After getting literally stepped on by Draymond Green, Domantas Sabonis got up and kept going. Now, injury permitting, Emmet Ryan says he looks well placed to get the job done for the Sacramento Kings
That had to hurt. I mean it was visibly unpleasant. Domantas Sabonis got stomped in the upper body by Draymond in the fourth quarter in the type of moment that could have been nightmarish for Sacramento.
The Kings big, getting stomped on by one of the most intense people in the sport at home and late enough against their Northern California rivals. There’s a lot of narrative here but it didn’t go the way things usually go for Sacramento, well at least prior to this season’s edition.
Green got ejected, there was a T for Sabonis (I mean it looked sure to me that he was grabbing the leg but the step on was obviously an excessive reaction), and the Kings didn’t collapse. They won, they lead the series 2-0 and Sabonis is playing well through those first two games.
Through two games he’s averaging 18 points, 12.5 rebounds, and 3 assists. Not bad but not quite the All Star level he wants to hit and, more importantly, can hit. That stomp on the ribs might well be the worst thing Draymond does all series. What would usually be the type of thing that would fire up GSW might well have awoken a beast within Sabonis.
That’s the thing with the Kings. They’ve spent a full season proving they’re not the sad sack team that will only disappoint their fans but this series is fundamental to proving what this edition of the Kings really is about.
It’s a team with an offensive identity and creators everywhere, one of whom is Sabonis. His 2 and 4 assists in each of those first two games are nice but he can do more and he knows it. He’s got his game on the boards at his level, same with his scoring, next up it’s a trip to San Francisco and a chance for Domantas the builder to truly step forward.
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Big men being creators isn’t exactly a shocking phenomenon these days, thankfully as explaining it through the lens of Ioannis Bourousis only goes so far with the casual fan. Seriously, look up Bourousis with Baskonia in 2015/16 as a point 5, mon dieu.
Sabonis is refreshingly clear and easy to understand as to how he creates from his role and it fits in nicely to this happy scoring Sacto team. On the road, that’s going to be important because that’s where the identity of this team needs to be enforced.
The defensive challenges of Sacramento aren’t a secret. They are the ‘we’re going to score one more than you’ type of team only that one is often 10, 15, 20. They lean into being just plain better at scoring against anybody.
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Well, they’ve proven against two of the best shooters in the history of the sport through two games that they can do it. Now, in the home of Steph Curry and Draymond Green, Sabonis needs to make a splash.
It’s easy to think he needs to get a shot in at Draymond, that he needs to show he’s not soft. We’re all people here, I get it, but being cold blooded is a whole lot more badass than showing you can get hot headed.
Inside score, inside find an outlet, finesse the ever loving hell out of Green and then, when he brings the heavy stuff, just take a breath and smile like nothing happened. Domantas needs to be Dalton in Road House. The baddest man in the building with an unflinching light smile. The meanest thing Sabonis can do to Green is to be nice.
Take a breath. Make sure the ribs are ok. Go create. That’s the job.
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