The Sacramento Kings are now 1-9 on the season after losing to the Miami Heat 114-108 Sunday at home. The King did show some defensive fight down the stretch thanks to Emanuel Sharp, Leaky Black and Precious Achiuwa. Sacramento tied it at 95 with 6 minutes left. In the end, Giannis jumpers and our old pal Davion Mitchell finished off the Kings.
Domantas Sabonis did not play in the game due to left knee soreness. Keegan Murray returned. Doug Christie sat Zach LaVine in the fourth as the bench provided the spark to make the game competitive. Darius Acuff Jr. ran the show on offense, finishing with 32 points, 10 assists, and 5 rebounds on 11-of-21 shooting.
Miami went 18-of-43 from three, Sacramento 11-of-37. Sacramento had 20 turnovers, resulting in 23 Heat points. Sacramento won the rebounding battle 44–36 and held Miami to just 23 points in the fourth quarter.
Also, interesting that the Kings held Miami to 46 second-half points after allowing 68 in the first half. A good half on that side of the floor, despite being unable to stop Giannis in the final moments.
Keegan finished with 10 points in 23 minutes. He had a scary fall in the first half but was able to stay in the game. Malik Monk was a +10 off the bench with 9 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds and 1 steal in 21 minutes. Leaky Black played 20 minutes and had 6 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal and 1 block.
The Kings finally showed some defensive resistance and had a chance to win late, though it would have been nice to see Sharp get more minutes in the final few minutes. But it wasn’t enough. Acuff continues to shine and prove he is the franchise moving forward.
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