BASKETBALL IS BACK! The Golden State Warriors tip-off the season with a matchup against the Sacramento Kings. The big matchup question: how will the Warriors contain DeMarcus Cousins?

Tonight, the Golden State Warriors are set to take on the Sacramento Kings who sported a 28-54 record last season.

As you might expect from their records, the Dubs swept the season series 4-0 last year and this year may be no different.

Sacramento did not make major changes this offseason and they will be relying on player development over anything else. DeMarcus Cousins, the cornerstone of the franchise, has always had questions regarding his maturity level every year. Cousins is undoubtedly talented and The Starters even believe he will be named an NBA All-Star this season.

With that being said, this game will largely hinge on the Warriors ability to contain Cousins -- the DeMarcus Cousins vs. Andrew Bogut matchup will definitely be the one to look forward to on opening night.

Firstly, the two bigs have contrasting playing styles. Cousins attempts more jumpers and plays further from the rim whereas Bogut does most of his scoring in the low post (although the new offense has Bogut making plays from the high post). In previous matchups, Cousins was able to get his points but clearly, Bogut locked him down defensively at times. The ability of Cousins to play outside the paint creates a matchup problem where Bogut may have to leave the low post on defense to guard him. As a result, this will allow more space for cutters like Rudy Gay to work below the foul line extended.

Rusty Simmons reports that Golden State will likely start the year without power forward David Lee who is nursing a hamstring injury. With Draymond Green set to start in place of David Lee, the dynamics of the starting lineup could feature more spacing (4-out, 1-in offense) which would open up the lane for guys to operate off the ball. Additionally, we could see some small-ball lineups with Harrison Barnes at the 4. Barnes has looked more comfortable as a stretch-four and the injury to Lee could give him another opportunity to showcase himself.

For more on this game, check out our full preview.

Have a question for Darren Collison? Leave it in this thread and it may get answered tonight after the Kings take on the Golden State Warriors in the season opener.

Real Kings basketball is upon us! With that comes this season's first installment of Question of the Game.

But before we get to that, I just want to take a second to thank you all for reading. I think I speak for myself and the rest my colleagues here in saying the readers of Str make the season much more enjoyable for all of us, and the community is what it's all about. So thank you for the feedback (both positive and negative) that you provide, as well as the great analysis and humor left in the comment threads. (You all make me laugh on a daily basis.) I hope I can give you some decent content to read this season.

With that said, let's down to business. Today's question is for the Kings new starting point guard Darren Collison.

For those of you who don't know, the Question of the Game thread allows Str readers to pose a question for a particular player during a home game. Based on which question gets the highest number of recs (and how reasonable it is), I will track the player down and ask them that question during the postgame. The answer will then be posted right here in the thread.

Make sure to keep it to one question unless you have two questions that tie in together.

So leave your question for Collison in this thread and start pressing those rec buttons!

A particularly terrible stretch in the third quarter proves to be too big of a hole to climb in an ugly, sloppy affair

For the first half, the Sacramento Kings stayed toe-to-toe with their Northern California rivals. Unfortunately for Kings fans, the third quarter was real, and boy was it painful. Consecutive poor, sloppy plays that led to several Golden State Warriors leakouts were the main culprit in a two point halftime lead turning into a 10 point deficit. The Kings ended the night with an atrocious 26 turnovers. To be fair, the Warriors weren't exactly hitting on all cylinders either, with 22 miscues themselves.  But the Warriors were far more effective in punishing the Kings after a turnover, scoring 26 points compared to the Kings' rate of 16 points, with the Warriors ultimately winning 95-77.

Sacramento never really found its offensive groove the entire game, shooting 30.8% from the field overall, and only 16.7% from three. DeMarcus Cousins had a nightmare night, missing from all over the floor to the tune of 4/14 shooting from the field. He scrapped his way to a team-leading 20 points mostly on the strength of getting to the free throw line. Cousins was 12/18 from the line and got seemingly the entire Warriors front line in foul trouble. Bogut's presence inside was a huge factor in Cousins' early struggles, but it wasn't just Bogut. Cousins was not effective against any defender the Warriors threw out.

Cousins' Team USA teammate, Rudy Gay, didn't fare much better. 14 points on 5/15 shooting and 0/2 from three. Rudy had particular struggles with shot selection, often being forced into tough, contested long twos and suffered from a severe case of tunnel vision, missing shooters spotting up and selfishly driving into traffic. We need better decision-making from our #2 man.

On a brighter note, the defense was a definite bright spot in the first game. The Warriors were missing David Lee, so the Kings made the commitment of swarming Golden State shooters at the three point line knowing nobody in the Warriors' front line could really punish them inside. The Warriors ended up shooting 44.0% from the field (22.2% from three), but that was boosted by a few garbage time points when the game was out of hand. Steph Curry and Klay Thompson were able to get theirs (24 points on 7/17 shooting and 19 points on 4/14 shooting respectively)

Another among the bright spots was Nik Stauskas' NBA debut. The numbers look ugly (3/10 overall, 2/7 from three) but he came out confident and looked like he belonged. Unfortunately, the starter at the position, Ben McLemore, started off the 2014/2015 campaign with a bagel in the boxscore.

For the opponent's perspective, be sure to check out Golden State of Mind.

Random Observations

• There was a stretch in the third quarter where it felt like the Kings didn't even get a shot off. It was turnover after turnover, leading to layup after layup.
• Ramon Sessions in particular was awful in this stretch, with three straight turnovers just credited to him. And zero assists overall; his decision-making was really bad all night. Several times he would try to set up Reggie Evans facing up 16 feet from the basket, once even with five seconds left on the clock. Not the most sterling line from our backup PG. We need Sessions to be better; if he is, between him, Landry and Stauskas our bench has the ability to pack some serious punch.
• Landry looked good out there. Attacked the offensive glass HARD, grabbing five offensive boards and mixing it up in the paint.
• Malone subbed a dizzying amount of substitutes at the end of the third trying to stop the bleeding. Omri Casspi was thrown out there after failing to get off the bench in the first half and played three different positions. Reggie Evans disappeared after halftime.
• For some reason, the Kings have had issues inbounding the ball. Several five second violations and over-and-back violations underscored the team's inability to deal with the Warriors' pressure
• Ben McLemore had an awful night offensively, but defensively really stuck to Klay. Was a big factor in Klay struggling from the field.
• Strange moment of co-celebration between Kings fans and Warriors fans when the Giants closed out the World Series. Probably the loudest cheer of the night. Can't blame the crowd though, good defense doesn't exactly lend itself to cheers.

Intro

Hey guys, I've been a Sactown Royalty regular for years now. You might know me as Scirocco, but I look forward to having fun writing the recaps for the rest of the year and commiserating in the Kings successes and failures. Here's to a good year!

In their first regular season game the Warriors beat the Sacramento Kings with some good, bad and ugly.

It wasn't the prettiest of wins for the Golden State Warriors. However in accordance with opening night mantra, it's time to substitute "it's only preseason" for "a win is a win".

Ugly or not, these games count and fortunately for Steve Kerr and crew, after a 95-77 win against the Sacramento Kings, the W's are currently on a one-game solo win streak with 81 games to go.

Coming into the contest both clubs had previously faced off 374 times in the regular season. Last year the W's fed Sacramento L's all four times for the regular season sweep. David Lee sat for the night with a strained left hamstring and guard Brandon Rush was a no-show due to a stress reaction. There was a Shaun Livingston sighting late in the third that made everything right with the world, but couldn't wipe the stain of what could be considered jitters or a team still in the learning stages of dominance.

So with the remainder of the squad in tact for their opening night match-up, the Warriors took the floor with a makeshift lineup that ended up high in fouls (32), and uncharacteristically poor shooting (22 percent from deep and 72 percent from the line). However in every attempt to turn lemons into lemonade and fast forward into lemon meringue pie they gave a sweet response to the going notion that without the deep ball Golden State's defunct.

When a coach stresses ball movement as first year Warriors head man Steve Kerr has, it can often lead to over passing. The Warriors exhibited good decision making and decisive passes on drive and kick outs, skip passes and post entry passes, however Golden State's fundamentally sound play didn't always result in the buckets needed.

I won't be so cliché as to say "live by the three, die by the three", but the Warriors lived a miserable death from deep tonight. NBA coaches love to do things with "purpose" and Kerr is no exception. The W's ran the floor with purpose, passed with purpose, finished off the break with purpose and shot with purpose -- it's just unfortunate that not many of those purposeful long balls dropped in Sleep Train Arena. Although Stephen Curry finished with 24 points and Klay Thompson followed with 19, out of 27 trey's launched, only six were hit. Two for Curry, Thompson and Draymond Green.

So what did your old coach tell you to do when you're putting up more bricks than a masons convention? Take the ball to the hole, finish hard and get to the line. After going 1-10 from three in the first half (the main catalyst for a close game), the good looks didn't come until late in the third quarter when the Warriors went on a 13-5 run finishing off the break and playing short clock basketball while taking seven shots from deep compared to nine total in the first half.

Much of the shot hoisting was due to Andrew Bogut and Festus Ezeli's early foul trouble, with better perimeter defense and less ball penetration by the opposition the offense should look more balanced in upcoming games.

And although the Warriors only collected seven offensive rebounds compared to Sacramento's 15, on the defensive end you could tell there's a standing agenda that's based on confidence in team rebounding. The W's used their speed and leaked a man out on the break all night for easy transition buckets. It was a strategy that helped contribute to the 22 turnovers in the game, but as chemistry builds and David Lee makes his way back to the hardwood, floor-length passes from defensive rebounds will be another gun under the Warriors pillow.

The Warriors had an answer for their shortcomings, and at the end of 48 minutes, that's not necessarily all you could ask for, but it's enough for day one. It's only one of 82, and everyone knows the regular season is a marathon. The speed of which the Warriors arrive at the pinnacle of their play doesn't matter. All that matter's is if they've arrived to it by game number eighty-two. All signs currently point to it.

Michael Malone and his players share their thoughts on the positives and negatives of Wednesday's game and their plan going into Friday's game against the Trail Blazers.

The Sacramento Kings fell to the Golden State Warriors 95-77 on Wednesday night. Let's take a look at what head coach Michael Malone and some of the Kings players liked and disliked about the team's performance and their opinions on Friday's opponent, the Portland Trail Blazers.

What Went Right

Michael Malone: "Our defense was actually pretty good tonight against a very, very capable offensive team - to hold them to 95 and 44 [percent] from the field. We did a great job defending the three-point line, which was a big point of emphasis for us going in. We out rebounded them; did a lot of good things on the defensive end."

DeMarcus Cousins: "You always learn from a loss, that's the biggest thing. But I think we did a pretty decent job defensively. Some credit to us and some to them just missing shots. But I think we did a fairly good job defensively."

Rudy Gay: "We held them to what, one three pointer in the first half? They hit a couple - they are good shooters - they hit a couple in the second half, but for the most part, we took that away and made other guys make plays. Obviously, Steph [Curry] made some great plays, but I think Klay [Thompson] really had to work to get his spots."

Darren Collison: "I thought we did a solid job on [Steph] Curry and [Klay] Thompson...despite having 18-20 something points, they shot a lot and they didn't have a good percentage."

What Went Wrong

Michael Malone: "I think around the 5:40 mark of the third quarter we were up by one and we turn in to the Keystone Cops. They go on a 15-2 run. We couldn't even get a shot off. Our offense, or lack thereof, was really, really bad tonight. The turnovers, we talked about it in the preseason - 28^th in the preseason in turnovers per game - and to come out here against that team and turn the ball over 27 times for 26 points, you're not going to beat anybody, nonetheless one of the best teams in the Western Conference. So offensively, a very disappointing effort. I thought we played very selfishly. Did not move the ball, pounded the ball. So we looked very similar to the Sacramento Kings of last season tonight."

(Here is some footage of the Keystone Cops in action.)

Cousins: "When they went on their run we kind of panicked...started trying to force things to happen. I don't think we really stayed poised enough in their run; same mistakes." "We've got to do a better job of taking care of the basketball."

Gay: "Turnovers and also our offense." "It's early, guys are trying to do things and trying to be productive, but sometimes it happens." "The middle of that third quarter is when we really didn't execute, that's when we kind of fell apart."

Collison: "We beat ourselves. Turnovers. There's no other way to explain it. We had turnovers that were unforced. They weren't turnovers where they were guarding us, they were turnovers where we simply threw the ball away and when you're playing a good playoff team, some say a contending team, you can't have that many turnovers and win the game."

What's Next: The Blazers

Michael Malone: "We're going to first worry about us and try to clean up all of our mistakes tonight on both sides of the basketball...They have a tremendous team. Damian Lillard, LaMarcus Aldridge, Wes Matthews, Nicolas Batum, [Robin] Lopez in the middle. We played them very tough last year. We beat them once, we lost to them three times, but all three of our losses went down to the wire. So it's Damian Lillard, it's LaMarcus Aldridge, we'll have our hands full."

Cousins: "Learn what they do, but the biggest thing is us playing the right type of basketball - us coming in and perfecting our own craft. Tonight, we beat ourselves, so it can't be the same thing next game."

Gay: "They are kind of similar. They shoot a lot of threes...I think it's good that we have them next because you kind of have a similar preparation and just clean up our offense and I think we'll be fine."

Collison: "At this point, you have to prepare for yourselves...the Blazers are going to be the Blazers, the Warriors are going to be the Warriors. I think at this point right now we've got to worry about ourselves."

For many Kings fans, the Isaiah Thomas topic has been talked about ad nauseam since the Kings decided not to bring him back.

I understand those that want to just move on.  We can't change what happened.  Thomas is now a member of the Phoenix Suns and the Kings have two new Point Guards in Darren Collison and Ramon Sessions.  Yet Thomas continues to rise up in the conversation, especially after nights like Wednesday in which the Kings offense looked abysmal (30.8% from the field, 13 assists to 26 turnovers) and Thomas scoring 23 points on 9-11 shooting in just 20 minutes for Phoenix.

Recently, Thomas sat down with Zach Lowe of Grantland and rehashed what went down with Sacramento this summer, as well as the not-so-subtle shots taken at him by Cousins and other players.  Thomas didn't necessarily offer anything new to the conversation, but it came up yet again because the decision to not retain him remains extremely controversial.  It's very rare for an NBA team to let a restricted Free Agent, particularly one as good as Isaiah Thomas, walk for basically nothing.  It says something that a team seemingly already set at the Point Guard position with Goran Dragic and Eric Bledsoe still went after Thomas with gusto.

The main talking point given as to why the Kings let Thomas go has been a need to focus on ball movement and pushing the pace.  The offense was supposed to be more refined, with the ball sticking less and moving more.  Yes, we lost a talented scorer in Thomas, but we'd make up for it by spreading the wealth and everyone else scoring more!  Instead, what transpired last night was an offensive performance that was simply offensive.  The Kings didn't have a game that bad offensively all of last season.  Both the 30.8% from the field and the 26 turnovers were worse than any game from the entirety of last season or even the season before.  You have to go all the way back to February 16th, 2011 to find a game in which we last had 26 turnovers, and that was a game where we started Jermaine Taylor at Shooting Guard.

Let me make this clear.  This isn't about Darren Collison.  In fact, Darren Collison (along with Carl Landry) is probably one of the only Kings who can hold their heads up high after last night.  Collison struggled to make shots (as did most of his teammates), but he ran the offense well (8 of Sacramento's 13 assists and only 1 turnover) and played tough defense.  He did almost everything I wanted to see out of my starting Point Guard.  It was everyone else who was slacking.

After the game, Collison and other players talked about a lack of trust.  That starts up top with guys like DeMarcus Cousins and Rudy Gay.  If they can't be trusted to run the offense and find open guys, nobody else is going to want to follow suit.  The Kings talking about moving the ball more post-Isaiah implies that Isaiah was a problem there, and that he couldn't have learned a new system that saw him dribble less and move more.  That means there's nobody to blame but themselves if they don't execute now.

There are no more scapegoats.  This team has to step up and take a hard look in the mirror before yet another season has them looking up in the standings, waiting on next year.  The Kings said they'd be better without Isaiah.  Now's the time to go ahead and prove it, because if they can't, they'll be hearing about it for years.

Fresh off a 17-point win in their season opener against the Thunder, the Blazers head to Sacramento tonight to square off against DeMarcus Cousins, Rudy Gay and the Kings.

Sacramento's season didn't get off to a good start as they dropped opening night to the Warriors, but they have a chance of redemption this Halloween.  The Blazers aren't much easier than the Warriors, but the Kings can't play much worse than they did on Wednesday.  Tonight's action tips off at 7:00 pm tonight on Comcast SportsNet California and on KHTK 1140.

3 THINGS TO LOOK FOR

1. Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers.  Wednesday night saw the Kings turn the ball over 27 times, an absurd amount for an NBA team.  The Kings can't win a game against the Philadelphia 76ers let alone the Portland Trail Blazers if they turn the ball over that much.  Learning and running a new offense takes time, but cutting down on stupid mistakes like 5 second violations and over the back calls will help.  DeMarcus Cousins and Rudy Gay also have to lead by example here as the team's best players.

2. Sacramento actually did a pretty good job of executing defensively against the Warriors.  The Blazers are similar in that they will also try to shoot a lot of threes so the Kings should be ready for a similar game plan.  The Blazers do have LaMarcus Aldridge though, a player unlike any on the Warriors, and he has hurt the Kings in the past.

3. The Kings bench will need to perform much better than they did, particularly Ramon Sessions.  Sessions was a non-factor in Wednesday's game, and the Kings need him to be effective, especially during offensive lulls like Wednesday's third quarter.

MATCHUP OF THE GAME

Rudy Gay vs. Nicolas Batum

Rudy Gay was not at his best on Wednesday, forcing the issue several times and moving the ball even less.  He had most of his success taking the ball inside, but he'll have a tough matchup in Portland's Nicolas Batum.  Batum's a fantastic all-around player, and will make Rudy work hard on both ends of the court.  Rudy has to do his part to not give the defense what they want in taking tough shots or not moving the ball quick enough.

Interested in playing Daily Fantasy Basketball with the chance to win money? Sign up for FanDuel here!

PREGAME LIMERICK

The Kings made a mistake or two,
their offense as smelly as poo.
Time to take care of the ball,
and win it all,
unless they want me to spew.

PREDICTION

Kings 98, Blazers 24 after the Kings use the 3D projectors into fooling the Blazers into thinking the basket is not where it actually is.

As the NBA's shooting guards greet Nik Stauskas by trying to overpower him, he knows he needs to hit the weight room.

The Sacramento Kings drafted Nik Stauskas for his shooting, ball handling and basketball IQ. But to have long-term impact in the NBA, the 21-year-old knows he has to bulk up to handle the rigor of the league and what teams are already doing after scouting him - overpowering him in the post.

We saw plenty of it in the preseason, but in Wednesday's loss to the Golden State Warriors, Klay Thompson and Harrison Barnes put Stauskas to the real test, and it worked.

"They tried to post me up and both of them are just stronger than me so it's tough for me to kind of hold my ground," Stauskas told reporters. "Guys feel like they can post me up every single time down the floor."

Thompson and Barnes made their way through Stauskas and illustrated the matchup problems the rookie is going to face this season despite his shooting potential.

"When you get to this level it's a whole different ballgame with the strength and physicality of these guys," Stauskas said.

Nearly every time head coach Michael Malone is asked about his new shooting guard he circles back to the fact that Stauskas has to get stronger and the Michigan standout has taken it to heart by working on it as much as he can.

"Just following anything that the strength coaches have for me...Every time that we could possibly get a weight session in or a lift in, I'm there and I'm trying to get stronger," said the 6'6'' Stauskas.

He said he currently weighs 205 pounds, which is similar to what he weighed at the NBA Draft Combine earlier this year. He has plenty of time to bulk up and work on his defense considering he just played his first 26 minutes of regular season NBA basketball on Wednesday night, scoring nine points on 3-10 shooting. Stauskas only shot one free throw in the game. Getting to the line could be a key to his success in the future and adding muscle could also will help with that.

Stauskas said Thompson, who is someone he tries to model his game after, had some words of encouragement for him after the game.

"Klay came up to me and he told me I have a bright future in this league so that meant a lot to hear that from him because I really do look up to the guy," Stauskas said.

Thompson worked hard to put on weight as he was entering the NBA as well. In 2010, Thompson weighed 190 pounds and a year later at the NBA Draft Combine he weighed in at 206 pounds. He is currently listed at 215 pounds.

Stauskas should see a decent amount of minutes this season as he is currently the only true backup to Ben McLemore. McLemore did not score in 26 minutes of work on Wednesday, but played decent defense. Malone recently said just because McLemore is starting now doesn't mean Stauskas couldn't supplant him.

There's still a gap to bridge with Butler's extension deadline later tonight, although Taj Gibson was able to bridge that gap with his extension two years ago.

Taj Gibson knows all about Jimmy Butler's situation. Two years ago, a Gibson extension looked unlikely heading into the Oct. 31 deadline before the big man inked a deal AFTER the Bulls beat the Kings, just beating the buzzer on the deadline. Could history repeat itself with Butler?

Right now, the general consensus is that the Bulls and Butler won't get a deal done. K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune reported two days ago that a $4 million annual gap has narrowed, but pessimism remained a deal would get done. Johnson has since followed up with this Friday morning:

Bulls are going to have to increase offer if Butler extension gets done by tonight's deadline. Remember: Bulls can match next summer too.

— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) October 31, 2014

The same kind of pessimism is being shared by many of the national guys. David Aldridge of NBA.com said Thursday afternoon an extension for Butler was "increasingly unlikely," while ESPN's Marc Stein also said a deal "appeared unlikely" as of Thursday night. Sam Amick of USA TODAY said Friday that Butler's camp doesn't see a deal getting done. On the other side of the coin, Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders claims the sides aren't far apart at all and that the gap is more of the "structure" of the deal than money, although I'm not sure I completely buy that considering Johnson says the sides were $2.5 million apart last night.

I've already gone through many of the reasons why Butler's value is hard to gauge. He's a dynamite defensive player with nice offensive potential, although it's just unclear what that offensive ceiling is. He was ridiculously efficient in the preseason without any semblance of a jump shot before getting hurt, but will that carry over to the regular season and postseason when he returns to the court? That remains to be seen, and if a deal is reached, I would assume there will be offensive-based incentives in there.

Throwing another wrench into this is the deal Alec Burks just got from the Jazz, reportedly between $42-45m.

Burks is a talented offensive player with upside, but to me, it's hard to argue that he's a more impactful player than Butler at this point. With Burks' deal in mind, in addition to the Gordon Hayward and Chandler Parsons contracts I've referenced before, I can't imagine Butler signing for anything less than $12 million a year.

It would be great if the Bulls and Butler reach an agreement, but it's not the end of the world if they don't. If Butler reaches restricted free agency and is good enough to fetch a max deal or something close to it, I'm thinking the Bulls would match it. Some have argued that it won't even take a big year to fetch a max deal because of the dearth of quality two-way wings, which could make the decision much more difficult depending on how the Bulls' season plays out. But maybe if he's just okay and not really damn good, the Bulls could ink him on a reasonable deal or potentially look at other options.

The Bulls would lose some of their precious flexibility if they matched a Butler max rather than signing him now. Signing him now or matching a max later would have no effect on cap space, because the Bulls would have none either way. Matching a max could potentially have tax ramifications and what kind of exceptions/trades the Bulls could use moving forward, but it's impossible to tell now without having any idea of how much the cap will go up. Joakim Noah's next contract in two offseasons is also surely on the minds of Bulls brass, but again, it's hard to know how these potential deals would affect the Bulls' flexibility without knowing just what the cap will be.

I've been skeptical on a Butler extension all offseason, and I haven't seen much to think otherwise. I'll be happy if it's Gibson Part Deux, but I won't be upset if no deal is reached, because Butler still could be a Bull for a long time.

We're celebrating Halloween with this blast from the past.

Fresh off a 17-point win in their season opener against the Thunder, the Blazers head to Sacramento tonight to square off against DeMarcus Cousins, Rudy Gay and the Kings.

The Sacramento Kings made a strong push to trade for Klay Thompson, but lacked the assets to complete the deal.

Klay Thompson agreed to a four-year, $70 million dollar extension with the Golden State Warriors on Friday.  While it looked like Klay and the Warriors wouldn't reach a deal before Friday's deadline, the Sacramento Kings may have had a hand in the deal getting done.

Kings made late push to try to acquire Klay Thompson for anyone not named Cousins or Gay, a source said. Might have helped push GS agreement

— Marc J. Spears (@SpearsNBAYahoo) October 31, 2014

What the Kings' offer could've done: Gotten GSWs worried that a Chandler Parsons-like trick offer sheet was coming from SAC next summer.

— Tim Kawakami (@timkawakami) October 31, 2014

As great as it would have been for the Kings to snag a player of Thompson's caliber, there are some interesting things we can take away from this.  On a positive note, the Kings remain aggressive.  They're still working every angle in an attempt to land another impact player.  This lines up with the rhetoric we've heard all offseason.

It also tells us that the Kings see Rudy Gay as part of this team's long term future.  If the Kings expected Rudy Gay to walk this coming offseason, there would be no reason to hold back from including him in their proposed deal.  It will be interesting to see what the future holds, but the Kings are planning on Rudy sticking around.

We can also surmise that teams expect the Kings to be very aggressive this offseason.  The Kings will have cap space, and folks know that the Kings are ready to spend.

Finally, it tells us what we already knew.  Despite their aggressive desire to improve, the Kings lack attractive assets needed to facilitate a trade.  The landscape of the NBA is ever-changing, so don't interpret this as saying the Kings won't be able to pull of a big trade.  But right now, with the current roster, the Kings couldn't land a rising star who was due a big payday.

First road game of the season!

Welcome to the Gameday Open Thread at Blazer’s Edge! This is a place to hang out and enjoy tonight’s festivities with your fellow fans. Treat it as if you’re watching a game at the local watering hole, but hopefully without the language. Expect some disagreements, and a fair amount of changing emotions. But we'll get through it together.

Injuries: Portland's Meyers Leonard is still out tonight due to a respiratory illness.

-----------------

The usual Gameday Thread rules apply:

1. No swearing
2. No pictures
3. No discussion of unlicensed Internet streaming
4. Be cool to each other!

Hang out and enjoy the game! -- Tim

Nothing settled at halftime!

Welcome to the Gameday Open Thread at Blazer’s Edge! This is a place to hang out and enjoy tonight’s festivities with your fellow fans. Treat it as if you’re watching a game at the local watering hole, but hopefully without the language. Expect some disagreements, and a fair amount of changing emotions. But we'll get through it together.

Injuries: Portland's Meyers Leonard is still out tonight due to a respiratory illness.

-----------------

The usual Gameday Thread rules apply:

1. No swearing
2. No pictures
3. No discussion of unlicensed Internet streaming
4. Be cool to each other!

Hang out and enjoy the game! -- Tim

Watch as Ben throws down a huge alley oop.

The Blazers had no answer all night for the Kings' $19 million man as the Kings rode their talented SF to victory.

This offseason, the Sacramento Kings laid the red carpet out for Rudy Gay, practically begging him to pick up the final year of his contract. It was a sizeable financial commitment, but it's nights like this that must have the Kings brass smiling. Gay was an absolute flamethrower all night, finishing with 40 points on 13/19 from the field and 3/4 from three point range. Aided by a stingy defense, the Kings downed the Portland Trail Blazers by a final score of 103 to 94.

Gay and DeMarcus Cousins were aggressive right from the getgo, scoring 10 and 8 points in the opening quarter, respectively. Cousins was a mixed bag offensively for the rest of the game, at times struggling with the length of the Blazers' interior defenders and other times showing off his prodigious skill level with jumpers, flip shots, and decisive strikes down the lane. Cousins, however, provided his biggest impact on the defensive end. After a silly frustration foul sent him to the bench in the third, Cousins came back with a vengeance in the fourth, blocking two shots down the stretch and was a big part of the Blazers' offense faltering in the fourth quarter. One particularly outstanding play was a Cousins block, a quick outlet to Ben McLemore, who passed ahead to Gay, and received a beautiful alley-oop pass in a possession that ended without a single dribble.

The Kings received timely contributions from several players on the night. Darren Collison ran a tight ship the entire game, scoring opportunistically and running the team with a steady hand. Collison's individual stats (17 points, 8 assists, 8 rebounds on 6/14 shooting) were impressive, but his true value was his defense against the Blazer's sweet-shooting Damian Lillard. Lillard struggled on the night, a feather in Collison's cap, to the tune of 4/14 shooting from the field. The bench also made some timely contributions, led by Omri Casspi's 10 points. Carl Landry finished the game at the PF spot, and he didn't disappoint, attacking the glass and defending LaMarcus Aldridge admirably.

The Kings' offensive execution was night and day compared to the second half of opening night. Although the team notched only 14 assists, they also committed only 10 turnovers for the entire game, and zero turnovers in the entire second half. Gay was the main beneficiary of the sharper execution, as he was able to get to his spots with greater ease. Gay scored from all over the court, from spot up threes, midrange jumpers while balanced as opposed to fading away, attacking the rim and getting to the line.

Next up on the Kings' schedule is the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday.

Random Observations

• Sessions continues to disappoint at backup PG, but at least this time he wasn't throwing the ball all over the court. Struggled with his shot and defensively couldn’t contain Steve Blake of all people.
• Perhaps for the first time in his career, DeMarcus Cousins' impact on defense outshined his impact on offense. When Cousins picked up his fourth foul late in the third quarter, the team fell apart defensively and a double digit lead evaporated into a Blazers lead. Cousins came back in, and the team once again locked down admirably. His +28 on the night is not an accident.
• Battle of the lottery pick SGs today goes decidedly to McLemore. Still hasn't shot the ball well, but Ben competed defensively and moved the ball efficiently. The only jumper he hit was perhaps the most difficult shot he's taken this year. Stauskas struggled mightily with his shot tonight, but showed promise in his ability to get off good shots. Those shots will start going down sooner rather than later.
• Sleep Train looked sparse on TV, but I’d chalk it up to it being Halloween. The good soldiers in the arena were as loud as can be which is great to see.

The Blazers show up flat in Sacramento and lose their first game of the season, Gory details here.

Scene: A high-end Sacramento hotel, October 31st, 2014, 6 hours before tip-off. The Portland Trail Blazers gather together to discuss what costume to wear to their Halloween evening game against the Kings.

"Let's go as vampires! Then LaMarcus can get his cape action going!"

"Naw, man, I don't look good in a cape. Besides, where are we gonna find 12 capes at this time of day in Sacramento? We ain't exactly in the Pearl District."

"How about Iron Man?"

"Come on, Wes. That is so last year."

"I know! We can go as Redneck Godzilla Frankenstein! We can get one of those swamp boats with the big fan on back and wear alligators around our neck and put bolts in our heads and get a harpoon and breathe fire!"

:::dead silence:::

"No, Chris."

A voice emerges from the back of the room.

"How about we all go as a big pumpkin?"

The chant swells. "PumpKIN! PumpKIN! PumpKIN!"

Consensus achieved, the Blazers showed up at Sleep Train Arena in their fancy new costume. And the Sacramento Kings proceeded to carve them up.

That might be a slight oversimplification of Portland's 94-103 loss to the Kings tonight, but only slight. The Blazers showed up ready to repeat the pattern that held them in good stead in their opening night win versus the injury-weakened Oklahoma City Thunder: play sleepy-time basketball until the fourth period then wake up and slash through an inferior opponent. The Kings don't have the same name value as the Thunder but they also weren't injured. Instead of folding as the Blazers tried to push in the fourth, they pushed back...taking the close score as an indication of opportunity rather than a harbinger of eventual doom. Instead of Sacramento looking silly, reduced to hero-ball against a better defending, better-rebounding, more poised opponent, the Blazers took that mantle upon their shoulders. It didn't become them, but they'll be wearing it until they put a complete game together and show signs that they're ready to play this season instead of watching it go by them, expecting teams to bow to their hot-streak reputation.

Game Flow

You can get a quick summary of the game flow, reaction from the GameDay Threads, and post-game media reaction in our Instant Recap.

First Quarter

"Sloppy" is the best word to describe Portland's opening period. They didn't get back on defense, didn't work around screens, left the Kings open paths and open space enough to get confident on offense. You knew it was going to be an interesting night when, on Sacramento's first possession, Darren Collison saw Damian Lillard watching him 1-on-1 and blew by him like he had just been given a sack full of King-sized candy bars.

Sacramento didn't even need their usual DeMarcus Cousins barrage to keep up with the Blazers early. Rudy Gay came with his mid-range shot fully armed and operational, hitting the Blazers where they're weakest. The Blazers allowed Sacramento to pass the ball anywhere they pleased as long as it wasn't right in the heart of the lane. Sacramento took that deal and ran. Gay would end up scoring 10 in the period.

The Blazers, meanwhile, were turning over the ball, missing layups, and not squaring up for jumpers. Sacramento's defense had something to do with it, but when money-time jump-shooters all of a sudden start splaying their feet akimbo on shots, that's more than the "D" talking. As happened on Wednesday, LaMarcus Aldridge came to Portland's rescue, scoring off of jumpers and a couple fouls in the post. 11 points from their main man would keep the Blazers within 24-26 as the period expired.

Second Quarter

Again in a seeming replay of the Thunder game, Portland watched the opposing bench stall in the second period. Play got ragged and neither team could manage much until Cousins and Gay took over towards the end of the period. Chris Kaman again provided a bright spot for Portland's bench, scoring at a point-per-minute pace and making the Kings devote extra men to cover his threats. But the Blazers' offense found no more rhythm than the Kings' offense did. Instead Kaman and Wesley Matthews provided a late barrage to counter Gay and Cousins, leaving the game tied at 48 for intermission.

Third Quarter

If the start of the second had been choppy for the Blazers, the start of the third period was a gale-force nightmare. Their trends of not getting back, not covering screens, and not stopping passes intensified. Except now instead of just getting mid-range shots, the Kings were making hay in the lane and at the arc...deadly sins in Portland's defensive bible. The offense was no better, with turnovers and 1-on-1, bail-out basketball holding sway. The Kings bullied their way to a 62-54 lead. 8 points doesn't seem like much, but in this flat of an outing, it felt like the edge was doubled.

But then, apropos of the holiday, Boogieman made an appearance. Not the good DeMarcus Cousins, but the scary one. Frustrated at the lack of a foul call on a drive (and perhaps by a bogus moving screen call earlier), Cousins pulled out his patented, "I'm going to pick up a stupid foul in protest" move. He tried to swipe the ball away from Lillard on an inbounds play, caught Dame's head instead, and trudged to the bench with 4 fouls at the 6:41 mark of the third.

All of a sudden, everything turned Portland's way. Lacking a center, the Kings weren't able to keep Robin Lopez from dunking or rebounding, nor keep other Blazers off the boards when they did. The Blazers scored 15 points in 4 minutes, all but 2 of them in the lane, beyond the arc, or at the foul line. Everything the Blazers wanted, they got. When the smoke cleared, Portland had tied the game at 71 heading into the fourth.

Fourth Quarter

Once again the Blazers turned up the activity level in the final period, hustling on defense, moving the ball, stroking threes. When Matthews and Steve Blake tripled on Portland's first two possession of the period, you could hear Blazers fans give a collective, "Awwww...yeah." The team had been here before. This is how they do.

Except the Kings had read that particular script and come up with a counter-plan of their own. They also turned up the defense big-time. They shored up that rebounding problem that had plagued them after Cousins' departure as well. Their hustle kept Portland from capitalizing on momentum even when the Blazers ran their starters and Sacramento stuck to the bench. After the initial barrage the teams combined for 2 points total over the next 4 minutes of play. When Cousins and Gay returned to the floor for their final shifts in the fourth, they found their team down only 2. You could see their eyes light up. Then you saw the nets light up.

The Kings proceeded to hammer the Blazers into submission with Cousins' interior play, Gay's shooting, and Collison's quickness. Portland's only answer was Lillard waking up from a game-long slumber and trying to carry his team to victory with a dizzying array of drives and long bombs. Even with some charitable whistles going his way, it wasn't enough. Sacramento's team play and hustle proved better than Portland's star play and reputation. The Kings walked away with a 103-94 victory, sending the Blazers to a 1-1 record.

Analysis

You already heard the basic story. The Blazers weren't coherent enough, energetic enough, or committed enough to succeed except when they had an obvious lineup advantage on the floor.

In some ways the Blazers started behind to begin with, as this was a clash of styles. Portland wants to protect against close buckets and threes. In order to do that they'll concede mid-range shots. The Kings field plenty of good mid-range shooters. When Gay got hot it created an interesting problem for Portland. They weren't able to follow him off of screens. Eventually he got so far in the groove that they couldn't cover him straight up either. But what were they going to do? They couldn't double him out on the floor without the whole rest of their defensive philosophy breaking down.

But Gay's 40 points weren't the only problem. The Blazers could have compensated for that had Cousins and Collison not been able to threaten the defense at every turn. Neither one could be contained by a single defender either, which meant the Blazers were constantly collapsing and recovering...or just watching those two get good looks...or watching Sacramento forwards get offensive rebounds because the defense was bent.

Even then the Blazers might have survived if their offense was in sync. It wasn't. Part of that was Sacramento "D" but it also looked like the team was running sets that they expected to work automatically. They weren't crisp, they weren't detailed. It was like taking your car in to get some sweet flame details and the guy just tossed a bucket of Glidden down each side.

We saw this work in reverse last season. A highly-touted opponent would come into Moda Center expecting to win and the Blazers would outdo them with energy, efficiency, and chemistry. Tonight the Blazers got outdone. Except you have to wonder why Portland would walk into any arena outside of Philadelphia or half of Staples Center expecting to win just by showing up. This is the second straight night we've seen this...7 out of the 8 quarters the Blazers have played so far this season. They need to switch into gear before Sunday when the Golden State Warriors come to town, because last season those battles were epic even when the Blazers were running on all cylinders.

Fun With Statistics

Not much fun to be had tonight, actually.

• Portland shot 41% from the field, 35% (9-26) from the arc. Sacramento didn't do much better at 42% overall and 40% (4-10) from distance but the Blazers are theoretically more efficient and powerful on offense than the Kings, not about the same.
• The Blazers needed to be more powerful on a night when they shot 17-19 from the foul line and Sacramento shot 31-35. There wasn't much to complain about on Portland's side either. The Kings were more aggressive, more crisp getting inside. If anything, the Blazers got some reputation-based foul calls in the post and on drives.
• Portland got 10 offensive boards but allowed 14.
• The Blazers committed only 10 turnovers but forced only 10. This should be a big advantage point for Portland.
• Portland does continue to thrive on blocks. 8 isn't bad for an evening. When they can get help to the lane in time their size and length really tells.
• Rudy Gay: 13-19 from the floor, 11-13 from the line. Ouch.

--Dave blazersub@gmail.com / @DaveDeckard / @Blazersedge

I don’t even know where to begin Warriors fans. I’M PUMPED! It’s the season home openers and we’re about to get this party started at the Roaracle against the 0-3 Lakers! Wait… what?! I’m sorry, I’m just not used to saying that. The Los Angeles Lakers come to town looking for their first win of the season and boy will they have their hands full against our “Full Squad” led by Stephen Curry and Coach Steve Kerr.

Matchup
Golden State Warriors1-0 (0-0 home)				vs	Los Angeles Lakers 0-3 (0-1 road)
Details
November 1, 2014
Oracle Arena, Oakland, CA
7:40PM PT
CSN Bay Area | KNBR 1050 AM
Blog Buddy:www.silverscreenandroll.com
Projected Starters
Jeremy Lin				G	Stephen Curry
Kobe Bryant				G	Klay Thompson
Wesley Johnson				F	Harrison Barnes?
Carlos Boozer				F	Draymond Green
Jordan Hill				C	Andrew Bogut
Key Injuries
Ryan Kelly (hamstring) Julius Randle (tibia fracture) Nick Young (torn ligament)					David Lee - doubtful (hamstring) Shaun Livingston - out (toe) Brandon Rush - day to day
2013/14 Four Factors
eFG%	TOV%	ORB%	FT/FGA		eFG%	TOV%	ORB%	FT/FGA
.484 (23rd)	13.9 (16th)	27.8 (4th)	.251 (3rd)	OFF	.462 (21st)	14.1% (11th)	25.4% (19th)	.372 (6th)
.512 (21st)	12.7 (25th)	76.6 (3rd)	.234 (24th)	DEF	.575 (27th)	14.9% (16th)	26.1% (13th)	.496 (30th)

Keep an eye out on Kobe Bryant tonight. Regardless of LA's record, we can't count him out or afford to get him into any kind of hot streak. I got this feeling he's itching to spoil our opener after last nights game vs the Clippers! With Kobe's supporting cast short-handed, it's gonna be an uphill battle for the Lakers. I'm starting to see Jeremy Lin& Carlos Boozer finally mesh together that could spell trouble for us. Although their injury list doesn't help (Julius Randle, Ryan Kelly& Nick Young are all side lined) LA is looking for a way to win.

The Golden State Warriors, on the other hand, look like the opposite of LA's woes. After a few days' rest and a huge win against the Sacramento Kings, the Dubs are gunning to make it 2-0 after tonight and they've got the fire power and a new coach to make it happen. With both David Lee & Brandon Rush questionable for tonight's game, our supporting cast is thick. I was quite impressed with the contributions made by Draymond Green and Marreese Speights in Wednesday's victory over the Kings. Everyone on our squad has a job to do and Steve Kerr has a plan to get past LA.

The duo to look out for tonight is our very own Splash Brothers. Stephen Curry had a monster night on Wednesday with 24 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists & 6 steals. Klay Thompson was right behind him with 19 points, and may I add a huge extension announced yesterday (4 years, $70 million). Klay is poised to "splash" some crazy numbers off the 3-point line. All eyes most definitely will be on the Splash Brothers tonight.

If "strength in numbers" is the case, the crowd factor should be crazy at the Roaracle. Get loud Warriors fans -- it'll be a huge distraction for the Lakers. Our bench is deep and we have the right pieces to come out with a win. I'm no coach but if I could sum things up for a Dubs game plan, it would be this: Splash, play solid D, score & control the tempo of the game. Oh, and more Speights & Green action! (predicting a tag team duo nick name in the near future.) I got dibs on the Warriors winning tonight.

Who ya' got?

In a conversation with Cowbell Kingdom, Thomas Robinson says he has no ill will towards Sacramento despite how things worked out.

Thomas Robinson is still a bit of a sore subject around here.  Some are disappointed with how the Kings traded him away in the middle of his rookie season, never allowing Robinson a chance to develop despite solid per-minute averages.  Others are upset about the players the Kings passed on in order to select Robinson, such as Damian Lillard or Andre Drummond.

But in a conversation with Cowbell Kingdom, Robinson says he holds no grudges.

"(The Kings) were the team I was drafted to, so of course I'll always have a place in Sacramento, no matter if they traded me or not. No grudges. I love it here, man."

Better still, Robinson shows a lot of maturity regarding how his rookie season was handled by Sacramento.

"I know there's a lot of fans here (in Sacramento) that are really not happy with me or whatever, but I'm going to say it's my fault, man. I wish I could have gave them what they expected."

Personally, I never blamed Robinson as much as I blamed the toxic environment he was drafted into.  But it would have been reasonable for Robinson to feel slighted by Sacramento.  But Thomas' career has been anything but smooth-sailing since leaving the Kings.  The Trail Blazers have declined his fourth-year option, and he'll be an unrestricted free agent this coming offseason.

Ultimately, though, Robinson's departure helped the Kings.  The trade to send Robinson to the Rockets netted the Kings Patrick Patterson, who was part of the package the Kings used to acquire Rudy Gay.

I wish Thomas Robinson had worked out as a King, but I'll settle now for wishing him the best.  Here's hoping he finds a way to still have a successful NBA career.