It’s hard to believe when you look at the final score, but this was a close game through three quarters. Sure, the Kings went on a few runs, but it was a real back-and-forth game, mired by a heavy-handed whistle that made quarters feel like halves. And yet, when push came to shove, it was the Sacramento Kings who stepped up and secured a convincing victory, beating the Dallas Mavericks 129-113.
The key against the Mavericks is generally to have your team as a whole be better than Dallas’ stars. Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving are both superb scorers, and containing one of them is difficult, let along containing both. And yet tonight those two stars were outshone by Sacramento’s fantastic duo. De’Aaron Fox had 30 points, 7 assists, 4 rebounds, 3 steals, and 0 turnovers. Domantas Sabonis had 32 points, 13 rebounds, and 6 assists. Both Sacramento stars were aggressive early and often, and came up huge when the team needed them.
The Kings also displayed their depth tonight. Kevin Huerter missed the game due to a finger injury, but Chris Duarte filled in admirably and finished with 13 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, and just 3 fouls. It was really good seeing him find his groove after some rough stints earlier in the season.
Keegan Murray continues to impress. I felt like he had a very quiet night, and he struggled from three, going just 2-for-7 from deep, and yet he still finished with 17 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, and a steal. It’s the type of performance that would have had us thrilled at this point last season, but our expectations have grown with Keegan’s game. It’s fun to sometimes notice how well he’s playing even on nights that feel lackluster.
Harrison Barnes also had a nice night. He finished with 12 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds, and a steal. The line doesn’t jump off the screen, but he played solid defense throughout the game and had some big shots when the Kings really needed the momentum to swing back in their favor.
Overall this was just such a fun win. The first three quarters created drama and tension, only to have the Kings convincingly put the game away earlier in the 4th. The Kings are now 8-4 on the season, and 6-1 in game with De’Aaron Fox in the lineup. The Kings also now sit 4th in the Western Conference. There’s a lot of season left to play, but 12 games into the year is about when things first start taking shape, and it’s a positive sign that the Kings are in a good place despite a few rough games early on.
Beam Team!i
Here’s to sweeping the Texas two-step!
Great game. Go Kings.
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Great player but such a whiner.
Is he great? Begging for fouls the entire game, plays no defense, poor attitude and body language when things aren’t going his way, etc.
He has some great skill, but is lacking very much in other areas.
He’s a great player but not a winner where as Fox is a great player and is a winner. There is a difference from whinner and winner.
He led a team to the WCF.
I get some of the criticism, but this is ludicrous.
Before this road trip began, I thought at absolute minimum the Kings would need to go 3-3, and if they went 4-2 I’d be happy. But the way this offense has been going, hell, I want to be greedy now. Let’s shoot for 5-1, or 6-0! Light the effin beam!
Won the first 3 road games by an average of 13.3 points. They’re giving us some reason to feel greedy.
Once again the Kings remain UNDEFEATED (against every team not named the Warriors or Rockets). LTB!
Had a family night today with our foreign exchange student in downtown Sac. Did some Lime scootering along the river, took her to old Sac, hit up The Crocker and finished the night off with some ice cream when the beam hit the sky.
I didn’t even tune in tonight and instead focused on family, but it was fucking awesome when my youngest yelled, “THE BEAM!!” I turned to see it and got hugs from the family.
Perfect night.
Awesome!
Sounds like a terrific evening Adam, good for you.
Wow, didn’t realize the Pelicans would have quite the injury report for tomorrow’s game.
Pels are still sneaky good…and long. They might even be better without CJ. They are now being led by Dyson Daniels (my personal “want on the Kings” player) at the point. He’s been quietly killing it.
The matchup between Daniels and Fox will be the one to watch, IMO. I still give Fox the strong edge, but look out for Daniels.
Right? Dyson is one of my five favorite non-kings players in the NBA. Really the type of player that can fit in on any team.
none of those are new injuries.
I am waiting for OUT – Zion Williamson (Baby Mama Drama)
I thought a key turning point was yhe challenge of a foul call on Luka by Duarte. The call was overturned, no foul on Duarte, Kings ball. That happened i think halfway or so through the 2nd quarter. It was like a wake up call for the refs to stop just calling anything that was even close to being contact on Luka.
Luka didn’t seem to get to the line much after that, and the Kimgs ran away in the 3rd quarter.
Beat a team that some think are a top 4 team in the West (those people are called “delusional”) in 3 quarters.
Now go dancing in the Big Easy tomorrow!
The Mavs have more than 1 problem. To start with they don.t play defense. It was obvious which team plays defense. As an old defensive coach I am so happy to watch the Kings play defense, It really makes a difference. One example is Doncic can score but is terrible on the defense end. The whole team doesn’t play defense. Look at Keegan. In a slump shooting the 3 but plays defense rebounds and is finding a way to score other than 3. I will predict unless Dalles finds a way to protect the middle they will have a hard time getting into the playoffs. Also if one of their two stars goes down for any length of time they have no backups to help. Fox out and the Kings found a way to win with others on the team. Good example was Duarte. Huerter isn’t one of the 2 but in recent games has been very good. I was impressed with him tonight. One last comment. Wonder if Brown might play Sasha a little more. Looks like he might be ready to contibute
Again Keegan leads the team in +/-. Love it.
No ceiling with that kid. The way he impacts so many plays, and he isn’t even shooting well yet. He is going to be a very significant player in this league.
He has impressed me lately with his ability to take it to the hoop.
Imagine the Kings with Huerter, Len, and Lyles back.
NGL I want our team to be really ready when the Playoffs start next year. I want to see the Kings in the WCF against Denver.
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This was such a great win. We absolutely turned the screws on Dallas to end the 3rd/start the 4th and pretty quickly turned a tight game into garbage time. We are streaking hard right now. Anyone remember the Houston games?
I loathe Dallas. What an ugly brand of iso-heavy throwback basketball, coupled with Luka’s incessant whining and flopping. I bet it’s not very fun to play with Luka and Kyrie.
That was a lot of fun to watch. So much was made of the Kings choosing continuity over the pupu platter of wings available this offseason, as well as hope for internal growth, mainly centered on Keegan and Davion. Who knew that Fox and Domas had another level? Fox is an early MVP candidate, and Sabonis is just punishing teams inside. When Keegan turns his corner, and it could be any game, there will not be a more well rounded or formidable threesome in the league.
I love how Domas telegraphs from the opening moments that he is going to leave a mark on his defenders. When he posted up Lonnie Shelton, I mean, Grant Willams, in the first quarter and knocked him three feet backwards, Dallas had to know it was in trouble.
Is Monk the Kings 3rd most important player right now? Every Champ has a role player who has their own unique magic, and Monk has the sort of juice that can steal a game or two in a seven game series. What an asset.
This team is d-e-e-p. Duarte finding his legs. Lyles, a premium bench stretch 4, hasn’t even played yet. Sasha looking like his about to have his coming out game. Two worthy bench bigs. Davion and Ellis fighting for minutes. MB has plenty of tools in the chest.
I thought Dallas played great, but I kept thinking in the first half, the Kings can do this for all 48 minutes, can Dallas? There is an inevitability to the Kings offense that makes you think if the opponent doesn’t capitalize early and build a lead, that the Kings will just take over at some point. Perfect combo of the right stars in Domas and Fox, the right Coaching staff, and quality all the way to the tenth man.
50 wins? I would think that is the minimum barring catastrophic injury.
Oh, and shout-out to Davion Mitchell.
Doesn’t play for a couple of games, gets subbed in early in the fourth, and immediately has to guard Kyrie Irving. Here’s how he did:
Fantastic.
Davion is one of my favorite Kings players and it sucks to see him fall out of the rotation but with how Keon is playing, I sort of see why. Hope he stays positive and works even harder to regain his spot.
The great thing about having Mike Brown is that (as evident last season), even if guys hardly played, they were ready to play when called on for the most part and you never once heard about players complaining about their play time. Richaun Holmes and Alex Len last year were great examples of it; DNP-CD for long stretches but came to play when they were called into rotation.
I do feel bad that Davion has sort of fallen out of rotation, but with Mike Brown leading these guys I don’t think we will have any issues with guys sulking over their playing time. I also think that as long as the team is winning consistently, the mood in the locker room will be positive. It’s great to have a group of guys with no egos and purely play “team ball.”
Amazing defense….
However Keon provides more than just defense….
But if Mike Brown need someone to shut down someone who is on fire, then he should play Davion
That’s exactly the kind of player he is good at guarding. Kyrie is a dribble heavy guard who is looking to get past his man. Situational defense is where Davion can be used best.
No call on the Kyrie double dribble. SMH.
Finally, some extended minutes for Edwards…
Other than Lyles, he is the one who really hustle for off. rebound….
Excluding the starting 5 the Kings have so many good back up players I am sure Brown has a little of a hard time choosing who to play.
Love it when we have the most fun team to watch with the best offense. The ball was flowing and everyone was firing away without hesitation. Fox seems to be even more efficient and Domas is back to doing D-Bone things. Kings are really good with their two star players just gotta stay healthy. Loving how well Javale is fitting into the team and giving good minutes, the offseason pickups seem to be finding their roles. Dallas is a pretty good team that we had to outscore, will be interesting to see if we can play enough defense against lower scoring teams with good defenses. We have guys like Keon, Kessler, Javale, Len, and Davion that can play D so Brown just needs to use them situationally for enough minutes. Pretty stacked and balanced roster, love this group of guys, in Monte we trust!
Duarte can play defence too.
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