It’s Monday again, folks, and the Kings embarked on the second half of their season after a long weekend off. Entering in the midst of a four-game losing streak, the Kings looked to right the ship against the Atlanta Hawks. It was their last chance to give the hometown crowd something to cheer about before they leave for a two-week, seven-game road trip. Let’s see how they did:
Quick Stats
Outcome: Kings win, 122-107
Sacramento Kings: 122 pts, 46.2% fg, 31.6% 3 pt, 88.9% ft, 22 ast, 51 reb, 9 to
Atlanta Hawks: 107 pts, 38.7% fg 35.0% 3 pt, 77.8% ft, 19 ast, 50 reb, 12 to
The beam is lit, the losing streak is over, and the city of Sacramento can rest easy tonight because the Kings looked like the Kings again. Without their star point guard, the Hawks relied heavily on Dejounte Murray, who did his best by scoring 35 points on 11-23 from the field. But the Kings put together a collective team performance to secure their first win of the second half of the season.
The Good, The Bad, & The Nasty
The Good:
- Team Effort: It was an unusual scoring night for the Kings, as their two most consistent scorers came out flat. De’Aaron Fox (12 points) didn’t score his first bucket until the second quarter, and Domantas Sabonis (14 points) barely achieved his 25th double-double in a row by reaching double digits late into the fourth quarter. With their stars in a rut, it may be hard to believe, but the Kings maintained a comfortable lead for most of this game. It came from a collective team effort from everyone. Harrison Barnes was aggressive early, attempting a total of 20 field goals tonight. Keegan Murray (13 points) had a big third quarter performance that slowed down the Hawks’ momentum when they started on a threatening run. And, of course, Malik Monk did what Malik Monk does – he finished with 13 points and 8 assists, creating quality looks for himself and his teammates to score. It was reassuring to see the Kings win this one by pulling together and getting contributions from everyone.
- Defensive Effort: Although the Hawks corralled 13 offensive rebounds, it didn’t really feel like it. The Kings held the Hawks to just 38.7% from the field and by the eye test, cleaned up the defensive boards nicely. Domantas Sabonis led with 21 rebounds, which were made possible by missed shots by the Hawks, created by some solid defensive effort by the Kings. Davion Mitchell got to showcase his menace mentality by forcing a handful of turnovers with his suffocating on-ball defense. Behind him, the Kings did a good job with scramble rotations, as they moved together as if on a string to close out on shooters and box out rebounders down low.
- Free Throws!!!: The Kings shot 24-27 from the line and made them when it mattered most. In a recently weird trend, this has been an area that the Kings have struggled with, so it was nice to see them correct tonight and get back to a normal free throw percentage.
The Bad:
- Too Many Fouls: The Kings sent the Hawks to the line 27 times tonight, where they cashed in for 21 points. The Hawks were able to go on runs during these moments because the game would slow down and the Kings’ momentum would get halted. There was a concerning stretch in the third quarter where the Kings’ offense seemed to lose its flow because of all the stoppage.
The Nasty:
- This: For this slam and big beam energy, JaVale McGee caused me to create a whole new section in this recap:
DON'T HURT 'EM JAVALE 😮💨 https://t.co/RKjx9JJ8jF pic.twitter.com/cLVyzHR4Hr
— Sacramento Kings (@SacramentoKings) January 23, 2024
The King of Kings
Harrison Barnes was on a mission tonight to be the best bird in the world. The Black Falcon led the Kings with 32 points on 4-8 from the 3-point line and a perfect 6-6 from the stripe. It was old school HB work – post ups, slow euros, pump fakes, turnaround jumpers – we got it all.
Up Next
Thursday, January 25th @ Golden State Warriors – 7:00 P.M. (PT)
Happy we broke the losing streak. Now on to a brutal road stretch.
Two firsts for Barnes. Change my mind.
Did anybody say why Barnes went off and put up so many shots tonight? Exactly the same time he’s being questioned by fans, etc..
I felt like maybe this is a reaction to that or is this the kings getting him more Looks to up his trade value? To remind other teams of what he’s capable of?
I just seem like very coincidental timing. Too coincidental.
I don’t know. I wonder if a short streak of games to showcase a player really fools GM’s.
On the other hand, since Vlade I am suspending my disbelief, where it comes to NBA GM’s.
Maybe Brown understood that being so reliant on the 3 is a problem and that teams are emphasising stopping Domas. Then Barnes is your best option near to the basket, especially with the way Fox has been playing lately.
Okay, postgame Brown said he was just aggressive and when he started rolling they were looking for him more.
So I know nothing.
Certainly an option is that the days off allowed Brown and Co to realize Barnes needs more touches/particularly in the paint-like last year.
DeJonte Murray for Harrison Barnes straight up
https://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=ynpyrkvz
(NBA trade machine says it works!)
Must have been a hella locker room meeting.
This team can really play good ball if focused. It hasn’t been happening much lately but tonight they all decided to contribute to the best of their ability.
1- Harrison Barnes looked 10 years younger
2- 88.9% Free throws
3- Bench production
4- Domas – 21 rebounds
4- Decent, if not perfect defense
Barnes stock market bull run
Bird (not Larry, not Sue) Dance
&ct=g
Kings Win!
Is Clint Capella on a minutes restriction? He was pulled with 22:00 minutes never to return.
He’s on an NBA talent restriction……but I kid
Kidding or no, Capela has averaged a double/double for ten seasons while averaging fewer than twenty-seven minutes per game. His per 36 numbers are just stupidly good.
I wish this version of Barnes would show up more than just once every few months.
That sounds nice, but that would also mean that others would take less shots. Barnes took 20 shots, 12.5 more than his average. Both Fox and Monk took 6 shots less than their average. Keegan one less and Domas 3 less.
Now I don’t mind Monk toning it down a bit, and with Fox in his current shape is okay as well. But when they’re on, do we really want Barnes to take 20 shots?
There is a lot to criticize Barnes about, but being the 5thj man in the pecking order is not easy. Expecting him o turn the scoring switch on when other starters aren’t cutting it is quite a task.
So I am less concerned with this scoring version of Barnes not showing up and more concerned that as the 5th option, he’s not providing enough in other categories, mainly defense and rebounding.
That’s why I would like to try inserting someone who can provide more of these aspects (Lyles, Sasha?), and tell Barnes to let it fly when coming off the bench.
Unless we can find an upgrade for a decent price.
And the Black Falcon will fly away again!
If he’s going to get 32 points on those 20 shots, then he can do it every night for all I care.
Well said. Barnes struggles against faster players and doesn’t defend the perimeter effectively. He needs some lessons from Davion or Doug Christie on lateral quickness.
That should work. Maybe Javale can give Davion lessons on tallness.
Davion deserve more playing time.
He knows his weakness, and thus aggressively driving into the lane. Although he get blocked, but at least the field goal % of driving into the paint is much higher than shooting the 3 ball (for the whole team)…
Davion can be the head of the snake, his defense should inspire the whole team.
Davion was more aggressive on offense and was 2/7 FG and that includes getting his shot blocked 3 times. 0 for 2 from 3FG. 2 assists 0 steals in 22 min.
He can (and must) do better.
Yeah, I wonder how much his height factored into those blocks.
He got blocked a few times, not just once.
If he doesn’t develop and outside shot, and I mean fast, he’s not long for the league.
On some nights the long shot looks good, but last night you could see his form is off and the shot looked off the moment it left his hands. He needs Luke Louks to work with him like Luke did with DeAaron whose long range shooting is vastly improved this season.
I’m happy to see Davion back in the rotation. DPOG.
Davion had a 115 DRTg, the worst of the Kings that played last night. His 94 ORTg was only 2nd worst, behind the terrible game that Fox had. He also had a -7.7 Box plus-minus in that game.
The Hawks decided to focus on Domas and Fox, leaving Barnes guarded 1:1 by Bey or Johnson. He was too much for them and they went after the mismatch over and over. Barnes even missed a couple that he should’ve gotten, which would have put him near 40 for the game. Atlanta never really adjusted, and I’m kind of surprised they didn’t go to it even more in the second half. I think this was just a good recognition of what the defense was giving them and Barnes just said “thank you very much”.
Wasn’t Bey one of our targets because of his defense?
Yup, I like Bey, and I’m not going to not like him because Barnes had one hot game.
As long as he’s not playing here I also like him.
You only really see all the flaws of a player once he’s on your own team. 🙂
Barnes was not hitting difficult shots. He was just torching him with ease.
OT: That’s a great deal for Miami.
Yeah, not bad at all.
I wonder if Nikola Jovic is still available? Heat look to be going all in.
lottery protected in 2027. If not conveyed, turns in to an unprotected 2028.
PJ Washington, perhaps?
That roster is a collection of flawed players, headcases, and off-court issues. PJ would be fine, not a big difference maker, imo. He would help for sure, just not sure how much at the cost he might had for.
Something to keep in mind with this trade is that the Hornets just opened over $50M in cap space by taking on Lowry’s expiring deal. They also have Hayward’s massive expiring deal. I 100% guarantee they are renouncing their cap holds come summer.
They also just opened up the starting SG spot next to Ball and Monk was drafted by the Hornets. The Hornets can pay him more than anyone else can.
Terry Rozier is awesome. We’ve seen that.
Glad to see the HB we know is still ready and willing.
Even a broken clock is right twice a day. These players like Barnes and Mitchell that show up every few months and somehow get fans to suddenly say “they need to play more!” UM NO. They need to be traded. Players that only show up every 35 games are almost worse than the 12th guy in the bench. They slowly cost the team wins over long periods of time by being occasionally effective but otherwise a liability. Consistency is #1 and if you’re famously inconsistent year after year you should go to the Pistons or G-League.
Good call. We trade our players that are underperforming to teams that, for whatever reason, don’t bother to look at game film or statistics.
Since we can get anyone that way, which players should McNair target?
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