I’m trying to figure out why Trevor Ariza is so much better in Portland than he was in Sacramento. I think I may have discussed this quandary before, so forgive me for rehashing it, but it really is an interesting mystery to me. Both teams are aimlessly locked in a battle for the eighth seed in the West with like four other teams, so it’s not like Ariza is in a winning situation and that’s why he’s playing better.
Ariza’s role also seems to be similar to the role he played in Sacramento, he’s just getting more minutes in Portland with which to play that role. It’s not like Ariza is thriving in a more important role in the offense. His job, still, is just to shoot threes and then opportunistically score at other times when he gets the chance. That’s the same job he’d have on any team in the league at this point.
Perhaps Ariza played well in this particular game because it was his chance for a REVENGE GAME. But that wouldn’t explain the other games he’s played well in recently.
The only thing I can think of as a logical answer is that the Kings franchised is cursed with the ghosts of the Maloofs (or perhaps an even older ownership group), and that’s why every player they acquire turns into dog turds. Then, when the Kings ship them off to other teams in trades, the players they acquire turn into dog turds, while the dog turd players they traded away turn into productive players on other teams.
And if you think I’m being funny about curses and ghosts and stuff, I’ll have you know that I’m haunted by the ghost of Jack Sikma, who is still alive so I wouldn’t think he would also be a ghost. If I can be haunted by ghosts, then the Kings organization can definitely be haunted with the types of ghosts that would cause Ariza to play bad there and then play good on a different team.