Both the Sacramento Kings and New Orleans Pelicans entered Thursday with 0-4 records. Someone had to win. The Kangz chose that it wouldn’t be them. Sacramento fell 132-120, dropping to 0-5. The Kings led 30-24 after the opening quarter before its defense decided it had had enough for the evening. The Pelicans responded with back-to-back 39-point quarters on its way to a 12-point win and 7 players finishing in double digit scoring.
On the bright side, Darius Acuff Jr. had his best game of the season. Acuff finished with 34 points, 14 assists and six rebounds on 13-of-26 shooting, collecting his first double-double in 41 minutes. He came out firing with 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting in the first quarter and had 21 points and six assists by half. His ability to create for his teammates continues to stand out, particularly for a rookie expected to carry so much immediately. He did have six turnovers though and struggled from three (3-11), but his scoring and playmaking was on display.
Precious Achiuwa and De’Andre Hunter each added 24 points (another good scoring night for Hunter), while Zach LaVine contributed 21 points (though he was a -25 on the game). The bench again disappointed with just 8 points.
Despite shooting 52% from the field, the Kings had 25 turnovers that resulted in 40 points for the Pelicans. Sacramento also allowed the Pelicans to shoot 60% from the field and score 80 (!) points in the paint. Another game, same story – some cool offensive production, some absolutely awful defense.
Doug Christie has preached physicality, effort and attention to detail, yet those principles haven’t shown up much on the court. Acuff’s development offers legit reason for optimism, but the Kings as a team have shown little evidence that they are developing together at all.
Next up the really good Memphis Grizzlies again. What a season.
Prediction: this will NOT be Acuff’s highest scoring game this year.
Watching the first quarter, I thought, wow, the Kings could win this one. Then New Orleans had a 17-2 run in the second quarter, but the Kings came back and were only down by 2 at the half. Then the game was over with like 9 minutes left to go in the third quarter. I’m used to the Kings melting down like that, but I didn’t think New Orleans had the horses to pull it off. This is going to be a long season.
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