For the eighth time this season, the Sacramento Kings had the chance to move five wins above .500, and tonight against the league-worst Houston Rockets, the Kings finally cleared that hurdle. After a first half that saw far too many lead changes, Sacramento ran away with the victory in the third quarter, outscoring the Rockets 43-26, and the outcome was never really in question from that point.
Jalen Green and Jabari Smith Jr. led way for Houston, both scoring 27 points, while Alperen Sengun recorded his best mini-Sabonis impression, putting up 14 points, 6 rebounds, and 7 assists. For the Kings, plenty of players put up numbers, as three starters scored 20+ points, Harrison Barnes with 27, De’Aaron Fox with 24, and Terence Davis with 22, while Domantas Sabonis put up one of the most bonkers box scores in Kings history: 19 points, 15 rebounds, and 16 assists.
The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly
THE GOOD
The stars: There’s little doubt that Domantas Sabonis will be an All-Star this year, and if he keeps playing at this level for the rest of the season, he’ll have a decent shot at All-NBA as well. Sabonis notched a triple-double before the end of the third quarter, and the big man ended the night with 19 points, 15 rebounds, and 16 assists, joining Oscar Robertson as the only player in franchise history to record 15-15-15 in a game, according to Kings media.
Meanwhile, De’Aaron Fox chipped in 25 points, 5 boards, and 5 dimes of his own, while shooting 64% from the field, 60% from deep, and knocking down all three of his free throws. Plenty of players played extremely well for the Kings on Friday evening, but Sabonis and Fox were once again the engines driving the team and the win.
Bench Production: There have been plenty of frustrating nights this season in which Sacramento’s subs haven’t shown up ready to play, but Friday evening was the exact opposite experience. Malik Monk recorded fifteen points, including a series of back-to-back-to-back three-pointers in the first half, while Trey Lyles continued his streak of stellar play, filling the stat sheet with 13 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks.
Stopping the hot hand: In the back-and-forth first half, one player really kept the Rockets in the game, and that was Jalen Green. The second-year guard put up 25 points on 9/14 shooting from the floor, while also hitting 5/6 from beyond the arc over the first 24 minutes of game play. In the second half, the Kings blitzed and pressured Green, forcing him to act as a facilitator rather than as a scorer, and the strategy worked beautifully, as Green recorded just two points and hit only one of his seven field goal attempts. Letting a guy put up 25 points in a half is never a good thing, but Sacramento’s ability to adjust was one of the difference-makers in their (eventual) blowout win.
THE BAD
Dumbass Ejections: At the start of the fourth quarter, Malik Monk and Garrison Matthews got into an “I’m pretending I’m going to think about fighting you” argument, players huddled up and also pretended they were going to fight, and the officials took over ten minutes to hand out four unnecessary ejections: Malik Monk and Garrison Matthews for “not disengaging” and Chimezie Metu and Tari Eason for escalating or instigating the scuffle. Again, no one even gave a polite shove and no punches were thrown, although Metu was caught pointing at someone. Props to Kings fans for an excellent wave during the interminable review, though.
THE UGLY
Last Season’s Kings: Last year, the Kings were 23-40. This year, they’re 23-18. ‘Nuff said.
The King of Kings
Domantas Sabonis: When you seem to set or tie a new franchise record on a near nightly basis, it’s hard to name anyone else as the player of the game. Sabonis’ contributions as a scorer, rebounder, and passer are well-noted, but his demeanor and leadership on and off the hardwood have become almost underrated. The guy doesn’t want to lose, and neither do his teammates. When’s the last time we witnessed that in Sacramento?
Up Next
Sunday, January 15th vs. San Antonio Spurs – 4:00 P.M. (PT)
It has finally happened.
You’re now obligated to believe!
Yessir!
The Kings turned it on a quarter earlier this time.
To be a stickler: 1.5 quarters earlier.
For the Fam.
Release the beam!
Sweep dance!
Don’t the Kings play the Houston Rockets later next month on a non back to back fun friend sequence?
First week of February (Feb 6-8th). At the end of a 7 game 5 city trip. (They play in Houston twice as well. Except they will be on a SEGABABA the first game in Houston on the 6th.)
Sequenced
Hey! We swept the two-game series with Houston here at Golden 1!
The Kings currently reside on the list of the highest scoring teams of all time. Aside from the 20/21 Bucks, the other teams on that list were from eras when pace was blistering and defense was, uh, not exactly emphasized. We’d all like them to be better defensively, but this might be a team that can legitimately outscore anyone they play.
Also, let’s dance!
Nice that we have to go all the way back to last season to find The Ugly tonight.
Refs wearing cowboy hats … or something
How did the officiating sink so low? Ten long minutes to get it right and make sure they get it right and again, they get it wrong. Terribly wrong.
To me, the refs escalated their own importance. Eject Mathews – he instigated. Hand out Techs. Done.
They almost cooled the Kings off enough to make me gasp. And then, thank goodness for Harrison Barnes, Sabonis and Fox – in that order
I was happy to see Davis, Monk and Lyles carry the bench. That was a difference maker.
Light the Beam!
Barnes has love for Texas. Heavy love
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God I love listening to Mike Brown’s pressers. Can see exactly why these players have responded so well to his coaching. Just a hilariously night and day difference from the boring, aloof Walton pressers in the prior years.
I was a freshman in high school the last time this team was five games over .500. Crazy how long it’s been.
Welcome to the forum
I was crazy 500 the last time a team gamed and I’m ready to game again
You ok?
I’m good how are you tonight?
I love your new Avatar
Check out Garrison Matthews listed height and weight on Wikipedia. 2’6″ 299lbs
Ugh. They fixed it. I should’ve snapped a screenshot
lol You can still view the edit fixes on wikipedia
he’s widely known as Malik Monk Son
He is known for getting ejected from the G1C and getting beamed on
On January 13, 2023, Mathews was ejected after being taught how to play ball by his big daddy Malik Monk.
on second thought, I’m happy Monk did that. It’s not like he punched Matthews or anything. But he irritated him and got him ejected which is a well-measured response to his flagrant on Keegan the game before.
I want the beam somehow to shine right in Russell Westbrook’s living room.
Sounds crazy…. AnybodyButBagley will be here soon to check on your status.
We played the Lakers like four games ago, how could Russell Westbrook possibly be on ur mind after we beat the Rockets (even though he did play for the rockets)
Mushrooms happen
I’m here to second that emotion babe.
Finally! Five games over .500.
And now we dance.
But for now;
Give into the unbridled enthusiastic fanboy within you, Dutchman!!!!
I was excited to watch the game tonight and it turns out they were airing a rerun of Wednesday’s game.
At the start of the fourth quarter, Malik Monk and Garrison Matthews got into an “I’m pretending I’m going to think about fighting you” argument, players huddled up and also pretended they were going to fight, and the officials took over ten minutes to hand out four unnecessary ejections: Malik Monk and Garrison Matthews for “not disengaging” and Chimezie Metu and Tari Eason for escalating or instigating the scuffle. (Ouch from a grammar standpoint. Just break it into a few sentences!)
I think it flows nicely.
yup, and on Kings’ pace!
Five games about .500 isn’t just a number, it’s special.
Why does five games above .500 matter?
Because in twice in the previous eight seasons, the Kings reached four games above .500– 9-5 in the 2014-15 season and 30-26 in the 2018-19 season. And each time that was the peak before the team’s decline into a losing team.
The last time the Kings reached five games above .500? 2005-06, When they were 43-38, prior to finishing 44-38. That was the last time the Kings finished with a winning record, and the last time they made the playoffs.
And if all of this has already been said, then let me re-emphasize— five games above .500 is special.
I was impressed with a lot of the players but especially TD. I thought all around this was one of his best games. He filled in well for Huerter. He scored a lot of different ways but more importantly he found his teammates on passes. To me it was one of his better defensive games keeping his man in front not letting him straight line drives and also rebounded well. Seems he is listening to Coach much better. Keep it up.
PS As of now if he keeps contributing like this don’t trade him.
Jack, there is a great Lowe Post interview of Kevin Huerter on Lowe’s podcast you would enjoy I think. It was from the January 6 podcast with Bobby Marks. The Lowe Post in on Spotify.
Like to do some halfway numbers since we are talking sample size here.
ORtg: 116.8 (3rd behind Denver and Boston)
DRtg: 114.4 (25th)
Net Rtg: +2.5 (9th)
Offense 4 Factors:
eFG%: 56.9% (3rd behind Brooklyn and Denver)
TOV%: 14.1% (11th)
ORB%: 26.1% (23rd)
FT/FG%: 28.5% (6th)
Defense 4 Factors:
eFG%: 55.2% (23rd)
TOV%: 14.2% (18th)
ORB%: 26.3% (5th)
FT/FG%: 27% (15th)
But wait, there’s more!
Sacramento is 12th in Paint Points scored a night at 51.5. (They give up 54.6 points overall in the paint which is 27th in the NBA.) They score 15.3 points on the break (7th in the NBA) vs 11.6 points given up which is good for 2nd in the NBA. The Kings are 3rd in Assists per game as a team (27.1; Golden State and Denver are 1-2). The Kings shoot the 7th most 3’s a night (37.6) while making the 6th most (13.7). The Kings are #1 in the NBA in 2pt% but are 26th in total attempts. That’s an area they really need to work at against the better teams. And is easier said than done.
Some other thoughts. The Kings closest year to this one, 2018-19, they were 20-21 at the same stage. The year they won 38 games under Reggie Theus (2007-08) they were 18-23. Neither team won more than 5 in a row (2018-19). The Kings currently are in the 22nd spot of the draft. The last time they drafted that low they drafted Francisco Garcia with the 23rd pick in 2005.
Domantas Sabonis is posting career highs in: WS/48, ORtg, NetRtg, TS%, eFG% (which is 2PT% & 3PT% combined; also career highs), Assists, Rebounds, Defensive Rebounds, and TOV% is the lowest of his career (consequently his AST/TO at 2.71 is close to a full hundred percentage points higher than it was during either of his 2 All Star seasons in Indy).
I think Domas is doing alright.
Harrison Barnes is someone we should be paying more attention to. For awhile he was oblierating his 2PT% career high (56.7% set in 2020-21) but has merely settled into a more reasonable career high of 58.7% from 2 on the season. His 3PT% has risen all the way up to 35.6% (I personally was hoping for 36%) after his hot shooting this month from 3 (50%). If you take out October where HB shot 11.1% from 3pt land, HB’s 3pt shooting is at 38.2% on the season. Another ho hum 15/5 season on 63.1 TS% (career high) for one Harrison Bryce Jordan Barnes.
I, for one, will not advocate trading that man putting up that type of production. Unless, of course, you’re getting Giannis Antetokounmpo in return. Then I totally get it.
And then, while I’m at it, I should mention the Swipa one. Since, you know, he sucks and all.
Career high in WS/48, TS%, eFG% (his 2 pt% is shattering his next best season), ORtg, Defensive Rebounds, and his TOV% is the lowest of his career (along with the 20-21 season) for De’Aaron Fox. But what really sticks out to me is the peaks and valley’s that used to define De’Aaron’s game are not nearly as evident as they used to be. Domas is the most important player on the roster, but De’Aaron is the best player. Neither are having the season they are having without the other IMO. Domas has a number of weaknesses, as does De’Aaron, but the effectiveness they have complimenting each other really should get more attention.
Kevin Huerter has a career high in TS%, ORtg, Net Rtg and WS/48.
Keegan Murray is a net positive on ORtg/DRtg actually sporting the best DRtg of any of the other 4 starters. His TS% is also about league average.
Malik Monk, Davion Mitchell, Trey Lyles, Chimezie Metu and Terence Davis all have made significant contributions at one point. I love a lot of what Monk’s done, but since the hot start, you can kinda see why he was available for the MLE. I’m hoping that changes around, but if what you get from Monk is 14 & 4 on 36% from 3 (he’s averaging 32.7% from 3 RN) overall I’ll take that.
It’ll be interesting to see what McNair could add to a team that really does need help defensively (although improvement there is not nearly that simple) for a team that seems to have become a top offensive team in the NBA.
I know Mike Brown is a defensive NBA coach, but I find it quite convenient to talk about what this team is not doing defensively when managing to shoot, pass and score well as an unit. They are an elite team on offense while having a lot, a whole lot, of work to do defensively. They win close games, sure, but they lose them, too. They are 5-5 in close games (3 points or less). They are 8-12 against 500 or better teams (meaning they are 15-6 against ,500 or worse). They are 12-9 against the East while being 11-9 vs the West.
Some notes regarding the schedule. The Kings have already played ELEVEN road games against the East and they won’t hit their 12th until early Feb when Domas returns to Indy for the first time. They have yet to play Minnesota, Dallas or New Orleans. They have played 2 games in Memphis but otherwise have yet to play a road game against another Southwest Division foe. (That changes on the 7 game in 5 city trip when they play @San Antonio, @New Orleans and @Houston twice.)
This was my thought after the @Detroit win:
So far, since that game on Dec 16th, the Kings are 7-6 since that point. Which means the Kings would have to go 11-5 over the next 16 games to reach that 18-11 mark I was hoping for. Impossible? Eh, maybe. But as frustrating as the Hornets, Wizards, and Lakers losses are, if you win the next 6 games (@San Antonio, @LA Lakers, OKC, Philly (SEGABABA for Sac and rest disadvantage game), Memphis, Toronto) and have a 9 game winning streak, that really goes away. Will it happen? I’m not betting the farm on it, no. I’m also not saying I think it will happen. Just that if you rip off a long winning streak, at some point the frustrating loss here matters a lot less in the aggregate than it does in the moment. I think it was Adam that pointed this out the other day, but the Kings were 10-6 after the win @Memphis Nov 22nd. Since that time the Kings have gone 13-12.
Which means, you really need to go 5-5 over that next stretch of 10 leading into the ASB if at all possible. That’s @Minnesota (x2; first game is a rest disadvantage for Minny as they will be on a SEGABABA after player Memphis the night before), @San Antonio (another oddity of the schedule; you play in SA twice two weeks apart), @Indiana, @New Orleans, @Houston (x2 including the 1st on Feb 6th which is a SEGABABA), two games against Dallas at home on b2b nights, and @Phoenix headed into the All-Star break. (At least Domas, De’Aaron, Keegan and K’Von will have a short flight to SLC to participate in All Star weekend).
But I think most importantly is what the first 41 games has really revealed: This team is competitive almost literally every night. There have been very few lopsided blowouts where I thought the Kings didn’t have much of a chance at winning that game (@GSW game 3, @Boston –and I feel like that was an absolute schedule loss there– @Philly mainly).
In sum, this has been a very fun 1st half of the season with a lot more highs than lows. Here’s to hoping it continues.
Despite using “complimenting” instead of “complementing” I’m gonna compliment you on a very nice post and give you a rec.
Oh Pook… I love you. “Some thoughts”
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The Kings are legit, and can ball with any team in the NBA,
That’s my new stance, and I’m confident in it.
I am interested to see how this team performs after starting week when the schedule gets rough.
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I researched their record against teams currently above .500. 7-8 Sounds good
Some of those wins: Memphis(Without Bane), Nets(No Durant, Harris), Denver(No Murray, No AG, and 2 other players) Quality wins against Cleveland twice, Miami, Indy
14 of the last 41 are against teams currently above .500 1/3 of the remaining schedule.
21 of the last 41 are all teams still well within the playoff/play in mix currently at 500 or within a few games of..
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Thats 35 tough games.
in the 16 games leading up to the ASB, .500 should be the goal. Other than another b2b with Houston and 2 games with the Spurs.
The other 12 games are going to be tough.
OT…
Looks like the NBA has handed out further discipline for the altercation in the last game with the Rockets. Notably Metu seems to have received no further discipline, and I wonder whether the refs were disciplined for how poorly they handled the situation.
What a crock of shit. I get why Green and Tate got suspended although I’m not a big fan of that. It’ll teach them to never get involved with something on the court in the future.
But how does Mathews only get a fine? He instigated the entire thing. He should have gotten at least a game and IMO two games for what he did. Oh well, at least nobody on the Kings was suspended.
Yup. Incidentally, Monk had also received a retroactive flagrant foul for shoving Tate in the previous game.
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