Ever since the return of Kevin Martin, the Kings record has taken a bit of a nose-dive.  This has lead to many people to say that Evans & Martin will not be able to work together.  I think that is crazy.  You put a great shooter (Kevin Martin) with a guy who can get to the hoop (Tyreke Evans), and it should work.  In the closing moments of the 4th quarter and the start of overtime, you started to see how these two playing together can work.

Tyreke Evans Dominates Late In The 4th

The biggest effect Tyreke Evans and Kevin Martin being on the court at the same time has on opponents is on the defensive end.  Defenses have to figure out how to cover both Kevin Martin and Tyreke Evans.  The Knicks really struggled with it last night.  This is what allowed Evans to go off late in the game:

The Knicks have to make a decision here concerning matchups.  They decide to put Chris Duhon on Kevin Martin with Jared Jeffries on Tyreke Evans.  My guess is because they were worried about Martin running off of screens, so they put the quicker defender on him.

Now with Jared Jeffries on Tyreke Evans, the Kings identify this as the mismatch, and they go to Evans.  Worried about Evans’ speed, Jeffries plays back on Evans, allowing him to walk to the top of the key.

Chris Duhon isn’t in proper help position (he is attached to Martin’s hip, worried about his shooting ability), and this is what allows Evans to get all the way to the hole.

With no help, Tyreke Evans is able to knock down an uncontested lay-up.  Besides creating matchup problems, Martin’s presence on the court also causes defenses to screw up their rotations:

Jeffries is once again covering Evans (why the Knicks didn’t switch out of this, I have no idea).  This time though, instead of sagging off of him, Jeffries gets right into Evans hip (I don’t know why he did this either).

Since Evans is quicker than Jeffries, he is able to get the Knick on his hip.  This is what lets him get to the basket.

Now, as Evans starts his attack, the two Knicks on the baseline have to figure out who is going to be the help defender.  Most teams would prefer to have the help defender leave the guy farthest from the basket (in this case Duhon leaving Martin).  This forces a longer pass and makes it easier for the defensive rotation to happen.  Duhon doesn’t leave Martin (because he doesn’t want to leave a good shooter open), so David Lee is the one who helps on this play.

As Lee steps up, he leaves Jason Thompson wide open.  Now, all hope is not lost for the Knicks.  As the help comes, Duhon can (and should) rotate over and at least try to defend the shot.

He doesn’t rotate though, and Thompson is able to finish strong with the dunk.

Kevin Martin Dominates Overtime

Now that Tyreke Evans has taken it to the whole time after time, he is going to draw some attention.  This attention is what frees up Kevin Martin.

As Tyreke Evans gets the rebound, he immediately pushes the ball up the court.

As he makes his move (a fantastic behind the back move, by the way), he gets himself in position to attack the basket.  The Knicks look like they have this covered.  They got two guys back on defense, but with Kevin Martin spotting up one of them needs to follow Martin into the corner.  However, both defender is worried about Tyreke Evans taking it  to the basket.

As Evans gets it to the top of the key, Jared Jeffries, the man closest to Martin, has his back turned to him.

Kevin Martin makes the catch, loads up his funky shot, and knocks it down.  That was basically the ballgame right there.