Welcome back, Kings fans! Our second Christmas has finally arrived – a day filled with hope, promise, and the potential for all of our dreams to come true. That’s right, it’s day one of Kangz basketball, baby, and I’m so glad you’re back here with us. Because, together, I know we are the #Kingsguard, we are #SacramentoProud, we are #LoyalToTheTurmoil, and we WILL have our day in the blazing sun of victory one day. You’ve been holding it down since the beginning and deserve a season worth cheering about. And it all rests in the hands of our beloved Sacramento Kings.
Coming off of a Summer League championship and an undefeated preseason, this team has done everything it can to convince us that this is the year. De’Aaron Fox added 10 lbs. of muscle, Davion Mitchell is playing defense (yes, DEFENSE!), and Tristan Thompson looks like he’s about to rip someone’s head off just for looking at him funny at practice. All good signs, right? But what do you think, should we believe them? Well, it all starts here – Game 1 of 82. Let’s take one last big deep breath together *woo-saaaaaah*. Now, let’s see how they did:
Quick Stats
Outcome: Kings win, 124-121
Sacramento Kings: 124 pts, 45.7% fg, 41.5% 3pt, 79.3% ft, 24 ast, 10 to
Portland Trail Blazers: 121 pts, 48.4% fg, 34.3% 3pt, 86.4% ft, 25 ast, 12 to
Are you there, basketball gods? It’s me, Mirann. And I need an ambulance STAT because I am currently in cardiac arrest. What a way to start the season. This game had everything – ups, downs, cheers, and tears, but the Kings survived Dame Time and got the big win to start their season. We took that deep breath together at the top, but take a few more just to make sure your heart rate comes back down to normal. Done? Now get HYPED because the Kings are 1-0, baby!!!
The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly
The Good:
- The Defense: Going into tonight, I was hopeful, but apprehensive, that the defense we saw in Summer League and preseason would show up when it mattered. And it did. It happened. It actually happened!!! The Sacramento Kings played real defense in a real basketball game and I am still pinching myself to make sure this is real life. The energy was palpable, the rotations were rolling, and the results were reflected in the scoreboard. The Kings were able to hold the Trail Blazers to 49 points in the first half and ultimately push Damian Lillard to an unbelievable 0-9 from the 3 point line. Individual effort, paired with team defense, helped the Kings complete clean defensive possessions and made them look like a real NBA team. Basketball looks so much more beautiful when defense is involved. I’m afraid to say this, but I could get used to this.
- HEDGEhogs: The first thing I noticed about this defense was the hard and decisive hedge the Kings showed in response to on-ball screens. My favorite defensive play came early in the game and got me hyped and hopeful for this season. The scene: Damian Lillard had the ball on the right side of the court, 25 feet from the basket, guarded by De’Aaron Fox, while Jusuf Nurkic approached De’Aaron’s right hip to set a screen. In the past, we all know how this would go – Lillard would take two dribbles off the screen and pull up to drain the long 3 and the Kings would trot back the other way. BUT NOT TONIGHT. Tonight, Richaun Holmes followed Nurkic to the screen and immediately jumped out to meet Lillard coming off the screen. This forced Lillard to make a quick decision and pass the ball to the slow-rolling Nurkic. From the weak side, Moe Harkless slid across the key to slip in and get the steal on the entry pass and led the break the other way which resulted in a Harrison Barnes 3-point play. End scene. It was perfectly executed team defense and began with the decisive hedge by Holmes. I hope to see this become a tactic the Kings become comfortable using, especially against lethal shooting point guards like Lillard.
The Bad:
- Playmaking Puzzle: This was just the first game, but it seems like Luke Walton still needs to figure out some rotational tweaks. The Kings struggled the most when both De’Aaron Fox and Tyrese Haliburton were on the bench. This left Buddy Hield and Davion Mitchell with the heavy playmaking responsibilities. Both Hield and Mitchell had some great plays to reference during these stretches, but they were far and few between. The Kings offense loses continuity without Fox or Haliburton on the floor, and until other players are able to develop more playmaking abilities, the Kings will continue to struggle during these stretches if Luke is unable to figure out how to piece the puzzle together.
The Ugly:
- Youth Ache: The Kings led by as much as 18 points early in the third quarter, and as the ticks kept ticking, every Kings fan around the world felt the hair on the back of their neck start to awaken. We know this situation too well. No lead is enough to make us feel comfortable. And we were right. Led by CJ McCollum, who finished with 34 points, the Blazers just kept chipping away, piece by piece, until we all found ourselves in nail-biting territory down the stretch. Although the Kings showed such promise and growth for three and a half quarters, the growing pains finally kicked in and the Kings found themselves fighting for their lives in the final three minutes. The pinnacle of these youth aches came when sophomore Tyrese Haliburton committed a turnover under full-court pressure with 11 seconds remaining to make it a one-point game. All’s well that ends well, but the Kings will need to do some growing up and learn how to hang on to leads so they can fully enjoy the fruits of their labor.
The King of Kings
As always, we like to administer regular doses of good vibes around TKH to balance out all of Tim’s food takes. So the King of Kings segment will remain a staple in all of my recaps. For the inevitable dark days that come with being a dramatic Kings fan, I aim to provide a silver thread for you to hold on to.
To kick things off for this season, tonight’s crown for the King of Kings goes to the man, the myth, the Black Falcon himself, Harrison. Freakin. Barnes. This man had zero conscience and 100% ice in his veins tonight. Every time the Blazers made a strong momentum push, Barnes was there to slow them down with one of his EIGHT made 3-pointers. Barnes finished with 36 points, 9 rebounds, and connected on 8 of 11 3-point attempts. Wear that crown proudly, King Barnes. You deserve it.
Honorable mention to Buddy Hield, who had a fantastic game off the bench and made four three pointers, tying him with Peja Stojakovic for the most threes made in franchise history, at 1,070.
Up Next
Friday, October 22nd vs. Utah Jazz – 7:00 P.M. (PT)
Should we dance?
Yeah!
Practicing my moves for Montell Jordan…
I’m gonna be contrarian and say slow waltz. Fox has a version of tunnel vision that is going to really end up hurting this team. With his ability to penetrate, he should be dishing out 10 assists a night, but he barely looks to create for teammates. The fourth quarter was a mess of bad offense, initiated by Fox isolating at top of key. If they figure that out, this team can make playoffs.
UNDEFEATED SINCE PREASEASON!!!!!!
Wow our rotation made sense. Still some things to tighten up. Good win overall. Was Bagley missed? Nope. Go figure.
I actually have a feeling if Bagley played a significant amount of minutes we may have lost.
Blazers with another 20 points from uncontested lay ups is a game chnager.
I don’t even think the Kings stand much of a chance at winning if we’re being honest about it Klam.
I will never forget watching an opposing team’s broadcast talking about Bagley last season. Bagley had just hit a corner 3 and they said that’s good, he is going to think he can keep shooting now. It cut into my soul because I knew it was true. And it was lol.
I remember that as well. In fact, I was truly thinking the same thing just as the announcer said that.
Maywould have lostYes, but he could’ve gotten 16 points on 7/16 with 3 self-rebounds and one assist which was actually a lost right-hand dribble that made it to Richaun right under the hoop, which would totally have shown development.
I happened across the Detroit-Bulls recap and noticed in the box score that Saddiq Bey had 13 points, nine rebouds and FOUR assists. Detroit was smart to keep him over Bagley.
That huge block by Harkless is enough to justify giving him 20 minutes a night instead of Bags. Dude is a vet.
Go purple!
Bagley? Whose Bagley?
Winning the first game of the season is super good
This is good.
Watched the 4th quarter only. Nurkic looked like a fking a-hole. Refs were trying best to get Lose Walton fired.
You missed the best part of the game which was easily the first 3 quarters. The Kings held on in the 4th, but the first 3 quarters were alot more fun until Nurkic was allowed to throw guys around like it was WWF.
+1 for WWF
Well ya, that was some real attitude era ish.
He went full Bosnian Boar, heel mode. Clotheslines, elbows; even gave Davion a double axe handle.
And the ref couldn’t see Fox getting hacked while he was distracted.
After the game it was revealed that Dick Bavetta was actually out there on the court.
I love the World Wide Fund!
or the World Wildlife Fund.
Why not both? Original name:
Even Dave Deckard over at Blazers Edge noted how much Nurkic got away with:
Eh, pretty good win all things considered. Blazers got more breaks late, but the Kings got plenty of breaks given how many open shots the Blazers did miss.
Keeping their composure, keep battling is what got the Kings the win ultimately. They should have won by more, and maybe later on this season they even do. De’Aaron wasn’t that great, but he was still better than anyone on the floor for large stretches. Holmes and Barnes had wonderful, career type of games (Barnes more so obviously). Thompson, Harkless, Davis even all made their presences known. Buddy had a very, very good game overall. No complaints really given all the things you go through in a NBA season.
It’s one of 82, and you could have survived a loss. But this group needed to gut one out, especially against Portland, who has largely had their number. I think the Blazers were taken a bit aback by the fact the Kings are no longer the pushover they came into the game expecting to a large degree.
Not a perfect win by any stretch of the imagination, and we can pick apart all the things the Kings didn’t do. But the thing the Kings did do was hit a lot of shots at the right time, they played hard, hustled, got to the 50/50 balls, built a big lead, and did all of this in Portland where they have never won much over the years.
I’ll take it. There’s more good than bad, and there’s a lot of room for improvement that could lead one to being even more optimistic than that. I’m not changing my predictions or anything, but it was a fun game to watch and the Kings pulled it out. Onto the home opener against Utah!
Agree with a lot of what you said. Barnes, Buddy, and Holmes played well, but otherwise there wasn’t a lot of outstanding play. If we can take a game on the road with some of these performances, I will take it in a heartbeat. Its nice to see some depth and some good defense.
Maybe I’m alone in this regard, but I feel like you could look at HB”s career game tonight one of two ways. On one hand, it did take a career night from him to help the Kings win. OTOH, in past years, it would have been squandered.
De’Aaron wasn’t splendidly awesome although his stat line didn’t do him any favors. The worst parts of his game, I think, happened early with those heat check 3’s. The game wasn’t called the same on both ends and consequently I think some of those missed shots turn into FT’s otherwise. For the most part, he played better than anyone else. He had the biggest impact on the game IMO. Other than Dame’s missed shots.
Agreed. There was good tonight with definite room for improvement. I’m still curious why Alex Len didn’t play unless he was injured and I didn’t realize it.
Len is a situational backup on this team. That’s great news. We’re lucky to have him when needed. Thompson and Holmes are the bigs night to night.
If Alex Len wasn’t available last night for Jusuf Nurkic, why is Len even on this team?
Bingo!
Especially with how Thompson played. No lack of effort, but the KIngs got killed when he was on the floor, and man is that guy unskilled. Maybe that was lineup specific and not Thompson’s fault, but the momentum shifted when he was on the floor.
Still, exciting game and happy for the win.
I don’t share your opinion of TT, but I do think Len is a better matchup for Nurkic in particular than Holmes or Thompson are.
I do think TT was fine for what the Kings needed from him.
To keep Bagley even further away from the rotation. Very much worth it.
That’s a good point about Len. Nurkic was a beast out there. But then again, Thompson did okay against him. It was mostly when he got switched onto a guard when he got exposed. So perhaps it would have been the same result? I also think Thompson’s aggressiveness on offense helps the team. He had three tough buckets. Love the attitude.
Thompson was a minus on the court last night.
I do enjoy the attitude but Len probably made more sense in this match up.
I hear you. But I also think their effectiveness attacking the basket (Nurkic and Zeller) was against guards after a pick and roll, as a result of the team D, not necessarily whoever was playing center for the Kings.
Hmm.
https://twitter.com/TimMaxwell22/status/1451210467523715072
as between Thompson and Len. Not Thompson and Holmes.
I’d say it makes a difference. TT hasn’t been a positive defender in a long time.
On the positive work by Harkless, Thompson, and TD (without their contributions, no win): more credit is due McNair for small moves that help the team get better defensively. He has been criticized a lot here for not making a big move. But the best path for now may be to make the small moves and develop the talented and committed young core.
1) Man that 1st half was fun. Efense with a CAPITAL D!
2) Would be nice to have another healthy young one on one scorer who isn’t a sieve on defense and has a likeable and respectable support system around him to take some of the load off of Fox
3) Refs still suck.
4) Tyrese needs one more summer of muscle watch. He was the target defensively tonight.
5) KINGS WIN!
I’m still confuse about the “unsuccessful” challenge that was indeed, successful for the Blazers…
Maybe the score we saw was only on the tv broadcast. So when the tv broadcast took the points off, we thought the refs took the points off. But maybe on the official scoreboard at the table, the points were never put up in the first place?
I don’t know. That’s all I can think of.
I’m curious why that wasn’t called an And1 for Buddy. It seemed like that it should have been.
The refs definitely tilted in PDX’s favor. If I were a Blazers fan, I wouldn’t be super optimistic about this group.
I already live in Sacramento. I’m not sure I understand what Phoebe’s point here is.
I was too – what I think happened though, was that they challenged the foul call, then on review the foul call stood (so unsuccessful challenge), but the review showed (in the ref’s judgement) that it occurred before the shot. (Which I think was an incorrect call – Buddy had gathered when the foul occurred.)
I agree with your analysis. It worked out for us, hover, since they ran off a few second, the HB hit a three.
Damn Harrison Barnes was on fire! and had lots of career highs.
Lillard with the OFF NIGHT!!!
Or maybe he just wants to get traded and it’s showing in his game
I hope we’re not in for another season where the games are close regardless of who the Kings play.
That fourth quarter was terrible. Fox drove into a crowded paint two possessions in a row after Walton called out plays. What’s up with that?
Great job Barnes! Happy that Bags didn’t play!
That 4th was ugly. I think gamesmanship trumps set plays in the final minutes and the stars and scorers are expected to step up. Fox is capable, but the Kings just don’t have another skilled guy. Can’t cry about it now, but that could be a problem in close games down the line.
This reminds me of 2018. We lost a lot of games due to bailouts by the refs similar to that nurkic play with fox and we just didn’t have the experience or star power to overcome it let alone get similar calls. Fox has gotten really saavy at drawing fouls so that helps. Barnes is the only other player that does that regularly outside of fox. Hopefully the NBA’s new directives on fouls change this for the better though.
When Richaun hit that three pointer I made a loud noise.
As soon as he caught it, I knew it was money and certainly wish to see at least 2 top of the key, pick and pop threes a game from him.
He’s quick enough to pump fake and get to the rim too, so why not LET HIM SHOOT LUKE!
I loved how he let it fly without hesitation. Nothing but net.
I like this Buddy Hield we saw tonight.
Yeap. Best Buddy is when he doesn’t force any plays and just rolls with the punches. He was great tonight.
But his effort on defense was also VERY GOOD!
6th man Buddy who actually passes sometimes is a good asset to have.
It’s the other Buddy that we all know to well … we shall see.
Nurkic just flattened Davion on the Covington missed 3 point shot. Ran right over him. No foul.
Buddy had a solid excellent game tonight.
He also hit Barnes on the head.
Stupid fans boo’d.
Couldn’t believe that. Barnes was still on the floor, Blazer’s fans are booing and after awhile a Blazer’s player goes over and tries to pick up HB by the abdomen. It looked like he was lifting up a dead guy.
We’re just the league’s and refs’ punching bags.
Perhaps the ultimate compliment, that was also infuriating, to Davion, was Cody Zeller getting handsy trying to restrict Davion’s defensive movements as he was guarding Dame. On three successive possessions he was grabbing him with his hands as Davion fought his way through screens. No foul called. Then Zeller flattened him on a blind screen way beyond the top of the key. A hard play, probably not a foul, but it looked like Zeller was moving into Davion on the screen.
I thought I saw one moving screen on Davion by Zeller that the refs enjoyed watching.
HEY AGENT TWEET THIS
Marty that picture is wrong. Didn’t you see Marvin was out due to injury today? . . . His feelings were hurt.
DNP-BUTT HURT
Seriously, this Kings team is hotter than fine wine! Let’s boil this vintage and keep it hot all season.
That was funny.
I cringed so many times over this forced one liners today. That one was weird.
Don’t knock it till you try it!
Fun game!
Thought Wuke waited too long to bring Holmes back in in the 4th. Refs spent the whole 2nd half trying to give the game to PDX. Kings spent a lot of the 4th trying to help them.
The Barnes was on fire. Need more Tyrese initiating the offense with PnR to keep the ball moving.
Very promising overall.
Thought Kayte did well. Laughed at the end when Kyle gave credit for the win to Doug
Non stop talk is ok for some but not for me ! It is G Man time !
She was mostly ok, she just talked too much. She needs to realize that she’s not doing the studio show now, she just needs to focus on the game. Morgan was great though.
What announcers don’t realize, Pat…
Morgan was good, though I’m still not sure why they didn’t bring Jim Kozimor back. Matt Barnes is a mistake, I can’t watch him.
Solid win, still hoping for improved defense though.
Holmes was sitting too long in the 4th.
Thank you Barnes for the career night, starting us off on the right note!
Overall hoping for better defense and some adjustments to lineup rotations so we don’t rely on a Buddy+Davion playmaking backcourt. Lets gooooo!
Fun, fun game. Was at the game in PDX tonite with my son. Random observations. Fox started HOT! Davion guarded Dame well, particularly 1st half. Was surprised watching Davion bring up the ball while Fox played off the ball. I think that although Luke was drawing up plays DC looked like HC about half the time. I think Tristan Thompson was engaged and I think he may contribute more than we expected. CJ and HB were unconscious and Buddy played really well off the bench.The steal that Hali got in the second half was amazing, he was waiting for it. Davion was trying to do too much and made some rookie
mistakes but he he looked like a vet out there. Was amazed how few Kings fans were there.
Excellent way to start the season.
Shit, forgot the most important thing. Richaun played an awesome game. That 3 pointer is so sweet and when he gets a decent pass his floater is still money. Game ball tonight for sure.
Great game. but Game ball goes to Barnes.
It’s a shame we let them off the hook, and back in the game. We controlled the whole game. There was no reason for them to even have a shot at winning….but I love the defensive intensity.
Davion is already my favorite player. I love the way he plays D. He’s like a basketball Beast Mode. Even on makes he’s right there contesting. He’s out there as an agitating force and I love every minute of it…and his teammates do too. It’s contagious.
Haliburton did not have a good game. Sorry but if you’re starting you have to have more than 2pts. Also bad and costly TO at the end of the game. I think he’ll bounce back fine.
Not convinced that Bagley can’t minutes with this roster. TT and Harkless weren’t particularly impressive. Holmes had an amazing game.
Fox. Wow. He’s literally unstoppable with his speed, and additional weight. He’s going to be able to take it to the hole and get shots within 3ft. at will. Hopefully one of these days the refs will start giving him some respect.
Barnes was obvious MVP of the game. Every big moment he was open for three, and he cashed in. Great 2 way effort from the vet.
Great way to start the season.
Like someone else said, Harkless may not WIN you or LOSE you some game, but Bagley would definitely lose us game by himself.
Also, TT provided interior size, he played Nurkic pretty well, and I think there is no way Bagley can guard Nurkic…
“Not convinced that Bagley can’t minutes with this roster.”
You forgot the word EARN.
Bagley also forgot that word.
actually forgot the word ‘get’. But earn works as well. Harkless and TT played OK. Not great, not bad.
“Played” is the key word. If Marvin was actually in the rotation we have to remember his knee injury.
A tale of two halves, but they
luckily managed to hold onto the win.
Kudo’s to Barnes on a great game.
#LoyalToTheTurmoil of the #DramaKings for sure!!! I like it. Nice win…buuut to me it said more about how weak Portland is than how good we are. However it was a good performance but I’ll do the non-Kangz fan thang and wait til we beat some good teams and play well for more than a few games until I get excited. But give me 2 good weeks and I’ll jump on the championship wagon for sure I mean I must Kangz! can’t help ourselves in this fan base.
Any word on where the game thread was?
Maybe the preview can be used as a de facto game thread if one isn’t made? Also, loved L Train back in the day.
The game thread heard right before the game that it would be left out of the site’s rotation.
Expect a press release from the game thread’s agent in the coming days.
Coaches decision – DNP was sulking with Bagley
I simply forgot to schedule it. Had a busy day and I’m not in regular season form. Sorry about that.
100 lashes with a wet noodle for the stupid bug eyed banana from Colorado!
A very classic Kings win. Some random observations I had:
-Davion was a tank fighting over screens and taking contact overall. He fought through one screen in the 4th that clearly prevented a wide open three from Dame. It was impressive. I am excited to see him get more comfortable throughout the season. He can be special.
-Haliburton seemed a little shaky tonight. It comforts me that we were still able to win with a bad game from him, but it was obvious that he struggled to get into any sort of offensive flow minus a few moments of great play making. It’s only one game, but that late turnover seemed awfully Buddy-ish.
-Doug Christie’s energy on the sidelines. I noticed his presence many times and often saw he was the first person to get up during a timeout to high five and encourage the players. It was fun to see.
-Kayte was great on the mic. I sensed some nerves in the beginning, but once the game went on she had some impressive moments. I’m still a little unsure how I feel about Kyle Draper, but Mark Jones and Kayte should be a fun duo.
-We may finally have a rotation of all competent NBA players. This is new. There wasn’t one person brought in who I thought was a big negative. I agree with many on here that if Bagley did play any real minutes that we would have lost. All the guys in this rotation seem bought in, unselfish, and hungry to win.
Anyways, I am currently out in Europe so I am thankful that waking up at 4am was worth it. Luckily, I only have to do this for another few weeks, but this team seems promising enough that I actually want to sacrifice some hard-earned sleep.
I think on the turnover by Tyrese near the end of the game that resulted in a “four point” possession that brought the Blazers to within one point that Tyrese actually double dribbled before he lost the ball out of bounds. He hasn’t looked comfortable the last several games. To your point, I think he just needs the minutes to get into the flow.
The University of Christie is fun to watch isn’t he. Always teaching. He did it ALL Summer League.
Enjoy Europe. Go to Prague if you have a chance.
No Kyle Draper supporter here ?
I like his commentating (even more than Mark Jones),…..and I enjoy Draper’s loud laugh when some Kings players made some great/ridiculous shots…………
He was really into the game…I just love his passion……..
I wouldn’t say that I dislike him by any means, but still unsure if he’s a good fit. I laughed out loud when he made the ten pounds of muscle comment after a Fox layup. I think he is passionate and funny, but sometimes I feel like we have two
color commentators when he is leading the broadcast. It can be enjoyable at times, but sometimes I love when there is more focus on the play-by-play.
I am still open to him finding his groove and getting better because I do strongly agree that he is passionate and fun.
its so annoying when they’re loud and screaming for no reason unless the situation calls for it. He’s just not a very good commentator periodt
Great game overall, and of course a win is a win. Not only did the Kings play well, but I was really impressed by the broadcasting crew, and even the halftime show. It was a nice change of pace. Honestly I wasn’t really looking forward to having Kayte in the booth, but she did amazingly well analyzing the game. Well done.
Hey, we’re 1-0 Kings fans. Let’s get this season rolling!
All in all, a very satisfying win. The usual suspects ( Barnes, Holmes, Fox, Buddy) played great. I have to admit I’m pleasantly surprised.
I waana give Bagley some credit here for a VERY STRONG EFFORT, to not smile. Managed to hold strong until Barnes’ 3-pointer #7. Then he finally wore down and stood up with a little golf clap for his replacement. Maybe the most entertaining performance for Bagley in a Kings uniform.
I dont want to poo poo on the win, but I am a little concerned with Fox’s play in the 4th. I am not a fan of him holding the ball for 20 seconds of the shot clock and then driving into the paint hoping for a foul. I think that is what allowed the blazers back into the game. The best play of the quarter was when they swung the ball around and got Barnes that open 3 in the corner. More ball movement please, I hate relying on ref’s for bail-out calls. Overall, great first 3 quarters, 4th quarter left much to be desired.
Great win with Barnes and Holmes tremendous all round games ! Had to mute broadcast to fully enjoy . Too much non stop useless talk for me !
Some random notes: Fox played with intensity all night, which I think is needed to avoid gifting away games. He carried the team for part of the first quarter. Played like a leader. Barnes – wow. Holmes drained a 3 at the end of the shot clock. Buddy is back. Yup. I think he feeds off the energy of the crowd. Haliburton? Not sure what’s going on with him. He seemed timid on his first and last plays. I’m okay with him being unselfish on offense and actually think it helps the team. But I’m curious about the defense. Was it the game plan for him to contest threes and allow his man to drive by him at will? One could look at Lilliard’s 0 for 9 and say maybe Tyrese had something to do with that, but when they’re just feasting on him for layup after layup in the 3rd (right about when the Blazers started their surge), maybe he should get tougher. After about 5 or 6 consecutive buckets on him, Mitchell subbed in, guarded Lilliard who tried to drive by him and put up an awkward shot that got blocked by Holmes. I’ll take the W. Opening night in Portland.
I loved seeing Fox act like a superstar and jawing with Lillard. It shows he believes he is the best guy on the court and won’t capitulate to the other team’s star. They were going at it for long stretches.
Undefeated NBA champ: Sacramento Kings
Scoring champ: Harrison Barnes
MVP: De’Aaron Fox
DPOY: Davion Mitchell
MIP: Richaun Holmes
6th MOY: Buddy Hield
.
.
.
COY: Billy Donovan
3P% champion Richaun Holmes
LVP: De’Aaron Fox’s left shoe
They gotta bring back velcro!
Ha!
Random thoughts from watching the game. First off happy about the win! Portland has a good team and a road win matters!
Time to celebrate this one!
LaMelo went 31-9-7. Hali went 2-2-4. Aren’t these guys supposed to be similar? Hali needs to either stop standing around watching Fox, or get back to leading the second unit. Stop being so nice and respectful all the time. Passive Hali is not a good player.
Criticizing Haliburton for not putting up better stats than some other guy who was drafted the same year he was, that’s your contribution to the discussion? Do we get to see these important, highly valuable insights EVERY game? Maybe a daily side by side graphic posted to the front page daily? Please, more.
They went toe to toe for ROY last year to refresh your memory. Hali always defers to Fox when they share the floor. He’s the better playmaker and shouldn’t. Here’s a tissue to go with your hyperbole.
If you guys have not noticed, we scored 46 points in the paint, 23 points from free throws, and 51 points from the 3-pts. That is 120 points out of the the total 124 points we scored.
96.7% of our points came from high percentage shots.
It is only one game but Monte might be McGenius. Kings4ever was right all along. Speaking of Kings4ever, we need a recap from him.
This is like chanting Beetlejuice 3 times. Instead of saying “McGenius rides again”, I think I’m going to reply automatically with “Nice fucking model.”
You know, because, McGenius rides again!
Lol, nice fucking model, McGenius!!!
As a fan of mash-up’s, I approve of this.
I find it hard to wrap my head around the idea that a 124-121 game featured “good defense.” I did not see the game itself, only the highlights. Was the defense actually good? I grew up in the 90’s and early 00’s, when “good defense” meant 85-82, not 124-121.
The game was played *really* slow back then, though. The SSoL Suns with a pace of 97.7 would be one of the slowest teams in the league today. The 2002 Kings led the league with a pace of 96.74, which is just ever so slightly faster than last year’s 30th ranked Knicks. Those extra possessions make a big difference.
Also, you were allowed to hand check on the perimeter, suplex dudes in the lane, there was no zone defense (but also no defensive 3 second violation) and 3 pointers were relatively rare. Direct comparisons are kind of pointless.
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In context, yes, they did play much improved defense. What I noticed mostly was the defensive rebounding. Outside of a few possessions, the Kings did very well last night until the 4th quarter when a lot of things really got away from them.
It’s easy to focus on what they didn’t do, but I’m choosing to be an optimist and believe this group has as good a shot, or better, than New Orleans, San Antonio, Minnesota, and even Portland, Memphis possibly at a top 8 spot in the West.
It’s not hard to see this team improved both in team defense and defensive rebounding. But it’s not easy to tell from highlights and the box score. Especially since the game ended the way it did which essentially negated the advantage the Kings had built.
Thanks to you and BuffaloDiaspora for the context. The game has definitely changed re: rules and style. I believe zones were permitted starting in ’01-’02. By itself, I’m not sure how big an impact that had on pace of play; as BD mentioned, the Kings’ pace that year would be 29th in the league today. It was definitely the era of iso-ball and half-court sets. Not better or worse than the game today, just different. (Well, aesthetically, far worse.) It was the time period Marvin Bagley could’ve been a great player in. He was born 20 years too late.
It was good defense the first half, the defensive effort fell off 2nd half. In regard to the lay up line offense both teams went through periods where they made baskets at will. The bad news for the Kings was the Blazers were running their line when the Kings D went stagnant in the 4th.
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