I’ve thought for a while that Darren Collison was an underrated point guard. I seem to remember that he struggled with effort issues in the past, or maybe he just thought that he could walk in and have a starting PG spot without doing any work, because a lot of his previous stints with various teams were just one or two years in the length. However, he turned it around with Sacramento and placed himself firmly in, if not the second tier of point guards, at least the 2.5th tier, and definitely no lower than the third tier.
Collison wisely had some bad games immediately preceding this one. He knows that if the national media ever somehow got a whiff that he was a top five PG in the East, his head would start getting big again and he would stop playing with effort. His services were needed against the Cavs, but a 4/3 line on zero made shots in 25 minutes was sufficient against the Kings.
Nobody tell Collison that his backup is Cory Joseph, who is no danger to take the starting job, so he can play with as little effort as he wants and Nate McMillan has no choice but to continue starting him.