Welcome to the conclusion of the humpiest of hump days. After what I’m sure was a long day for not only myself, the Sacramento Kings played another basketball game to push us all over the hump towards the end of the week. This time, they faced the Denver Nuggets and the ginormous duo of Nikola Jokic and DeMarcus Cousin. The Kings? No Domantas Sabonis, no Richaun Holmes, no real reason to win, and therefore possibly no real reason to watch? Well, whether you chose to tune in or not, I won’t judge. I’m just here so I won’t get fined and so I guess I might as well tell you how it went:
Quick Stats
Outcome: Kings lose, 106-100
Sacramento Kings: 100 pts, 44.7% fg, 35.3% 3 pt, 66.7% ft, 24 ast, 38 reb, 16 to
Denver Nuggets: 106 pts, 48.8% fg, 25.7% 3 pt, 89.5% ft, 26 ast, 51 reb, 20 to
Despite being shorthanded in their front court, the Kings put up a great fight against Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets. After trailing by 18 points, the Kings regained the lead before ultimately losing in final possessions. A routine beating from Jokic (38 points, 18 rebounds, & 7 assists) and clutch shots from Monte Morris (20 points) were just enough to hold off the Kings. This loss puts the Kings at 6th place in the lottery, trailing Indiana in 5th place by 1.5 games.
The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly
The Good
- The Third Quarter?: Yes, the third quarter! The first half went just about how you’d expect, given the circumstances. Alex Len got into early foul trouble trying to contain Nikola Jokic, as Jokic racked in 24 points and 10 rebounds by the end of the first half. The Kings managed to keep up in scoring for about 18 minutes before the Nuggets put together a few runs and went into the half with a 12-point advantage. The Kings were trying, but the Nuggets were dominating. It felt like the table had been set for an expectedly uneventful night. But then the Kings dropped the Uno Reverse card and decided that they would be the ones to own the third quarter. De’Aaron Fox led the charge by opening the quarter with a clean step back 3-pointer, followed up by a drive and dump to Alex Len in the paint. The Kings then doubled down by locking in on the defensive end and turning a handful of Denver’s 20 turnovers into offense for themselves. The Kings ended up outscoring the Nuggets 26-17, cut the lead to just three points, and shifted the momentum into their favor.
- Defensive Adjustments: A big reason the Kings were able to claw their way back from an 18-point deficit was the defensive adjustments they made. After the first half, Nikola Jokic was on pace for another 50-point performance, having just spent the first two quarters getting whatever the hell he wanted on offense. But in the second half, the Kings executed their defensive strategy much more effectively, often sending a hard double team on Jokic along the baseline. This plugged up Jokic’s path to the basket, pushed him to turn away from it, and forced him to look elsewhere with the ball. The key lied in the strength and aggression in the double team. In the past, we’ve seen Jokic pick apart soft doubles thrown at him, making precise passes that lead to easy points. In these instances, the Kings were effective in taking that option away from him and forcing him to look for bail outs.
The Bad
- Late Help: De’Aaron Fox led the Kings tonight with 32 points and 10 assists. Without his running mate, Domantas Sabonis, the Kings needed others to step up and bolster the scoring efforts. Harrison Barnes next led with 17 points, but his help came a little too late and a bit too far between. Barnes attempted just seven shots after three quarters and 11 overall. In a game where extra shots were up for the taking with the absence of Sabonis, the Kings needed Barnes to be the one to want to take them.
The Ugly
- NBA Officiating: I never like to be one to complain about officiating, but I hope you will allow a short rant from me here. Tonight’s officials nearly ruined this entire game. Aside from the usual inconsistencies we are used to seeing as Kings fans (i.e. De’Aaron Fox getting hit in the face on one end and then getting called for a touch foul on the other), my biggest gripe tonight is in how much I was forced to see the referees. In total, they gave out 42 fouls and three technical fouls. At one point in the third quarter, my eyes nearly rolled to the back of my brain with how much I was being forced to see their faces on the screen and how little basketball was actually being played. I understand that referees are an integral and human part of the game and that their job is not easy. But the goal of NBA officials should be to be involved in the game as little as possible. Instead, tonight was just another example of extreme and unnecessary referee involvement that eliminated all flow, momentum, and fun from what was a competitive and entertaining game.
The King of Kings
Tonight’s crown goes to Damian Jones for his spark and defensive efforts off the bench. When Alex Len had to retreat to the bench with foul trouble, Jones was fearless and ready to battle the reigning MVP. Jones finished with eight points, seven rebounds, and four steals.
Operation: M.C.N.A.I.R. Watch
Tonight’s chosen charity is the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation, a statewide legal aid organization that achieves social justice and equity for farmworkers, low-wage workers, and mixed status families in rural communities. Donate here and be sure to notify Will via Twitter (@WillofThaPeople) or e-mail ([email protected]) so he can continue to keep track of donation totals.
Up Next
Saturday, March 12th @ Utah Jazz – 6:00 P.M. (PT)
Let the Spin begin!
Captain Kangzaroo!
Was at the game tonight… My observations:
Shout out to Justin Holiday! He played some great defense. Highlight of the game for me was when he blocked Forbes twice on the same possession! And wife who knows nothing about basketball liked him for his pink shoes. “Nice block by pink shoes guy!”
Agree that Jones played great. A worthy King of Kings.
Jokic is great and facilitates a great offense. Fox is good and makes a lot of one on one moves. They look good when they work but the last few possessions with no movement and a tough mid range brick were frustrating. But the secret tank rolls on.
Holiday should not play a single minute ! 32 year old nice person that does not fit at all in any plan !
He was a huge part of the Kings closing the gap last night.
He’s not starting caliber, but he’s fine as a 4th-5th guard. And it’s not his fault that he is currently one of the better options on the roster at shooting guard, especially with Lamb out.
Ya I’m in the camp that McNair is doing all the wrong things and we should’ve traded everyone except haliburton for picks. That said, Holiday can’t control that and worked his ass off on his defense last night. So I tip my cap.
I disagree. He is good on defense but look at his shooting numbers since he was traded to the Kings. .In the last 3 games he was shooting 4 for 27 three pointers. If he just plays defense shoots twos and free throww then I am okay but if he shot half those threes we were in a position to win i if not 2 games.
So we’re going with a three game sample size vs. a nine year career., and from that we are determining that he is not OK as a 4th-5th guard. Got it.
Why is Mitchell not getting 30+ minutes each game? Why did Donte only play 11 minutes?
Is Gentry still gunning for the Play-in?
you should said it is rare to see Mitchell plays those late 4Qtr mintues…..
and DDV shot the ball poorly………
All I know is Gentry is aiming for retirement/exit from this basketball hell
2 great questions. Yeah it’s just indicative of a franchise wandering aimlessly with no plan. There’s also no reason not to give Queta some minutes and we should also be taking a harder look at DDV. It’s mind boggling trying to figure out what this management is thinking.
Exactly. Get Fox and Donte some long runs together, same with Mitchell. See what Queta can do and if he will be a viable end of bench dude or not.
Absolutely. It’s the only way he keeps his job.
Yes, which completely contradicts what they should be doing in these last games.
No, it’s just another example of Vivek’s managing style not being conducive to a productive working environment in the NBA. You have too many competing agendas instead of one goal moving towards a single direction. There’s no real desire for stability IMO, it’s all reactive and let’s change this, and this, and this.
It’s not stepping back and recognizing what really works in the NBA, and what does not.
So we should trade for LeBron, then?
While I get your point, I don’t get it. There’s a big difference between understanding good process and getting a once in a lifetime talent like Lebron James.
We’re apparently among the favorites to sign him in 2024:
https://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2022/03/09/kings-good-odds-to-land-lebron-in-2024/
Not sure what to make of this, but maybe their thinking is that the Kings burn a high pick to draft Bronny James super early just to get a one year bump from having LeBron on the team, because it’s the kind of short-sighted thing that the Kings would do.
Knowing the Kings, they’ll draft a roll of Brawny and sign Kevin James.
Shades of the Bullets/Wizards having both Muggsy Bogues and Manute Bol on the roster at the same time for the freak show aspect.
How old do you think he will be. And with that contract. Besides he doesn’t fit our timeline and futhermore he would run the team. Heaven forbid. He would want to bring Westbrook with him. A disaster.
NO WAY!
Yep. Coaches get paid to win games, and Gentry is on that list with a bullet. He does not have an extended contract, and he has no reason to do anything other than put what he feels is his best team on the floor.
His moves can certainly be questioned, but in the position that he is in he has absolutely zero reason to develop the youth on this roster.
He has one more year on the gravy train ! Gentry knows he is history in Sacto and working towards double dipping next season as a high paid assistant !
I think that he’ll be out of here after the new head coach is hired. There are better teams that would be happy to have him on the staff.
This is the key difference between Gentry and Billy Donovan last season. Everyone knew Donovan would be around, he had no reason to not play for the current season after Vucevic was traded there. Gentry has a contract for next year, but not to be the interim slash head coach.
If it were me, I’d tell Alvin Gentry: “We aren’t making the playin, and we aren’t going to bring you back next season. We want to see Fox, Sabonis, Barnes, Mitchell and Holmes as the starting lineup for 10-12 minutes every night. Work in the other guys as you should. You only need to play Holmes 25-28 minutes anyway.
We will bump next year’s salary up to the current level and just pay you off this offseason. We appreciate your professionalism under the circumstances and the development you’re trying to get from this roster. Unfortunately you aren’t the fit we are hoping for.”
Or something like that. This is a perfect example why I think firing Walton makes less sense as time goes on. (Other than the continued lack of stability it’s created and the fact the Kings are 5 points worse DRtg wise under Gentry than Walton this season. In fact it’s almost identical to last season. ) I think Gentry is just simply not putting out his best players instead of worrying about fit first. And this is exactly the problem when you have a head coach who is fighting for his job (and the FO doing the same essentially). At some point, this franchise needs to embrace stability. Stability requires a foundation, and there’s no real foundation in Sac quite yet.
It’s an impossible situation really. As much as I like to believe you could do that, if you’re McNair you know it’s a bad idea. And, again, this is why you can’t just fire anyone just because you can. But to be honest, I wonder how much better this team would be with Terence Davis.
Alas, it is what it is.
Inconsistent, inefficient, average bench player? +-1 game.
If Terence Davis is the answer, I don’t think that I want to know the question.
Terrance Davis is better that half the players right now but that doesn’t mean much.
I only wonder because Davis can shoot and score at a high level. And playing with Sabonis could easily help him. No, he’s not been consistent previously.
I’m not saying he’s an automatic answer. But I do think it’s unfortunate he’s not around to give an idea of what that dynamic looks like.
I agree. With his motor you could count on at least 6 cuts to the basket and Sabonis probably hit him 4 times. Nobody on the team even comes close to that and he will hit a way higher percentage of 3″s than Holiday.
Agreed that Davis is an upgrade offensively over the guys you mentioned. He might be a decent bench player, where maybe those guys aren’t, at least on offense. But I think the top of the roster is too thin for Davis to make any real difference.
Davion Mitchell’s highest point total since the team has acquired Sabonis is the 18 points he had vs Minny On Feb 9th. The 2nd highest is 13 on 2 occasions: @Brooklyn, @OKC.
Donte DiVicenzo’s highest point totals are 14, 13, 12.
Trey Lyle’s highest point totals are 24 (@OKC), 14 and 11.
Justin Holiday’s highest point totals are 18, 15, and 12.
The point is I think Davis would benefit from the open shots more than any of these 4 guys. Mitchell is averaging 30.9% from 3, DiVicenzo is averaging 32.8% from 3, Lyles is averaging 36.8% from 3, Holiday is averaging 28,8% from 3. Davis averaged 32.9% from 3 this season before Sabonis and is better at creating his own shot than any of those guys.
I think it would be useful data to have because of Davis’ ability as a 3&D guy.
yes and that is just insane.
Please look at the long gamer here- draft position matters.
Donte could’t hit the broad side of a barn last night.
and a big barn at that. I am disappointed in him- heard he was “cerebral” Looks erratic to me
Fox plays well & we still keep losing. It’s the best case scenario. Higher lottery pick with the undeniable fact that we are far from having enough roster talent.
SOMEBODY in the front office has to notice what needs to be done, right? RIGHT?!
Yes, Fox is playing really well, like the player we drafted. But stating the obvious, there’s still too much of a drop off in scoring after Fox. Even with Sabonis, a nice piece, the Kings still need that 1-2 punch.
The King’s are still a long ways away from being at a level of a Chicago or even Miami, for example, where if one guy doesn’t get his points, another 1 or two guys will light it up.
I believe the front office knows what needs to be done. But can Monte pull it off, and turn the Kings around next season? We’ll see.
In order to get Sabonis and Donte he had to have patience. He can’t do much right now as we know but I am convinced he is on the phone every day. Hve some patience.
Telling a Kings fan to have some patience is about as ironic as it gets.
I’m a big Kings fan.
You must be – you’re here and following this team.
Sabonis is very good not sure Donte is or even a legit 3rd guard !
Is Holmes still pouting and giving up on the team because Dabonis runs laps around him?
Sure looks like it.
Is there something tangible to this idea that he’s “pouting and giving up”?
Without getting into his work life, Holmes has had a pretty rough stretch to start 2022 between injuries, a death in his family, and I believe Covid. Dude’s been dealing with a lot in a short time. I don’t think “giving up” is part of his idiom, I think he’s got a lot on his plate and he’s human.
I think it has been his body language and effort on the court. Maybe he hasn’t given up or is pouting, however what is seen on TV is all I have to go from.
Getting ready with some great friends to head to the Dollar Loan Center here in Henderson Nv. for 4 Big West tournament games. Looking forward to seeing a couple of my former players at the 6:00 game UC Davis vs Fullerton State. Go UC Davis and check out their great point guard and my former player.
Wow, that’s got to be really fun for you.
I’ll try to check it out.
Cool, cool. Bring us Keegan.
Cool, cool. Bring us CHET !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh, for sure! I’m just playing the odds of the Kings finishing 5th to 6th.
Knowing our luck, we’re gonna fall 2 picks below the 6th pick. 😉
Chet = Shawn Bradley.
He is unique but I just do not believe that his unique skills will be successful in NBA.
He shoots 3’s well and he blocks shots . Ok, he may be Porzingus.
I do hope and pray that Kings do not have to have a choice for him unless it is him vs. J. Smith- then there is no choice.
Let someone else take the risk
Do they allow him to play with both basketballs during the game?
Because, hell, yeah, that would be a definite advantage for the Kings.
I like seeing Mitchell guarding Monte Morris. Some nuances the rookie can pick up from an underrated player who plays through a facilitating big man.
Ahahahahaha. Well played Mirann.
Kangz now 25th best in rankings and dead last ( 30th) in attendance ! Justice 😡
In fairness to the fans, the team was completely unwatchable for about 5 months.
Good thing the schedule lightens up a bit.
Utah
Chi
Bucks
Boston
Phoenix
The Haliburton’s
That’s why they won’t make the playin.
Also, being bad at basketball.
Bad to a point. A philosophical change came about, was it ever realistic that the Kings would win games immediately?
I am old enough to remember as far back as the off-season when everyone (Kings org/Sac media/fans) said,
“No, for really real this time, this season is about wins and losses! Nothing else matters!”
Good times. Good. Times.
I’m old enough to remember that, too. But I don’t see what that has to do with what I said in the comment I made that you replied to.
This part of your comment “was it ever realistic that the Kings would win games” just got me thinking.
Wasn’t really a response to any point you made. Just a “fun” thought/feeling.
Fair enough. I do think it’s possible next year could be fun provided the right things happen this summer. But as always, we shall see.
No. Still a sub .500 team, with a chance to hit .500 in a really good season, and I might be overrating them. Recent results aren’t promising. Lots of work to be done.
I don’t think so necessarily. I think you are judging them pretty harshly but I get it. There has to be improvements, no question, but I don’t think these 25 games since the Domas trade are the baseline for this group. I think next season will be, and if it goes badly I’ll definitely agree with your assessment then.
I agree (hope?) this probably isn’t the baseline. I think they’re a just under .500 team. With some changes (not bench players), maybe they’re a little over .500, and that’s more than we’ve seen since they invented the iPhone.
5-9 the rest of the way, 29-53 overall. 6th worst record overall.
My only hope is that Myles Turner returns for the Pacers and they squeak out a extra few wins. Maybe the Kings can catch them and get the 5th spot.
Brogdon is playing for them now, so here’s hoping they start to win.
Just an absolute nightmare of a season that can’t end soon enough. Things look very bleak for the future of this shit franchise
Baseball’s back!
Woo!!!! Something to do this summer!!!
Good thing, too. Summer always comes really early for Kings fans.
This going to be a very interesting season for the Giants. They were a massive anomaly re:preseason predictions. I have a tough time imagining they can do it again, but it’s still hard to believe the 2021 Giants season happened in the first place.
The DH is coming to the NL, it appears, and I think on balance that will help a team with the Giants’ depth. However, the agreement also appears to limit the number of times you can option a player to the minors in a season (I don’t know the number), and the Giants may have done a better job than anyone else when it came to utilizing extra players out of the minors.
Whatever the new rules are, I’m confident that the Giants will leverage them better than everyone else.
I would not want to go up against Farhan in my fantasy football league.
I feel like the lack of high-level players hurt them in the playoffs, and coming into the season with worse starting pitching (if that’s what happens) is going to bite them. But you can’t argue with the 2021 results or their process. It was incredible.
They were pretty unlikely to beat Scherzer at the end of the elimination game, but I still can’t get the image of Late Night striking out looking at the end of that game. Dude was hitting anything and everything. It kills me he didn’t swing the bat in that situation.
Woo! Baseball.
Ahh we”ll just get screwed by the umps against the Fodgers like we did last postseason
Baseball left?
Sorry in advance if this sort of comment isn’t allowed, but the Athletic is doing a 6 month promo for $1 per month. I’ve never subscribed, because it was too much extra grass cutting to justify, but even I can spare $1 per month for a while.
Today alone they had great articles on Sabonis (Amick), NBA Draft Board (Vecenie), and a lot of coverage on the MLB lockout ending.
They don’t have a dedicated Kings writer right now, but their overall NBA coverage is solid. I subscribe because of Grant Brisbee (Giants), but there is pretty good content there throughout.
I subscribe for the national coverage mainly. The A’s have lost several beat writers and Jones isn’t providing coverage due to budget.
What happened to Jason Jones? Is he working on the Lakers, or just working across the NBA?
Budget concerns. He might come back at some point if enough people start caring about the Kings.
You’ll probably like the Domas 1 v 1 sitdown that got published today with Sam Amick.
I asked this question and so far no answer. Can a GM interview a possible free agent either on the phone or in person before offering a contract? Would be very helpful if the GM were to get an answer like do you want to come and be a king? If not why offer him a contract? Please let me know. Thanks.
A player may not be contacted as long as he is under contract. If the league goes back to its prior (pre-COVID) timeline, players slated to become UFAs or RFAs will do so at 3 PM Pacific on 6/30/22. Up until that time, front offices are not supposed to speak with players or their agents, and vice versa.
Thought it was 9pm. But yes, this is correct. Contracts run until June 30th usually and you can, generally speaking, not contact any player that isn’t yours under contract until Free Agency begins.
I will point out that you can probably contact an impending player FA agent to a limited extent (like setting up meetings with a player/agent).
Almost all contact is done by players pre June 30th though. Team’s are smart enough to not get caught tampering, for the most part.
Thanks guys that helps a lot. I still believe if a player doesn’t want to be a king I have a hard time understanding why you would want to contract him as a possible player for the kings.
I saw somewhere on a post that a trade for John Collins the kings would have to use Barnes plus Mitchell. If so I also understand that Jalen Brunson is an unrestricted free agent. Ant comments?
As far as Brunson, he’ll be an UFA because he’s the unique 2nd round pick who actually finished out his contract with Dallas. Dallas chose not to make him a RFA last summer, for whatever reason. However, Dallas can offer him more money and years than anyone else this summer and I suspect he’ll stay. I don’t think Sac will likely get a meeting with him. He might sign an extension (veteran extension), as well, although that’s doubtful.
W/R/T Collins, pretty much any combination of players on the Kings roster, like a 4 for 1 deal, works money wise, and all of Barnes, Sabonis and Fox could be traded straight up for Collins. The issue isn’t the money but making an actual trade work for Collins. I personally am not super excited by that proposed deal with Barnes and Mitchell, but I at least understand it. I wouldn’t do it if it included a 1st round pick.
Yes, that was an excellent article by Amick and Domas is a really likeable person and player.
Badge Legend