The Sacramento Kings dropped to 0-2 Friday night following a 128-120 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers. Sacramento did bounce back from an ugly loss to the Los Angeles Clippers in its season opener, with a more competitive performance against Portland.
The Kings led 33-27 after the first quarter and held a 64-59 lead going into halftime before the Trail Blazers took control in the second half, outscoring Sacramento 69-56. The Kings shot 46% from the field and struggled from three (26%). Despite shooting 93% from the free-throw line, the Kings couldn’t overcome a Portland offense that finished with 30 assists.
The two key aspects of this game were Darius Acuff Jr. and Domantas Sabonis. Acuff Jr. delivered a nice performance after a difficult NBA debut against the Clippers. Acuff led Sacramento with 33 points, four assists and two rebounds in 37 minutes, shooting 10-of-26 from the field and 2-of-11 from three. After scoring 11 in the first half, the rookie dropped 22 in the second half by attacking the basket and creating off the dribble. While his three remains a work in progress, Acuff showed confidence and aggressiveness throughout the game. What was most encouraging was his composure in crunch time. He looked comfortable handling the pressure, played under control and made solid decisions. It was an encouraging performance.
Domantas Sabonis was flat out impressive, recording a triple-double with 27 points, 19 rebounds and 10 assists while going 10-of-13 from the field. Unlike in game 1, Sabonis controlled much of Sacramento’s offense with many of the offensive possessions starting with him at the top of the key making decisions. It worked out well.
Did the Kings actually learn something from game 1 and adjust?
Zach LaVine added 22 points, though he forced a lot down the stretch and I would have liked to see more shots from Sabonis and Acuff then. Precious Achiuwa contributed 14 points and six rebounds off the bench. Keegan Murray finished with 12 points after scoring just two in the season opener (he was not part of the lineup in crunch time).
Malik Monk made his season debut but struggled, going scoreless on 0-of-6 shooting. He did add two assists and served as the backup point guard.
Sacramento’s defensive issues continue to be an issue. The Kings allowed at least 120 points for the second consecutive game.
Next up is Cameron Boozer and the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday.
Domas and Darius at least seem to genuinely like each other. Maybe we’ll at least get a buddy flick out of this.
Remember when the Kings deemed Keegan untradeable?
That might really be true now.
Yeah his jumper is broken. I think we need a new team psychologist. Domas is afraid to shoot outside the circle and and you can feel Keegan tense or rush before he shoots.
We had an old team psychologist? What was he/she doing?
I think Domas will slowly get more comfortable. He hit a big 3 down the stretch.
Not sure of her medical credentials but Anjali used to relieve player stress and tension.
Not enough in one case, apparently…
I think it is his ankle. He had surgery in May and just doesn’t have the lift and quickness….yet? I hope he returns to the Keegan of his first two seasons, but right now I think it’s equal parts injury and his head.
Recovery from injuries can do funny things to the mind. It takes time to trust your body again, especially if you are afraid of re-injuring it.
I went back to the game log and looked, Keegan left the game with 4 minutes left in the 3rd and never came back in. With the way the Kings are cryptic and withholding of medical stuff, it wouldn’t surprise me if it is his ankle.
Is KM your favorite King’s player? No offense, but your excuses for him are never ending.
Nope. I like Sabonis’ game more. I’m just trying to figure out how and why the guy’s game is fallen off a cliff and he looks like a shell of himself.
I’m not sure there is an excuse by me when the guy had ankle surgery in May and missed preseason games with an ankle issue. I mean, it’s right there in front of us. Occam’s razor.
I’ll add, GN, that to the folks who say Keegan can’t shoot and he should be traded, I just refer back to the fact that he definitely could shoot and folks who are paid to make real NBA decisions deemed him worthy of an extension.
Shooting is a skill that really doesn’t fall off a cliff, if anything it’s one of the skills that improves with time. See: Brook Lopez, Jason Kidd, or even Tyreke Evans.
What does go is age and/or health, which ends careers. Keegan isn’t old by NBA standards, but he has had quite a few injuries to his left ankle. My eyes see a guy who has lost confidence in his athleticism and he sure has hell has lost his lift, which shows in his flat shot and inability to attack the rim.
So, when it comes to Keegan I’m not ready to say he’s washed, but rather want to find out what is wrong with him so he can be salvaged. He isn’t a flawed NBA player like Monk (who can’t defend) or Sabonis (who can’t stretch the floor). Keegan has shown he can be a key contributor on both ends of the floor and it upsets me that the Kings have been so dysfunctional that they can’t help or develop him. I don’t know, maybe it’s the teacher in me, but he has/had potential that’s been squandered. So Kangz.
Does that make sense? Just trying to explain my view of him.
Are we talking about the Kings FO here? The same FO who gave Schroder an inflated deal and then went on and signed Westbrook?
God have mercy.
We are all armchair GMs here, but they have a team of professionals. I like to hope they now far more about basketball then we do.
Unfortunately, the evidence is not in their favor. And Vlade in particular has the GM knowledge of a low-level shitposter.
Perry has been abysmal so far. His biggest success is not ruining the team’s chances to improve over the next half-decade by making a panic trade for a “star” or counting stats player. Yet. That’s coming this season when the Kings fall way behind the last non-relegation spot.
Domas drained a three.
Keegan? Not so much.
Yeah, and air balled a jumper from the ft line. And he hesitated before taking them both.
He’d rather do his pattented pump take and dribble into the defender that’s daring him to shoot.
Much better. Nice game by Domas. He even shot 2 jumpers. A nice 3 and a fugly airball from the ft line.
Good to see Darius getting to the rack and to the line.
Still going to lose most games, but at least the effort was there and there was better ball movement.
I hate Sharp.
.
.
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Because Mark and Kayte spent so much time telling me I have to love him.
Time to celebrate. We are tied with the Knicks and Spurs!
Could Murray even bring a first round pick now? Maybe low one – so a trade to a contender. I have loved Monk but I am over him. Trade him too. Instead of Light the Beam, the chant at Golden 1 should grow louder and louder – Sell the Team. Can you imagine the Little Worm squirming in his seat with 10,000 fans doing that? If I was putting out over $24,000 a year for two season tickets in the lower bowl I would be so pissed about watching this rebuild under this ownership.
With Keegan’s contract? We’d have to send a first round pick to get someone to take him unless we’re taking equally bad salary in return.
I laughed when they gave him 5/$140. Of course, many said “it’s a contract you just have to give.”
I’m hoping at this point Keegan can get back to some semblance of a productive player. He hasn’t even been consistently above replacement level in 2 1/2 years at this point.
It was a contract you had to give. If you want the kings to get better it was absolutely a contract you have to give. Has he played to the contract yet? No. Will he ever? I sure hope so as I am sure you do as well. Had we lost him by not giving him the contract he would be somewhere else averaging 20 a game with 40% from deep, and playing above average defense for a playoff team. The Kings have impeded their own asset and they do this ALL THE TIME. It’s really sad. The coaching and offensive system should be creating looks for Keegan, empowering him, setting him up and demanding more. Instead we got the last two seasons and bad injury that has brought us to today where it appears he is a shell of himself mentally and physically. Will it return considering it is only game two after missing a ton of time due to injury? Maybe. We all hope it will but at this point the odds aren’t ion his favor. Which is super frustrating and sad.
Keegan strikes me as a player (and person/personality type) who will function best within a real, organized system in which he has a role, isn’t asked to be a primary shot-creator, and through that system can get some good open looks for 3.
Add on the ankle injury and surgery recovery and combine that with whatever the Kings are doing post-Mike Brown and you’ve got a recipe for Keegan not coming close to being the player we know he can be.
This is not true
Small sample size and all, Acuff is currently 3rd in the league in usage at 37%. He’s behind Luka and Giannis. He’s also at just 39TS% with only a 17% assist rate. This all means he has the ball a lot of the time, is not really making those around him better, and is taking and missing a shit ton of shots.
Acuff has been compared to Lillard quite a bit so for reference sake, in his rookie of the year season Lillard had a usage rate of 24% with an assist rate of 28%. Lillard’s highest usage rate ever is 33% but he coupled that with a 35% assist rate. The most FGA Lillard took his entire rookie season was 25 (twice). Acuff hit 26 and 24 in just his first two games.
Not that I care too much what the vets may feel, but I wonder if there will be growing animosity in regards to Acuff in the locker if he continues to get all the attention and shots and the team keeps losing. It’s not like the Kings added a superstar and he immediately changes the dynamic and flow of the team by being high usage. This a 19 year old rookie that hasn’t proven anything that has been given the greenest of green lights.
It’s only 2 games, but I’d argue that this is not the way you want to develop your 19 year old prospect. The coaching staff should be enforcing good habits on the kid, and right now I’m not sure that is the case.
It’s been two games. He is 19. He had one horrible game and one really good game.
As best as I can tell, he is going to be just fine.
I’d argue last night was not a really good game for him. If you just look at points, then sure, but at 26FGA and 12FTA to get 33, then no.
Naw. If you watch the game and how he worked off Domas, it was a great game for a 19 yo rook.
he has a maturity to his game and an ability to get to good spots that are advanced for his age and experience.
better efficiency will come as he settles in.
I did enjoy seeing their two man game, and commented on it the game thread. Domas is like a coach out there for him. I want to endless amounts of their two man game
I hope you are right about the efficiency, because right now (SSS) he is anything but.
Not sure who you want doing more if Acuff does less. Big problem with Kings is they accumulate players that all want to defer and do less. I agree they can spread the ball around and Acuff can do a little less but we need the alpha energy. This team should be led offensively by Acuff and Sabonis, Domas needs to up his scoring.
I would argue that just taking a huge amount of shots isn’t “alpha energy”, but just chucking. If he wants to be more than an undersized inefficient shooter, he has to learn to share the rock and let the ball go round, even if most others on his team are not good or deferring.
If Acuff just gets the green light to shoot and not being taught how to be a floor general and share the ball that will be bad. Draymond Green was right.
Zach Lavine is not really the deferring kind, but he took 11 less shots than Acuff while he played 2:30 minutes longer…
I hoped we learned from Reke ROY that just letting a young player prop up raw stats is not the way to go, but who am I kidding?
Really looking forward to the NAPG discussions.
The reality is, LaVine should be taking the most shots. He is the best shooter on this team by a country mile. Acuff setting up LaVine more would give me hope on his development.
Exactly.
I’m not blaming Acuff, by the way. This is coaching.
A couple pounds of muscle in a few years and DA could be Donovan Mitchell lite, without the hops. But Dame is on another level that Acuff has a longer way to go.
I’ve got to agree with 1951 here, I think Acuff will be fine. His efficiency is probably going to be poor all year but what we saw in the second half was really promising. His ceiling and whether or not he can make his teammates better remains to be seen, but I think he’ll be a relatively efficient scorer before too long.
His efficiency and making those around him better will be key. Brunson figured it out and he has relatively high usage, but he also has a good assist rate. That’s the curve and growth we want, but with Doug and company running the show I worry of a PDX Anfernee Simons level of scoring guard or at worst…Cam Thomas.
Get the kid a proper development head coach before some bad habits set in.
There’s no reality in which DC coaches him for more than one total year. Whether they get a proper development head coach or not next year is up for debate.
100% this.
Acuff is the only future asset on this roster. Let him do whatever he wants and learn on the job. A rookie in GM2 just dropped 33 points. Let him cook and learn.
Well, it was better. Progress!
if they play that hard and focused they will win a decent amount of games.
i am worried about Keegan though. I don’t know if he can shoot well from deep. One clanked off the backboard and they seldom even look close.
I’m worried too. It’s sad watching this although it is game two with a rookie PG. I’m waiting for around game 25 to see if Keegan has returned to luitentant Spock levels. Then I’ll be wanting the next step to captain.
If they play like this every night, they’re going to win enough games to avoid relegation.
You may be right, but I have concerns. Last night’s loss was at home to a play-in level team (I don’t see the Blazers as top 6 in the West). If you can’t win this game, how do you win enough to avoid relegation?
I had them at 29 wins pre-season. After the first two games, I feel like I was wildly optimistic. I have yet to see anything that this team does consistently well.
100% At the moment they do nothing consistently well. ZERO.
I see certain things that are promising but how long might it take to get those promising things to just be things we can expect?
I hate to say it but I fear like coaching is a problem with this team. There doesn’t appear to be a vibe of leadership and plan to execute. At this point I would just like to see a failed plan. At least there would be something for the players to be aspiring to get to, to execute the plan. at the moment it’s just people playing basketball, almost like a pick up game at the park with no one knowing each other past the hello’s.
More than Ws & Ls, my concern is that this org. is not positioned to develop its youth, its future. Letting Acuff run free range will yield Tyreke Evans results, in my opinion.
To your point, the lack of system & guardrails could be very detrimental to Acuff & the other few players that supposedly represent the “future” of the Sacramento Kings.
The day that Domas Sabonis leaves the Sacramento Kings will be a sad, sad day. What a player. Skilled, celebrates his teammates, and works his arse off. Really wish the Kings were competent enough to build a winner around him.
IMO, the best thing for Acuff right now is having Sabonis on the floor with him.
Agreed. It would be hard to have a better pick and roll partner for a young guard than Domas.
Yeah, I agree with that. Help teach him that he can give up the ball and get it back in a better scoring position
Sad part is they did build a winner around Domas. Then Uncle V fucked it all up.
And he’s a great guy
I will be harping on this for awhile because I think it needs significant harping.
You have 19 year old PG. PLEASE RUN SOME SET PLAYS!!! There will be a time when set plays are less necessary but the first third of the season isn’t that time. “Go hoop” is a horrible philosophy in the NBA unless you are an established team that has created and established chemistry with 70% of the players on the squad (for example OKC). I fear this is the element Doug and the staff are missing. At some point the “go hoop” philosophy is possible. In order to get there you need to go through “this is the play call and now we need to execute it” philosophy. As I watch these games it seems pretty obvious it would be helpful to have plays to execute. Especialy considering the roster. If it exists and I’m not seeing it, thats not my fault or lack of basketball knowledge as a fan. It means the coaching staff isn’t teaching it correctly, emphasizing it correctly or holding people accountable correctly. Yes, the players are the ones playing but they need to be shown how to execute correctly. I’m not seeing any semblance of that understanding so far and that has me very worried for the season and for Doug.
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