We’re back with Portland’s second game in Vegas. Yesterday was all about debut’s, today is all about answering questions. For Bayless….can he keep it up? Can he stay in attack mode, make some shots now that the “secret” is out. Also can he erase any crazy comparison I have with the man pictured to the left. Koponen…was he just hot yesterday? Or has he actually improved that much. Can he keep playing this well to make Blazer fans go ‘Sergio Who?’ And Batum. Ummm…can he do anything except float on the perimeter? Can he stay healthy? Does he eat croissants with Nutella or butter? All of the questions will be answered shortly.
7:04: We are here…and well….ESPN.com is reporting that the Clippers are getting Camby for a second round pick. Coup will have more thoughts on it later but…..damn. Denver is absolutely and completely retarded. I’m sorry if that’s offensive but damn that’s the only word for it. So stupid. On so many levels. Still wrapping my head around it.
7:07: Game is underway and Koponen starts with an easy layup. Snapper says that Koponen could be good enough that we trade someone. Interesting. And yes I’m looking right at you Sergio.
7:08: Coup “By the way…how on earth did EA think Tony Parker was a good front man? Eva Longoria would sell NBA Live better.” Well…it might be good because the Live cover has a bit of a curse att ached to it. Eva Longoria could sell me anything.
7:10: Koponen jacks up a three from way behind the arc for no reason, then taps himself on the chest as if to say my bad. Yes…it was.
Coup “One thing I never understood….why would you tap yourself on the chest and say my bad after taking a bad shot. You obviously wouldn’t say your bad if you made the bad shot.”
Because I’m sure Monty was looking at him with a ‘WTF Petteri?’ look. You can’t help but say my bad when someone gives you that look.
7:12: Coup “Nice dish by Bayless…one that Oden would throw down.” Yeah Josh Davis isn’t booming that one at all. He’s somewhere between Kevin Love and Greg Ostertag on the hops scale.
7:14: Batum to the foul line!! He did something semi-aggressive!?!?!! And he didn’t get hurt! VIVE LA FRANCE!
Coup “Is Kamla really giving the Maloof’s credit for being in Vegas? I would give the Maloof’s more credit for being in Sacramento.”
I would give the Maloof’s more credit for doing
7:17: Blazers up 7-4 early. Bayless hasn’t shot but has 4 boards, Koponen has 2 and Batum is 0/2 with 1 free throw.
7:18: KP comes on the screen…half of Portland just got excited and places they haven’t dealt with yet..Coup “PRITCH!!” Kamla with a lame “I can’t believe you’re talking to us and not trading” and KP disappoints me by playing in to it. I also am not hearing what he’s saying. I’m immune to GM Speak.
7:19: Coup “He’s just cocking back the hand of Pritchslapping.” Man we are really going to start pissing some people off with this Pritchslapping business.
7:21: The Kings have shot up 13-7 and I couldn’t tell you how. Completely distracted by the smooth talking of KP.
7:23: Unbelievable Louisiana commercial. Featuring a fisherman, Karl Malone and Chris Paul making a slight fool of himself. I’m convinced between that and the League Pass commercial he’s just a terrible actor.
Coup “Oh Chris Paul why….CP3 has too many syllables to be a spoken nickname, only works in writing.” You can’t really say it fast it loses it’s effect.
7:24: Uh-oh…Koponen struggling with Singletary’s pressure and turns it over. Bayless finally gets on the board and hits a three.
Coup “I’ll take that from Jerryd, long as he doesn’t fall in love with the jumper.”
7:25: Bayless comes back with a drive and finish but draws my ire by screaming ‘And-1’. Just a pet peeve. He comes back with another drive and gets to the foul line. Man he can get to the cup I’ll tell you that much.
Coup “Color me satisfied two days in a row…Kamla needs to stop calling him dude though.” Kamla needs to stop talking for a little bit period.
7:27: Chuck Person is coaching the Kings summer league team and he has to get a technical foul. He just has to. I’m begging you Chuck just for old time’s sake. By the way were there two more opposite brothers than Wesley and Chuck Person. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Wesley speak.
7:28: Bayless is at the free throw line again. Coup “Add stopping and popping on a nickel to Bayless’ valuable skills.”
7:29: I’m officially over comparing Telfair to Bayless I feel a lot better now thanks for everyone caring so much.
7:30: Jason Thompson (Coup’s favorite player) gets a dunk to finish the quarter. Portland is up 19-17 at the end of 1. Coup…what do you think of Jason Thompson?
Coup: “Speaking of wasted draft picks…”
That’s what I thought. Bayless with 9 of our 17 (2/4 shooting, 4/4 from the line), Koponen has 3 but Singletary has him off his rhythm a little bit and he has 2 turnovers. Batum meanwhile continues to be the Invisible Man….0/3, 1 pt.
7:31: Coup “For a team that once had Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Corliss Williamson and Kenny Thomas at the same time and now has Shelden Williams…you would think they had learned their lesson about low-ceiling power forwards.”
Well….this is the same team who drafted Spencer Hawes while they had Brad Miller. So I’m not sure they are learning much. Considering the Maloofs are always in Vegas, Artest is running wild, Theus is too busy watching Hangtime DVD’s…not too much time to learn.
7:34: Ms. Candace Parker is struggling. 0/3 with 2 fouls. Anytime your girlfriend is universally accepted as being better than you….things aren’t going so great.
7:36: Oh Patrick Ewing.
Kamla: Pat what was your guys record?
Ewing: 3-2…
*Kamla keeps talking*
Ewing: It was the other way around, 2-3.
Coup “Koponen can finish at the rack too, add that to the list of things he does better than Sergio.”
7:42: Blazers up 23-22 half way through the second. Koponen has come alive a little bit in this quarter. Batum meanwhile may not have a pulse.
7:46: Coup “Wow, Kamla’s going Jim Rome on us…UH-ggressive”
7:48: Kings up 30-25 as the Blazers call time out. Jason Thompson and Douby both have 8. For Portland it’s still the Bayless/Koponen show they have 18 points combined.
7:50: Bayless get his shot blocked. Mr. Candace Parker takes a perimeter jumper…Snapper does not like it. “No no no…don’t do that.”
7:52: Chris Ellis with a nasty tip-jam to make it 30-27 Kings.
7:54: In-game dunks do it for Kamla. His words, not mine. I bet his girlfriend caught him one night watching Dominique Wilkins highlights in bed.
Koponen with a smooth fadeaway…Coup “Koponen is earing that final roster spot…and getting Sergio traded”
I wondered if Rudy would get pissed.
Coup: “You know it’s not fair for us to assume Rudy likes Sergio. There are Americans we don’t like, so he can not like other Spaniards. We don’t like Sergio much why should Rudy.”
Touche.
7:59: Koponen with a nice bounce pass in the lane to Batum who finishes….with one of those smooth Frenchie reverses. It wasn’t that great but still.
Coup’s thoughts on the outdoor WNBA game: It worked well for hockey…hopefully it snows.
Ouch. Guess he won’t be getting a Russia Becky Hammon jersey after all.
8:00: Kamla has officially lost his mind. He’s talked about tennis, Chuck D and Grant Hill to Christian Laettner in a span of 3 minutes. How Snapper has not choked hi
m out by now is beyond me.
8:02: All tied up at 34 at halftime. Bayless has 14. Struggling shooting the ball a little bit (2/6) but still getting to the foul line (9/10) although a couple have been bail outs. Koponen has 9 but he’s taken 10 shots. Batum still refuses to stand out. He’s so French.
8:13: Koponen with a nice dish to Josh Davis for two. I’ll even accept the fact that he jumped in the air to make the pass although I’m sure Nate cringed before remembering all the awesome things he’s doing.
8:16: Coup: SJ is having computer troubles at the moment, so I’ll take over the typing for now.
8:17: Bayless tries to throw down with one hand on the break and draws yet another foul. The guy is a machine…in Summer League.
Reggie Theus on the call, meanwhile, looking like the guy from Jason’s Lyric, of which all the reels have probably been burned by Will Smith since he married Jada.
8:23: Batum called for palming, but showed some nice footwork on the drive after the whistle, so he’s got that going for him, which is nice.
Approximately 43% of the fouls on Bayless are big guys hip checking him as he drives by in the backcourt. And it’s not like these are all scrub fouls, Hawes and Jason Thompson just committed a pair. Say what you will about them, but they will be in the L.
8:26: Sac-town rattles off a 9-0 run to take the 50-40 lead. How much do I care about the score? About as much as Chauncey Billups in the Better Basketball videos. It’s Summer League people, the score doesn’t matter.
8:28: Kamla’s man-crush on Koponen is reaching new heights.
8:32: I’m back in the house. If this was ComicView I’d be making jokes about black people and technology. But this isn’t ComicView.
8:33: Kings are up 11 but Batum is finally showing some aggression. I’m loving the semi-awkward Kamla/Snapper chemistry. Coup “I love Kamla’s defensive laughter…and by love I mean hate.”
8:35: Spencer Hawes probably can’t wait to call his mom after the game to say he got double-teamed once in an NBA game.
8:37: Batum puts in two free throws to cut the lead to 5. Douby is going to work while Koponen answers with a fadeaway. Much to Coup’s dismay Snapper and Kamla like Jason Thompson.
8:39: Coup “This is two games in a row that Koponen has stepped up for good jumpers late in the game….another trait I feel like most of our guards have.” Everyone except Sergio. And maybe Martell but don’t tell Coup I said that.
8:43: Kings up 56-50 at the end of the third. Douby has 22 for Sac while Bayless has 18 and Koponen has 11. Jerryd is struggling from the field, 1/4 in the 3rd quarter and 3/10 on the game.
8:45: Cameo by Money Mayweather. Neither Kamla or Snapper acknowledges it. He had on all black with some black socks and black sandals and a backpack. Did not look like a million bucks except for the big necklace. I wonder how aggravating that would be for JR Pinnock.
8:47: Bayless with another pretty drive and finish at the bucket. Blows by Singletary, splits Thompson and then finishes. Coup “That was a Brandon Roy drive”
8:50: JB with a breakaway dunk to cut the lead to 60-56. Kamla calls KP a genius and Bayless a stud. I’m just hitting here smiling like a kid on the way to Chuck’E’Cheese.
8:55: Blazers on a 9-2 run to start the quarter.
8:58: KOPONEN TIME!!! Three-ball and now he’s at the foul line. Coup “I’ll it one more time for efffect: goodbye Sergio.” I’ll say this Koponen is solid and he has shown that he can knock down timely buckets.
9:03: Spencer Hawes just took a terrible pullup jumper. It looked nasty. And I’m talking Lil Kim type nasty.
9:06: Koponen draws a legit charge on Douby which may be 10 times more defense than Sergio has displayed since he came here.
9:07: Douby blows by Bayless and scores to put the Kings up 68-67 with 1:42 left in the game. Bayless makes one of two.
9:09: Singletary shakes Koponen out of his shoes with a jab and hits a floater. Koponen misses a baseline jumper short and now Douby is at the line with 30 seconds left. Misses the first. Misses the second. Kamla can’t believe it.
Kamla: WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW
Coup: Kamla just turned into Flava Flav…he’s appealing to all demographics today.
9:11: 70-68 Sacramento with 24.8 seconds left. Monty Williams wants to draw a play up. I’m not sure why…just get the ball in Bayless or Koponen’s hands.
9:12: Bayless with a ridiculous jumper to tie the game. Coup “He tried to pull the Kobe and made it away” Yes he did.
9:14: Douby misses a jumper and we are going to overtime. The crowd is….apathetic. I heard about 10 golf claps. Sadly that’s pretty good noise for Summer League.
9:16: OVERTIME!!!! Bernard Robinson nails a baseline jumper to put the Blazers up 2. I can’t believe someone not named Bayless or Koponen scored. Unbelievable.
9:17: Kamla calls Robinson, B-Rob. I’m almost 100 percent sure if Bernard Robinson heard that he would punch Kamla in the face.
9:18: Spencer Hawes shows off his hops with a floater that bounced right to him and he leaped and floated it in. Tied at 72. Coup “Hawes must be wearing Shox.” Coup would take Hawes over Kevin Love in a jumping contest. I’d agree.
9:20: Blazers up 74-72 with 18 seconds left after a Josh Davis bucket. Jason Thompson takes it o the rack and scores….and one? Did not see that coming. Kings up 75-74 with 12.7 on the clock.
Coup “Oh snap I was wrong. Hawes vert’ at the Draft Camp in 07 was 29. Love’s was 35”
Kudos to you K-Love, kudos to you. I bet your dad posted that on the fridge.
9:23: Bayless blows by Singletary…pulls up….short. Mr. Parker gets the board and the Kings win. Bayless is not happy. I am ok with it. Kamla calls Jason Thompson the hero. Ugh. I didn’t even know he was in the game half the time.
Coup “Good move by Bayless…he got a clean shot off”
I thought it was going in but it was short. Blame fatigue. Who really wants to go undefeated in summer league anyways.
Coup: Well overall this was more of the same offensive goodness from both Bayless and Koponen. We know Koponen can stop n pop and pull up and Bayless can do just about what he wants, but the jumper isn’t falling right now (did hit a three or close to it though).
Can’t say it much better. Those did a lot of the same things they did the day before. Koponen is proving to be solid. Bayless is proving to be a Summer League monster. I found it really interesting in the post-game interview that Bayless said the biggest difference between the college and pro game was that they can’t touch you as much in the NBA. If they touch you it’s a foul. Remember the game is evolving and guards who can attack and penetrate are playing big roles. It may just be summer league but Bayless is proving that he can penetrate almost at will. He brings that and an improved jumper to the table and we’re in great shape.
Also, anyone remember the movie Mystery Men? Kel Mitchell was ‘The Invisible Boy’. Well Nicholas Batum is the Invisible Frenchie. Dear goodness he is like the anti-aggressive. I can tell that when he’s at his peak he is going to cause some Diaw-like headaches.
And yes people…we got Pritchslapped in the Batum for Arthur/Dorsey deal. I don’t care that we had no room for those two guys or how much sense it made for the roster. We got two shorts ends of the stick if you look at from a purely talent based point of view.