Turnover Tuesdays with Mr. Taylor

The road, man…

Last week, I made the bold prediction that the Kings would win 3 of 4 last week to improve to 7-8 on the season. Sometimes I’m wrong. The Kings played sloppy most of the week, losing to Atlanta and Miami (sans Cousins) before picking up a much-needed win in Orlando against a tough, young Magic squad.

Which brings us to last night. Sacramento played the Charlotte Hornets to a stalemate in the first half before unleashing an absolute fury of everything right and good about Kings basketball in the third quarter, taking a 17-point lead into the final stanza. That’s when everything fell apart. The Kings looked disjointed, tired, and poorly coached throughout the fourth quarter and subsequent OT period, dropping a 5 point decision in what is the arguably the most disappointing loss of season thus far.

Let’s take a look at what went right (some stuff) and what went wrong (more stuff) last week.

• Despite being suspended for the Miami game and out injured for part of the second half and OT in Charlotte, DeMarcus Cousins continues to shine on both ends of the court. Boogie averaged 27.7 points and 11.7 rebounds, while adding 2.0 blocks per game.
• Speaking of Cousins, he did come back to earth a little from deep, shooting 23 percent on 4.3 attempts per game this past week. The threat continues to open up his driving game, however.
• The Kings continue to lead the league in pace at 100.8. They’re only 20^th in offensive rating and 22^nd in defensive rating which means they are playing fast and BAD.
• Ben McLemore continues to have a break out of sorts despite Karl subbing him out at questionable times. McLemore scored 11.5 points per game for the second straight week on only 23.7 minutes of run with an exceptional 47 percent from the field and 50 percent from 3-point range.
• Rajon Rondo has been incredible. His line this past week might be the most eye popping yet as the veteran guard averaged 13.3 points, 9 rebounds, and 14.3 assists on a fairly incredible 54 percent from the field and 55 percent from deep.
• Willie Cauley-Stein can’t manage to stay on the floor. Despite starting 2 of 4 games last week, he only got 15.6 minutes of run. The lack of consistency in his time is starting to show in his play as he had his worst week as a pro averaging only 3.3 points and 4.0 boards on 43 percent from the floor.
• Marco Belinelli shot and scored better this week averaging 15.3 points off the bench on 42 percent from the floor and 36 percent from the land of three but single handedly might have cost the Kings a win in Atlanta with a series of bizarre bumbles and bad passes.
• The James Anderson experiment seems to be over, as he did not play at all in the last 4 games.

The week ahead:

11/25 versus the Milwaukee Bucks (in Milwaukee, WI)

11/27 versus the Minnesota Timberwolves (in Sacramento, CA)

11/28 versus the Golden State Warriors (in Oakland, CA)

11/30 versus the Dallas Mavericks (in Sacramento, CA)

I want to predict 3 out of 4 again, but I think 2 wins is more realistic here, bringing the Kings record to 7-12 this time next week.

If they lose all four, I think Karl might be out of a job.