Breaking it down - and barking back

[Jimcs50]

Breaking it down - and barking back

By Sam Amick -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PDT Thursday, April 27, 2006


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Kings coach Rick Adelman said Tuesday's Game 2 loss in San Antonio ranked among the top five most painful in his 68-66 postseason record in 16 seasons. The Kings looked primed to pull an upset, but Brent Barry's bouncing three-pointer with 4.9 seconds left in regulation forced overtime and led to the Spurs' 128-119 win and 2-0 series lead. A day later, frustrated fans and skeptics still wondered why Adelman didn't have his team foul on the Spurs' final possession of regulation following a timeout - or why his players didn't guard the perimeter well enough. Adelman explained himself and his team in great detail Wednesday.
"People are probably saying, 'Well, you've got to tell (the Kings) to stick with the three-point shooters.' Well I'll tell you, there's nothing else we said during that timeout but to stay with the three-point shooters, but people are human. ... You can draw it up, cover it, talk about it, and it takes mental discipline to go out and know the time and know the score and stay with it and allow it to happen. We didn't do that, and they took advantage of it.

"It's such an easy cop-out to say, 'Well, God, you should foul.' There's 14 seconds to go. I mean, how many times are we going to have to foul them in the 14 seconds? When do I foul them? Do I foul them when (Spurs point guard Tony) Parker gets it? Do I foul them when (Spurs guard Manu) Ginobili gets it? Just about the time we're about to foul them, do they shoot it and score? With 14 seconds to go, if we play that play right, they don't get a three, they get a two. But if I foul them right then with that much time left, they shoot two (free throws). They're not going to miss on purpose. And now they're going to foul us right off the bat, again. And again, we had a lot of guys out. I probably would've had to call a timeout to make sure our best shooters were shooting. ...

"But if they would've scored, (and) we would've made two free throws, now they're coming with no timeouts with about six seconds (left). That's a totally different story. I can understand that. I can't understand it with 14 seconds to go. That's just gobs of time.

"People should just look at the NBA and rebounding on a free throw. The only shot in basketball at any level that you can't block people out. You can't block the two people standing out beyond the three-point line. You can only stand next to him. The guy releases the ball, and everybody can get in there. And they let them jockey in and out. You can't put four guys in the paint. It's not any guarantee. People act like, 'Well, if you foul them, it's a guarantee you're going to get the rebound.' We've had a hard enough time keeping these guys (the Spurs) off the boards as it is. And the guys who rebound the ball are your worst free-throw shooters. I mean, there's a lot of other variables when you do that, and I think it makes a lot of sense when there's less time - five or six seconds - where maybe you can tip the ball out of there and run it down. With 14 seconds, I'm sorry. I wasn't going to do it."

On Jason Hart guarding Ginobili:

"(Hart) was up on him, but you need to be on his left hand. Don't let him go baseline. ... If he would've kept him going to the middle of the court, it's easier to stay with your guy. You don't get the back-picks normally, but when he got going baseline, I could see Barry, I could see (Spurs forward Tim) Duncan step up, and I could see myself dying at that point. ... They made a great play, and we made a stupid mistake. What else can you say?"

[Jimcs50]

http://www.sacbee.com/static/rich_content_images/226423-0427kings.gif

[Jimcs50]

No defense for missed chances
Bibby, Miller focus on rebounding from poor Game 2 outings
By Sam Amick -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PDT Thursday, April 27, 2006

Mike Bibby faces the heat head on for his critical missed defensive assignment Tuesday night.
Sacramento Bee/Brian Baer


One basket.
A Mike Bibby drive and layup, or a foul drawn followed by free throws. A Brad Miller jumper from the high post, or even a simple feed down low for a dunk.

When the Kings' longest-tenured and highest-paid duo looked back on Tuesday night's Game 2 loss to San Antonio, they knew that one more hoop would've been the difference.

Instead, Bibby's bad shooting night (3 of 16) was compounded by his role in Brent Barry's miraculous three-pointer that forced overtime, when Bibby let his eyes wander from the long-range specialist who snuck away to the corner.

Miller, meanwhile, played so poorly that coach Rick Adelman used him for only 27 minutes. The team's third-leading scorer during the regular season hit just 2 of 8 shots and had three rebounds.

"I don't think you could blame anyone in America (for benching me) the way I was playing," Miller said Wednesday. "Shareef (Abdur-Rahim) had it going, and Kenny (Thomas). Matchups were working. I'll never complain if I'm not producing and helping the team."

Which, by the way, they each plan on doing Friday night when Game 3 in the best-of-seven series moves to Arco Arena. The Kings face what history dictates as a must win. No team in NBA history has rallied from a 3-0 deficit in a seven-game series, and only 14 have come back from an 0-2 hole.

Ron Artest will be back on the court, having served his one-game suspension for elbowing Spurs guard Manu Ginobili in the head. And after a Game 1 blowout that could have left the Kings wondering if they should simply surrender, they said the lone positive of the Game 2 loss was the sense of confidence that came with competing. What's more, the pertinent history isn't all negative for the Kings, as the past has shown that Bibby and Miller usually recover.

For 17 minutes of Game 2, Kings coach Rick Adelman played Jason Hart at point guard with Bibby on the floor. While the advantage was less ballhandling and more shooting for Bibby - who logged 48 minutes - the disadvantage was having to deal with Spurs defensive specialist Bruce Bowen instead of Spurs point guard Tony Parker. With Artest back, Bowen likely won't see Bibby again.

"I never worry about Mike, offensively," Kings coach Rick Adelman said. "I mean he went (3 for 16), but if you remember at the start of overtime he hit two (shots) right off the bat. He always responds. He's also got to respond at the other end of the court like all of our guys do."

Bibby was more concerned about his defense than his shooting.

"I think Mike is the first to admit what happened at the end of that game, that he should have had more concentration, been standing next to Barry, that it should've never happened," Adelman said. "And he knows that. Now the challenge is on Mike and everybody else."

Bibby continued to take the blame for the loss.

"It was the worst, especially when you go in thinking that the game's over already, that we won, and the only thing that could do anything was a three (pointer), and that's the shot that they hit," Bibby said. "It was a big shot by Brent, but definitely could've been prevented."

The Spurs had no trouble preventing Miller from playing his game, namely because of forward Tim Duncan and center Nazr Mohammed. The Kings center didn't hit his first field goal until he buried a three-pointer with four seconds left in the second quarter to put the Kings up 56-51 at halftime. His next came with 4:20 left in the third quarter, the virtual disappearing act turning into an actual one when Adelman decided to go with Abdur-Rahim and Thomas.

"I just have to go back, reboot the system and get back into it," Miller said. "I just want to get my confidence back up. It's probably the (Spurs') length (that bothers me). I've got to get out of a funk, adjust to what they're doing, and be more of the player I feel I should be."





At least Brad Miller shows class and has a team first attitude. What a difference betw he and KMart on Denver, who only thinks of himself.

[nkdlunch]

Adelman got owned by Pop bigtime

[Jimcs50]

Adelman got owned by Pop bigtime

As the article said, it was not a coaching breakdown, it was a player's mistake, after the coach told them not to leave the shooters.

[nkdlunch]

Was Adelman expecting Pop's crazy play? nope. thought so

[spurs_fan_in_exile]

Game 5, 2005 NBA Finals-Larry Brown told his guys to pay attention to the inbounder. Did Pop own LB there? No.

You could make the case that Rick had been making that bed for years by allowing Bibby and his entire team to get by with shitty defense.

[Lebowski Brickowski]

As the article said, it was not a coaching breakdown, it was a player's mistake, after the coach told them not to leave the shooters.

Yes, but........
Popovich obviously knew that was the King's plan but he still decided it would be a good idea to trap Bibby with that back pick. That shows confidence in Duncan's D and also shows he knew what Bibby would do better than Bibby's own coach did. That = Pop owned Addleman.

[Jimcs50]

Yes, but........
Popovich obviously knew that was the King's plan but he still decided it would be a good idea to trap Bibby with that back pick. That shows confidence in Duncan's D and also shows he knew what Bibby would do better than Bibby's own coach did. That = Pop owned Addleman.


There should not even been a chance for a back pick, that is the point. Bibby never should have left Barry, the coach said as much, in the time out. Do not leave the shooters. It was a mistake by the player, not the coach. Barry made a great fake, Bibby bit, and Barry ran to the corner instead of the basket, Bibby was then too far away to get arond TD and make a defensive play. This was all on Bibby, not Adleman.

[DDS4]

Coaches yell and scream about all the right things to do. It's up to the players to execute and the Kings didn't.

The Kings also made some crucial mistakes down the stretch with turnovers. If they avoided that, they would have came out of game 2 with a semi-comfortable win.

Props to Brad Miller, too bad most players don't feel that way.