The Sacramento Kings were outmatched in every facet of the game in the season opener against the Los Angeles Clippers. The 121-96 loss was never particularly close aside from a brief moment when the Clippers lead was cut to 7. This game was a total mess.
The Kings offense and defense looks like something you would see at a pickup game on a Tuesday night at the local gym where no one knows each other, with that one guy who thinks he’s a “player coach” calling the shots, but no one is listening. The Clippers dominated the first quarter 41-29 and the third quarter 32-16. The Kings shot 29% from three to the Clippers 40%. Los Angeles also won fast break points 27-18.
Sacramento lost nearly every team stat, including just 57% from the free throw line.
Zach LaVine led the Kings with 28 points in 34 minutes. Domantas Sabonis had 14 points, 18 rebounds, and 8 assists. The story was the dismal shooting performance of Darius Acuff Jr. The rookie went 5-24 from the field. 5-24. He finished with 12 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals and 4 turnovers in 35 minutes. For comparison, LaVine scored his 28 on 19 shots.
Acuff looked sped up and was forcing things at times, but he was mostly getting the shots we saw him take and make throughout Summer League and preseason. The layups and floaters near the rim weren’t dropping. The jumpers were short. He missed three free throws in a row. It was brutal. He did, for the most part, manage to still get where he wanted, but within whatever offense this is the Kings are running, everything looked very forced and disjointed, not just from him, but from everyone. Let’s hope he shakes this off and gets things back on track efficiency wise on Friday.
Speaking of bad shooting, Keegan Murray went 1-8 from the field, 0-4 from three and took no free throws. His shots also looked forced, not in the flow of any sort of offense at all, and his zero free throws also is concerning. Everyone has been begging for Keegan to be more aggressive his whole career. He does it on the defensive end at times, and on offense it seems even fewer times, but he just has to be better if this team is going to do anything. (And yes, I know they aren’t going to do anything regardless.)
Nique Clifford is still the backup point guard because there isn’t another option. De’Andre Hunter had 6 points.
Your Sacramento Kings have returned ladies and gentlemen. At least if they lose a bunch of games, they have a good chance at a top pick…wait.
Next up, the Portland Trail Blazers who destroyed the Phoenix Suns Wednesday night 124-83.
This is where keeping Doug Christie is going to bite the Kings in the ass. The Kings need a leader with a plan, or else you’re going to get situations where Acuff just has the green light to chuck it as much as possible without repercussion and there’s no sense of cohesive movement or identity. That’s not how you develop players or a team.
This offense should be running through Domas while Acuff gets up to speed. This is where a guy like Simmons would have really helped because it would have allowed Acuff to play a little bit more off ball and not carry all of the playmaking responsibility on his shoulders.
I’m really worried about Keegan. He looks broken. It’s only game 1 and he barely played in preseason, but he even looked a step slow on defense last night. If he can’t figure it out and soon, he’s going to be our newest albatross contract.
I’m already done with Deandre Hunter as a starter. Get Precious in there from the get go.
That was about as demoralizing of a first game as we could have had. Hopefully they get it together to put together at least a semblance of competition for the home opener or you might have boos on opening night. Portland’s a much better team than the Clippers too.
Agreed on all points, especially Doug. If Acuff is the guy you want to build around, go get a coach that will grow and develop with him. OKC did that, Spurs as well. Even the Nets went out and got Jordi. Everyone knows Doug isn’t long terms, so shit or get off the pot.
Keegan definitely looked snake bit. He looked slow and didn’t have much lift in his shot. I wonder if the ankle is still an issue, or is it all in his head.
Unless some wild trades happen, this is looks to be one of (if not the most) demoralizing seasons in the Sac Kings era. The 17 win season of “Shock and Hawes” is within reach of this bunch, but even that was a collection of young dudes that we knew was going to be bad. This year’s team has legit NBA players but is so poorly constructed and coached it may take the cake.
I hate this team already
Keegan was 1-8 but had zero shots go thru the hoop. Saved by a goal tending call.
Badge Legend