The Sacramento Kings entered tonight’s game having won 4 out of 5 games on their current road trip. On the second night of a back to back, the Kings had their work cut out for them against a scrappy Chicago Bulls team. Could the Kings continue the good vibes, or would the schedule catch up to them?
Quick Stats
Outcome: Kings win, 123-115
Sacramento Kings: 123pts, 50.0% fg, 38.5% 3 pt, 82.8% ft, 33 ast, 40 reb, 16 to
Chicago Bulls: 115 pts, 46.2% fg 32.4% 3 pt, 90.9% ft, 24 ast, 47 reb, 16 to
Kings win! The Kings powered through the struggles of the back to back and secured yet another win. The Kings have now won 5 of 6 games on this road trip, with one more road game to go. That’s the upside. The downside is how it happened. The Kings came out playing fantastic in the first half, and led by as many as 30 points at one time, but squandered the lead with a horrendous third quarter. Luckily the Kings have a superstar in De’Aaron Fox who took over in the fourth and helped the Kings escape with the win.
The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly
The Good:
- First Half Execution: The Kings played truly inspired basketball in the first half. Great ball movement, great defensive effort, and the shots were falling from everywhere. It was the type of basketball we love from the Beam Team.
- Domantas Sabonis: Sabonis had a quiet night, but still racked up his 31st straight double double and his 14th triple double of the season. Domas finished with 13 points, 14 rebounds, and 10 assists.
- Bench contributors: Trey Lyles and Malik Monk were big off the bench for the Kings. Monk had 22 points, 7 assists, and 5 rebounds. Trey Lyles had 16 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists, and was 5/7 from beyond the arc.
The Bad:
- Foul Troubles: Keegan Murray was in foul trouble early. Even though he still logged 31 minutes, his usual flow was disrupted and Keegan finished with just 5 points, and was 1/5 from 3. De’Aaron Fox also struggled with fouls, finishing with 5. The final foul in particular was egregiously bad, as replays showed that Fox made no contact at all on DeMar DeRozan. The Kings, however, couldn’t challenge because…
- Bad Challenges: Mike Brown continued his trend of being truly terrible at challenges. The Kings lost their challenge in the first half, while up big, on an ultimately meaningless play.
The Ugly:
- The third quarter: The Kings allowed a 30 point lead to dwindle to just 10 points. Poor execution, sloppy play, rushed shots. What was worse is that no Kings fans were surprised by it.
The King of Kings
De’Aaron Fox
Fox showed out for baby Reign’s first birthday, finishing with 41 points, 5 steals, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists. Fox was everywhere in defense, and took over scoring down the stretch. The Bulls defense was locked in, but Fox’s heroics were just a step above.
Up Next
The Kings finished their road trip against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday, February 5th at 4:00 PM PT
Just dodged an epic disaster
Regardless of what happens Monday, this was a very successful road trip.
True. And even with letting the lead disappear, they won the Segababa on the road. That’s still impressive.
At least we’re getting a guaranteed 5-2 road trip at worse. Cleveland will be tough (they’re on a roll, won 9 of their last 10), but it would be nice to pick up a win there. Gotta get as many wins as we can before coming back for our last five games before the All-Star break. Detroit is the only bad team we’re playing in that span, so gotta make a run while we can.
Cleveland is also a damn tough team at home.
Fox with another 5 steals!
BP too high to dance…LTB
Had me reeling there for a bit.
&ct=g
This is the best/worst road trip we’ve ever had.
But now I dance!
Guess I’ll join in
Hanging on to barely get the win . Most would have been elated to get an 8;point win in Chicago on a back to back . However, the way it finished takes some of the joy away . A W does go up in standings, so there is that .
Same Oh. Same Oh. Just like clockwork. You can take it to the bank.
Baby Reign gets his first candle lit by the purple beam!
Grats to De’Aaron (and Recee) for a game saving 41 point performance. Double Double Domas the Dominator with a record tying 30th in a row.
HB, Huerter are back. Monk is back. Trey is very back. Keegan’s turn to slump, I guess.
Dropping 123 by taking the 3rd Q off with only 20. Win is a win.
Next.
Relieved they didn’t spell the baby’s name like Rainn
I believe it was his 31st double-double and his 14th triple-double. That’s pretty insane.
you are, of course, correct.
&ct=g
Ox is just amazing! The man never quits, never backs down.
Too bad he’s not good enough to be an All-Star.
Oooh, but so close!
/smh
All-Stars are nice but all I want is wins! #LTMFB
I’m not sure how many of you watched the kings back in the early 2000s but whenever a team went on a little run Chris Webber would hit an elbow jumper and that would end it.
When the Bulls started go on their big run in the 3rd period (it was an 8 to 0 run at that point), I thought someone has to make a shot like NOW (Fox was on the bench), but several different kings kept missing shots (mostly three-pointers) and the Bulls kept gaining and gaining momentum. Why didn’t MB recognize this building momentum and put Fox in sooner (it’s much easier to break momentum when the run isn’t as large)?
I guess he just wanted to see if anyone could make a clutch shot (not sure whether that can be taught).
I know in the grand scheme of things it probably doesn’t matter for this game, but I’d really prefer to not see JaVale McGee on the floor unless it’s garbage time. I wonder if there’s a reason why he played over Alex Len?
Every Javale minute it feels like we get murdered. I’m not sure why Len doesn’t play more when he’s so clearly better these days.
That one play (I forgot who it was) where one of the Bulls players literally just drove past McGee for a layup and he didn’t try to chase after him, I was pulling my hair out.
I remember the play! He didn’t even put his hands up. I think he was taken out right after but still!
This is the most 1-5 road trip that ever 5-1’d. Seriously this has been an objectively awesome road trip that has seen the Kings play some truly of awful stretches of basketball. Very thankful for the wins though!
It’s like a full body dry heave
Awesome.
Even though it was a win, that second half was pure Kangz
Up 30 No Problem
er.com/fqd.mp4
had me remembering the Tyreke Evans led 35 point comeback win against Chicago Dec 21 2009 102-98
Feeling a bit ornery tonight, seeing tweets and comments about the Kings “allowing” or “letting” the Bulls make a run. The Bulls were at home, and they have DeRozan, White, Vooch, Ayo, and Caruso, all very good NBA players, and the Kings are on a back to back on the sixth game on a road trip. By most measures this likely would be a scheduled loss. Other teams and players have a say in the outcome too, it is the NBA, what we attribute to Kangziness happens to literally every team in the league.
Their shooting went cold, the Bulls started playing great, and it got close, and the Kings never surrendered the lead. FFS. The need to add style points to victories is beyond my ken. Their job tonight was to win, they accomplished it, and now stand at 29-19. There is no column for bad wins nor good losses. 29-19. They are a good team without even hitting on all cylinders yet.
Well said!
I feel like we’re starting to put it together. Would be nice to finish off some of these blowouts without the dramatics but hard to argue with 5-1.
Just sprint hard into the AS break, rest up and be ready for the stretch run.
Road trip has been a great success, but I think most folks have nagging thoughts about 1st round exit because of the occasional great defense. Maybe just don’t think about it, enjoy the wins goddamnit.
Nice take. If we would have been told we would go 5-1 on the road we would have been thrilled, no matter how the games were won.
Man, I’d love to add Caruso to the Kings. I’d overpay to have him play for the Kings 30 minutes a night.
The Bulls really aren’t in a place to be competitive. Even with Lavine they would be a play-in team. A weird collection of talent.
Looks like LaVine may be going to Detroit. Talks are heating up between the Pistons and Bulls. Killian Hayes has also wants out of Detroit. Dominos may begin to fall. Monte needs to keep the powder dry and pounce at the right tiime.
Think the foot surgery changes that at all? Been lingering, maybe it is a career long issue moving forward?
I think the Bulls are going to have to pay for someone to eat LaVines deal. Bojan, Joe Harris, and a future pick saves the Bulls a ton of money and the Pistons have nothing but cap space. It may even cost the Bulls more than that.
Rantdumb thoughts:
I would not have thought 5 wins on this roadie as being a possibility, given how the team was playing going into it.
The only time that we notice how good Sabonis is is on those rare occasions when he’s not. As manic as this team is, could you imagine it without him (spoiler alert: the answer is 2006-2021).
Brown is responsible for his coaching staff, and whoever is holding the ipad for challenges needs to be re-assigned.
Man, I would love see any one of Monk, Huerter, Barnes or Murray string together a solid month of consistently good play right now.
If this is Trey Lyles returning to full health, me likey.
That was arguably the best game Lyles has had this season. If he can just maintain 85% of what he did against the Bulls the Kings would benefit greatly.
Hot Take:
It looks like the plan to push Keegan forward whilst having5th/last option HB40 has been shifted. Pro that he is, Barnes is doing what Barnes do, (when put in the position to do).
Huerter, with his shot falling, is riding his returned confidence and the period where he had to do more when his shot wasn’t falling has expanded his game. His D, rebounding,his mid-range, heck, even his FT shooting, has shown an upswing.
Keegan, in just his Soph campaign,
continues to peak and valley but on an incline- he’s better and better – but still looks his court age some games.
The return of Monk after a very off January and a sharp Trey really round up the squad to a sweet Core 7. Monk and Trey have elevated the rest of the Bench-o-teers as well. The 12 min or less benchers have nicer looking games. We aren’t see the collapse when they rested the starters that we have seen the first half of the season(IMO).
I’m looking forward to getting Sasha back to round up to a Core 8
I think the post-game rantdumb thoughts should be a more regular contribution Rob.
Badge Legend