Let the tank roll on! The Kings have been playing fun basketball and losing at the same time, which has been ideal for the current situation. Witnessing how electric Golden 1 Center was on Wednesday night for a 135-126 loss just further proved the undefeated nature and resiliency of this fan base, the best one in the entire world. It doesn’t take much to garner our love and support. In fact, we are dying to unleash it. All we ask for is a product worth cheering for. It’s pretty simple. The Kings had another chance to feel the hometown love as they took on the Boston Celtics tonight. The only goals were to provide an entertaining effort on the court and to not lose by 53 points, as they did in their last matchup with the Celtics. Let’s see how they did:
Quick Stats
Outcome: Kings lose, 126-97
Sacramento Kings: 97 pts, 41.8% fg, 36.1% 3 pt, 75.0% ft, 23 ast, 37 reb, 16 to
Boston Celtics: 126 pts, 56.1% fg, 55.0% 3 pt, 70.6% ft, 33 ast, 43 reb, 13 to
Well, they tried their best, they didn’t lose by 53 points, and they continue to inch their way up the lottery ladder. It’s best if you just focus on those silver linings. The Kings struggled offensively without De’Aaron Fox, but still showed a good fight against a very good Boston Celtics team.
The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly
The Good
- Hot Holiday: Justin Holiday was the Kings’ second leading scorer tonight, behind Domantas Sabonis, logging 21 points with six made 3-pointers. His streaky play so far with the Kings has brought up questions about his role in the starting lineup, but it was nice to see him shut out the noise and knock down shots with confidence tonight.
- Fight: At one point, the Kings trailed by 29 points against a Celtics team that didn’t take any possessions off. We’ve seen the Kings in this position countless times in the past, and it often was the point where we saw them deflate and give up completely. But now with Davion Mitchell’s and Domantas Sabonis’ refusal to ever quit and motors off the bench from Donte DiVincenzo and Chimezie Metu, the Kings have not looked like a team that is so easily put away. The Kings were able to put together a few runs throughout the game to keep chipping away at the Celtics’ comfortable lead, even cutting the lead down to single digits in the third quarter. Although the better team prevailed, it is always refreshing to see your team refuse to quit.
the Bad
- Turnovers: The Kings started the game out a bit stunned by the suffocating nature of the Celtics’ defense. They committed eight turnovers in the first quarter and 16 total for the game, all of which led to 24 Celtics’ points. With De’Aaron Fox out, Davion Mitchell assumed more ball handling responsibilities and suffered four turnovers against bigger and longer defenders in Marcus Smart and Jayson Tatum.
The Ugly
- 3-point Barrage: Once again, the Kings got shot out of the building by a heavy downpour of 3-point makes by their opponent. The Celtics made 22 3-pointers on 40 attempts for an absurd 55.0% efficiency. Jayson Tatum had seven of those as he finished with 32 points, followed by a perfect 4-4 from Payton Pritchard. Jaylen Brown hit three of his own to contribute to his overall 30 points. The Kings have been bad all season long at defending the 3-point line, and the Celtics, though not a great 3-point shooting team, took advantage of the open looks they got from moving the ball around and finding open shooters. Even bad shooting teams will hit open shots when you give them to them.
The King of Kings
Domantas Sabonis was a big focus for the Celtics tonight as they threw double and sometimes even triple teams at him whenever he got the ball within five feet of the basket. He took a beating from this extra coverage inside and still managed to score 30 points and secure 20 rebounds. The fight and relentless spirit Domas showed is much appreciated and admired.
Operation: M.C.N.A.I.R. Watch
In tonight’s preview, Will shared that Operation: M.C.N.A.I.R. has so far raised $8,765.15!!! With just 10 games left after tonight, let’s finish strong and spread as much #SacramentoProud as we can.
Tonight’s chosen charity is Opening Doors, a local organization which welcomes refugees, defends immigrants, and supports survivors of human trafficking. Donate here and be sure to notify Will via Twitter (@WillofThaPeople) or e-mail ([email protected]) so he can keep track of donation totals.
Up Next
Sunday, March 20th vs. Phoenix Suns – 3:00 P.M. (PT)
Can anyone actually confirm if Harrison Barnes played tonight?
I guess technically, yes. He has stats on nba.com for tonight’s game – 0/5 shooting and 0 points scored in 24 minutes. So did he really play or just coincidentally happen to be on the floor tonight? Not sure. Either way, the C’s are probably thanking Monte for not trading him to them.
Whoa, that’s an ugly line. Say, he got two boards though. Ugh.
Last three:
0
10
6
I kind of passively watched the game while hanging out with the family, and I have to say, Barnes looks a bit checked out. Basketball Hell gets to everyone eventually, I suppose.
I would also point out there’s not much reason to kill himself at this point. If Harrison Barnes had played to his absolute best last night, I dont think the Kings win. Although I would have appreciated his energy and effort in a game where you really don’t have to give that.
If anything, it makes me appreciate how good Domas was last night. Dude had a 30 20 & 5 game and the whole storyline will be ‘Without De’Aaron Fox, Kings lose by 27 to high flying Celtics team.’ The final stat line doesn’t indicate the Kings were really competitive and very short handed for 3 quarters before the C’s just finally blew the doors off.
For all you tankers out there, I don’t see why you’re upset. The Kings helped their draft odds, in theory, with the loss last night.
That is the best post I have EVER read. LMAO
Two losses to this team by an average of 41 points. That’s really just poopy.
Accidental tank. The schedule and then an injury forced their hand.
It’s a big winin my eyes.
Hitting 10k by the end of the season would be fantastic.
Kings tried hard but Celtics did too and they happen to be a lot better . Just. need a player like Brown or Tatum to be in the playoffs . Oh well, next year .
Tank you
There are some ugly startlines from last night. Excluding the obvious stinker by Barnes, Mitchell a -25 and Jones a -27 in just 11 minutes are uuuuuuugly.
Impressively, Sabonis was just a -2 in 37 minutes. That means the rest of the team was a -27 in the 11 minutes he didn’t play (Jones presumably on the court for all of them).
Also Trey Lyles continues to impress. He’s reminding me a bit of Nemanja when he was starting for the Kings a few years back. Remember, the Kings have a team option for Lyles next season at just $2.6M. Monte would be silly to not pick up his deal.
What I find absurd in this game was that Justin Holiday played 40 MPG. And nobody is batting an eyelash because it doesnt matter much in any direction when you get right down to it.
I just saw hs 40 minutes as a result of being very shallow at guard depth and because he played the best of the guards. There are really only 3 guards on the roster when Fox is out. Mitchel got 35, Holiday got 40, and DDV got 30. I suppose you could have given 5 of Holiday’s minutes to DDV, but DDV couldn’t hit the side of a barn last night.
Yeah, I thought that when they waived Louis King that they would sign a point guard to fill that two-way slot.
I’m curious as to why they don’t have someone else signed to a TWC after waiving King.
Part of me think the waiving of King was a mutual agreement in that both King asked to be let you and the Kings were happy to oblige. A week after being waived he joined the Knicks G-League affiliate. He’s already gotten more games and minutes since joining them than he had all season with both the Sac and Stockton Kings.
I hadn’t looked so that would seem to be the answer Adam. Thanks for that!
Plus King gets to go home on top of all that.
I agree. First game since he was a king where he shot reasonably well. I still would have started DDV.
ALL I don’t freaking understand is why there is NO OFF-BALL movement by all other 4 guys whenever Sabonis get the ball in high post ?
I mean, all four other guys are just stand still, and just and do nothing………..
I know they are waiting to shoot the 3, but there should be more play sets once Sabonis get the ball, e.g. two guys setting screen, to free up one guy to cut into the lane, so Sabonis would find the open man for ease….
We need more good offense, otherwise, this FO is wasting the time for Sabonis……..
Part of the game of basketball is cutting to the basket off one ,two or three screens. Backdoors can be an affective part of your offense also. I see maybe one or two per game. Not enough especially when you have one of the best passing big men in the NBA.
My only two counters to the point of not playing well off Sabonis is that if you’re not accustomed to doing so, it can take awhile to make that adjustment for the better. It’s just simply not an automatic one.
The other point is when you take De’Aaron off the floor, yes he’s averaging 23 PPG on the season, but more importantly since Domas arrived he’s averaging a tick under 29 PPG. That’s 29 points you have to replace. With a roster that is 22nd on the season in ORtg no less (and 23rd with Domas). There are plenty of role players, but there isn’t enough scoring punch around De’Aaron or Domas to really lose 29 points and compensate effectively.
There are 4 players averaging double digits. Obviously De’Aaron (28.9), Domas (18.9) and Harrison are three of those (16.5). Davion is the next highest at 10.9 PPG since February 9th (Domas’ first game with Sac). There’s just a huge jumble of players averaging between 7 and 10 points after that. Trey Lyles (9.5), Justin Holiday (9.3), Dante DiVicenzo (8.8), Chimezie Metu (8.7). And the Kings, again, are missing Terence Davis who was averaging about 10 1/2 points a night.
The Kings will have no problems filling in the bottom of the roster. They have that covered easily with Lyles, Holiday and Metu alone. And that’s assuming they don’t bring Damian Jones back and he fits in nicely (although hasn’t gotten the minutes he should be — hopefully that changes with Holmes being out for the season now).
But my question is, how do you slot the top and middle of the roster. So, who are your top 7 guys? You have 3 of the top 4, probably, in Domas, De’Aaron and Harrison. You have a top 7’ish pick in the draft. Terence Davis could slot in that group. So could Dante DiVicenzo, but you could also have the fact that neither guy slots in for you. You have trades and Free Agency. Richaun Holmes is a chip, so is Barnes realistically for the right player, the draft pick is a chip, and you have plenty of cheaper salary you can throw in to make deals very easy for another team. Realistically, the toughest player the Kings can trade right now is De’Aaron Fox and that’s mostly because of his max slot he’s occupying. I think there’s at least 10 teams that would entertain deals for him if he were available even if that runs to the counter of the narrative. Or I’d be pretty surprised if there weren’t that many.
So really when you get right down to it, last night illustrates just how far the Kings have to go. Domas was the first step, or max extending De’Aaron was the first step really, and you have a better asset base to work with than when you started 18 months ago. At the same time, the future of this roster will not only come down to the pick in June, trades and Free Agency. It will also include players who better understand how to play off a player like Domas, and how well De’Aaron plays off Domas (and I think that’s gone about as well as you could hope under the circumstances), and we haven’t even see how a guy like Davis would do. But when you start slotting in players and elsewhere, you see the talent gap. But it’s not just talent on the roster, it’s also about having your players on the roster still here improving and learning how to play in the system you are building around your top guys. And De’Aaron and Domas aren’t finished growing as players.
There are so many balls in the air with this team as is so often the case with teams in flux. But, like so many things, this roster’s future will be based on your opinion of the value of players currently on the roster likely to be here longer term, and what kind of opportunities are there over the summer. And as always, proof will be in the pudding (on dat dere table, BHE!). Either McNair will improve the roster over the summer, or he won’t. Last night indicated the difference not only in talent between the Celtics and Kings, but also familiarity between players. The Celtics arent just talented, they also play together. And part of that is that Ime Udoka is really backed by Brad Stevens and the Celtics FO in a way that Alvin Gentry is probably not by the Kings FO. (Yet another reason why I wasnt a huge fan of Walton being fired but whatever.) Continuity and cohesion matter in the NBA, and in the professional world. Sometimes they aren’t a priority as often, but on the best NBA teams they matter quite a lot.
That’s why, no matter what happens over the next 10 games, you’ll have a lot of people talking about the next head coach, draft pick, trades and free agency. In the end, these issues of playing off Domas are as much about figuring out how to play off a guy who is just so unique. Some guys do it naturally, but plenty do not. And I think that adjustment isn’t just as simple as cutting and everything else. A big part of that problem is that every team is just packing the paint right now because the Kings don’t have enough shooting on the floor consistently. Having a high volume 3 point shooter teams ALWAYS have to run to (and Harrison Barnes) would help tremendously. And so it goes, as always.
I have a couple ideas on trades. I do this for the sake of comments, starting somewhere and finding out if I am really off base or not. I really appreciate your comments.So here goes. If possible draft Murray or Griffin. I feel either one would fit on where the Kings need to go. Both can shoot the three and play pretty good defense. #2 Trade Holmes, Lyles and Holiday along with two second round picks for the Hornets PJ Washington and Kelly Obrue Jr. The Hornets are in need of a rrally good $5 and Holmes would fit the bill. Trey Lyles as shown he can play the #4 and Holiday is a three point shooter. In turn trade Barnes, Washington, Harkless and Len and our 2023 first round for the Raptors Pascal Siakim. The money works. If this doesn”t work go back to #2 then trade Barnes, Washington, Len and our 2023 first round to the Hawks for Collins and Kevin Huerter. The money works. First trade would be starters Fox, DDV ,Murray or Griffin, Siakim and Sabonis. Backups would be Mitchell, Davis, Obrue, Metu and Jones. On the second trade the starters would be Fox, Huerter or DDV, Murray or Griffin, Collins and Sabonis. Bachups would be Mitchell, Huerter or DDV, Davis or Obrue, Metu and Jones. Did some ideas but I needed to start somewhere. Your comments would be really appreciated. GO KINGS.
Along with Smith Jr and Holmgren, I imagine those guys are in heavy consideration depending on where the Kings end up drafting.
A couple of things. There’s a 60 day rule that you can’t trade players after acquiring them AND if you are over the cap (which the Kings project to be). Thus, it’s far simpler to work out a 3 team trade between Charlotte, Toronto and Sacramento in this scenario. That way you can end up with Oubre and Siakam (I’m assuming that’s the end goal) if that’s the idea.
I don’t see that happening under any circumstance. Oubre is very valuable to Charlotte, and I just don’t see them giving him up to get Richaun Holmes.
I can see the Hawks trading John Collins, but not Collins and Huerter for that package. Huerter is only 23, on a reasonable deal and while not perfect he’s also 2nd in total minutes on that Atlanta roster.
I have a very hard time seeing Travis Schlenk, the Atlanta GM, agreeing to trade one of his development projects that’s panned out.Especially for Harrison Barnes, PJ Washington, Alex Len and a 1st round pick that might not be considered that valuable if the Hawks think the Kings are a playoff team.
Simply put, I don’t see the Hornets or Hawks doing those deals. But I could be wrong.
Thanks for your comments. I appreciate and value them.
OT: Hope everyone who’s at the ARCO Farewell Party has a good times today! Hopefully the rain isn’t too bad outside.
Pacers won and Buddy was terrible. I’m good.
Actually, so was Hali ! 7 and 10 points in last two games . Brogdon back hurts Hali it seems !
For those of you who have been skeptical of my assessment of Drew Timme, I hope you had a chance to see tonights game against Memphis.
Koloko my other pick had 17 points, 13 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 blocks in the first game. Watch Arizona tomorrow.
As for the top pick in the draft, it’s Jabari Smith and it’s not close despite all the noise you hear. After Smith it’s Murray and Ivey you pick the order. As for Holmgren proceed with caution, and Banchero IDK but I’m skeptical.
Love to see the Kings walk away with Murray, Koloko and Timme in this draft. If there’s a way to move up to get Smith, I’d do it. I’d give up this years and next years first for Smith.
Looking for a good UFA to take a shot at, Jamaree Bouyea of USF has a real shot to play in the league IMO.
Watched some of it. Timme is not bad, Chet seemed to be neutralized by physical defense.
i watched Chet for the first time tonight. Very unimpressed. I keep hearing good things, but he sure look like Shaun Bradley 2.0 to me.
Chet needs to stay in school for at least another year for his safety . Not ready.
Maybe, but if someone offered me $10m or $0 for a year in the weight room, I’d take the $10m.
The biggest issue I have with Holmgren isn’t his weight or how he played vs Memphis last night. I just think his max value will be as a defensive anchor C and I don’t see any way shape or form how you make that work with Sabonis also being a C. And if I’m drafting Holmgren #1, it’s not just about next year but 5 years down the line. As I’ve said, I’m not acquiring Domas for just the next 2 years, but hopefully 5 or longer. That has to factor into the calculus on what type of players you’re looking for in the draft.
I think this team is missing a lot of things, and while a defensive anchor is nice it’s not imperative. That’s why I lean Jabari Smith Jr. Holmgren looks super uncordinated, but really so does Rudy Gobert. Really that’s Holmgren’s best bet to become, IMO, only Holmgren probably won’t screen as well and could average 16-18 PPG at some point in his career because he’s such a good shooter.
With Smith, it’s about his scoring, shooting, and overall ability as a two way guy. Plus I think he’s not a clunky fit. It’s not impossible to see him being a 20-22 PPG type in the near future, and with 40+ 3PT shooting on high volume while being an impact defensive player (not likely on the leve of Holmgren).
There’s overthinking it, but I don’t think I am. I just don’t think you max out potential with Holmgren that you would with Smith on the Kings. It’s one thing to think about these things in theory, as we both know, but it’s another to make players work. I don’t look for perfect fits because, after a guy like Thomas Robinson taught me this lesson, I’ve learned the hard way there’s no such thing. IMO, Holmgren and Smith both fit this team but in different ways. And Smith’s way I think would be more valuable in the long run.
Just my personal take on it, and I could easily change my mind and say you take the best player fit and long range planning be damned a month from now.
But I wouldn’t look at last night and draw any conclusions about Chet Holmgren. If anything, my takeaway was that Penny Hardaway was smart enough to convince his players to make the other Zags beat the Tigers last night. And, Gonzaga being the talented team they are did just that in the 2nd half.
I’m with you on Smith, he’s my current #1 as well, but I think Chet will be more than a Gobert type player. Chet can bring up the ball, much like Sabonis, and he’s got incredible range. Instead of a Gobert comp, I see more Dirk, but with rim protection and better rebounding.
From that I think he could play with Sabonis. On offense Chet would be a floor spreader for Fox and Sabonis. On defense he picks up for what Sabonis lacks. It’s much of the way he plays with Timme, who plays a lot like Sabonis, at Gonzaga. Timme is a post playing banger that doesn’t protect the rim or stretch the floor. Putting Chet next to Sabonis is basically Gonzaga on steroids.
Oh, and I’d point out there was a lot more at stake last night for Jalen Duren, Memphis’ own potential lottery pick, than there was for Chet Holmgren.
A top 10 prospect like Keegan Murray’s team is already out of the tourney. Shaedon Sharpe, another top 10 prospect, hasn’t played a single minute of college hoop.
Success in the tournament is great for the collegiate teams, but success in the tournament rarely means something once you’re talking about players in the NBA.
Just as an And1, and I say this knowing I’ve done no research on this years draft (well just a little clip watching here and there of Holmgren and Smith but that’s not really research either) but having done plenty of research on drafts historically many years ago now, it wouldn’t shock me in the slightest if a guy like Tari Eason ends up being the best player in the draft. Sometimes drafts work out that way.
He weighs more than when Durant entered the league, and is the same weight as a rookie Giannis.
For reference:
Right, but for every Durant and Giannis, there is Bradley and Bol. Some guys just can’t put on muscle like others.
Totally true. But lots of people have voiced your concern and I’ve seen NBA draft guys like Sam Vecenie argue against that narrative going back months now.
FWIW.
Agreed. The college experts heap praise on the guy and have seen much more of him than I have. I was just very unimpressed last night. Definitely looking forward to his next game to see something different.
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