I made the mistake of happily showing my face in Golden 1 Center for the first time this season yesterday, foolishly thinking I would bring some good luck to the Kings and enjoy a lovely Sunday afternoon win. But, alas, I was once again proven to just be an idiot with a vaccination card and now empty wallet (thank you, $13 beers). With this realization, a lesson I seem to have to learn time and time again, I made sure to stay far away from Golden 1 Center tonight as the Kings looked to wrap up their first home stand against the Phoenix Suns. The Suns’ last loss was against the Kings a few weeks ago and had since won four in a row. Although without Tyrese Haliburton, injuries for Suns’ big men, Deandre Ayton and Dario Saric, gave the Kings an opportunity to steal a second win away from the Western Conference champs. Let’s see how they did:
Quick Stats
Outcome: Kings lose, 109-104
Sacramento Kings: 104 pts, 45.1% fg, 41.7% 3 pt, 76.9% ft, 46 reb, 18 ast, 24 to
Phoenix Suns: 109 pts, 47.3% fg, 40.0% 3 pt, 81.8% ft, 38 reb, 28 ast, 14 to
It was fun, and then it wasn’t, and then it was fun again, and then it wasn’t again. That pretty much sums it up. The Kings got off to another slow start, but shot their way back into the game to bring themselves within three points at the end of the first half. Then they had their worst quarter of basketball so far this season to go down by 22 points. Everyone thought it was pretty much over, but then the Kings pulled a classic Kangz ending by taking it down to the wire and losing the execution battle in final possessions.
The Good, The Bad, & The Third Quarter
The Good
- Bench Mob: It seemed like Luke Walton was waving the white flag early tonight as he debuted Damian Jones to start the fourth quarter, alongside Chimezie Metu, and an early substitution for some Jahmi’us Ramsey minutes. Monty Williams also relieved his starters early in the fourth quarter and the table was set to ride out the last 12 minutes like any sensible NBA game would. But we all forgot one thing: KANGZ. Jones and Metu deserve a lot of credit tonight for staying ready on the bench and bringing the defensive effort that was so grossly lacking on their team. In the battle of the benches, the Kings held the Suns to just 11 points in the fourth quarter, which was a shocking one point less than the 12 the Kings had in the third quarter. Although it came too late, it was the defensive intensity provided from the bench that gave the Kings their late opportunity.
- Forcing Cam Payne to Campaign: The game started out with a lot of wide open midrange looks for Devin Booker and Chris Paul. Given that the Suns were missing their inside monster in Deandre Ayton, it made sense when the Kings adjusted their defense in the second quarter and focused on forcing the ball out of the hands of Booker and Paul. By doing so, they kept both guards scoreless in the second quarter, and instead forced Cam Payne to be the primary shot taker.
The Bad
- Letting Cam Payne Campaign: While the Kings made a good adjustment by getting the ball away from Devin Booker and Chris Paul, they let Cam Payne run away with this new responsibility. Cam Payne has averaged six points per game so far this season. He scored 17 of his 24 points tonight by the end of the half. Payne faced little defensive resistance as the Kings failed to close out their defensive strategy.
- Half Court Offense Comparison: Comparison is the thief of joy and I had just about all of mine stolen tonight. The Suns run an offense that generates high percentage shots by their best scorers – this gave Devin Booker, Chris Paul, and Cam Payne open midrange looks as they combined for 59 points. They create these looks with off-ball pin downs, curling cuts, and constant movement. The Kings run an offense that centers around the ball – on-ball screens, one on one action, and dribble hand offs. While this was effective for them in the first half, as they were able to knock down 10-15 from deep, it wasn’t sustainable once the Suns made their adjustments. The Suns started switching screens and the Kings’ offense became sloppy and stagnant. Without any off-ball movement, the Kings become much easier to guard. When the defense is able to solely focus on the ball, the Kings don’t give themselves much of a chance to capitalize on any defensive breakdowns.
The Ugly
- Third Quarter: It was ugly. This was by far the Kings’ worst quarter of basketball so far this season and possibly in the last decade. Stymied by the Suns’ defensive adjustments, it took over five minutes for the Kings to score. They committed 10 turnovers and scored just 12 points in the 12 minutes of hell we all had to endure. The frustrations on the offensive end clearly leaked into the defensive end as the Kings lost focus and relinquished almost all effort as they allowed the Suns to rally for 31 points.
The King of Kings
I wish I could shake Damian Jones’ hand. After watching his teammates put out such a poor performance in the third quarter, he brought all the energy back into Golden 1 Center as if the Kings were just one play away from taking the game back. In 12 minutes, he played hard defense and finished with four points and five rebounds, including this fun slam:
https://twitter.com/SacramentoKings/status/1457940167449141249?s=20
Up Next
Wednesday, November 10th @ San Antonio Spurs – 5:30 P.M. (PT)
Walton is atrocious.
You’re only saying that because he’s terrible. So much bias…
Coachless Walton’s 1-1 non offense is useless if you want to win on a consistent basis, execute a 1/2 court offense….silly things like that.
Problem is, the Kings may very well make playin-and allow for Walton and his shit ways to continue limiting the Kings.
There was zero offensive strategy. The 1/2 court offense was 1. drive, 2. pray there is an opening to get a shot up, which there probably isn’t, 3. fling it out to the 3 point line where it likely gets stolen.
That’s my fear. It’s making this season so much more difficult; I want to root for them, until I remember this might be Walton’s last year, at which point I realize if we make the playoffs it probably won’t be, and then I sit befuddled, dazed and emotionless the remainder of the game.
I haven’t said anything about Walton, not really feeling competent to do so. But now I am inclined to agree. My question: who is available to replace him who would be clearly better? Particularly someone better with offense.
I think the Kings have too many talented young players to waste on Walton.
Finding a better coach than Walton isn’t a difficult task. At this point, let Slamson hold the clipboard for a couple games.
Would someone give a serious answer to my question?
jerry reynolds?
If you want a proven entity that’s marginally better than Walton, promote Gentry. If you want to take a shot on someone new, try out Bobby Jackson or Becky Hammon. There’s a million coaches out there all desperate for a shot to coach 1 of 32 teams at the highest level, and its hard to imagine Walton is better than the unknown when the known is just so terrible. Just look around.
Kenny Atkinson did very well with a young nets team. Maybe he would be a good option. You have the popovic coaching tree line. There are lots of options.
That was a serious answer.
“Walton is atrocious.”
#Fact
Jones & Metu were both very good in what they brought. Jones is a legit center body, has quick feet on defense, and goes up like a pogo stick. Metu might be an actual stretch four, and it was a shame he was on the receiving end of Walton’s playcalling brilliance at the end.
Lose all the games until he’s fired, the team has no hope of progression as long as that feeb is calling the shots.
Barnes claiming that last season this team would have lost by 40….
Last season we had quite a few third quarter turds and then “fought back” to lose by a small margin. I’m pretty sure we have had a few exciuting comebacks every season the last 15 years.
I have got to see more to believe that this team is different.
That f-ed up inbound with Metu free under the basket nera the end shows that Fox’s court vision is the same old same old. Walton said they were looking for a quick two and then Fox not looking towards the basket where Metu was free for a full second is pretty meh. I guess that TO was officially on Metu?
https://twitter.com/BrendenNunesNBA/status/1457944778612482051?s=20
We actually would’ve lost by 20+ if Phoenix had put their starters back in when the momentum was shifting. They were on the bench wayy too long, especially with some of our starters playing against their backups in that 4th
Yeah, good point. It was a game about who wants it less and in these moments our talent shines through.
Nobody wants it less than us, baby. NOBODY!
Monty was almost Luke like failing to get starters back in until mo had totally switched !
Holy shit was that bad outta Fox. Definite blinders on.
Haliburton is the most important player for their O because he’s a passer-play maker. He would have been inbounder there probably.
My hope with Fox is to drive and dish more. He’s always been a Westbrook, Wade type PG—-blow by, try to score and pass only if cutoff/can’t score.
Fox’s ball handling looks like it’s taken a big step backwards. Every time he has the ball, it feels like he’s going to turn it over or dribble it off his foot. He looks like Buddy circa 2019-2020 when he has no business being the facilitator.
But really, he doesn’t look like that at all.
Reboot and Restore to previous version – Fast Fox
Looks like he’s not blowing by many opponents recently. Often walks it up crosscourt.
by design, is the problem. Luke is as big a part of Fox’s issues right now as anything. Ironically, he’s averaging almost the same across the board in the first 10 games of this season as he did last season (with the exception of percentages,) but the eye test is a whole different ball of wax and to this point I’m pointing my finger at the game plan. I refuse to believe Fox just isn’t as good all of the sudden.
Even in transition, he looks a bit slower to me.
Horriblest pass in a night of 24 horrible TO passes. Metu executed the play perfectly…
Fox was garbage tonight. A non-factor in the first half, was allowed WAY too much rope by Luke in the 3Q and didn’t show up until the team was down by 20 against the Suns backups.
Had a lot of empty stats than gagged two free throws at the end ! Do not see a max player just a player getting paid like one !
Jones was awesome. I love the way he attacks the rim. Metu had an Ok game defensively. But he was absolutely garbage offensively. 1-5, 0-2 from 3pt., remember specifically 3 times he was stripped going to the hole, maybe there were more. Last bungled catch…cringey. Harkless, more like Scoreless am I right?….again. Rachaun Holmes also struggled.
I’m curious what the strategy is with Bagley, because I’m not understanding it. It seems dumb from any angle I look at it. If he’s not getting minutes this game, there’s something up. What’s the purpose of even having him on the roster if we don’t intend on playing him, and I don’t understand what value you think you’re going to get by benching him if you’re hoping to trade him.
Our defense has made some really solid strides in effort, but our offense is really, really bad at times. It doesn’t seem like we have a backup plan if our outside shots aren’t falling.
Do you think that the prudent move is, instead of having Bagley on the roster, where he might play at some point, to instead pay him eleven million dollars to go away?
He’s an expiring contract, whether in trade, or in fact. I’m not really sure what you expect to happen.
I expected him to get some minutes tbh. I would have thought that he’d already be offloaded for something, anything, if we weren’t going to play him at all.
Well, like you said, you play him to build value, but if other guys are playing better, and you’re ostensibly trying to win games, you can’t do it. He’s a nice juicy chunk of cap space to throw in, maybe when Atlanta is twenty games back and starts waving Collins and Capela around.
Or whoever. We have some holes to fill.
The whole Bagley vs. Mgmt. (for lack of a better term) seems to be turning into a game of chicken. Who will flinch first?
I honestly don’t understand what you mean by this.
The team owes Bagley $11 million. Bagley is being a good soldier, and waiting for his turn, or waiting for his contract to expire. What about that reminds you of a game of chicken?
Having read and typed “game of chicken” several times in the past few minutes, I can’t get over what a bizarre phrase that is.
IF “other guys are playing better”…I agree with that statement. But disagree strongly that it’s self evident “other guys are playing better”.
It’s Harkless who has replaced Bagley in the starting lineup compared to last year. After 11 games, we’re 5-6. After 11 games last year with Bagley starting, we were 5-6.
Harkless has had 6 games, where he scored 3pts or less. 3 of those were zero point games. At this junction last year, Bagley had no games of 3pts or less, and scored in double digits in 8 of those 11 games. Bagley hit the three better than Harkless. Bagley grabbed 88 rebounds through 11 games, Harkless has 33.
I don’t have a problem with Bagley getting more playing time or starting, but there’s a pretty substantial compromise that would come with that, mainly on defense. As long as Walton remains in charge, team success is largely impossible, so if some value can be added to Bagley’s profile, what difference does it make?
Harkless is a better defender than Bagley.
OK, cool. But he’s not even remotely close to a lockdown defender. You can’t have a starter produce the stats he has, unless it’s a lockdown defender. We can always bring him off the bench if we need his average defensive ability.
Agree that it makes zero sense. Given Bagley’s camp, there are an entire spectrum of reasons that this could be happening from “I’m not playing until you trade me,” to the Kings holding on to Bagley no matter what until Ben Simmons is dealt.
I know there’s this theory that Bagley has zero value, which I think is nonsense. Bagley has a ways to go before he’s a good player, but the idea that you can’t trade his $11M salary for a $9m expiring to save a couple million bucks, probably with a second thrown in, I just don’t buy.
A basketball game of sorts was played tonight.
That’s about all I have to say about that.
1951, I wish there was more to say. You’re exactly precise. Lamentable.
To fight all the way back and then end with 4 turnovers and two missed free throws was super painful to watch. Dagger to the heart. Again. Man it sucks being a Kings fan. Like really really sucks.
Basketball Hell says “you’re welcome”.
(yeah, that was devastating)
🙁
“Comparison is the thief of joy….” Hmmm, this is an interesteing compelling sentence, Mirann, and I get what you are saying. But what if you are the Suns offense comparing yourself to the Kings offense of last night, then isn’t comparison the bringer of joy. ;-). Or what if I am a T-bone steak and I compare myself to dog food? Or what if I compare who I was yesterday to today and I am better person: nicer, kinder, smarter, sexier, cooler, all true by the way, then isn’t comparison a lovely pursuit.
Now comparison as a thief of joy can feel true if you feel inferior as result and allow yourself to be defined by that sense of inferiority. It is not the comparison per se that can cause the suffering and discontent, it is the reflexive mental processes that occur, the ego over the higher self. If the Kings use the Suns offense as example and inspiration and borrow from what works, adopt a higher perspective, learning from the team that just made to the NBA finals, then the comparison is not a source of envy or frustration and feeling “less than”, it is rather something to admire and aspire to.
What I did not like about last night is Fox has a look of resignation, he looks depressed and uncertain. He made a few plays but not enough, another ineffecient night. Wheres the resolve, the leadership, the palpable anger when the team falls apart in the 3rd quarter? CP3 would not stand or sit by idly if his team collapsed. He would be more animated and vociferous to get his team to play the right way.
Not once have I seen Fox in 4 years get in the face of Buddy and tell him to stop with the bullshit!! Buddy does not value the ball in crucial stretches nor does he use enough shot discernment and Fox condones this through his unwillingness to confront his teammate for the collective well being. Right there you know Fox is not where he needs to be as a leader. And some fans think Ben Simmons will change that, he’s more passive and docile than Fox!
The player we need is Pascal Siacum. Fox for Siacum, who says no?! Siacum made his return a few days ago, shoulder healed and good to go, the guy is HUGE. He is the same size or longer as Holmes. He would be so perfect playing next to HB and Holmes on our front line. All our problems would be solved! if Fox does not get his shit together , and fast, and spend like 30-45 minutes in the sauna, and shed his excess weight and get to 185-190 lbs in the next 1-2 weeks, regain his lethality, McGenius needs to pull the trigger on Siacum.
I have seen enough of Davion to conclude the more responsibility he gets the better, we need to fast track his development the same way the Jazz fast tracked Donovan, and Fox for Siakum would enable that. I still love Fox and think hes a great player but this nonsense and funk and regression needs to come to end soon, and I am talking about 40 point game with 15 assists soon!
This team is going nowhere if their best player plays with the confidence of a neophyte and passion of thumb twiddler. They say too the team takes on the personality of the coach, and I see too much of the personality of Fox reflective of his coach, and this cannot be.
On a side note – Kings are 29th in attendance with an average of 12150 for six home games !
Time to start lowering the price of admission.
Should be last. We’ve had some marketable matchups. Wait until we dont to really see apathy.
I’m sure that has nothing to do with rules in place for place for large gatherings that are more stringent in California than in some of the anarchy states,
There may be a level of reluctance to crowd in for team that isn’t great than it would be if the team were say, 7-4.
While its probably all of the above, I think this is probably the main reason. My 75 year old Mom went to one game already, and had a blast, but said she wasn’t going to continue paying that much for a team that can’t get to the playoffs.
Anarchy lol ok
As a STH, I’ve only been to the 1st preseason game. Granted, I’ve managed to sell most of the other games (minus the last two). I’m mainly just waiting for the kids to finish up their vaccines so I don’t have to do the constant covid testing to get them in.
Isn’t that 80% capacity?
A perfectly disappointing Kangz game
As soon as Haliburton was scratched, the outcome of this game seemed inevitable. He’s the only player on the team who can run a competent half court offense. The first half was fools gold because it was all extremely hot shooting from Buddy and Davis. This team’s problem continues to be a lack of play makers. Fox and Davion are both just average which isn’t bad if Tyrese is out there making it all work. Without him, it gets ugly fast.
I wonder what this team would look like if Food Coma Fox was playing like last season.
Then again, it’s the Kangz
Another incredible game from Mitchell. After one inbounds post-up play to Booker, Mitchell locked him down. Played well offensively also. He has impacted every game this far. Really lucky to get him at 9. His ceiling is higher than we think.
If the refs hadn’t let CP get away with a couple of bullshit rip-through moves, Mitchell might have had a larger impact, had he not been glued to the bench in the second quarter with three fouls.
Still a great learning experience going up against CP3.
Absolutely true. Getting an early lesson on the officiating bias in favor of stars could be useful.
It’s beyond me how, other than maybe when trying to secure a rebound, a player swooping the ball in a circle is a “basketball move.”
Agreed. I absolutely hate that call. Now that they corrected the 3pt shooting foul crap, they league needs to look into that move as well.
Yeah, it’s such a garbage play.
If they want to improve the game, get rid of that shit.
How they didn’t call an offensive foul on Paul for shoulder ramming into fox then making his layup early in the game is beyond me. They just called him for a tech.
Agreed, there’s no logic to that.
“That’s a technical foul.”
“Why?”
“Paul deliberately ran into Fox.”
“Fair enough. Is running into another player no longer a common foul?”
You cannot have two sets of rules for players if the integrity of the games is to mean anything.
I am happy with the no calls.
The game flows so much better. If we go to the other extreme and call all offensive-initiated contact fouls then we are back to stopping the game all the time for petty junk!
I agree! They should’nt have called that offensive-initiated contact foul on Harrison Barnes vs Booker!
😛
The problem is that CP3’s still creating BS foul calls.
That may be true, but that’s not the comment I am responding to.
My favorite part of the no-calls was watching the players lose their shit about no longer getting those bullshit calls.
Entertaining games, but at the end of the days, back-to-back losses at home to two teams both missing key core players. Yeah, we’re all a few years older, but…
5-6 through 11 games, right on pace for about 37 wins and yet another trip to late lottery purgatory.
Hopefully Mirann doesn’t end up like us 😀
I’m still on 35-47 (but could see a few more wins), with the team at 26-34 (give or take) at the all star break. The team could actually post a .500 record for the month of December, but the stretch leading up to the break could be very unkind.
35-47 would be an absolute disaster.
It would be an improvement of 4 wins with a roster that lacked any serious improvement in players. Rather one that’s almost exclusively made up of players from one or both of the last two 31 win seasons. Not earth-shattering, but far from a disaster.
The problem is the front office thinking that essentially running out the same team would equate to big leap in wins, and the media helping them push the “we’re on the move up” narrative.
Well, last year was a disaster, so 4 more wins would still be a disaster.
It would not be any improvement in wins. It would be a decrease in winning percentage. 35 wins over an 82 game season is .5 wins fewer than 31 over 72 games.
The only positive of being in “lottery purgatory” is that McNair will be drafting.
yup.
Thankfully, drafting seems to be Monte’s strength.
Observations.
If they call CP bumping Fox in transition a non-call, they should also start calling the Kobe Swipe on defenders as a non-call. (Davion got that twice on CP3 yesterday smh)
Damion Jones moves SOO much better than TT. I would like Jones to play more backup than TT. I love TT’s personality tho.
Fox.. what do we do..
Buddy and TD are redundant. My hot take is TD can replicate Buddy (to a degree) in a more controlled manner. Buddy still takes those shots that irk me.
I really missed watching Haliburton
Been saying this for a while. Jones/Metu can give you better on-court production than can TT at this point in TT’s career. TT should be a “break glass in case of emergency” player only. (But we all know that Luke never met a mediocre vet he didn’t love! 😉 )
Thompson should be a “break wrist in case of emergency” type player. If bigs are pounding our guys, send Thompson out to restore order through controlled violence.
Maybe we should sign the Jokic brothers! 😉
No joke-ic!
Imagine paying to go to a game. Couldn’t be me.
Look at what happened to the defense when we got some fresh legs. The team has five games in seven nights, Walton is running a tight rotation on a face paced team, what did he expect to happen? His inability to understand rotations or be proactive is remarkable. I guess it isn’t, since he had the same issues when he was a Laker HC, but good lord. The Kings are going to need minutes from players outside of the top eight if they are going to exert themselves defensively every night and push the pace.
I just want Fox gone, once and for all
Hes annoyed me his entire career and not impacted winning, has a low motor/no heart
Just trade him, please, hes driving me crazy
WAIT!!! he needs to drive into a crowded paint and hope to get a foul call first.
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