The good news is that the San Antonio Spurs and Los Angeles Lakers lost their games. The bad news is that the Kings had a prime opportunity to win and jump into the playoff seeding. However, they lost to a Timberwolve team who was off in the first quarter but changed things around dramatically in the second quarter. The Kings have played inadequate basketball in Minnesota this season.

Quarter-by-Quarter Recap

It wasn’t a pretty first quarter for either team, but the Kings controlled the pace and ended with a 30-19 lead. The Timberwolves were held to 9-23 shooting and were 0-7 from three, while the Kings shot 13-28 and 3-6 from three. De’Aaron Fox had a great quarter with 11 points on 4-7 shooting and 2-3 from three. His stepback three against Derrick Rose was filthy. Bogdan Bogdanovic gave solid minutes off the bench with five points, two rebounds and three assists. Rose and Karl-Anthony Towns had six points each for the Wolves.

Find any word that matches the definition of ugly in the dictionary and that describes how the Kings performed in the second. They were outscored 44-23 and a 26-point swing occurred as the Wolves, who were once trailing by 13 points, started to lead by 13. Towns killed the Kings with 24 points, 13 rebounds, two assists and a steal in just 16 minutes. He also shot 10-14 overall. His starting counterpart Willie Cauley-Stein was held to two points on 1-3 shooting and one rebound in nine minutes. The Wolves were still a rough 3-18 from three but still held a 63-53 lead at the half. Sacramento was led by Fox’s 14 points followed by Buddy Hield and Marvin Bagley scoring 10 a piece. Sacramento also had an awful nine turnovers in just this quarter.

Minnesota outscored the Kings 30-27 to hold a firm 93-80 lead at the end of three. The Kings brought the game within eight at 76-68, but saw the Wolves make another run to make the game 86-70. Cauley-Stein and Harry Giles each drew five fouls so Kosta Koufos had to come in. Sacramento couldn’t get threes to fall either as they fell to 7-19 from deep. Fox led the team with 21 points on 8-21 shooting and Bagley and Hield each had 16 each. Towns led his team with 32 points.

Despite outscoring Minnesota 25-19, the Kings couldn’t take advantage of multiple opportunities given to them and in result, they lose a game they should’ve won. Hield had so many chances to come up with turnovers but failed to grab the ball. Then when the team needed points, Hield was kept on the bench for reasons we won’t understand until Dave Joerger explains. Corey Brewer gave really good minutes as well but a frustrating loss as the Kings fall to 31-29 on the season.

Best Players

Marvin Bagley was really the only positive out of tonight. In 37 minutes and his first start, Bagley produced 25 points on 9-14 shooting including 1-1 from deep and 6-6 on free throws along with 11 rebounds, two assists, one steal and two blocks. He was also tasked with playing defense against Towns late in the game and did a great job doing so.

De’Aaron Fox shined in the first quarter but lost the swagger the rest of the game. Despite his 23 points, he shot a rough 8-24 from the floor. He finished with five assists, three rebounds and a steal.

Buddy Hield looked like himself at times but for most of the game, made bad decisions and caught a case of the butterfingers. He finished with 18 points on 7-16 shooting, 3-6 from deep along with eight rebounds and three steals. He should’ve had more steals.

Corey Brewer provided a spark on both ends of the floor that stats don’t always depict. He finished with 12 points hitting 5-6 of his free throws, two rebounds and one assist.

Willie Money Watch

This was one of Willie’s worst games of the year. In 13 minutes. he finished with four points, one rebound and five fouls. His +/- was -20, almost tying Hield’s -18 for the lowest on the team.

Notable Stats

Sacramento shot 37-95 from the floor (39%) while the Wolves were 42-83 (51%).

Sacramento was out-rebounded 49-44 and out-assisted 23-20.

Both teams had over 20 turnovers but the Wolves shot better overall and left with the victory.

Next Game

The Kings return home to take on the Milwaukee Bucks this Wednesday at 7:00 PM PST. The Bucks were without Giannis Antetokounmpo tonight as he was dealing with knee soreness but they defeated the Chicago Bulls 117-106. Knowing it’s the Kings, expect Giannis to play.