In a promising performance on both sides of the ball the Sacramento Kings defeated a very talented and experienced Denver Nuggets team 124-122 in overtime of Wednesday's season opener.
The Kings won it at the buzzer on a Buddy Hield tip in off a rebound. Hield led the team in scoring with 22 points, and he added 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 steal. De'Aaron Fox finished with 21 points, 7 assists 4 rebounds, 1 steal and 1 block. Harrison Barnes added 21 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists and 1 block.
First Half
The Kings showed flashes of promise in the first half. They played decent defense and shared the ball well (14 assists) and took care of it (only 4 turnovers). Surprisingly, Cory Joseph led the team in scoring in the first half with 12 points off the bench (and he was the first player off the bench for Luke Walton). Not long after he entered the game, Tyrese Haliburton joined him, along with De'Aaron Fox and Hassan Whiteside. The three-guard lineup looked a little shaky, but kept the Kings in the game.
Haliburton shared the ball well and impressed with some of his passes. Both Fox and Hield struggled with their shots, going for a combined 4-17 from the field.
Even though the Kings put in a good effort on the defensive end, the Nuggets still put up 60 points in the first half on 51 percent from the field and 41 percent from three. No one had an answer for Nikola Jokic, who had 10 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists in the first half. The Nuggets were sending guys at Marvin Bagley and for the most part, guys were getting by him, but he held his own on some plays. Bagley did look promising on offense though and wasn't stagnating the offense, which is a good sign.
The Kings got to the free throw line 11 times in the first half and made 9 of those shots.
Second Half
The Kings came out strong in the third quarter as Hield and Fox started to get their shots to fall and the defense really picked up. They took the lead at the 6:55 mark of the third quarter and Fox started to put his print on the game. On defense, everyone on the Kings was rotating and they switch it up on occasion with a zone that seemed to confuse the Nuggets as their field goal percentage began dropping. The defense was leading to offense and it was a good thing to see. By the start the fourth quarter the Kings had begun to take control, dictating the flow of the game and the Nuggets began to show their frustration. All this happening with Bagley on the floor, by the way.
The game remained close, however, and Jokic notched his first triple double of the season as his dominance continued.
In the final five minutes, things slowed down a little. Haliburton nailed a few threes showing his long-range distance. Jokic, being the monster he is, got both Holmes and Bagley to foul out. Whiteside came in though and made a key block and got an offensive foul called on Jamal Murray. (Though he missed two free throws at the other end of the floor a play later.)
With 29 seconds left, Jokic tied the game at 112 with two free throws. The Kings got a great look for Haliburton in the final seconds with an open three, but it didn't fall. Jokic was called for an offensive foul with 2 seconds left in the tied game. Hield lost control of the ball on the final shot of the fourth quarter and we went to overtime.
By the end of the second half, the Nuggets field goal percentage had dropped to 47 percent and 29 percent from three showing how the Kings defense improved as the game went on.
Free Basketball!
The Nuggets took the lead with 2:30 left in overtime. The Kings started to look a little fatigued and the shots stopped falling. Jokic is a very skilled basketball player and made shots. The Kings kept pulling within two points, but it seemed like the experience of the Nuggets was going to get them the win. Then a wild sequence in the final 30 seconds happened. Michael Porter Jr. blocked Cory Joseph on a three-point attempt and that was followed up by a tremendous block by Fox on Will Barton that led to a fast break bucket for Barnes that tied the game at 122 with 6.5 seconds left.
In the final play of the game, Jokic lost the ball and Barnes sprinted down the floor for a layup that missed and was tipped in by Hield at the buzzer.
Kings win!
Kings win!
https://twitter.com/SacramentoKings/status/1341971048128864256
Player(s) of the Game
It should probably be Hield, but you sort of have to share the game ball here with Hield, Fox and Barnes. Each of them played key roles in this victory down the stretch and it was a true team win.
Other notes
- It was nice to see Haliburton still on the floor even with Joseph getting minutes. The rookie logged 30 minutes and tallied 12 points, 4 assists, 2 rebounds and a block.
- Murray got his first basket from the field of the night with 8 minutes left in the fourth. That was his only field goal of the game.
- Bagley finished with 13 points, 9 rebounds and a block in 27 minutes.
- Richaun Holmes is continuing to have foul trouble issues, fouling out with 3 minutes left in the game, granted he was trying to guard Jokic.
- Fox showed poise late in the game and a willingness to take shots with the game on the line.
- Haliburton was in the game for the bulk of the fourth quarter, including crunch time.
- Jokic finished 29 points, 15 rebounds, 14 assists and 3 blocks.
Next up
The Kings will take on the Phoenix Suns on Saturday at 7 p.m.
UNDEFEATED MARK JONES OH BOY!
Such a breath of fresh air. Seems like he actually enjoys the game, vs going through the motions.
(The broadcast booth is my daisy farm right now)
On the game…
Compared to last year, the Kings look better, and Denver looks worse. That’s it, that’s the take.
Yes please! At no point did I expect them to win… and then they did and I was pumped!
Grant is really upset that he cant figure out how to create multiple accounts and log in with each one to down vote more.
Its called us an incognito window Grant
Really cannot be overstated. I thought Jones was great and his call on the game winner was great!
Caught the overtime. Tremendous win. But please help, are Kings fans still unhappy with Buddy?
Even this game was a mixed bag with Buddy. He had two boneheaded TOs in crunch time but also came up with a big ball swipe vs Jokic along with the game-winning tip. Buddy has all the hustle in the world but he needs to eliminate some of those bad passes in crunch time. I was really happy with his D tonight as well. Give some credit to Fox and Buddy for not letting Murray get into the flow of things tonight.
I love buddy the player and I can even handle the stupid ass mistakes he makes on a nightly basis (maybe he is fixing this? I doubt it) but I absolutely can not handle the prima donna bull shit. I can’t stand it.
if he tops saying stupid shit, stops behaving like a child, stops being a problem instead of a solution then he can suck it. for me and I think many thats all it comes down to.
As long as he isn’t talking or dribbling I’m cool with buddy. I wasn’t able to watch the whole game but I did see buddy engaged and aggressive on the defensive end. I have no complaints with that buddy.
People like to pick on Buddy’s dribbling but his dribbling has *vastly* improved since joining the team. He’s not “point guard” level improved but he could barely dribble the ball. Back then there was serious doubt that Buddy would *ever* develop the ability to drive to the rim without losing the ball, something he does now on a regular basis.
I think Buddy’s problems all stem from lapses of focus. His errors seem to come in bunches over a span of a couple minutes. If he can eliminate those lapses of focus he’ll become a consistent player across the board.
This might have been the highlight of 2020.
And I don’t just mean Kings basketball.
I love Sacramento, I love the Kings, I love this community, and I even love Klam. Great way to start the season!
Adamsite and Klam:
Who you gonna call for a game winner?
As much as Buddy is going to be on the game winning highlights, the Kings would be nowhere without Barnes tonight. He gets the game ball.
Barnes was such a beast tonight
That last steal vs Jocker was absolutely amazing
ZERO FOX GIVEN
If that is Doug’s new signature line…I support it 100% percent. I laughed so hard when he said that.
Yeah, that was a perfect time to break it out as well. Really good start to the new Mark and Doug team.
It was Fox King awesome.
Fox to Will Barton in OT…
Kings are 100% title contenders now you heard it here first
I second that
Haliburton looked very comfortable out there. Excited to see his progression and I hope he becomes more aggressive soon.
Buddy running to the locker room gave me flashbacks to his Detroit game winner.
Fun win.
Haliburton looks great. Made the team better when he was out there….on O and D. He definitely needs the ball in his hands more. He’s such a great passer and playmaker. Once he gets that/gets aggressive….look out.
I mean, he’s already good enough to be on the floor at the end. Love him.
He can help Fox out so much. Taking some of the ball-handling and shot-creating pressure off of him from time to time. The best lineup for the Kings is already Fox, Hali, Buddy, Barnes, and whoever at Center.
Draft Whoever, that kid has got something special.
I think we did that already and his name was Papagiannis. Whoever that was.
Let’s just end the season now. ð
That was a lot of fun tonight.
Luke Walton as the team ran off the court…
He was waiting to check the tape
Luke seemed so disappointed while everyone else was happy with the results.
He seemed more confused than disappointed.
I think he was prepping to lose his shit on them not calling a foul on Barnes’ dunk attempt.
His team is running off the court in triumph, and this fucking guy looks like he forgot where he parked his car.
For the life of me, between the fact that this douchebag is completely unqualified for this job (or any other job), and refuses to wear a mask, maybe the league will fine him into oblivion.
If you’re going to call out Walton for mask etiquette you should call out Bobby Jackson as well. He had his mask pulled below his nose most of the time that I saw him.
I only caught the 2nd half & OT, but the defense looked very good for most of the time I was watching. Holding Murray w/o a FG until 8 minutes were left in the 4th was impressive.
When the Kings ran out their defensive lineup of Fox, CoJo, Haliburton, Whiteside, and Barnes, I was surprised that there was actually a decent defensive lineup on the team. Great W!
My Nostradumbass did NOT predict our first win to come this early!
Yep, I had Phoenix.
I had Chicago.
Same
Me too.
Yeah I thought we might split the Phoenix series
Golden State for me!
I had Denver.
But the final time we are to play them.
What if, and stay with me here, we are actually GOOD this year? This is not a winner’s high statement, alright maybe a teeny tiny bit, but humor me. I truly expect to be wrong as we lose by 20 the next game, but WHAT IF?
Just remove everything that happened last year and imagine this was 2018-2019 going into 2019-2020. We’re coming off a 39-43 season and we head into the offseason, yes losing Bogi, but we have replaced him with Haliburton. Also, instead of signing Dedmon, Ariza, Holmes and Cojo, we have Whiteside, GR3, Holmes and Cojo.
The team is going to play fast, Marvin is entering this season healthy, and we are more equipped to play up-tempo.
Yes, we still have Luke, but this is a Luke Walton not just coaching for his Kings job, but perhaps his future Head Coaching prospects post-Kings.
I don’t believe it either, but WHAT IF? I’ll stay off the weed now. MERRY CHRISTMAS KANGZ FANZ!
Whiteside did an anti-Whiteside and had a great effect on the game without the stats. His presence in the lane disrupted their guards.
Whiteside, despite failing the eye test, always had a positive impact on any game he plays.
That was amazeballs!
Also, now would be the perfect time to fire Luke Walton! ð
You mean Uke Walton!
Put some respect on that name!
Dare I go one step further and say Wuke Walton?
Sounds baby-ish enough to be sort of fitting, sort of cute…but still not. Just enough to take the salt out after the sting.
Fluke Walton maybe? I’m still very skeptical of him. Otherwise, great game.
𤣠𤣠ð¤£
I know small samples sizes blah, blah, blah. BUT! I think it’s noteworthy that the team never really did that bad when a specific player was on the floor. That’s not going to happen every game this season, but it seemed to happen every game last season. If you can prevent those fucked up runs that distort the +/- for specific players, then you can win a lot of games.
The only one I worried about after tonight was Bagley. He go absolutely torched by some role players on the Nuggets tonight. the +/- may not show it, but my eyes saw it. He still has mountains to climb when it comes to his man and team defense.
Also, I’m still chairing the official Bagley Assist Watch Committee. He is still at zero through the last 3 games.
13 points on 14 or 15 shots. Same ol Bagley in this one.
it’s crazy that you can recognize him since he hasn’t played in close to a year.
His defensive mistakes were especially hard to watch.
he had some mistakes, and some good defensive possessions. That is to be expected when you haven’t played since before this whole pandemic thing. I’m okay with giving him the benefit of the doubt for one game.
Bagley harshness is to be expected. Fair or not.
Homelessness is to be expected, fair or not.
Sadly yes.
There were a number of times I saw Bagley let his man go when he recognized he got beat to the rim. Better to let the guy go than to compound the error by fouling. I call that some level of improvement.
During I think the 3rd quarter, he was at the rim with like four Nuggets defending him and he missed and rebounded his own shot a couple times. I think he eventually got blocked, but there was no indication that he was even thinking about passing.
Idk even if he never becomes a competent passer, I hope the thought at the very least crosses his mind every once in a while… even if it’s just to bail out of a bad situation.
He passed it around the perimeter in the 5 out sets as part of the offense, but anytime he got the ball within 12 feet of the rim, ball movement was done.
One might argue that you’re just being lazy because it won’t take much work to tally his anemic assist totals
Bagley is still going to be a player that we hope to see nightly “flashes.” He has a lot of bad habits, and he’s missed a lot of time, and that’s just the reality of the situation. There were a couple of “NO, NO, YES!” plays, there were a few hustle plays only he can make, and there was the occasional “play within a team concept, and get rewarded” plays.
He reminds me of Omri with those bad habits and hustle plays, which isn’t a good thing for a potential franchise player. He’s all hustle right now, but I don’t think he made a shot outside of 5 feet tonight? Maybe is is just trying too hard right now. Give it time.
I’ve decided that this year I will just observe Bagley like a sensei. We all know his shortcomings, and it just is what it is. What I’m looking at is has he improved in a meaningful way. Tonight I’m giving him a….drum roll please…please?….fine, a pass. It was his first game back after being injured for like 18 months. He’s going to have his ups and downs.
One thing I was thinking about is inventing practice court magnetic technology that basically locks your feet to the ground when you take a dumbass midrange from that side area when no one is guarding you. They aren’t guarding you because like two people in the history of the nba can consistently make that shot!
AND you know what’s worse? Doug Christie will say some dumb shit like “they’re going to give you that shot in the NBA, so you have to be able to knock it down young fella!” It’s like no! They give you that shot Doug because it’s a low percentage shot that they want you to take!
I get that it is Bagley’s first official game back since late January and he is going to show some rust and flaws, but it was also Haliburton’s first meaningful NBA game…ever. He showed more poise and understanding of the team game then Bagley ever has.
Nothing changes the fact that this is Bagley’s 3rd NBA season. I just can’t give him a pass on inexperience anymore. He’s been coached, practicing and training at the NBA level for 2.5 years.
yeah I mean we all know Bagley’s shortcomings. I don’t think it’s realistic to expect him to reinvent himself into a non-selfish player in his first game back. It’s going to be a process with him that will take time. I’m at least willing to kinda just observe for a while before getting too critical.
He took on the challenge of defending Jokic at times.That was good to see.
100% Bagley should not get a pass and I think this is a big reason.
Every time he’s interviewed about how he’s preparing to come back or what he’s done while he’s been out injured, he rarely says that he WATCHES FILM. It’s always reports on how he’s changed his body and he’s gotten stronger, but what did he do to further understand the game of basketball.
The only silver lining is, while yes he isn’t inexperienced anymore, he is still young.
Lose Walton does nothing except watch film. The fact that Bagley doesn’t point it out as if doing so was some heroic act is a pretty flimsy complaint.
You’re comparing apples and oranges comparing Bagley and Halliburton. Part of the problem is that Bagley’s flaws are being magnified because there is expectation that he can fix those flaws, but that wasn’t likely the first game out.
At this point, I’d be happy for the guy to get 2000 minutes this season and go from there. I don’t care about whether or not he’s pass happy yet. Get on the court, do good things, let’s go from there.
You can’t teach BBIQ. Hali has it, Bagley does not–at least nowhere near Hali’s level. IMHO, this team needs more high-BBIQ rotation players to compensate for the Bagleys and Hields on the roster. Thankfully, nobody on the team exhibits McLemore-level BBIQ, but that’s a very low bar to clear (bc that particular bar is buried in the dirt).
There was one negative play that stood out to me, it was towards the end of the game where he ran at a player who is shooting a corner three, and he ran about 10 yards off the court, how do you controlled what he did he would’ve been in position to get the rebound. In my humble opinion it was a fake hustle play compounded by laziness to be back on the court
Still, you have to admit that it was pretty clever of him to concoct such an elaborate plan to fool you so quickly.
I only caught the 2nd half & OT, but his defense looked fine most of the time I saw him.
This may sound crazy but Kings need to trade Bagely as soon as they can, before every team figures out he has a negative impact on a team’s winning or he gets injured.
Bags was so underwhelming he wasn’t even in during the end of the game/4th quarter. Atrocious D. Can’t shoot. Doesn’t pass.
If you step back, pretend Bags is on another team, you wouldn’t want him. There is NO way he’s anythign more than a stat stuffer. Get rid of Vlades mess.
He did not have a good game tonight. His shooting was off, and he had some good and bad defensive possessions. The sample size is still too small for me to make any major conclusions but I am cool with saying his first game was not great. Let’s see how the next game looks.
I think Bagley the player has some (potential) value. He is usually a net negative right now, but I think it’s certainly possible that that changes. Bagley the trade asset is useless right now imo. I dont think you’re getting back anything more useful than his upside. Not that I’m convinced that is worth much either
for the record, he fouled out. that’s why he wasn’t in at the end of the game.
Also, it’s one game.
And he was guarding arguably the best big man in the world several times.
He should have fouled out sooner. That blocking foul he got on Millsap was really a charge by Bagley. I was surprised Malone didn’t review it.
Yeah it does sound crazy.
My bet is he will declare himself as a bench hustle player by the end of the year if he stays healthy. He is physically talented but can’t capitalize on it. Tyrese showed more basketball IQ in game 1.
Marvin having nightmares about PJ Dozier
Caught the highlights of last two minutes of overtimecrazy finish but OH BOY what a great way to start the season 🙂
Welp, I probably screwed up my first batch of Nostradumbass predictions for this game, but it was worth it for that ending!!!
Great win. However, my 2 biggest concerns are Fox and Bagley…