Then the third quarter happened.

Casspi was the team's biggest offensive sparkplug, hitting five threes off the bench on his way to 20 points on 14 shot attempts. The rest of the Kings shot 1-11 from beyond the arc, with the make a desperate, fading Beno heave as the shot clock expired in the third. Thompson (13 points) was the game's first player to hit double-figures, thanks to superior effort in that first quarter. J.T. went 4-5 for nine points in the first, and just 1-6 for four points the rest of the way. He continued to play with effort, but the Kings offense stalled, the passes dried up (thanks in great part to a tightening Miami defense) and J.T. couldn't find open space.

Udrih was the only other King in double figures; he had 12, and wouldn't have gotten there if not for four technical free throws (he made three) and that aforementioned crazy three. Take those away and that's six, and that more accurately explains how Beno played on the offensive end. This isn't to say he didn't play with effort — he had a couple nice defensive possessions in transition; he's clearly playing hard out there.

This is an outcome we all expected, and that the Kings (for the most part) fought hard and showed signs of life … that's enough for me. We can't compete with the elite teams yet, so I'm fine with seeing us compete on a nightly basis. They succeeded Saturday.