Actually, I think the reason the Kings won today had more to do with hustle, aggressiveness, and defense. They cannot beat the Mavs in a shoot-out. The Mavs have too much depth, something the Kings traded off to bring in Miller. But if the Kings slow the game down and play consistent defense, they stand a chance of beating their first-round opponent.
Well said, Gaither.
The pace of the games in this series will dictate who comes out on top. The Mavericks are fast scorers and can blast any team off the court in minutes if they are allowed to run at will. The Kings clearly made an effort to force the Mavericks into more of a half-court style of play, especially in the fourth quarter, and it helped cool off the shooting of Nash and Finley, in particular. It also caused the ball to end up in the rookie's hands for a shot and they couldn't finish.
I only can hope this is the style the Kings plan to play this series for all of the games. To be able to do this four more times with Dallas is still problematic. With a worse interior defense then even the Kings, it would behoove Adelman to insist that Vlade, Webber, and Miller spend all their offensive time parked under the basket, while slowing down the pace to the dreaded half-court style that Dallas apparently is unable or unwilling to play. The Kings, meanwhile, have shifted their game to an alternate style of both fast-paced and half-court, so they can run with most teams, but not with the Mavericks.
Apparently, Doug Christie took it personally when he watched an ESPN show about the teams in the playoffs and an extremely negative take on the Kings put him in mind to show they were wrong. Called "soft", "scared", "lacking toughness", and a few other comments that no NBA player ever wants to be associated with, Christie got very angry. He was on a mission and he wanted to take the rest of the Kings with him.
Far from being washed up, Doug is the main reason the Kings did not lose more games during the last twenty of the regular season.
