I woke up this morning with lingering symptoms of a heartache hangover from Monday’s loss to the NBA officials Golden State Warriors. My body felt weak, my heart felt heavy, and I was dehydrated from feeling so salty for the past two days. But, like all hangovers, some water and time heals everything and I completely forgot how bad I felt for loving the Sacramento Kings. And just like that, by noon today, I was blindly ready to be hurt again. The Cleveland Cavaliers came into town this evening aiming to do just that. But the Kings were back home for the first time in four games and hoping to use the hometown support to their advantage. Let’s see how they did:
Quick Stats
Outcome: Kings win, 127-120
Sacramento Kings: 127 pts, 52.6% fg, 43.6% 3 pt, 85.7% ft, 30 ast, 24 reb, 9 to
Cleveland Cavaliers: 120 pts, 53.5% fg, 42.3% 3 pt, 85.0% ft, 24 ast, 42 reb, 18 to
I am ALIVE!!! The Sacramento Kings put together a complete four quarters of good basketball to defeat a very good Cleveland Cavaliers team and I am about ready to run through a wall. The Kings led for most of the game, up until the 38th minute in the 4th quarter when the Cavaliers came out on a 12-2 run. Things went back and forth for much of the remainder of the game, but ultimately the Kings held their ground and earned themselves a win in a way that winning teams do.
The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly
The Good
- WINNING: This was an all-caps WIN. Basketball is a game of runs, and against a team led by Donovan Mitchell, who had 38 points and felt like he never missed a shot, it would have been naive to think that the Kings would be able to just ride their early comfortable lead off into the sunset. As expected, the Cavaliers came back, as good teams do, but tonight, the Kings were better. Down the stretch, Davion Mitchell provided crucial defensive minutes against his league counterpart, Donovan Mitchell. Davion played a majority of the 4th quarter, with De’Aaron Fox entering to close out the game at the 2:42 mark. Fox picked up where Davion left off, getting two huge stops on Donovan Mitchell and making sure the Kings didn’t let this one slip through their fingers. On the other end, Malik Monk and Domantas Sabonis made play after play to get each other and their teammates quality looks. The Kings won tonight’s game the right way, and it was a beautiful experience.
- The Confidence: Although they’ve been hiding in the shadows of the Eastern conference in the past few years, the Cleveland Cavaliers are now Good, with a capital G. The addition of Donovan Mitchell has given them an 8-3 start to their season and they are very much known around the league as a threat. And if the Cavaliers are seen as being in the shadows, then the Kings are seen as being buried completely underground. But tonight, you never would have guessed that the Kings had any expectation of losing this game. From the jump, Domantas Sabonis (21 points) was aggressive in his post play, fearlessly attacking the length of the Cavs’ defense. Off the bench, Chimezie Metu had two demonstrative slam dunks that rocked Golden 1 Center. And best of all, we saw the confidence come back and radiate from Harrison Barnes (20 points, 9 rebounds) and Keegan Murray (14 points, 4-7 3-pt). After struggling in the last few games, both Barnes and Murray played with a decisive and confident edge, combining for 34 points.
- Everybody Eats: Along with all five starters finishing in double digits, the Kings’ bench outscored the Cavs’ 43-19. Trey Lyles (16 points) and Malik Monk (14 points) were huge sparks off the bench, combining for seven made 3-pointers. The Kings connected on 30 assists tonight, led by De’Aaron Fox’s eight. The productive returns of Harrison Barnes and Keegan Murray, along with more consistent scoring from the bench meant the ball was moving, open looks were happening, and shots were falling. Oh, sweet harmony.
The Bad
- The Boards: We’ll keep these next two sections short because I feel too good to talk about bad and ugly stuff. Here’s a fact: the Kings got slaughtered on the boards tonight (24-42).
The Ugly
- 3rd Quarter Defense: Here’s another fact: the Kings got slaughtered in the paint tonight (40-64). The worst of this damage was done in the 3rd quarter, as they allowed the Cavaliers to score 35 points.
The King of Kings
While I originally wanted to give this crown to Harrison Barnes for his official debut to this season, I am confident he will continue this level of play and have many more opportunities to be the King of Kings. And on another note, by the end of the game, I really couldn’t justify giving this honor to anyone else but Malik Monk.
As usual, Monk was the spark off the bench that pushed the Kings to a new level of energy. He had a great sequence in the second quarter where he recovered from a missed driving layup to block Jarrett Allen, only then to race to the opposite end of the court to drill in a corner 3:
What a sequence from Malik Monk that starts with the block on one end and turns into a corner triple for him on the other.
Mike Brown deserves an assist too. pic.twitter.com/KqiWk73Q6l
— Brenden Nunes (@BrendenNunesNBA) November 10, 2022
It is plays like this that make basketball fun. Even more important than this sequence was Monk’s playmaking in crunch time. He had a beautiful drive that drew three Cavaliers to him under the rim and he somehow wrapped the ball back around himself to find Domantas Sabonis for an easy two. The next play down, Monk again got into the paint and kicked the ball out to an open Kevin Heurter for an automatic three points. Monk is tonight’s Homecoming King of Kings.
Up Next
Friday, November 11th @ Los Angeles Lakers – 7:30 P.M. (PT)
Welcome home!
Shout-out to Monte!! Within the past year: Huerter, Lyles, Monk, Murray, and Sabonis! And MIKE BROWN!
On coaching and previous defeats, Harrison Barnes says, “you really have to just nail down on the process and release the results.” Wisdom! The result will be a really good, fun-to-watch team.
Brown has been critical.
Shooters and a legit center
Kangz move would be Vi-wreck firing Monte after playoffs, to “Take team to next Level”, or next NBA 3.1 version.
Bite your tongue.
The fantasies of some people are peculiar. No judgment.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here
40 laser beams baby! Who are the under 40 crowd here that would like to up their number? 😁
Wow, quality win.
Protecting home court against a strong opponent after a heartwrenching loss. Bravo.
Best part? They finished them off in the end, not leaving it up to the refs.
Talking about the refs; Donovan Mitchell scored 38 without attempting a single free throw.
I wonder how often something like that happened.
He was incredible last night. Sidenote: Does the lack of a fine so far from the NBA mean they agree with Brown??
The refs have to meet at the video monitor and review the tape of Coach Brown’s post-game presser.
“After further review, it is confirmed that we suck”
I was wondering about that. I think Mike has done a good job of calling out how difficult their job is and sticking to specific complaints about the calls that were missed. I wonder if that has anything to do with it.
’twas an NBA FINALS PREVIEW
Great win and bench totally dominant . Fun to watch .
Kings Cavaliers Dance!
Creepy as F especially with the lick at the end
I really thought mike brown was gonna leave Fox on the bench. Davion was playing such good D, I wouldn’t have blamed him. But man, I think Fox got the message and really put the clamps on.
Speaking of coaching, isn’t Luke Walton on the Cavs’ coaching side?
I hope he watches this game tape.
yes, Luke was there. and got a hug
Was it consensual?
Absolutely rock-solid burn.
Absolutely, Fox jumped right up Donovan’s ass when he got back into the game.
Something interesting (results may vary): Don was -8 in a game the Cavs lost by seven. For a single game, these things are very grain-of-salt, but does that suggest that he was giving up as many as he was getting?
All of Cleveland’s starters were in the red, which sure seems like a hard way to win.
Means Luke is on the coaching staff.
Hey Cleveland!
Won’t you take me to
Monk-y town
What a great win. This team is so much fun. They play with joy and for each other
-great to see Barnes snap out of it. This team has more depth than it has in a long time, but Monk/Mitchell/TD can all run hot or cold.. the Kings need this HB more often
-Not Murray’s best game but solid and good to see him hit some shots. That’s what this team needs from him the most. The steal and 3 from the Fox assist before half was a big momentum shift as the Cavs were on a run
-I underestimated Monk. After the first game I said watching him handle the ball reminds me of Buddy: his handle still looks loose but it seems like that’s actually just his style. He made a couple awesome passes tonight in addition to hitting big shots. His energy looks infectious both on the court and off, seems like a fun teammate
-Quieter game from Fox. But to me he seems to still be effective in the games he’s not scoring much now. In the past that negated his value more- an important step in his development
-Only 5 boards for Sabonis tonight, but I did think he pulled down a couple really tough ones.
-Weird night for Lyles. Felt like every time I noticed him he was doing something great or something bad. 3 turnovers felt like more, but his length and shooting filled a big need against a team like the Cavs
-big shot from Huerter. Love watching this guy. “A” move for Monte
-I don’t know what the numbers say, maybe it’s a coincidence since I don’t watch every game. But every time i see Metu shoot a 3 it is nowhere close to going in
-How nice to close out a close one!
And now we get to beat up on the L*kers this Friday, hopefully kick ’em while they’re down.
Mike Brown revenge game
Malik Monk Revenge game
vs
Damian Jones revenge game
Let’s hope so!
Then Warriors, Nets, Spurs, Pistons home stand, no B2Bs. I expect 3-2 in the next five and they could steal one against Warriors or Nets
Hell yeah! Let’s go!
Best game of the season. Best TEAM game of the season. Monk is starting to be my favorite King so far. I also like Huerter. That last 3 was clutch. As an old defensive coach, I like offense too, Mitchell didn’t score a lot but the dude can play defense. In the end you want him on the court. One of the statistics not mentioned very much that had a lot to do with this win was 30 assists and only 9 turnovers. 30 assists is telling me they are playing team ball. GO KINGS!
Well, we know Cleveland isn’t quite rdy yet to be a contender despite their 8-3 record
I’m actually quite surprised they managed to hold on In the 4th. Maybe they’re starting to turn the corner a little
They could be if they played the Kings scheduled referees.
How much fun was that? I have liked the focus and fortitude of this team, and it is fun to see them put things together. 127 points against a good defensive team playing a good game is quite a feat.
I am of the mind that a narrative can happen and players can buy into, and having some really rough end of game moments from the officials, and a long time Kangz-ian lack of respect from the officials has galvanized the team a bit, putting a chip on their shoulder. Every player who saw the court tonight contributed. Brown is going to error on the side of effort. The Kings long range shooting depth is really something to see. Davion and Keegan are contributing as young players. Our vets are making vet plays. Monk has found a niche. Sabonis is a bully. Fox has hit a new level. I don’t have to squint too hard to see this team being noisy all season long, and there are still contracts in Barnes, Holmes, and Davis, and future draft picks to put on the table once teams start to experience Wemby-itis.
I am intrigued and enthused, that is for certain.
I still can’t believe we have the luxury of both Monk and Huerter on this team. Still need to figure out one more wing piece and back up big but shout out to the bench for stepping up when needed. Monk and Lyles were HUGE
Welcome to America Cavaliers
Formulas need discussing.
Points in the Paint: Cleveland 64 Sacramento 40
Points off Turnovers: Sacramento 18 (off 18 Cle TOV’s) and Cleveland 9 (off 9 TOV’s by Sac)
Bench points: Sacramento 43, Cleveland 19
Points off 2’s: Cleveland 70, Sacramento 46 (-24)
Points off 3’s: Sacramento 51 Cleveland 33 (+18)
Points off FT’s: Sacramento 30 Cleveland 17 (+13)
The Kings found a way to negate Cleveland’s advantage on the boards and in the paint by hitting a lot more 3’s, getting to the line, and getting more production off Cle’s mistakes. The bench contributed a lot of that. And the advantage on 3 could have been better if Donovan Mitchell hadn’t hit 6 3’s off his 14 attempts.
By the way, the Kings won by 7 points, and it’s not like they were completely killed inside. Many of those FT’s were the result of drives to the basket.
The Kings had TWELVE steals tonight. That accounts for 2/3 of Cleveland’s total TOV’s. That’s doing work on the defensive end even if you didn’t force enough missed shots and especially grab enough rebounds. Fox and Sabonis each had 3 steals apiece, every other starter had 2 apiece. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen that where all the starters got all the steals in a game.
I don’t think Harrison Barnes is dead. He looked rather alive on both ends.
Sabonis led the Kings in scoring outright for the first time this season. That’s a welcome change for a team too dependent on De’Aaron Fox scoring in large bunches to win.
Speaking of Fox, until the 4th quarter, I thought he was the best player on the floor for a large chunk of the game. It just speaks to how effective Davion, in particular, was on on Donovan defensively that Fox wasn’t getting back in the game. I’m happy to see that. This Kings team needs Davion MItchell to make positive impacts on the game every night.
Great team effort overall. Good to see this team’s perimeter shooting make a big impact against a really good team. Looking forward to Friday!! Woot! Woot! The Kings got one!
Nobody needs to discuss any of this it’s well documented
What can I say? I am horrible at doom and gloom. It’s antithetical to how I fan. 🙂
Wow, 12 steals!
If you had told me before the game the Kings would be outscored in the paint 64-40 and out rebounded 42-24 (which is just insane), I would have 100% said the Kings would be blown out. It just goes to show you there are other ways of making up deficiencies. Threes, TO’s and free throws were a big difference maker in this one. Thank god they hit their free throws tonight! 30-35 is excellent!
Adam, I said the same thing, but I do think it’s important to remember this: There’s only 3 ways to score the basketball. (I realized this as I was writing the first paragraph above.) 2’s, 3’s and FT’s. I think it’s interesting that the 2 point differential is identical to the paint differential. That feels intentional on the Kings part.
Some of the point disparity at the FT line makes up for the paint disparity. I wouldn’t be surprised if Brown and the coaching staff told the players ‘look, you’re going to lose the points in the paint battle, but if we keep that difference to 10 and get to the line plus hit our 3’s, we can beat this team for real’. Or something like that. That’s basically what happened. Look at the shot chart percentages from qtr to qtr. It’s basically the 3rd qtr that killed the Kings. And the Cavs got all their points from 2 or 3, not the FT line. There were 4 times in this game where 30+ points were scored. The Cavs got 35 in the 3rd, the Kings got 34, 35 and 30 in the 1st, 2nd and 4th respectively. They lost the battle of the boards and paint but won everything else. I call that buy in on the players part!
But here’s an interesting wrinkle looking at the boxscore. The Kings hit 15 of their 3 balls in the first 3 qtrs, they only hit 2 in the final qtr. One was the big Huerter 3 with a couple minutes to go. I don’t remember the other. Here’s something else though. The Kings get to the FT line 8 times in the 1st qtr (hit all 8), the Cavs get there 4 times. In the 2nd qtr, the Kings get 7 FTA but only hit 4 (Cavs get 4 attempts again). In the 3rd qtr, the Kings get 8 more FTA (and hit all 8!!!) while the Cavs get 1 total attempt (and miss). The Final quarter is where this gets interesting. The Cavs get 11 total attempts at the line (make 10) meanwhile the Kings get 12 attempts making 10 themselves.
Mitchell, Garland and LeVert combined for 12 of the Cavs 18 TOV’s.
The Kings aren’t going to get out rebounded by many teams in the NBA, basically Cleveland is one of the very rare few. But they also found a way to exploit the perimeter defense, the very bad perimeter defense of Mitchell and Garland in particular, to their benefit.
This was very much the epitome of a team effort IMO, and your best players led the way for you in doing so. That’s a building block effort in my mind.
Yeah, all this stuff is well documented too.
Copy and paste is all I know or understand Dutchman. It’s my entire way of existence, why do anything else?
Box scores
Monty made a couple of good shooting choices.
The Kings have had only one stinker this year- Memphis- where it looked as though they were just not in it. Even the first duds game where they got behind, they did fight back to a deficit of 4.
I liked the confidence and the aggression late in this game. They turned it up.
Good teams are killer when they need to be- I saw some of that tonight. The inverse is the LAC, second duds, and Miami games where the opponent got killer and “refused to lose”
Kings have not lost to someone they were supposed to beat (except maybe Portland)
It’s all math, as you have said, have to win the ones you should and break even on the ones you should not win. BTW ahead of the golden duds in the standings. and the fakers
I disagree with this a bit. Bane just really hit a lot of tough 3’s the Kings didn’t have an answer for that night. But, overall, I definitely agree.
Omer Khan said something on Twitter today I agree with: I don’t really pay much attention to the standings until about the end of November. That’s true of stats as well, I’m just posting them to show where the Kings stand as of today.
Was really fearing when the Kings were up by a couple of points with about a minute left that Cleveland was gonna execute better and win. Looks like we played like a winning team at the end.
National basketball association referees have killed the dance thread……………………
Just caught the highlights this morning. Looked like a solid effort all around.
I (stupidly) watched the highlights on ESPN. Ninety percent of the clips were Donovan Mitchell scoring, and you’d have though the Cavs won by twenty. They finally got around to showing Kings-oriented video from the last two minutes of the game, but if you weren’t paying attention, you’d have thought Cleveland won in a waltz.
Love that Utah has a better record than them.
Don’t get me wrong; a great win, but how does that happen when you’re out rebounded by 18?
Forced more turnovers and got more points at the FT line .
That’s one aspect of a game. We excelled in all others.
Except protecting the paint. It would help me if someone would explain the defensive lapses that led to all those layups (Franz Wagner the other night too).
some guys are getting beat- Murray, Huerter in particular- the back side has to rotate
I could really feel this game slipping out of the King’s grasp, but the team really pulled it together down the stretch.
So many positives, but Huerter, with ice in his veins sunk a couple of key buckets when we really needed it. Quiet the whole game, but really helped seal the deal.
A lot of you tried to explain why Huerter was traded to the Kings. I really don’t care. If he keeps playing like he has, both on offense and defense, then Monty made a great trade. GO HUERTER!
PS. Getting Monk from FA was also a great deal from Monty. GO MONK!
Luxury tax….could not trade Bogdanovich…..blah blah blah blah…….
I was at this one. Fun game! Both teams shot the ball at an incredible clip— Greater than 50% FG, 85% FT, 42% 3FG for both teams. Unusually good shooting. You aren’t going to lose many games shooting this well and you aren’t going to win many games with your opponent shooting this well – but the Kings managed. Well done!
The difference was possessions and charity. 18 TO for Cavs to Sacs only 9. That made up the rebounding differential. Sac also outscored Cavs at the FT line.
Best win of the season, IMO.
Team Win, Team Dance
&ct=g
I like the cut of your windmill (jib), Dutchman.
Thanks.
Old wind- and watermills are my passion. My son and I have seen almost a thousand now.
Does wind power offer much power overall to the Netherlands power grid? Or are you talking about windmills throughout the EU?
I am talking about ancient windmills, from the 15th century and onwards, which were used as flourmills or grist mills, saw mills, waterpumps and what not.
It’s official. I’m going to start calling you Rik Quijote. 🙂
Dutch windmills have a lot of different functions. The most important one in the Netherlands was pumping water out of the lowlands and back into the rivers beyond the dikes. By doing this, the mills made the land ready for farming.
Sure, but did the mills make the land ready for farm-to-forking?
did someone refer to old wind?
We don’t like to bring up bad memories for Dutchman. We give him enough grief as is, we don’t wish to remind him more of medieval times than we have to, yanno?
Lots of Fun! This team could easily be 6-4 had they made a decent clip of Free Throws against Paul George and won 1 of 2 of the games that should have gone to OT. Of course “if” my Aunt had a set of Nuts she would be my uncle…
I’m just really enjoying this team and I have high hopes!
OT: Just saw this new city edition for the Hornets. I can’t be the only one who see’s it, right?
https://twitter.com/TheNBACentral/status/1590721607349469184
Bad on purpose? Wow!
Oh no…
Oh yes. The Clitty Edition jersey
I can’t wait until CLT meets SAC in the playoffs. Sparks are gonna fly!
Game 7 Score: CLT 1, SAC 69
Oof. 🙂
They be ballin’!
Balls don’t lie?
De’Aaron Fux.
Me so Hornet (please use the French pronounciation)
I wonder who’d be favored in that one. I’ll take CLT plus the points.
This is why I got out of bed this morning.
Cucumber Lettuce Tomato?
Sounds like a Vegans dream meal! Although I do like tomato and cucumber sandwich and I’m a huge PETA supporter that would be People Eating Tasty Animals supporter…
I am definitely Vegan, and the sandwich actually does sound like a dream meal!
If I see a fan wearing a Kings jersey with
Vegan Murray
on the back, I’ll say hi to you!
OMG, amazing!
There’s no way. There is absolutely no way they did that
Choosing to use that number 1 with those three letters…someone was clever.
They should be suspended and need to attend some type of sensitivity training…
Oh…it’s real, and I bet they sell a ton of them.
I bet they sell a ton of Ball jerseys with CLT on the front.
that is terrible. was not vetted or reviewed. no further explanation necessary.
I’m sure it was vetted and reviewed. Seems intentional to me.
You’d have to be a pussy to wear that jersey.
Guessing this is their new motto
”We’re surprised any of you men found it!”
I wonder if that is supposed to be a reference to the CLT airport? Funny
I just purpled up the CLT.
Lol, that made me snort.
Do they do a rub at the top of the key before penetrating the lane or just throw it down low and go for the jam?
First, great write-up Mirann. Spot on with Monk as POTG, but also that it was a total team win. I loved a lot about this game, but one of the best things to me was the ball movement, and flow of the offense. I’m used to seeing death by dribble and chuck up a contested 3. Not last night. Passes in the paint. Strong drives for kick outs. Domas orchestrating at the high post. Beautiful basketball.
Great win by a team featuring likable humans?? Is this heaven? No Keegan…
Fox didn’t score a ton but his floor game and leadership last night were huge. We’ve had a couple games (this one and the first Heat game) now where’s he’s focused mostly on defense and distribution and it’s led to a very good team performance. That’s what winning players do and this is the best he’s looked in his career.
Is it just me FKC, but I thought Fox was the best player on the floor for the Kings until the 4th qtr. But I was impressed with the fact that Brown took him off the floor for that bad body foul on Kevin Love in the early 4th.
Mike Brown pushed a lot of buttons correctly last night. And if somehow De’Aaron and Davion get it going together…hoo buddy. That’s wrecking crew potential right there IMO.
And to think they are still figuring out Brown’s system…so great.
I find there are enough positive trends to remain encouraged. I’m not sure anything definitive will happen quite yet in any direction. But…it’s only been 10 games.
I want to see how these next 10 games go.
Yup. Next step is not to get a Kangzy loss against the Fakers now.
Yeah playing the Lakers who might not have Lebron who got hurt at the end of last night’s game, you have to go in and take care of business. We are about 10 years past the point of excuses so they just need to win.
Yep. I’ll be disappointed if they lose even if LeBron does play. Cleveland is a much better team than LA is IMO. They are a legit ECF contender IMO.
I feel like the Kings have some frustrations built up, and are going to unload on a team. I would take the over on the Kings winning by 15.
Yeah I really don’t think we can underrate the impact having a competent coach is having on this team. I thought starting 0-4 was a huge test for Brown to not lose the team because we’ve seen it happen before. It just feels so different than it has the last couple of years in particular. Fox was out for a large part of the 4th quarter but when he came back for the last 3 minutes he was fantastic without scoring a point. His defense on Mitchell in the last couple minutes really closed out the game. That’s a pretty huge development for this team going forward if it continues.
IMO Brown is exactly the coach this team needed. And I’m glad the Kings moved on from Walton (even though I don’t think he’s nearly as terrible as people make him out to be) if for no other reason than you eliminate that excuse.
Brown is a detailed, effort expended type of guy. Fox is the perfect canvas for him if for no other reason because of his overall ability. Teams will attack Sabonis until the Kings give them a reason not to.
What I thought was nice was that Davion was a catalyst in victory and really on both ends. That finish in the lane was a thing of beauty. And the defense on Donovan was spectacular, Donovan wasn’t even getting shots up against Davion a chunk of the time FKC!
We’re starting to see the outline of a group that I think many of us thought and saw coming in. Offensively, they can shoot and score more than you might think inside. They are getting to the FT line at a really high rate combined with the fact that they also make a lot of shots. When they force missed shots, only a few teams in the league really have an advantage on the boards.
I really feel like the biggest thing I’ve learned through these 10 games is the Kings getting hot isn’t the only way they have to win. They have more playmakers than I thought (Monk mostly has surprised me in that area in a good way), and the shooting is real. I feel like this is a 45 win team, I really do. It’s still too early for that being a real declaration, but that’s my hunch and gut with this group.
I can stop commenting and just say “see pookeyguru comment” but add misspelling and poor grammar because it’s what I want to say.
45 wins?
YOU CRAZY
Yeah. And?
“AND-ONE!!!!!!!!”
Right there with you, sir.
Yeah I think 45 wins is absolutely possible. What I’m seeing night tonight is that this team is competing really hard. If they do that, I think they’re talented enough now to beat bad teams and hang with good teams.
Are there any rules against a coach hurling their own player to the right spot on the court? That was HILARIOUS and led straight to a huge 3 from Monk. I didn’t notice it in real time but the replays have me absolutely dying.
Also, wow? 7 players with at least 14 points is incredible. This team’s paint defense is bad, but doesn’t it seem like they still make huge defensive plays when they need it? Forcing turnovers, getting a big momentum block, whatever it is. Idk. I think they have potential on that end if they can clean up the paint D just a little.
I love that Brown held Fox out just a few more minutes in the fourth and the team held their ground without him. He was obviously very well rested when he finally came back in, and played some really good defense to help close this thing out. Also love that Fox deferred to Monk on one of the last possessions. He saw that Monk was feeling it, let him do his thing, and Monk ended up with a huge assist to help close the game out. Great stuff from both of them.
in post game interview Monk said coach wants us to go to the weakside corner- he could have said coach pushed me into the weakside corner
probably an illegal move
I like a coach who pushes his players to be better.
Mike Brown: “I will literally do that.”
Found a couple things….
Fun game.
Fun team.
Brown deserves a lot of praise.
Fox deserves a lot of praise.
Sabonis knows his role and Fox is really benefiting from the switches and unclogged lane, especially seeing the perimeter when he drives.
Monk is crazy, screw it.
No interior defense? Screw it, keep launching 3s, play good defense, they can keep it tight. Team reminds me of so many .500 eastern conference teams over the years that do some damage in the regular season, playing the right way but maybe 1.5 good players away.
Let’s not forget Murray still needs to develop, big picture.
This is fun.
Need to give props to Metu as well. When he is not shooting 3’s (his 2 attempts last night were 2 too many…), he has found his role.
1 of those 3’s was not Metu’s fault. The Kings nearly threw the ball away passing out to Fox and Metu had little choice but to throw up a 3 on that possession (this was in the early 4th). A bad shot is better than a TOV IMO.
Agreed, thanks for the clarificiation
Metu’s issue has never been talent, it’s been harnessing that talent so that the team can succeed. When he focuses on defense and dunking everything he gets near the rim, he can be pretty useful player.
It’s about his role and accepting that. Jerry Reynolds talked about with some other guys that used to be on the Kings, namely T-Rob. Just accept what you are good at and do that thing well. Stay in the league for a decade and make some cash.
Metu: Run the floor, look for lobs, be switchable on defense.
I was a literal human stress ball after the 3rd quarter. Nerves were fried. Damn I love this team…and now:
BEAT LA!! BEAT LA!!
amazing game. home crowd gets an assist.
First 5 games of the Kings season: (10/18 – 10/29) (Kings record is 1-4)
ORtg: 112.4 (17th) DRtg: 116 (25th) Net Rtg: -3.6 (23rd)
Offense 4 Factors:
eFG%: 56.4% (3rd) TOV%: 15.4% (25th) ORB%: 24.2% (26th) FT Rate: 28.2% (5th)
Defense 4 Factors:
eFG%: 55.3% (24th) TOV%: 11.7% (29th) DRB%: 75.5% (2nd) FT Rate: 32.0% (29th)
Next 5 games of the season: (10/31-11/9) (Kings record is 3-2)
ORtg: 114.6 (5th) DRtg: 113.1 (22nd) Net Rtg: +1.5 (13th)
Offense 4 Factors:
eFG%: 55.7% (9th) TOV%: 12.7% (4th) ORB%: 21.3% (29th) FT Rate: 30.6% (2nd)
Defense 4 Factors:
eFG%: 57.9% (29th) TOV%: 14.0% (10th) DRB%: 22.7% (29th) FT Rate: 29.4% (5th)
Overall: 10 games (10/18 – 11/9) (Kings record is 4-6)
ORtg: 113.5 (12th) DRtg: 114.6 (25th) Net Rtg: -1.1 (17th)
Offense 4 Factors:
eFG%: 56.0% (3rd) TOV%: 14.0% (10th) ORB%: 22.7% (29th) FT Rate: 29.4% (5th)
Defense 4 Factors:
eFG%: 56.6% (28th) TOV%: 16.3% (12th) DRB%: 74.1% (11th) FT Rate: 20.0% (4th)
Luke Walton loses in Sacramento, again.Quality win. Should go a long way in boosting team confidence.Need to beat the Lakers and get revenge on the dubs. Stop Curry. I like the look of the new city edition uniforms. Thumbs up.
I think they beat the Warriors this next game. The team does look like they have an edge to them this year, like they won’t back down.
The Kings are ‘stacked’ now don’t forget, or course they’re going to beat GS :))
I really would like to see Queta come to Sacramento to see what he could do with good coaching. Focus on being rim protector, setting screens, rebounding, lobs and putbacks.
Love everything about Queta except his hands. Is it possible to coach hands?
Teach him how to juggle. Throw him 1000 passes a day. Bring in a receivers coach.
Monk’s block was powered by righteous fury. That was a volleyball spike.
The whole sequence, finishing with Brown physically pushing him to the corner for a 3, was perfect.
I
MALIK MONK
Anyone think Malik can contend for Sixth-Man-Of-The-Year?
Yes.
Yep.
Sabonis didn’t have a ton of rebounds in this one, but does anyone else think that you don’t need to squint too hard at his stats to make an case for all-star consideration?
We need to start a voting campaign.
Absolute consideration. The field through the early part of the season in the West is probably Jokic, Towns, Gobert, AD, Zion, and Markkannen. My guess is that the roster would have 4-5 front court players and 7-8 guards and wings, so he’s at least in the hunt. Fox could sniff at it too if he keeps playing at this level.
Badge Legend