to be a nice role-player for the team that drafted him. Chad Ford of ESPN.com said, “He’s a very tough, scrappy, slashing player. He’s not a shooter yet and he’ll need to put on some pounds.” For a young team like the Kings, Casspi was going to get minutes to prove himself but it was unknown what kind of impact he would have so early in his career.

Fast-forward to the regular season. The Kings are 34 games in, have posted a 14-20 record after 17-65 the previous season and are one of the surprises of the league. Casspi has also proven to be one of the surprises of the rookie class. He has season averages of 13.2 points and 4.7 rebounds while playing 27 minutes per game. As the season has progressed, so has Casspi.

In December he stepped up his averages to 14.1 points and 5.0 rebounds in 29 minutes a game. He also had four games where he put up at least 20 points.

Since the new year, Casspi has continued to step up his play averaging 23.0 points and 8.0 rebounds. This is the kind of production coming from a work-in-progress rookie.

What has been the most surprising is how well he is shooting the ball from the field. He’s averaging almost 50% on his field goals and an even more impressive 47% from three-point range. I thought Casspi was, “not a shooter yet”? Even more surprising are the negatives on Casspi’s draft profile back in June. He supposedly had “poor shot mechanics” and “lacked deep range.” Looks like he’s doing alright thus far.

You could argue that the new attitude Casspi has brought to the Kings has been just as valuable as the numbers he’s putting up. He brings intensity that has been missing from this roster for far too long. He’s aggressive on the offensive end and fearless on defense. Just in the last few weeks Casspi has been given the task of guarding Lebron James, Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Anthony. He’s been scrappy, pesky and effective on each one of them. A rookie from the Euroleague is not supposed to be able to stay in front of the greatest players in the world.

Casspi continues to be the spark behind the Kings and their most reliable shooter when they need a basket. Without injured Kevin Martin on the floor, the Kings don’t have that shooter to drain the long shot when they need it. Evans is their most potent scorer but does most of his work around the rim. Casspi has given the Kings a legitimate deep threat while Martin continues to recover from his broken wrist.

Game after game this season, Casspi has given the Kings that much needed three-point shot, fast-break dunk, fearless defense and aggressive style of play that is needed. Seeing Casspi pound his chest and yell to the rafters after making a big play has been a common occurrence for the Kings.

With his play over the last month, Casspi has worked himself into the Rookie of the Year discussion. Currently, ESPN.com has him ranked third behind his teammate Evans and the Milwaukee Bucks Brandon Jennings. Despite being ranked third, you could argue he has played better than any rookie the last couple weeks. If he continues to play like he has, it wouldn’t be crazy to see him take the award away from Evans or Jennings, who are currently looked at as the front-runners.

Back in June when the Kings made Casspi the 23^rd pick in the draft and the first NBA player from Israel, not many people knew his name. Not only is he now creating buzz around Sacramento, he’s beginning to make his presence felt throughout the rest of the league.

The Kings should feel extremely lucky Casspi fell all the way to their pick late in the first round. If the draft was done over today, you can guarantee he wouldn’t have fallen out of the top ten picks. Since that isn’t going to happen, the Kings can continue to reap the benefits of one of the most talented rookies in the league and the steal of the draft so far.

Just wanted to pass on a couple of Kings related pieces that you should read while you’re killing time before tomorrow’s game in Oakland.

- Shaun Powell has a nice piece on NBA.com about two young teams (OKC and the Kings) and how the patience with the youth movement is yielding good results.

- Alex Kramers from Blogcritic is a Kings fan who resides in New York. Check out his account of his first game at Arco. Great read.

- Mr. Aykis has tried to figure out if Spencer Hawes has regressed in his third season or not. Look at the data and his great analysis here on Sactown Royalty.

I wanted to comment about this Spencer Hawes regression issue. I’ve never been in the Spencer Hawes camp. I thought it was a mistake to draft him. I thought at the time the Kings should go after Thaddeus Young or Al Thornton (boy was I wrong about Al Thornton!). But I was always willing to give him a chance.

And reading the optimism of Kings fans in the StR comment threads while seeing him display a definite set of valuable skills, I tried to give him more of a chance than I usually would. Normally, I’d write him off because guys like him frustrate me. When he sets his mind to it, he can do great things on a basketball court. He dropped 30 points against a tough Lakers’ frontcourt just a couple games ago. He dished out nine assists in a game last year against 76ers (the only 20-year old center in the last 20+ years to ever do so).

However, I can’t help but see his glaring flaws and inconsistencies when I watch him play. Just four days before that nine-assist game, he played 25 minutes against the Bobcats and didn’t grab a single rebound – not even by accident. That’s been done 23 times by a starting center in the last 23 seasons and not a list of guys you want your young center being on. When Spencer Hawes goes inside and plays big, he seems to get this certain confidence, which opens up his entire offensive game. The passing becomes crisper. The defense becomes more inspired. His jumper gets a little wetter.

But there are far too many instances in which he doesn’t seem to be willing to impose his will. I can deal with bad games. I just can’t stand a seemingly lack of effort. Whether that’s a fair assessment or not of how he plays is up for debate. But there are a lot of Kings fans that grow tired of the events that lead to this debate. You can see he has more physically. You just hope with age and more experience his mentality catches up to the physical skills.

“This ‘close but no cigar’ is going to end. I don’t know when but it’s going to end.”

That was Paul Westphal after another tough, close loss by the Sacramento Kings. It was another game in which their effort was good but never quite good enough. It was another game in which Tyreke Evans, Omri Casspi and company couldn’t quite pull out that final run to get them over the hump.

The Kings can blame their first half effort for this loss. The Kings trailed by as many as 20 when Steve Nash found Amare Stoudemire for another easy bucket with 2:46 left in the first 24 minutes. Then the Kings’ rookies decided to step up the energy and come out to give the Suns a game. Omri, Brockman and Tyreke helped charge a 9-3 run to end the first half that proved to be much more significant than the numbers indicate.

In the second half of the game, the Kings total effort was kicked up to 11. The Suns went from shooting 55% in the first half to 40% in the second half. The Suns were up nine in rebounding in the first half but down 17 in rebounding in the second half. The Suns had just eight assists in the final 24 minutes of the game after 13 in the first 24. This was all predicated on a defensive change. You can accredit that to Jon Brockman, Tyreke Evans and the rest of the Kings that decided to bust their collective asses. They flew at open jumpers. They challenged jumpers. They fought through picks and played physical basketball. They decided that finesse wasn’t going to beat them. The Suns were going to have to play tough basketball.

The problem was that they dug too deep of a ditch for themselves to crawl out of.

When the Kings finally got over the hump and tied the game with an impressive Evans pass inside (some might call it a point guard type of pass) to Nocioni for a score inside, the Kings seemed to relax a bit. They had tied the game that looked to be lost and mistakenly let up against a relentless offensive force in the Phoenix Suns. The Suns responded with a 7-0 run to get a bit of breathing room. The Kings charged back with a 7-0 run of their own and it ended up being a game of execution and Connect Four to see who pulled out the victory.

Unfortunately for the Kings, they could never get that fourth piece in a row to swing the final outcome.

Beno scored eight straight points in one fourth quarter stretch to keep the Kings in striking distance of stealing this game. And then after Stoudemire put the Suns up two with 1:09 left in the game the Kings just couldn’t get one to drop in a key stretch that ended up producing the final margin of victory for Phoenix.

Tyreke Evans was a machine driving the ball to the basket in the final minute of the game but before he did that, he drove to the basket and missed a lay-up attempt. Jason Thompson tried to tip in the offensive rebound and it just barely fell out of the rim. Then ‘Reke got the offensive rebound and missed a point-blank shot. Channing Frye got the rebound, Steve Nash and Amare both made jumpers to sandwich a JT dunk and the rest of the game was decided on Steve Nash free throws outlasting Tyreke Evans layups.

It was just another one of those games for the Kings. They gave their heart when they were supposed to and just couldn’t get the bounce they needed or the defensive stop that was essential for completing the victory.

“For whatever reason, we’ve had a string of having our heart pulled out of our chest but there’s just no option,” said Westphal. “This team is coming back and we’re going to keep coming back and we’re going to start winning these close games.”

Game Notes

- Remember the part in Starship Troopers in which they’re trying to trick us into believing that Denise Richards and the guy that spurred the Kelly Kepowski-Zack Morris break-up can actually fly a spaceship the size of Jerome James? I was always impressed by the idea that those bug aliens could continually shoot fireballs out of their butts to pelt the spaceships orbiting above. Well, that’s kind of how the Phoenix Suns offensive attack is. It’s relentless. It keeps coming. And the entire time, you know it’s bound to run into and destroy your ship.

- Omri Casspi should be a starter… like forever. You can’t help but be impressed with the way he’s responded in the starting role. He played 44 minutes, scored 24 points on 19 shots and rebounded well with seven boards. He also made half of his threes again (get him in the three-point shootout!). He’s now averaging 17.7 points per game as a starter with 48% from the field.

- There was a sequence in the fourth quarter in which the Kings couldn’t have defended Steve Nash any better than humanly possible. It started with Tyreke ripping the ball from Nash in a one-on-one situation that led to a Tyreke transition bucket. Then Thompson was switched out onto Nash and forced him into an errant jumper. Then two plays later, Evans jumped all over a Nash jumper and blocked the shot. Considering Nash shredded them for most of the night, it was a nice sequence for Kings fans.

- Can’t end this recap without talking about Brockman a little bit more. I feel like he’s about to be the most hated man amongst NBA bigs. Nobody wants to bang with this guy. I talked to him after the game and asked him about his mentality going against a softer, less physical lineup. He gave me the expected answer that he really doesn’t change the way he plays based on matchups. He really only knows the one way to play. And you know what? I completely agree. He has one gear and that gear is to create some chaos inside. He fights for position, knocks guys down and commits hard fouls. Nobody wants to bang with him. Who thought that a 6’7” power forward would be someone that imposes his will inside? Well, I guess Geoff Petrie did…

From the Kings Media Release:

Sacramento Kings guard Tyreke Evans was named Western Conference T-Mobile Rookie of the Month for games in December. Evans becomes the first Kings player to win the award in consecutive months and joins Lionel Simmons (December 1990 and February 1991) as the only Kings rookies to win the award twice.

This means he’s won two out of two Western Conference Rookie of the Month awards. I’m going to boldly proclaim now that he’ll win four more of these. And then the Rookie of the Year for the entire NBA.

Enjoy these next four months, Kings fans. He’s the best rookie you’ve ever had.

I can’t read a word of it or understand a single syllable they’re saying but I’m assuming by the URL that this website is designed to get Omri Casspi to the All-Star Game as a starter in the West.

Is Omri Casspi deserving of All-Star Game status as a rookie? Absolutely not. Has he had a better season than Tracy McGrady and Allen Iverson (both are slated to start the All-Star Game in their respective conferences if the current voting holds firm)? Absolutely.

So let’s just blow this voting system up, shall we? Maybe if Omri gets voted in (I think the videos on the site are instructional videos on how to write him in on the ballot), David Stern will be forced to design a new system based on merit rather than fan voting.

So vote early, vote often and vote Omri. I guess…

(H/T – Sacramento Kings Twitter)

Well, what can you do?

Kings twice had 20-point leads.

Spencer Hawes had 30 points (career-high).

The Kings not only hung tough with the world champs but they did it without Tyreke Evans (who has been known to eat thunder, crap lightning, and father the future) and Kevin Martin. This team wouldn’t back down in the first half. Omri Casspi took it right at the Lakers. Beno Udrih took it right at the Lakers. Spencer Hawes of all people looked at the length and size of the Lakers and decided he was going to be the best big man on the floor.

Then the second half started and the champs kept chipping away. Kobe got hot. Kings got stagnant. Kobe got hotter. Kings got REALLY stagnant. Luckily, the Kings never gave up. They kept fighting (which is what you love to see from such a young team). It was the same type of fight we saw during the comeback in Chicago. But as it always does when the Kings are trying to upset the Lakers, it came down to execution in the final minutes.

Beno Udrih continued to expose the horrendous Lakers point guard defense by blowing past Farmar, putting a Tony Parker spin move on Pau Gasol and laying it up and in. Then, the Kings forced the Lakers into settling for a Shannon Brown three that predictably clanked off the iron. The Kings wrestled for the rebound, knocked it off Pau Gasol and eventually settled for two Ime Udoka free throw attempts with less than five seconds left in the game and the Kings up two.

And then it happens. Ime misses the first one so there’s no chance of this becoming a two-possession game. Whatever. Make the second and you’ll at worst head to overtime. But no. Udoka misses both of the free throws. We all knew what was coming next.

So I ask again – what can you do?

Here’s what you can do! Don’t choose to switch all screens with Kenny Thomas and Sergio Rodriguez being the guys most likely to guard Kobe on the final play! How was THAT the plan?

When Vujacic inbounded to Pau Gasol at the three-point line, here’s what you had:

- Beno guarding Lamar Odom at the three-point line on the weak side towards the top.
- Omri Casspi guarding Jordan Farmar on the weak side wing.
- Kenny Thomas guarding a cutting Sasha Vujacic after Kobe set a screen on Sergio Rodriguez.
- This left Udoka on Gasol and Sergio on Kobe both on the perimeter.

So here’s what I don’t understand:

1) Why is Sergio in the game? He’s probably the worst defender on the team that you could have out there. Every single Blazers fan watching this game was thinking, “Sergio is out on the floor…wait, what?”

2) Why don’t you have Udoka foul Pau Gasol when he has his back to the basket? It’s a late game defensive strategy that is rarely utilized but very widely accepted as what teams SHOULD do. Put the pressure on anyone but Kobe Bryant to extend or win this game. Pau Gasol is no slouch and he’s a pretty good free throw shooter (84% this year). But how many times in his career has he had to make game-tying free throws with a few ticks left on the clock? Put him on the line.

3) Why would Kenny Thomas not run at Kobe? I’m pretty sure at some point someone on the Kings coaching staff screamed over and over at the players, “whatever happens, no threes!” So wouldn’t it be a natural instinct to run at the guy who is about to get the ball and shove the dagger into your heart? Instead, you’re worrying about a two-bit role player who hasn’t been good ever and hasn’t been relevant in two years making a layup to tie the game? He’s more dangerous than Kobe Freaking Bryant wide-open with the ball at the three-point line?

4) Apparently, the Kings were in a zone defense on the final play. When your only chance of losing a game is a three-point shot, is a zone defense really the answer? What’s the best way to break a zone? Oh, that’s right; it’s outside shooting!

Now, Kings fans are going to be furious for a few reasons and all of them pertaining to the refs. The first reason might be the foul in which Jason Thompson fouled out on. It was complete and utter crap. Rodney Mott called a trip on Jason Thompson because he either wanted to steal the show, has a huge crush on Shannon Brown, or had a kink in his knee and was just trying to get it out – only he didn’t want to look stupid and decided to call a tripping foul to mask his odd leg movements. There was no trip. There was a case of Shannon Brown being Shannon Brown and tripping over his own two feet. That’s all. Apparently, somehow that was physically forced by JT.

Second, did Kobe push off of Sergio? Well, technically it looked like a moving screen. Fortunately for the Lakers, they were officially allowed in the middle of the last decade in an effort to jumpstart scoring and try to legitimize Amare Stoudemire as an NBA star (which he later proved to not even being close to one). Personally, I think Sergio started to sell the bump a little and then realized that it was Kobe and the end of the game so he better stop and try to recover and bother the shot. But he couldn’t.

Third, was Kobe on the sideline when he shot the ball? Grant and Jerry didn’t seem too outraged by the final decision that it was called legit and that he was called inbounds. Personally, I couldn’t tell. They claim that he was over the line with his heels high enough off the ground that he wasn’t on the out of bounds line. To me there wasn’t any conclusive evidence to the contrary. I’m fine with the call there.

What I’m not fine with is the Kings late-game execution over the past week. No imagination is there and no accountability either. Everyone wants to chalk it up to moral victories and losses because of team youth. At what do you start blaming the coaching and the execution because the players simply screwed up regardless of age, experience or whatever excuse you want to throw out there. And for the season, the end of quarter execution has been atrocious. In-game situations should be the focus of the next few practices.

Ime Udoka isn’t young. He missed two free throws. If he makes the free throws, the Kings win this game. I don’t care about the foul discrepancy, the JT foul out, the Donté Greene foul out or any violation people think Kobe committed in the final five seconds. Make your free throws and you escape with a victory. It doesn’t matter that Evans wasn’t there. It doesn’t matter that Martin has played five games this season. It doesn’t matter that the team is young. It doesn’t matter that JT was scoreless, Hawes was unstoppable, or Kobe was Kobe.

Swish, swish and we’re going to Sizzler.