The Sacramento Kings entered Sunday evenings’ matchup vs. the Knicks in NYC just 2.5 games back from the #1 seed in the Western Conference. On December 11th. More than 25% of the way through the season. It’s been a long time since we could say those things.
The Beam Team would have to win this one on the road without De’Aaron Fox for the 2nd straight game due to what the Kings are calling right foot soreness, but after the Kings defeated the Cavaliers without their leading scorer on December 9th, I had some faith that they could win this one without him. But if the Kings were going to pull this one out, they had to do some things right, and if you watched this one live, you already know they did not. Let’s talk about it.
1st Quarter: Knicks 36, Kings 22
Mike Brown called a timeout roughly 45 seconds into the game, so that should tell you everything you need to know about how the Kings started this one. Jalen Brunson got Davion Mitchell into some early foul trouble, too, forcing a lot of first quarter minutes for Matthew Dellavedova. But the big problem for Sacramento early in this contest was Julius Randle.
Randle dropped 17 points on the Kings in the first quarter alone, and led the Knicks into a 17-5 run to close the quarter out. The Kings starters weren’t great, but the bench unit got cooked from the moment they checked in, and Malik Monk was uncharacteristically quiet, so the Kings weren’t putting any points on the board, either.
2nd Quarter: Knicks 66, Kings 50
The 2nd quarter started out a lot like the first quarter for the Kings. It didn’t take the Knicks long to extend their 14-point lead to 19, forcing another quick Mike Brown timeout.
Sandwiched between a brutal start and finish to the quarter, Sacramento had some very brief positive moments. Davion scored a few buckets. Keegan Murry knocked down two threes in quick succession. The Kings brought the Knicks lead back down to 14.
But the end of the half was a full-blown disaster for the Kings. Julius Randle poured in bucket after bucket, including a wild fading three, to give him 27 first half points. Twenty. Seven. Turnovers, horrendous 3-point shooting, poor free throw shooting, and some strong Knicks shot-making combined to give the Kings one of the worst halves of basketball they’ve played all year.
3rd Quarter: Knicks 95, Kings 80
The 3rd quarter wasn’t particularly better from a basketball standpoint for the Kings, but it was eventful? Julius Randle, after not getting a foul call, picked up back-to-back technical fouls from two different officials in what I can only describe as the easiest ejection a referee can make:
Julius Randle was ejected from the Knicks-Kings game after picking up two technical fouls for arguing about a no-call.pic.twitter.com/CdZP2jUJKz
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) December 12, 2022
So the Randle problem was solved, but good basketball did not follow. The Kings continued to be very sloppy with the ball, and despite getting some close calls to go their way, could not capitalize from the free throw line.
By the end of three quarters the Knicks were shooting 18-19 from the line vs. the Kings’ 18-27. And yet, the Kings were somehow down just 15 heading into the 4th. This one felt a lot worse.
4th Quarter: Knicks 112, Kings 99
The Kings got another personnel gift in the form of a Jalen Brunson injury to open the 4th. Davion Mitchell landed awkwardly on Brunson’s ankle after a layup attempt, forcing Brunson to the locker room and out of the game. It didn’t look great, so hopefully Brunson is OK and not seriously injured.
Without Randle and Brunson, the Kings had a real comeback opportunity on their hands, but Sacramento just couldn’t get anything going against the suddenly-depleted Knicks. Sacramento teased us with what looked like the early makings of a run, but the Knicks answered every time, and the Kings just couldn’t get stops, couldn’t take care of the ball, and couldn’t knock down enough open looks.
Sacramento shot just 10-39 from three, 23-35 from the free throw line, and turned the ball over 16 times. They followed up what was arguable their best win of the season over the Cavaliers with their most disappointing performance of the season vs. the Knicks. Nothing worked on either end of the court.
Final: Knicks 112, Kings 99
If you missed this one because of a busy holiday Sunday or the early start, lucky you. Don’t seek it out.
Get well soon, De’Aaron Fox. Next up, Kings @ 76ers on Tuesday.
Considering I predicted the Kings would lose to the Cavaliers and beat the Knicks on this road trip, I guess it just evens out my expectations. Still have an opportunity to go 3-3 on this trip, so as long as this loss doesn’t turn into a losing streak, I’m not too disappointed.
All credit to these Knicks — they played a gutsy game, and won mainly through effort and hustle. The Kings lost this by getting overmatched inside and not hitting from outside.
I heard Vivek told the team the beam was running up his energy bill and needed a break for the night. Will be back up after the 76ers game!
Stumbling, bumbling, fumbling (the ol’ Chris Berman shtik)
nothing came together with any consistency – cold shooting from everywhere (FG, 3FG, FT), half step slow play, and many opportunities openly knocked – the Kings couldn’t answer.
I am at the point with this team that I expected them to put together a run – and I got the feeling that with the confidence of this team what it is right now – they did too. Double dolphin (enh enh).
Beam not, DPOG – just a shrug.
On to the next one.
Yeah, every team, even the good ones, have a a few shit games.
The decent teams can pick it up again within a game or two.
Not even sure Fox would have made a huge difference here.
As you said; shrug, and on to the next one.
Rest well Fox. Next time need your help to swing through NY nasty traffic
Yikes. I have it DVR’d but guess I won’t bother. Even though the Mil game wasn’t a total blowout I was really disapointed by the lack of urgency. Seems like more of the same for this one… can’t wait for Fox to get back to his ‘player of the week’ level.
I DVR’d it too, go thru the whole thing in abt 15 mins…lots of FF…
Rough game, this road trip will determine how far the Kings will go in the coming weeks. Good thing that we have a fairly easy schedule up until the All-Star break after this. I fear we go 1-5 rather than 3-3 with the upcoming B2B against Philly and Toronto (though right now Toronto is in a slump). Can’t take it easy with Detroit, they be hungry with how close they got last time we played them.
No beam tonight but we still in 5th.
A crappy executed, mentally sloppy, no real flow or continuity and the Kings really missed De’Aaron Fox a lot. If you didnt watch, consider yourself lucky. Easily the worst game of the season by the Kings this year, and it’s really not even all that close.
Your first forty words grouped together definitely describe your first sentence.
Huh?
You are better off using grunts and three letter responses.
I’ll keep it in mind next time I give a shit.
You always shine. Thank you.
To both of you: I don’t come to these comments to read people insulting one another. (I know, “He started it!”) Resist the temptation! Don’t insult people, and don’t even bother replying to others’ insults. Please?
I missed this one, and it sounds like that’s a good thing.
Shit. There went our 5 games above .500 that I was hoping for.
After watching the first half I knew it was gonna be that kinda game
Whatever you were doing was better than watching this game. They built a Victorian 50 room brick mansion tonight.
They also missed a lot of shots.
Appreciate you actually saying it.
Yeah, they didn’t settle for just building the mansion. 😂😂😂
We got slaughtered on the boards. Again. In a perfect world we need another/different front court player that can give us consistent rebounding. If Sabonis were to go down we’d really be screwed.
Sad but true as Doma is the only legit rebounder on the team unless Holmes comes back from the unknown .
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. It’s mostly fine when Fox goes down because the Kings can call on Mitchell, Delly, or even Monk to step up to help with that role.
If Sabonis goes down, there is no one. Metu, even though he has performed well in his backup role, cannot start at the 5. Holmes and Len are persona non grata in Brown’s rotations so I fear what will happen when the inevitable ankle/illness/soreness takes out Sabonis for a game or two. Even though I didn’t watch the game tonight, I thought for sure that Holmes could have had some productive minutes against the Knicks front line, but for some reason he is completely out of the rotation.
Now to what I think may be a solution. The Hornets are going to eventually cash it in this season. Hayward is out indefinitely and the rest of the roster is a mess. Sure, there are the appealing talents of Oubre Jr, Washington, etc. but I propose another option: Offer Holmes and a future 2nd(s) for Plumlee.
Plumlee can step in as a legit backup big man and who is a willing passer and potentially fits into the current offense. The Hornets have no need of him and he is expiring. They get Holmes and his longer deal to fill the big man spot if/when Mark Williams is ready to take over. The Hornets kick the asset can down the road and get a 2nd rounder (or two) for their troubles. The Kings get a live body to back up Sabonis who can fill in for starer minutes.
I… do not hate this trade. Plumlee is basically an older & worse version of Domas. My only discomfort is that it’s a purely short-term benefit, and Holmes could possibly have higher trade value than that for the right buyer
I think Holmes’ trade value is pretty crappy. He hasn’t done anything this season or last to show that he can contribute consistently. He is basically a contract for salary matching at this point, which is his saving grace.
Plumlee is expiring, and a 2nd rounder isn’t anything of great value.
I think Holmes may still have value and the ability to contribute. He was the starting center for the Kings this time last season and no one had any problem with that. He is just benched behind one of the best centers in the league and doesn’t fit the current system. The offense is built around Sabonis now.
Just finding another team that values him and his contract. I don’t think there is much of a market for him, thus his value is low.
Find a team that needs an upgrade at C, can make the money work, and has something the Kings would be interested in…it’s challenging
With all the good games and gaudy stats Fox put up earlier, Domas is the linchpin of the team.
He’s its Most Valuable Player, if you will.
I don’t hate this trade either, but I don’t think the Hornets do it. Then again, I can see it. Holmes might be moveable again for the Hornets this summer with only a year left on his deal plus the PO.
I’m interested, in short, to see how the Kings approach moving Holmes. Plenty of teams need a guy who can do what he does. The question is does anyone believe in him at this point? My hunch is yes. It’s really just a matter of who. It could easily be Charlotte.
That’s basically the idea. It gives them serviceable big man going forward (I think they are going to begin to tank anyway) and they get a draft asset or two as compensation. Holmes will still have value a season from now for them.
Yeah I don’t see draft picks going, but anything is possible. For whatever reason, teams talk themselves off players quickly and talk themselves back into players just as quickly.
I was pretty surprised the Kings didn’t move Holmes last summer. But, things change. Buddy Hield wasn’t tradeable until he was. I have a feeling McNair can find a deal for Holmes now, it just isn’t one he likes.
A year + PO for Holmes is 2 more years at this point, unless Holmes plays out of his mind with a new team. HIs value is at its absolute lowest right now. I think Plumlee would be a great insurance piece for Sabonis, but I would be shocked if the Hornets wanted to take on the Holmes deal.
My first reaction was no way but then I looked him up and he’s currently playing about the same amount of minutes as Domas is to lesser effect. As you say he is a live body. If the Kings traded for him and Coach Brown would play him then he’s an improvement over Holmes as a temporary replacement for Domas.
Bottom line for me is that Plumlee is an approximation of Domas but at this stage of his career he’s not going to begin to contribute to winning games like Domas does. If he’s not going to contribute to winning games then why not platoon Metu, Len and Queta and see what we’ve got,
I guess I’ve come to the conclusion that Holmes, Len, and Queta are not part of the equation as they are consistently DNP/CD. Brown has seen enough of them in practice to have a reason to not play them. Plumlee, in theory anyway, fits the system with a passing big man.
Queta I don’t get your point with. Clearly the plan was to play him in Stockton this year. I think that is the case with Moneke as well, but they might be playing him there to get game reps.
Kings have options to sign Queta. And there’s a minutes crunch now at that position.
What matters more?
A. Winning
B. Playing Queta
C. Providing Queta a happy career because some people enjoy subpar G league talent.
Plumlee was a suggestion I made as well. He is a top 5 passing center who gives consistent effort even at his advanced age. He could also be re-signed at a reduced rate next year if he worked out.
What about Chris Boucher of the Raptors. Would it be possible to get him on a trade? Also if the Bulls were to breakup what about Patrick Williams? Last but not least what about Mo Bamba? Just trying to think what might work for the Kings.
Bamba if that could somehow work.
This team is not established. Moments of good basketball have turned into entire games of good basketball. Sometimes they revert back. Not a big deal. Well ahead of where they need to be anyway.
Seems like Mitchell got two early fouls (one on Brunson, the other on Randle), he sat down, and then the bench spotted the Knicks 18 points, and so long folks.
That’s almost exactly what happened. The Kings really lost the game in the 2nd half oopf the 1st qtr. Then things truly snowballed.
I did like what I saw from Keegan. And am I mistaken or did two or three Kings players all lose their footing at the same spot under the Knicks basket while driving. Barnes, Keegan, Huerter
Good question regarding the footing. It was in the same general area.
I agree on Keegan. That early season Keegan everyone was so hype on might have returned. And the Kings will surely need him. 18 & 7 on a normal shooting night is pretty damn good.
The offense really does become stagnant when Fox doesn’t play. He at least has to be accounted for when he is on the court. Davis and Mitchell don’t provide that threat level for other teams.
Fox is the pace and Sabonis is the brains. The pace definitely helps.
I would like to see Keon Ellis get a look in games like this. It may be worth starting Monk so he can do his best Fox impression. Then slot TD and Ellis as the bench sparks.
I was thinking the same thing – about giving Keon Ellis some run
I really like Ellis.Good shooter from 3 likes to drive to basket but the best benefit is he can play defense.
About TD. He had one really good game but has been very inconsistent since.Would it be possible to trade him with a second or two for Trey Murpy111. Really good young prospect.
I doubt the Pelicans make that trade.
I like seeing a coach trying to win basketball games. Put the best you have on the floor. Ellis is not that.
I think he could end up with Davis’ minutes before this season’s over with.
I am glad that the team is good enough to move beyond the G league players contributing. The infatuation with sub-NBA talent has to stop. Believe it or not the Kings are an NBA team.
I’m glad the team is good enough too. That said, we’re only talking about a Terence Davis replacement here on the bubble at the back-end of the rotation, versus taking the ball out of a steady contributor’s hand.
It’s not like the Warriors, Heat, or any othet teams have used back of the bench G League players to find future rotation players. Fox is out, Davion and Delly are poor outside shooters, and Davis went out after 9 minutes. Playing Ellis eight minutes in this game wouldn’t have been waving a white flag.
Disappointing game, but this is the NBA. The fact is that you’re not going to win 100% of the game you should. The Knicks are in the middle of a hot streak and the Kings were missing their best offensive player, if anything they were favored to win (FWIW, the ESPN statistical model did indeed favor the Knicks). Ugly game, but in an 82 game season you’re bound to have games like this.
After reading the comments on this thread, I have already deleted the game before even watching it. Thanks to everyone for saving me time and agony.
(Disclaimer: I know nothing)
This game was a simple read for me. Hit your 3s and free throws and you win.
There are very few NBA teams that can win when they are not shooting well. The Kings are probably not among them, especially when you consider that one of their big keys on defense is to stymie the opponent’s transition game. This is a lot easier to do when your opponent is taking the ball out of the net and not off the glass.
Bad shooting nights happen, and we sure witnessed one yesterday. For the Kings, the impact can be felt on both ends of the floor.
And in this regard, Fox was missed, if for no other reason than being a pretty big offensive option on a night where the Kings were looking for one. That said, make 35% of your 3s and 75% of your free throws and you’re very likely winning it without him.
Well said.
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