With Marvin Bagley out for the foreseeable future following an unfortunate left hand fracture, Luke Walton decided that now is the time to give rookie Tyrese Haliburton an extended look in the starting lineup.
Walton’s new starting unit of De’Aaron Fox, Tyrese Haliburton, Buddy Hield, Harrison Barnes, and Richaun Holmes has been one of the Kings’ better lineups this season with a +16 efficiency differential (points scored per possession minus their points allowed per possession) in 356 total minutes. Walton doesn’t have a lot of options here, but starting Haliburton in place of Bagley and essentially replicating one of his favorite closing lineups feels like the right call.
Haliburton performed well in his 3rd career start, dropping a team-high-at-the-time 10 points in the first quarter and finishing with 17 points and 4 assists on 5/12 shooting in 33 minutes.
Unfortunately the Kings surrendered a 38-point first quarter to the Wizards who, despite their 14-24 record, score the 10th most points per game in the NBA. For as potent as the Wizards’ offense is, though, they’re giving up more points per game than any other team in the league this season, and the Kings poured in 34 first quarter points of their own.
We all expected a high scoring game with minimal defense, and that’s exactly what we got for the most part. The Kings and Wizards politely traded buckets throughout the night.
The Kings came out in the 3rd quarter with Luke Walton’s new starting unit showing its full potential. This was the best stretch of the game for Sacramento. De’Aaron Fox was relentlessly attacking the rim. Tyrese Haliburton was creating turnovers and knocking down threes. Richaun Holmes protected the rim and hit his floaters with ease. Before you knew it, the Kings hustled and executed their way to a double-digit lead.
The Kings carried that lead through much of the 4th quarter, but an ice cold offensive stretch allowed the Wizards to slowly chip into a dwindling Sacramento lead. Russell Westbrook eventually tied the game at 119 with about 20 seconds remaining on a driving layup, and it was starting to feel like another Kings collapse was imminent.
If it weren’t for some ungodly Wizards 3-point shooting (4/25, 16%) this could have been another one of those ugly losses to a bad basketball team, but the Kings prevailed thanks to a tough contested De’Aaron Fox game-winning jumper. Despite frustration that Sacramento couldn’t put the Wizards down without dramatics, Fox did what you need your best player to do: closeout games.
https://twitter.com/SacramentoKings/status/1372361703652872192
Kings win 121-119, but that felt more uncomfortable than it needed to be. Luke Walton’s new starting unit is 1-0.
Random goodness:
- De’Aaron Fox hit 11-13 free throws. We’ve talked about his sketchy free throw shooting a lot this season, but Fox knocked them down tonight on his way to 28 points, 7 assists, and 5 steals.
- With Hali entering the starting unit and Bagley out, you’d expect a depleted Kings bench unit to struggle mightily, but Sacramento actually got some decent contributions from Justin James, Hassan Whiteside, and most-notably, Cory Joseph. It wasn’t spectacular, but it was enough tonight.
Random Badness
- The Wizards dominated the paint in both scoring and rebounding, but it’s hard to win a basketball game when you shoot just 4/25 from the 3-point line.
- The Kings had no answer for the Wizards guards all night long. Bradley Beal started hot, Russell Westbrook ended hot, and even Raul Neto looked unstoppable there for a minute.
- This:
The easiest bucket in NBA history pic.twitter.com/K6XHrXWvQy
— Tony ????ypteras (@TonyXypteras) March 17, 2021
Next up:
The Kings will fly to Boston for a 4:30/7:30 start vs. the Celtics on Friday.
Playoffs here we come baby
Meh.
/shrugs
Tank went a bit off track tonight
A great tanking job by Russ
looked like he was trying to pass it to a spot where hed be open to shoot
That was intentional bro. Way to obvious
Hachimura set that back screen, and the guy in the middle didn’t bounce out for an open shot. I think that was the play, only he didn’t move at all. Two guys looking to set a screen?
This is the win that leads to the guy selected immediately before ours becoming a superstar.
Yeah but perhaps our guy can become really good 4 years down the road?
This is a win that leads Vivek to override any moves McNair had planned because he feels just five more games in a row like this and the Kings might make the playoffs.
Which, to be honest, would make up for the 2018 draft.
I’m not sure you can blame the Kings for not trying hard enough to lose. That fourth quarter was one of the worst collective stints of basketball I’ve ever seen. I swear the Kings were intentionally trying to lose at multiple points. But Westbrook with TWO missed wide open dunks was impressive. He was laughing pretty hard after the one in the fourth quarter. He knows what’s up.
What would concern me if I were a Bullets fan FK&C is that I think they were trying to win.
I’m working on a theory about how Fox/Buddy are winners that need help to let them win.
What kind of help? Like another big? A star? Or just another competent ball handler to get them open?
I would say a better bench honestly. Our bench is Haliburton (stud), Bjelica (meh), Whiteside (meh), rookies (TBD), and a collection of fringe NBA players. We have 6 solid contributors. We need ’bout tree-fo mo.
That’s just me being glass half full about it. At best that puts us at a 9 or 10 seed though to me. This team has too many ho hum moments in games (3rd Quarters for example) for me to believe that’s all we need to end the playoff drought. It would instead just lead to play-in purgatory.
I think maybe Fox is but that’s as far as I’d go. This team definitely isn’t built to do anything other than be bad.
I just like that those two aren’t afraid of the last moment in the game. Still have to figure out the rest of the moments unfortunately.
Personally, I’d like Buddy to be a little more afraid of those moments.
These are NBA players. Pretty much all of them have been the Big Moment players for their teams their entire lives. I don’t think many of the guys on NBA rosters are afraid of the last moment of the game.
I realize the losses are probably better for long term success at this point.
Still…
OT: Finally reached straight purple badges!
That’s a lot of tater tots!
OT: Finally reached straight purple badges!
The back to back nostradumbass is impressive!
Winning is fun. Seeing Fox hit those 2 FTs late was fun. This team isn’t that good, this won’t happen that often. Enjoy it is my take.
Fact check says: True
Fox’s last shot was fun I agree. I smiled. If we’re going to win a game that bad, at least let it be that way.
I was specifically talking the 2 FT’s hit late (the last two that put him at 11-13 for the night at the line), not the GW shot.
The Free Throw Appreciatorï¸
I gotta find a schtick and still am searching. I’m kinda a newbie around here.
you should be the guy that’s really into Garfield’s teddy bear
/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/340?cb=20180807165807
I’m cool with taking a teddy bear everywhere with me at this point in my life.
Along with a knife. There must be a knife.
That muddles the message a tad. But I’m okay with that.
I always appreciate made free throws so Fox actually making them last night and making them late was a nice.
That’s what made it so amazeballs!
Bad for the tank, but a fun win. Here’s hoping Barnes suddenly has a short trip home on Friday.
keep barnes trade buddy and bagley and joseph and belly
I’d be down but don’t think the interest is enough in Buddy/Bagley
Kings came close to giving it away, but Fox would have no part of that.
That Wizards tank was coming in hot!
De’Aaron Fox hit 11-13 free throws
This is good
This is good. He was also 1 of 6 from three and is down to 33% for the season. Not so great.
Both can be true.
That was as ironic a way to win the game as ever, watching another team out-kangz us at the end. I’m pro-tank but I did kind of want to see Fox win this over Westbrook.
For me, it depends on who is doing what…Fox/Hali/Holmes going for the game-winning shot has me sayin “please go in”, if its anyone else I’m like “brick that shit”.
The core players still need to get better, especially on defense.
Yeah I basically do the same thing. I’m actively rooting for Corey Joseph to go 0-15 with 10 turnovers every night. Same goes for Whiteside.
If Joseph is not traded and plays 1 minute after the deadline darkness is coming.
CoJo been hooping lately. Let him rock.
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen two teams try harder to lose a game than the fourth quarter of tonight. Well played wizards. Well played.
Wizards and Rockets are just too good at loosing
Not necessarily happy with the win, but was interested to see what Justin James could do. I have to say: I was pleasantly surprised. Not much of an offensive player yet, but played really well defensively. Had a perfect defensive possession early in the fourth quarter:
Hope to see more of him!
If only Bagley showed that effort and awareness …
WOW! I didn’t get to watch the game, only saw the full game highlights. within that 9 minute highlight package I was really impressed by James on offense. He had three highlights which surprised me for being a bench guy that never plays. He had two assists that were eye popping. I have always loved the James pick so I am happy to see him on the floor. I think he’s the real deal if given the opportunity. High IQ.
Luke is smothering all the youth on the team in the name of playing for the 10th seed
Thanks for the upload.
I watched this game, but did not notice that JJ played some very decent defense on opponent, he knows exactly when to switch, and knows when to close the lane…
and he played hard on defense…
Give me that kind of effort every days and nights…
I want to see the defense by both Woodard and JJ together !!!!!!!!!!!
Nice observation! I also find it interesting that James is all of a sudden getting minutes while Jeffries has been completely removed from the rotation.
I, too, was wondering what Daquan did to get removed from PT.
He wasnt doing anything that helps us win. 1 reb and a deflected pass won’t cut it.
He’s hardly played the last few nights. I don’t understand this at all. Maybe post ASB this will change a lot more.
Post trade deadline I mean.
Hello again, fellow Dutch man. Can we talk?
Always
Aangenaam kennis te maken! Leuk om een landgenoot “tegen te komen”. Hoe ben je een Kings fan geworden? En sinds wanneer? En bij TKH terecht gekomen?
Aangenaam! Haha volgens mij hebben wij elkaar al een paar jaar geleden kort ontmoet op STR! Maar ik was nooit zo actief onder de stukken, meer een lezer. Ik geloof dat ik verliefd werd op Sacramento toen ik ze voor het eerst op Canal+ zag tegen de Timberwolves van Garnett (was toen twaalf denk ik) en volgde ze daarna via NBA Live en teletekst, tot ik in 2011-12 voor het eerst League Pass kocht. Toen keek ik geregeld en nu kijk ik vrijwel altijd (maar wel in de ochtend hier, nooit live). En als STR-fan kon ik natuurlijk niet achterblijven en ben ik meeverhuisd naar TKH.
Weinig origineel, maar zelfde vragen voor jou: waarom steun je de meest hartverscheurende franchise in de NBA en sinds wanneer doe je dat?
Aha! Ik kan me zo’n gesprek herinneren, maar woonde je toen nog in Nederland?
Ik heb al vanaf mijn jeugd de NBA gevolgd (teletekst inderdaad, of de USA Today kopen op Amsterdam CS). Ik heb ook de hoogtijdagen van de Kings meegemaakt, met prachtige passes en sterke verdedigers (Bobby Jackson, Doug Christie). Maar dat was allemaal voor het internet-tijdperk.
Een echte fan ben ik eigenlijk sinds de Kings Omri Casspi kozen (ik ben half Israeli) en ik StR ontdekte.
Ik denk dat ik inmiddels meer TKH jan bven dan Kings fan…
Yep! Ik ben afgelopen zomer naar Manchester verhuisd om hier een master te gaan doen. Daarvoor heb ik mijn hele leven net buiten Amsterdam gewoond.
Waar sta jij in de hele tank/proberen te winnen discussie?
Manchester? Nooit geweest. Schijnt best leuk te zijn, klopt dat?
Ik denk dat dit HET jaar is om te tanken. Enkele juweeltjes in de top 5, geen fans in G1C om te joelen en een team dat sowieso niet ver komt.
En wat is jouw visie erop?
Nou ja, ik heb Manchester nog niet in haar volle glorie gezien, haha. Pubs waren al dicht toen ik aankwam, maar het schijnt fantastisch te zijn wanneer alles weer open is. Dicht is het oké, ik vind de stad wel mooi en met een halfuur sta je in Peak District, maar je kan nou eenmaal niet veel op het moment.
Ik sta er eigenlijk hetzelfde, rationeel gezien is tanken nou eenmaal het verstandigst, al doet het ergens wel pijn en is een klein deel van me stiekem blij als ze winnen. Best-case scenario lijkt me als ze een Buddy en/of een Bjelica weten te ruilen en zo een plek (en wat schoten) vrijmaken voor niet alleen Haliburton, maar ook om te proeven of je iets hebt aan een Woodard/jong iemand die je via trade kan krijgen. Uiteraard wel best-case, want kan me niet voorstellen dat je veel positieve waarde kan terugkrijgen voor eerstgenoemde. We gaan het zien volgende week
Ach, je hebt de stad alleen gedurende de Covid-crisis meegemaakt? Dat is balen. En studie op afstand?
Ja, we gaan zien wat er gaat gebeuren. Ik ben benieuwd.
Fijne avond!
That was the greatest highlight I’ve ever seen.
JUSTIN JAMES
All aboard the JJ train!!! Get ready to be blown away how this guy has been glued to the bench all season. I’ve been stewing over this all season, why doesn’t James get ANY minutes? Well, I hope that time has finally passed. It appears as though one of Luke or Monte has made the decision to start getting James some run to see what he can do out there. Again, I really hope this is the case and it’s not just another random two game presence followed by a two month absence.
Criticize if you want, but I truly believe in Justin James ability to be an impact player and part of the Kings rotation/future playoff team. He is a perfect backup to Haliburton and I will argue a similar type player on multiple levels. Smart, plays hard, pass first mentality, good nose for defense, good passer and good ball handling. He has a nice looking stroke and has a history of being an average shooter from deep in college which I have no doubt he can and may have already improved on.
I’m all in, you should hop on board now, get good seats. hahaha
I’m curious if James making a substantial appearance at this moment is a sign that some dudes who were in the rotation during the first half of the season might be on their way out of town. Buddy going bye bye? Maybe Joseph too?!?! Give me more Kyle Guy.
Obviously theres a heaping ton to prove for that group of 4 guards but what I like is that it’s 4 guys that have all the tools in the bag. SMART, high IQ, pass first mentality, high energy on both sides of the ball, and from what I have seen so far all talented facilitators who all have a history of leading their teams as the initiator and as the go to guy in big moments. they are all guys you can TRUST with the ball and who can initiate an offense,
FOX, BURT, JAMES, GUY, Yes please
JUSTIN JAMES>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>HERE HE COMES!! CHOOOOOOO CHOOOOOOOOO
The weakness of JJ is he cannot hit consistent corner 3……
I don’t mind seeing more JJ (less CoJo) in future games………
Whiteside returns, we win, not the first time that has happened! I contend we miss Bagley NOT AT ALL and if he plays the minutes Whiteside gets we lose this game because instead of nursing a lead down the stretch , allowing them to tie, then have the chance for the game winner, we are down by 6-8 points and out of reach.
The swat by Whiteside was a game changer, a momentum swing. He didn’t even play that well, but he gives us a presence where Bagley gives us none.
We also did not shoot well, but our offense looked much smoother w/o Bagley clogging it up with his awkwardness and indecisiveness. It will be interesting to see how our offense runs against a team that plays real defense tomorrow.
As I suspect, our improved synergy will further substantiate it is time to move on from Bags. It is also to our advantage to start Ty to limit the touches and bouts of delusional grandeur from Buddy.
Ty and Fox with Buddy turns Buddy into more of a spot shooter. This is good!
This is what I was advocating before the season began. And if Buddy is going to play at a slightly heavier weight, has average mobility anyway, maybe he is better off guarding SFs?
Barnes sliding down to PF is hardly a problem against most opponents. The real egregious decision was the coach who never pondered or experimented with this lineup before he was forced to. And for those who need a reminder, Ty Haliburton pretty much WON a starting job with his high quality preseason play!
Bagley always should have been coming off the bench. And if Team Bagley objected who cares. Bagley could have feasted more against second tier players and built his confidence, instead of getting outplayed most of the season.
The only aspect of Bagley ‘s game that is missed is his transition play. But thats not saying much. We are better on offense, we do not miss his “defense” unless Bjelica is on the floor over him. The only thing he does that we cannot replicate is changing ends and foot speed but that is a negligible trait in the grand scheme.
The next few games will perhaps be illiuminating and verifying for the GM to see disparity in the team with and without Marvin and give him the audaciousness, so to speak, to pull off a trade he might have been otherwise reluctant on.
I think the GM wants to trade Bagley, this is the only suspense leading into the deadline in my mind, because Barnes and Buddy are going NOWHERE. (Book it!)
Dave Joerger knew it from Day 1…..
I agree Bagley should be off the bench, and should not be given any late 4th Qtr….
I wish some trade can still happens, wether it involves Barnes/Buddy/ BJelly, I just think some chances is needed, and we need to collect future assets, and most importantly, we NEED TO TANK !!!
What’s the record now when Whiteside gets significant minutes, lets just say 12+? I think it’s really good compared to when he doesn’t. You nailed it when you said he is a presence even if not playing well.
I’ll take the near-term future of the franchise hitting a game winner over an extra ping pong ball or two. The medicine may be more difficult to swallow when Barnes or someone else hits the clutch shot, but I’ll take the growth and confidence that comes from Fox (or Haliburton) closing out a game.
Hardcore
I kind of see it this way: Only the worst three teams have a better than 50% chance of picking in the top four, and the Kings aren’t going to “catch” Min, Hou or Det. From 7 to 4 there is a 32% to 48% chance of landing in the top 4. 8-10 all have a 20% chance. I figure the Kings for finishing somewhere between 6-9, whether or not Fox makes or misses that shot last night. So I figure them winding up somewhere with a 1-in-3 to 1-in-5 chance of landing in the top 4. And oh yeah, all of these teams that they are competing with are bad, too, and will also continue to lose games hand over fist.
This is not the lottery system that the Sixers used to their advantage years ago. The benefits of an all out tank have been greatly reduced. Additionally, you can’t really shelve Fox and Haliburton in the manner that Embiid, Simmons and even Noel were in their rookie (and in some cases, beyond) campaigns.
With the Kings’ commitment to Fox, I think that their only way forward is continued growth from him and Haliburton, and they are going to have to nail the ’21 draft pick. There will be a gem waiting for the Kings, but the trick will be getting it right, as it is certainly more challenging to find that player at (say) 7 than it is at (say) 4.
I understand, and I completely agree that it’s too late for them to get 1-5, but your quote said you’d trade one game winner for a few ping pong balls.
I’d trade an entire season for a few ping pong balls.
I said that I would trade a GW from Fox (the aforementioned near term future of the franchise) for a few ping pong balls. Apologies if the context was confusing.
In summation, I don’t think that the Kings have a great chance of landing in the top four in the lottery, even if they lost last night. And I think Fox’s growth > than a couple of percentage points when the ping pong balls drop.
And 1 –
My current tier of ’21 prospects is:
Tier 1 – Cunningham, J. Green, Mobley, Kuminga, Suggs
Tier 2 – Barnes, Moody,
Tier 3 – K. Johnson, Kispert, Z. Williams
Now, this is an entirely unscientific list based more on what I have read than what I have witnessed, and it surely subject to change. My guess is that by the time we get to the draft, we will find 7-8 prospects in this draft that will have the very real look of making the Kings better, and there is always that surprise pick or two in the top ten. So, using simple math from a simple mind, we’re going to get someone we like with a top 9 pick.
Would I prefer (say) Cunningham or Green? Sure. But the odds of that happening are slim to begin with, and Fox making/missing that shot last night doesn’t change it all that much.
Have you seen enough of Cunningham or Mobley or Green or Kuminga or whomever to say which you’d rather have on the Kings at this point?
I lean towards Cunningham – I salivate over ball-moving prospect of Fox, Haliburton and Cunningham all on the floor together. But Mobley sure looks like a player that would help this team a lot as well. From what little I have seen from Kuminga, he looks as though he would be a nice fit as well.
This is going to be an interesting debate. If there’s a camp that would like to see the Kings hold onto Barnes unless they get something great (and what I’ve seen from Boston isn’t) and still draft Cunningham were they lucky to get the 1:1, I’m in that camp.
Don’t know if it’s formed yet, but I’m in it.
This is why I keep barnes. If you get a stud rookie to play SF then move Barnes to PF and Bagley to C or back up big.
or trade Barnes later but I don’t see why you would want to do that accept for money situations that may occur.
It’s not confusing, it’s a game winner. It matters nothing to me who takes it, in regards to this exchange for two ping pong balls. ð
The word development with the Kings is no longer in my vocabulary. I want talent.
Right. So the difference between you and me is that you think that two ping pong balls are more important to the future of the organization, and I think that Fox taking/making game winners is more important.
Here’s another way to look at it: Had Fox shot his season percentage from the line last night, the game is going to overtime and/or the Kings lose. I think that it is imperative that Fox get himself to at least 75% from the line, and he really needs to get closer to 80% in the long run. I would rather see him have successful nights from the line than see him struggle, regardless of how that impacts the W & L totals.
Games that this team wins due to the play of Fox or Haliburton is a net good thing, in my opinion
For sure. I got no problem with a difference of opinion, in fact I prefer it. 🙂
For sure. The one constant is that we’re all Kings fans, which immediately casts us as pretty shitty decision makers.
I don’t know about that, so many of you would have taken Luka. I don’t follow college enough to state one way or the other.
I would be looking to move Fox to really blow it up, but I’m assuming almost nobody agrees with that. I’d want a crater filled with 2-3 years worth of picks, but I’ve been unrealistic before and likely will be again.
If it was a season where our best young players got to play free and get better while losing, that’d be an ideal tanking season
exactly. I’m with the people who are rooting for any of the core young guys balling out every night while everyone else can do everything to lose the game for us 😉
I’m also sorry to say I don’t really consider buddy to be part of that young core anymore either
Is Scott Brooks one of the bottom 3 coaches in the league? Is Brooks or walton worse?
My choice is between those two guys?
Jim boylan, ryan saunders, and fizdale are already gone. Who’s left? Bickerstaff?
Boston would really benefit from Barnes, Bjelica and Holmes.
We’ll take Pritchard, R. Williams, Nesmith , Throw in Tristan’s exp, and Celts 1st this year.
Seriously…would you do that if you’re Danny Ainge?
Vivek in the news again. Meddling or Posturing?
Your take?
https://nba.nbcsports.com/2021/03/18/rumor-kings-owner-vivek-ranadive-reluctant-to-trade-harrison-barnes-and-buddy-hield-tank/amp/#click=https://t.co/xcRYatLaZJ
This would be looked at as a shrewd move if it was being made by the Dubs or Thunder. It looks much more suspect coming from the Kings.
Didn’t read this before I posted my comment.
yes, I read that article, made me throw up and dislike Ranadive more than I already do, and I didn’t think that was possible
I hope it’s media spitballing but if true it’s definitely meddling. He was in the way of not matching Bogdan this summer as well
Anyone read the bleacher report snippet that Vivek wants to keep the team competitive and not tank and may be hindering a possible McNair rebuild
i already don’t like this owner…
Badge Legend