After the Kings took control in the first quarter they held it down the rest of the game. The De’Aaron Fox and Buddy Hield backcourt tandem were the top two scorers for the Kings, combining for 46 points. Hield also found his three point shot, going 5-11. Sacramento shot much better from three than the box score will show because in the fourth quarter, they attempted tough, contested threes that just wouldn’t go down. The Knicks were awful all around, but made the game concerning enough in the 4th to prompt Luke Walton to bring the starters back in. Sacramento finished the job to bring their record to 2-5.

Quarterly Recap

The first quarter was thoroughly controlled by the Kings, mainly because of De’Aaron Fox’s aggressiveness to the basket. Fox did miss multiple good looks but he drew fouls, broke Julius Randle’s ankles and made a jumper over Mitchell Robinson after creating space with a sidestep. Buddy Hield made a tough fall away jumper going left as well as two threes to have eight points. The Kings shot 52% from the field and 5-12 from three. Marcus Morris Sr. shot 3-5 for nine points to lead the Knicks. Kings led 32-23 after one.

Sacramento started the second on an 11-0 run as the Knicks made their first points of the quarter in the 6:58 mark. The Kings grew their lead to 20, but the Knicks cut into the deficit to make it a 12 point lead. But the Kings answered with their own run and made it 57-36 with a little over two minutes left. Sacramento closed the half out well to lead 61-41 as they shot 56.1% from the field and 44.4% from deep. They also outrebounded the Knicks 27-18. New York shot 35.7% overall and from three.

The Kings came out in the third hitting their threes and Fox had the Knicks on a string, orchestrating smart dribble drives resulting in easy baskets. The lead grew to 74-44 for the Kings and then 86-56 with 3:19 left in the quarter. Sacramento continued to get stops on defense and made their threes. Even the threes they missed were in and outs. The Kings led 90-64 with a strong third. All starters were above 10 points as Fox led the way with 20 and Hield added 19.

New York started the fourth outscoring the Kings 11-5. The Kings stopped taking good plays and moving the ball well, opting for contested threes that weren’t falling. New York got the lead down to 99-83, but shortly after Fox had a massive block on Allonzo Trier’s dunk attempt. Fox later on broke out that signature break away windmill to signify the blowout.

Best Players

De’Aaron Fox has strung together two great games to lead the Kings to two straight wins. He put up 24 points on 8-18 shooting, including going 7-10 from the stripe. Back to back games for Fox missing three free throws. He added six assists, two rebounds, one steal and a big block on Trier.

Buddy Hield went 0-5 from deep against Utah, but switched the flip and shot 5-11 from deep today. He was 8-16 overall for 22 points, four rebounds, one assist, one steal and one block.

Harrison Barnes chipped in 19 points on 6-12 shooting (3-7 from three), four rebounds, one assist, one steal and one block just like Hield. Barnes played great on both sides of the ball.

Richaun Holmes got into foul trouble in the first half, but kept it under control in the second to finish with a double-double of 14 points and 10 rebounds on 6-8 shooting. He had three assists and a block.

Nemanja Bjelica did a little bit of everything again just like the Utah match. He finished with 10 points, eight rebounds, six assists and one steal shooting 4-5 from the field. Bjelica noticeably struggled to stay in front of rookie RJ Barrett on multiple possessions, but had many productive dribble drives, including a lob to Holmes.

All the starters did great today with a bench that didn’t play as great.

Notable Stats

Trevor Ariza led the bench with eight points and five rebounds. Dewayne Dedmon added eight rebounds, three assists, one steal and one block. Bogdan Bogdanovic struggled from three after a good stretch in the second and finished with six points.

The Kings shot 48.2% overall and 38.5% from deep. However, they were 16-25 from the free throw line, a 64% rate which is inexcusable.

They outrebounded New York 49-39 and had more assists at 25-18.

Both teams had nine fast break points, five blocks and 13 turnovers.

Next Game

The Kings travel to Toronto to take on the Raptors, last season’s champs on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. PST. Toronto will be coming off a loss to Milwaukee.