The Sacramento Kings returned home to Golden 1 Center after a challenging four-game road trip to play a familiar opponent. The New Orleans Pelicans, who the Kings faced on that road trip, were in town the night after Sacramento fought hard in Utah to no avail.
The Pelicans also entered the showdown on the second night of a back-to-back after blowing a 20-point lead in Phoenix the night prior. With Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram sidelined, head coach Willie Green was forced to work without his two best creators while also lacking Herbert Jones.
Jones, while not as significant of a loss as Ingram or Williamson, had been starting games recently and was the first player assigned to defend De’Aaron Fox in their previous matchup.
Sacramento played their best game of the season, securing a 112-99 victory over their injury-riddled conference foes. While this game was the undeniably easiest scheduled game thus far, the second night of a back-to-back right after wrapping up a road trip is never routine.
The Kings played phenomenal basketball to secure their first victory of the 2021-22 NBA season in Golden 1 Center. Here are my primary takeaways from their win against New Orleans on Wednesday night.
De’Aaron Fox looked like himself again
As every Kings fan is well aware, De’Aaron Fox has struggled to start the season. Fox himself is obviously cognizant of his issues on the offensive end and repeatedly emphasized that it’s simply a result of shots not falling.
Tallying seven points and two assists in the opening quarter must have been a relief. The lone maximum contract player on Sacramento’s roster went on to log 19 points, five assists, two rebounds, one steal, and just one turnover on the night.
While De’Aaron still struggled to get to the foul line, with just two attempts in his nearly 38 minutes of play, Valancuinas spent most of the game in a deep-drop that unlocked a mid-range game Fox has shown comfort taking and making.
Eight of 14 from the field, including two of three from beyond the arc, is an encouraging sign for Fox and the Kings moving forward. Hopefully, De’Aaron can chain together a stretch of good games throughout this homestand and put this poor start behind him.
Exceptional ball movement
Heading into the night, Sacramento averaged 23.0 assists per night, good for 17th in the league. They came out against New Orleans and secured 27 assists while turning the ball over a season-low eight times.
The ball quickly swung from left to right, guards were able to penetrate the paint with or without the assistance of a screen, and cutters were active off-ball.
All three of Sacramento’s primary initiators proved to be reliable creators for their teammates. Davion Mitchell recorded eight assists, doubling his previous high of four. De’Aaron Fox added five of his own, and Tyrese Haliburton had seven.
This is when the Kings are at their best and the makings of a high-caliber offense are apparent.
Tyrese Haliburton was remarkable
Fox seems to have been the primary point of concern for the Kings early in this season, but Haliburton may have been just as underwhelming. With the idea of a potential All-Star lying somewhere within the Iowa State product after his phenomenal flashes last season, notable growth was expected heading into his second year but it had not yet actualized.
Conversely, Haliburton had found himself sitting in the closing minutes of a few games. His aggression had been inconsistent, which De’Aaron Fox mentioned in his post-game presser that he’s been working on with his backcourt partner.
“We try to encourage him to shoot the ball,” Fox said. “He’s one of the best shooters on our team. He’s gonna be one of the best shooters in the league. We just tell him that he has to have more attempts. We’re trying to persuade him to get there.”
It seems as though Haliburton took Fox’s advice to heart against New Orleans. 20 points, seven assists, four rebounds, four steals, two blocks, and zero turnovers is a perfect balance of aggression and calculation.
You can see Haliburton manipulating defenders with his eyes, capitalizing on defenders going under screens, digging hard at the perfect moments on defense, pushing the pace, and looking confident as ever.
It’s easy to see why head coach Luke Walton is hoping that his style of play grows infectious into the rest of Sacramento’s roster.
“I want his personality imprinted on our team, he is that type of guy. And I want him as loud as he wants to be and I don’t even care if he makes mistakes right now. If he wants to call his own play coming off the free-throw line, call it.,” Walton said. “So, the more that he can share who he is with the identity of our team the better we are gonna be. The way he plays is the same way our culture is set up”
Responding to adversity
The third quarter against New Orleans seemed to drag on forever with an excessive amount of whistles from the referees.
Fans inside Golden 1 Center certainly vocalized their discontent, as did Richaun Holmes. Holmes was headed to the bench after picking up his fourth foul of the night with some words for the Tony Brothers that subsequently resulted in a technical foul.
On his way to take a seat, Richaun (unintentionally?) threw his headband into the stands which resulted in an ejection. 9:50 remained in the third quarter and the Kings only held a two-point lead at that point.
Holmes currently leads the Kings in on/off numbers by a mind-blowing margin with his ridiculous efficiencies and improved defensive rotations. Last season’s team may have thrown in the towel at that point, but this year they took the punch and hit back quickly.
It appeared the Kings may let the game slip away not long after Holmes’ absence, with the Pelicans going on a 13-0 run. Staring at an eight-point deficit, Sacramento proceeded to record a 15-5 rally of their own that heavily featured Harrison Barnes and Buddy Hield.
Alex Len was the backup center of choice prior to that moment, but Tristan Thompson would now inevitably be called upon later. To his credit, Thompson filled the role Sacramento needed him to on both ends throughout his eight minutes.
Containing Jonas Valancuinas
The league’s premier offensive rebounders have proven troublesome for the Kings to start the season, just as they did last year.
Jonas Valancuinas was the primary concern headed into the game at Golden 1 Center as the NBA’s second-best offensive rebounder. He’d shown that ability with five offensive rebounds when Sacramento and New Orleans faced off earlier in the week.
With Brandon Ingram sidelined, the Kings were free to prioritize making Valancuinas uncomfortable in post-up situations and securing defensive rebounds as a team to limit the created second-chance opportunities.
Before being ejected, Richaun Holmes did a stellar job slowing down the Pelicans’ big despite his height disadvantage. Alex Len also proved crucial in the Kings’ defensive game plan, but it was a true team effort.
Take note of how many players wearing purple collapse on Valancuinas when he attempts to post-up, the collective effort to box out, and how much work is being done before the catch to push the Lithuanian big out of the paint.
Sacramento managed to limit the Pelicans’ primary option to 14 points and 11 rebounds on 5/13 shooting, including 2/3 from deep. Valancuinas never looked comfortable in the 29 minutes he played.
The fourth-quarter defense
Typically, Sacramento has been the team to collapse in the final quarter of games. However, on Wednesday night, a fourth-quarter disappointment finally came from the other end.
The New Orleans Pelicans scored one point per minute in the final quarter. Mitchell was making their ball-handlers uncomfortable, Valancuinas never found a rhythm, and the Pelicans’ primary initiator this season did not suit up.
Despite that clear roster advantage, Sacramento deserves some flowers for holding their opponents to 4/19 from the field and 0/7 from three in the closing quarter of a previously tight battle.
With Richaun Holmes in the locker room post-ejection, the Kings proceed to go on a 16-1 run in the fourth en route to their first home victory. Winning a game on the defensive end of the floor is a refreshing change of pace after last year’s historically bad product in that aspect.
Walton kept a shallow rotation
If not for Holmes being ejected, it looked like Luke Walton was ready to play the same eight players that saw the court against Utah the night before. That was the typical starters of Fox, Haliburton, Barnes, Harkless, and Holmes along with Mitchell, Len, and Hield.
Aside from Len, all of the aforementioned names tallied upwards of 30 minutes against the Jazz. Barnes, Fox, Harkless, and Haliburton all reached the same threshold for the second consecutive night with the latter two playing all the final 12.
On the other end, the Pelicans elected to go deeper into their bench dealing with similar circumstances. Willie Green had ten players with double-digit minutes by the end of the night.
Tristan Thompson probably only played due to the unexpected absence of Holmes. Terence Davis and Marvin Bagley were healthy scratches, but Walton mentioned that the rotation will likely deepen as the year progresses.
“Right now we’re in an eight-man rotation as we’re really trying to start this off and set the standard for who we are,” Walton explained, “but as the season goes that will expand.”
A talking point of the offseason was the Sacramento Kings increased depth on the roster. Eight players participating on a back-to-back with travel involved doesn’t exactly back up that expected point of improvement.
No matter, this Kings team does feel improved from last season with eight games now completed – six of them coming against high-caliber playoff teams. They have been in a position to potentially come out on top in each game so far while some growing pains remain apparent with this group.
The 5-4 Charlotte Hornets, Sacramento’s first Eastern Conference opponent, will be at Golden 1 Center on Friday at 7 pm.
Alex Len brings more than I remember in his first Sac stint. I enjoy watching that dude play with tenacity on the defensive end. I hope he keeps popping a couple threes per game, too.
I do think Mitchell and Tyrese are the starting backcourt of the next Kings playoff team (still won’t be this year but happy to be wrong).
Great to see Len out there doing good stuff last night!
No doubt. The team needed exactly what he gave after Holmes got tossed.
I thought his sprinting up the floor was awesome, as JV can’t run at all. Really great effort by Len last night.
What I liked most from Halliburton were the steals. The other team is not safe when he is on the floor, even if they have the ball in two hands. That, plus the sudden increase in defensive focus from Buddy, are my two favorite things so far this season.
Hali is a free safety. So many times you see the other team drive to the hoop, a Kings player leave their man to help and Hali cover the space between two players at the arc. Then steps in front of the pass to whoever the driver throws to.
Yeah, I didn’t see that. Yes, he was offensively efficient last night, but that still wasn’t the Fox we saw at the end of last year. Something still isn’t right and looks off with his role/comfort level so far this year.
Mitchell and Rese are so fun from a ball movement perspective.
Rese, Mitchell and Holmes make this team as fun to watch as any team since the Glory Years.
Not so sure about that. If one team was facing adversity in that game, it was the Pelicans and they still gave the Kings everything they had.
Len is a solid back up big. That was a good get to have him back on the team. I will say that not having players around Jonas, like Ingram and company, made it easier to focus defensively on Jonas.
It’s hard to go anywhere but up from last year, so better is … um better for sure. However, it took the depleted Pels to decide to throw or dribble the ball out of bounds for no reason repeatedly in the fourth quarter to be able to pull away. Many of those were unforced.
Luke Walton is a bottom tier coach. Sorry, what was the question?
I’ve seen a lot of comments stating this win is not actually impressive and the team didn’t actually that well, because the Pels are a mediocre team and were missing their 2 best players. Apparently, if you don’t lead the game by double digits the entire way, you’re not playing well. I mean, come on. The Pels are injured and not contending for anything, but they’re still an NBA team. If the “worse” team never threatened to win a game, we’d have an 0-82 team in the league every year, and an 82-0 team as well. The talent differential between good teams and bad teams is significant, but not THAT significant. A close win can still be a good win, regardless of the opponent. Go Kangz.
That box-out by Fox was just stellar, perfect use of position and leverage. I’d swear I’ve seen Holmes get tagged with fouls for doing the same thing, though.
Can really make a fair assessment of either team without 50pts of The Pels offense.
Williamson is like Porzingis. They are unicorns. And like unicorns they don’t actually play on your team but they eat you out of house and home. New Orleans better get used to playing without Zion.
Badge Legend