For the second time this season, the Kings entered tonight’s game trying to avoid a double digit losing streak. As I imagined how either outcome would make me feel, I realized it would almost be too painfully poetic for the Kings to suffer their 10th straight loss to Luka Doncic as Marvin Bagley III is sidelined with a hand injury and an elusive future with this team. But then again, we all know how poetic the basketball gods can be, especially to Kings fans. Let’s see how they did:
Quick Stats
Outcome: Kings win, 121-107
Sacramento Kings: 121 PTS, 49.4% FG, 45.8% 3 PT, 88.0 % FT, 22 AST, 6 TO
Dallas Mavericks: 107 PTS, 44.8% FG, 33.3% 3 PT, 65.0% FT, 15 AST, 14 TO
The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly
The Good:
- Bench Boost: The game started out slow from both teams and it looked like it was going to be a boring evening for both Sacramento and Dallas fans. The first quarter ended with the Kings up by two points (22-20) with no transition play and only a combined three 3-point makes for 24 attempts. Aside from consistent clean up work from Hassan Whiteside (9 points in the first quarter, flex move included, of course) and despite a shocking zero turnovers from the Kings, this was boring basketball. Luckily, the Kings’ bench brought some much needed energy in the second quarter, led by Terence Davis who cashed in 15 points on 3-3 shooting from the 3-point line. As a team, the Kings were perfect from behind the arc for the second quarter (6-6) and it gave them a 17-point lead heading into the half. The bench provided the spark the Kings needed to get going and ultimately contributed 45 points by the end of the night.
- Handsy Defense: The Kings had an aggressive and handsy night on defense, mostly coming from help side blitzes. These aggressive plays forced the Mavericks into 14 total turnovers and allowed the Kings to get momentum by scoring in transition. Because the Mavericks cultivate their play around the slow and methodical pace of Luka Doncic, this allowed the Kings to quickly sneak in when heads were turned to cause deflections and steals. The 14 turnovers from the Mavericks were made even sweeter as the Kings took care of the ball on their end of the floor, committing only six turnovers throughout the game.
The Bad:
- Guard Your Yard, Man: The Kings were able to hold Luka Doncic to just 15 points through three quarters, forcing the ball out of his hands. This meant more touches for Dorian Finney-Smith (22 points) and Jalen Brunson (20 points). Finney-Smith hit six 3-pointers, mostly assisted by those insane, deep in the paint, over-the-shoulder Luka passes. But more frustrating was seeing Jalen Brunson torch the Kings’ defense by simply blowing by his man time after time. I get when guarding Luka, help side can be expected. But when you finally get the ball out of his hands, Kings’ individual defenders need to be able to stop the back up point guard from cutting them up with easy layups without relying on the help side.
The Ugly:
- Let’s Take the Night Off: Because the Kings finally won, I don’t feel like being too cynical tonight. I think we all deserve a bit of a reprieve from having to think about the worst parts of Kings basketball and we can just enjoy the rare W. So bask away, my friends… (we never know when the next one will come).
The King of Kings
It is clear that De’Aaron Fox could easily be crowned the King of Kings on any night. Tonight was no different as he went shot for shot against one of the best players in the NBA and came out on top, finishing with 30 points and 12 assists. But, to share the love, I want to give tonight’s crown to Harrison Barnes for his sweet, sweet revenge game. After being traded by the Dallas Mavericks mid-game, he was able to express himself tonight by raining in 24 points on 5-8 from the 3-point line. Especially with a quiet night from Buddy Hield, Harrison Barnes stepped up for this team and then some to make sure they finally ended this long losing streak.
Up Next
Tuesday, April 20th vs. Minnesota Timberwolves – 7:00 P.M. (PT)
Kings defense (yes, defense) took a toll on the Mavs!
And Luka didn’t have enough dimes to get them through!
Enough, as we know, being a shitload.
In point of fact Luka had 4 assists and 4 turnovers last night. Not one of his better games despite the total point number. I wouldn’t be too worried about Luka, he seems alright to me.
Here’s a boxscore Sims. You can see it yourself.
https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/202104180DAL.html
Walton can’t get a team to the playoffs and he can’t lead a tank. Fire him. Let’s see the young guys.
What the flying fuck? 16 minutes for Haliburton? Was he injured and I missed it?
if not, it is utterly idiocy to not play him. This organization is a disaster. Fucking morons.
No one wants Walton gone more than I, but he was pushing the right buttons, personnel-wise today. I doubt Haliburton was sour about it.
And kudos on some self-awareness by Buddy, who wasn’t shooting well, and didn’t try to chuck his way into a rhythm, taking only five attempts.
Having said that, more losses would be useful.
Haliburton wasn’t sour or sore about it because he didn’t bet on him receiving ROY at +1500. But seriously folks…..
Its overall idiocy, not playing and developing your young talent to win a meaningless game to go nowhere and do nothing.
I realize Walton is trying to win, but this is all suck a joke.
And the reason he should be fired. CD and the other yes men use the “what’s the point” in replacing Walton at this stage…the point is that he is still trying to win for a future job by playing Vets, while an interim coach would just do what the GM wants and play youth.
“No one wants Walton gone more than I”
Your statement is false and incorrect. I want Walton gone more than you do.
Oh crap, beat me to it. Well done.
I will fight you for it.
Let’s go Andy!!
How do you know that? Have you checked? Until I see a report that says that Andy Sims is the one that want Walton gone the most I have to assume that there this is just hypothetical.
I also want to nominate myself as the person who wants Walton gone more than anyone else, including Tyrese, Robert Woodard and Luke Walton himself.
The award for most disdainment toward wanting Walton gone has been given to me since the day we announced he was the new head coach. You can’t have my trophy. WALTON HAS TO GO. The trophy says “GTFOH”.
I’ll play give it to you for Brad Stevens, Kenny Atkinson, or Brett Brown.
Well, Buddy was not “chucking his way into a rhythm” mostly because he was watching Terrence Davis take his minutes and register a dazzling star caliber performance. I give Buddy NO kudos!
If you don’t like my comparison of TD to Donovan Mitchell, a player with whom he shares many similar attributes, how about Bobby Jackson? B-Jax was a tough-nosed defender who could go on scoring rampage. Davis is comprable yet bigger and has a better 3-point ball. B-Jax had more PG skills, though Davis is capable of throwing precise passes out of the pick n roll.
The Doomers are so busy dooming they don’t realize we have a budding 24 year old star right (fitting Fox timeline) under our nose which I delcared boldly after his first game! And we got him for free!
Even if you don’t think Davis projects as a star, he certainly projects as a quality starting caliber SG. Davis is already one of our best defenders, maybe the best (with Holmes and Wright).
Here is what the Doomers don’t get, too busy dooming because the deadline did not unfold to their predefined narrow perception of what should happen.
I am not putting you in that category, Andy Sims, just the general overall tone of comments on this forum.
McGenius is going to get us a wing with size in the draft, 6’8 to 6’10 range, Franz Wagner, Kai Jones (my personal favorite ATM) or maybe Scottie Barnes (meh). Cory Joseph was not coming back before he was dumped, Kyle Guy has been neglected, and Buddy is having a trainwreck of a season.
So knowing our pressing need on the wing to give help to HB, and knowing how restricted we are with our cap situation and needing to resign Holmes, how the heck were we going to add a good back up PG and replace Buddy or
at least give him some stiff competition if and when he does not shape up?
It was not going to be easy: limited space and few tradeable assets. We couldn’t even get Sediq Bey for former #2 overall pick. This was a daunting proposition looming yet McGenius did a masterful job adding Wright and Davis, making his job this off-season much more manageable.
In the grand scheme, this is more important than wins and losses, where we draft, the play-in tourney, the incompetence of the coach, etc. We needed to surround Fox with ballers and send message to Holmes we are team that is properly run. A superstar and pseudo star knows who can play and who can’t. Game recognizes game.
When Fox said earlier you “cannot teach the game” he was referring to Buddy and Marvin, guilty of repeat blunders and glaring deficiencies. We don’t win last night with Buddy on the floor even if he’s not chucking because he’s a hole in the defense, and does not faciliate our offense, running like a chicken w/o a head off screens, a lot of activity amounting to nothing.
Now it is important for Davis, mired in a slump compounded by new temmates and system and his off-court issue, to string together games like this to further give the GM confidence in his future role on the team. Let Buddy sit and watch, let him watch how real defense is played, be aggressive yet selective with the long ball, make the defense guard you, play hoops the way it is suppose to be played, instead of throw anything at the rim.
Buddy need a serving of humble pie. I love it! Davis is a great player and Buddy is resting on his laurels, and his laurels were never that great.
I don’t want to admit to it, but you could argue Walton deserves one more year without the anchor in the form of Buddy. But I counter that his bad coaching enable the bad play, a disciplinarian (like Dave Joerger) instead of a SoCal surfer would never allow transgressions so readily like an inbound hook pass directly to the opponent.
When we want on the 9-game losing streak, it was because:
> Fox cooled off. He went from his A (A+) game to B (B-) game. But this is not critcism of Our Superstar, because he was bound to cool after his spectacular MVP run, which was on display last night. When this predictably occured, we needed a #2 to step in and score 25 PPG. HB could not do it, too busy tussling with the PFs. Ty is not quite ready for that responsiblity. Buddy needed to step up and fill that void to help to end the slide before it got out of control (which it did) and he failed brilliantly.
> For inexplicable reason rooted in internal conflict and obsfuscation, we went away from Whiteside. DNP-CD or injury, the truth was concealed. Whiteside was instrumental last night and previous game to keep the team in contact, give us much needed presence in the middle for a team with worst defensive rating in history.
I don’t care if you don’t like his personality or slow moves, he is an effective deterrent, his size force and savvy is undeniably of value. We shut down the Mavs in the 1st half with Whiteside controlling the paint, preventing the opponent from even thinking about getting an offensive board. When Metu came in and when we went small down the stretch that is when boards were a truggle and when Luka got loose and started dominating.
All our worst loses are w/o Whiteside, our most competitve stretches are with him. This is not coincidence. When the coach recognized as much, the slide was underway and gaining momentum, and Whiteside was rusty when thrown back into the rotation.
Fun Fact: Who is 3rd on the team in PER behind Fox (20.94) and Holmes (20.30)? Whiteside at 20.21 PER.
> The coach did a mediocre to poor job integrating the new players. This is a challenge for any coach in the middle of the season with limited practice time, more challenging when you suck at coaching.
These are the overriding variables. It does NOT matter how we finish up the season in this context, though I would say Davis sending a message he is for real is one of the most important things that can happen to end the season. This is what the Doomers ignore or can’t see with their doomer googles on. We are better primed to address what needs to be addressed, fill the voids, and become a real team.
The Whiteside variable is also why McGenius is auditioning candidates to fill his role, namely Damion Jones on the second of a 10-day. The team is in very good hands now, and this is the first time you can legitimately say that since before Geoff Petrie lost his touch and drafted Jimmer over Kawhi and Klay.
Cheer up Doomers!
Totally agree. Walton did a rare thing in managing the lineups well last night. Buddy didnt play that much and he shouldn’t have because his offense was totally off. Haliburton didn’t really have it going either, although he did have a few good passes and creating plays. He’s been struggling with confidence lately, I think
He just seems a bit worn out, which isn’t unusual for rookies, especially ones who’ve been getting a lot of minutes. I’m hoping that he can get his second wind and close the season strong to solidify his ROY chances. It made good sense for him to have been on the bench for most of the game. The squad was really clicking, and there wasn’t a good reason to try to justify sending Tyrese back out there.
If it’s a one game thing w Hali, fine but the entire concept of going for meaningless playoffs playin instead of development is a joke.
And I’ve seen Haliburton put up big quarters while being quite previously.
Get rdy for another 5 game winning streak followed by another 9 game losing streak to end the season
Watching Luka play was a great reminder of how lucky the Kangz are not to have him. His Dad would have ruined the team.
Plus those pesky triple doubles and game winners are so unseemly.
Hot shooting night for our guys and bad shooting night for the bad guys.
I expect to return to our regularly scheduled tank vs the Dominant TWolves the next game. Or we’ll see another 7-1 stretch who knows.
Welp, now we really need to hope for a Cavs and Wizards win tomorrow.
The Kings were Under Pressure…and Fox was Ice, Ice, Baby.
Vivek is probably feeling 6 feet tall after this win.
My Dad got a picture with Vivek a while back, and my Mom (who took the picture) told me “he’s one small and skinny dude.”
He must have small guy syndrome which would explain his big ego.
Its awesome having an easily star-struck owner who has no idea how to run a basketball team.
DAMMIT, now we’re 2.5 games out of 6th place! No more of this crap, we can’t afford to slip another half game down.
Actually, 5 games out of 10th ! Oh well !
LD: You no pickie me, I let King win
VD: Wookay, deel!
LD: I go talk to guy with young tray
This is good
Together on the Kings, Doncic and Fox were gonna break the law of averages really badly
Happy for the players. They needed a good effort and win.
Sad for the franchise. They needed to lose in order to win long term.
Exactly. The only hope, probably, for this team is to lose so much Walton is fried and maybe Vivek is forced to back off.
Happened in DC. WFT got so bad fans stopped showing, the owner, another piece of shit, was embarrassed enough to hire a real GM/Coach and let him run the show.
It may be the Kings last and only hope. Lose like you mean it Kangz.
Not happy for a roster of guys who choose not to play defense 90% of the time and let their teammates get smacked around on the court. Sorry, not feeling it for these guys.
To think we could have easily had either
Fox and Luka, or
Fox and Spida
Instead we ended up with Justin Jackson, Giles and Bagley lol.
#Kangz
Yay?
I can maybe see the argument that Woodard just isn’t ready to handle the NBA yet and the team doesn’t want to break his confidence by failing (don’t agree but maybe could see something like that)….I can’t for anything think of a good reason why Halliburton should ever be seeing only 16 minutes in a game unless there is some injury (which there is none that I’m aware of). I guess we are supposed to be happy with a win, but at this point I could really care less about wins/losses this year and would much rather be planning for the future.
I haven’t had a chance to watch the game yet, but I noticed that Haliburton was a -23 in the box score. Did it seem like he was really struggling last night?
He wasn’t very good last night and frankly was glad he wasn’t in the game down the stretch. Rookies still gon’ rook, I guess.
When the hell can we get rid of Buddy? Hali needs to start and I want to see a full dose of Terence Davis off the bench next year. That dude brings it nightly.
Yeah McNair likely found a solid replacement for the backup sg spot at a fraction of the cost. Now he has to figure out how to part with buddy
Mhm I love me some TD. Throw it down big fella! Throw it down!
Terence Davis…”The Microwave 2.0″.
I would suspect that this summer is the time Buddy Hield gets traded. There’s possibilities there with so many teams having cap space.
Buddy feels like a very undercover DMC to me…a complete cancer to the team, always looking out for himself above the team. Did you hear his comments to Haliburton during Sam Amick’s interview?
Nobody likes a 10-game losing streak.
Good for the team. Up is down and down is up with the Kings.
We won’t lose another game the rest of the season.
Also, I don’t know what I’m talking about.
KIIIIIIIIIIIIINGS!!
When I watched last night, which was mostly the 1st half and some of the 3rd qtr, it was a fun entertaining game. Fox had a great game, the best player on the court. Of course when you hit your FT’s, drop 12 dimes and have 0 turnovers (Kings as a team had 6), that tends to be what I consider a great game. Love to see it more, obviously.
The lack of the defensive rebounding, and the fact Dallas is less physical than the Kings somehow is confounding to me yet true nonetheless. There’s really nothing wrong with Dallas last night, and the Kings were more physical/active with their role players than they have been in the past.
Luka was so-so, it happens. (Yes, that was a so-so game for him.)
Loved the effort on both ends, Delon Wright showed up well last night and on both ends. Man it’s fun to have to a good veteran high Bball IQ player on the team like Wright. That’s fun to watch, or at least it is for me.
Overall I was entertained. Good to see the Kings snap the streak if nothing else. And fun to see Fox assert himself in a meaningful way that wasn’t just scoring. But I’m easily entertained so there is that, too…..
I wonder what Fox and Doncic talked after the game…
maybe:
Fox: “I wished Divac did not listen to me, so that I can play with you”
And of course, most curious about what Bagley said to Luka
Bagley: “Nuh, Luka, the team doesn’t even need me to beat your team…haha”
(all jokes above)
Much as we all want to lose out for draft pick reasons, good to have a cathartic win like this now and then.
How did that bum Whiteside do?
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