The game came down to the final seconds. Anthony Edwards was the superstar that he is and drew a foul at the rim with 2 seconds remaining, and sank them both. The Kings drew up a last second play to get Keegan Murray a game-winning attempt from 3, but it was well guarded. Keegan double pumped in the air, and got off a shot that nearly went in, but rattled out to end the game.
The Good
The Big 5 – DeMar DeRozan led the Kings with 26 points, 8 rebounds, and 2 assists. He also made 12 of 14 free throws. Domantas Sabonis had 26 points, 8 rebounds, and 1 assist, while shooting 3-4 from beyond the arc. Keegan Murray had 23 points, 11 rebounds, and 2 assists. De’Aaron Fox had 15 points and 11 assists. Malik Monk had 17 points and 4 assists. The Kings big 5 were awesome. They showed up across the board, and played some beautiful team basketball. Those fit concerns about DeRozan? Forget about it. Tonight was some fun basketball to watch on the offense end.
Free Throws – The Kings shot 80% from the charity stripe. Not the best, but solid. More importantly, the Kings shot 35 free throws compared to just 17 for the Wolves. Welcome, DeMar. We needed you.
The Bad
The Others – Kevin Huerter had 2 points on 4 shots in 20 minutes. Keon Ellis had 2 points on 1 shot in 11 minutes. Trey Lyles had 3 points in 11 minutes. This isn’t to say these guys didn’t contribute in other ways, because they did chip in with some rebounds, assists, and steals, but the lack of scoring was noticeable.
Meshing – The Kings are a team that have a bunch of guys, including the aforementioned Huerter and Lyles, just returning from injuries. As a team, this group hasn’t had a ton of time to really mesh yet, and it showed. There are growing pains. The bright side is that I believe these guys can figure it out.
The Ugly
Three point defense – Minnesota had so many open looks. They shot 40% from 3 and attempted 50(!) threes. That was really the entire difference in this game.
Nobody can stop Julius Randle – Randle has been a Kings killer for years, and he feasted tonight after a terrible opening night against the Lakers. Randle finished with 33 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists.
End of the third quarter – Third quarter woes struck again, as sloppy play saw the Kings turn a 9 point lead into a 1 point deficit.
4th quarter execution – We sadly saw the return of the Kings 4th offense devolving into ineffective isolation basketball. I was hoping Mike Brown would have learned from last season.
***
I don’t want to be overly negative, despite all the additions to the Ugly section. The Kings are clearly a team that is still finding itself. But the pieces are really good, and the outlook for this season is strong. I am excited for the next game, so the Kings can get back on track. Remember, the Wolves looked completely lost in their first game, and looked much more composed tonight. Patience sucks, but I’m told it’s a virtue. I guess I’m willing to give this team more than one game to figure it all out.
Up Next: Kings @ Lakers, October 26th at 8:30 PM
We’re definitely back baby!! I thought they played fine but the three point defense which was atrocious in the preseason is… still atrocious! It puts a pretty hard ceiling on what this team is able to accomplish this year if it doesn’t improve. DeRozan looked solid which isn’t a surprise but the ball movement needs a lot of work. They’ll be able to score on most anybody but at the end I had zero doubt Edwards was scoring because that closing lineup with Monk, Fox and DeRozan is tiny.
If the Kings had Jerami Grant, BI, Cam Johnson, or DFS over Huerter…they win. His jumper looks like it has a hitch in it and he doesn’t shoot confidently. Trade package for him will only diminish with time.
He was +9 tonight. Not bad considering it was his first game in months.
Single game plus/minus is a stat that isn’t very indicative of anything, even misleading.
A player can have a great game and then get caught in a sustained run of the opponent and he has a bad plus/minus.
Another player can have a forgetable game with limited minutes but be on the floor when one of his teammates is on a heater and then have a great plus/minus.
That seems like an accurate synopsis of statistics and basketball. He was plus nine tonight. Specifically tonight. Which is not bad. Maybe it is the beginning of a streak? Maybe it is the peak of his career? Specifically tonight though, a plus nine is not bad.
Again, it is not good. It is not bad. It just is.
Thank you RikSmits
I am not RikSmits.
I thought Huerter was fine considering he hasn’t played in 7 months. The team played well while he was on the court. I don’t really think he was the problem.
He didn’t play pretty much the entire 2nd half. I’m not sure the coaches agree with you. Only 1 of 3s was even close to going in. And 2 of them were wide open.
Other than Huerter’s minutes what did you think about the game?
I was impressed that they held Minnesota below 120.
And what does the team playing well with him on the floor mean? Lol…you can go out there and play and not do well, but the rest of the team can do their part. I’m just being objective. He was the weak link last year and looks like will be again this year. There a reason he been on the trade block also. He has done what he can to help this team. It’s ran it’s course, time for an upgrade.
Of course we can upgrade that spot but that probably isn’t happening until at least the trade deadline. The thing he does that helps the rest of the offense is that teams treat him as a threat to hit 3’s. Nobody treats Keon Ellis that way which is why Huerter is starting. Huerter didn’t play a ton but I also don’t think he hurt the team while he was out there. He rebounded pretty well and played decent defense. He had nothing to do with why they lost last night.
He might have. Had Keon started, Keon could have defended Ant which allowed Keagan to be on Randle. That might have stopped Randle from getting into a groove.
I enjoyed the game and seeing the Kings compete with a true contender. Mike Brown had a good point in the post game talking about difficult shots not working and needing to be methodical to beat a team like Minnesota. That is not 20 foot jumpers in the last seconds. This team has a lot to learn but has potential. The defense is not great but they did not allow 130.
I will take this game as a positive and it was fun to watch.
It’s crazy to see Minny take 50 threes and only score 117 points.
A little luck helped us compete.
Actually I wasn’t overly impressed. Both Conley and DDV were awful. Mcdaniels was not good on either side of the court. Fox could have really had a huge game. Should have exploited the really porous and old backcourt of Minny.
Demars performance was typical. Solid and Effective But can rarely put a team on his back anymore.
My only issue with DdR is he’s notoriously bad in the playoffs. Worst plus/minus in Playoff history. He will not be getting those foul calls in the playoffs. For sure.
When his mid is not falling, he’s like Harden. Just flopping for calls.
Randle, Edwards and Reid tore up the Kings with their brute force and athleticism when they decided to turn it on. If the Wolves traded for a decent point they would be unstoppable.
Conley is cooked.
i think the Lakers
game is going to be rough. On paper it looks like the Kings have an advantage.’
But if DLo is having a game.
And the 2 old dogs play like the last game it’s going to be close. Lakers
are playing physical and aggressive style with JJ. It’s also in LA.
it seems they are
playing Huerter to trade him.
If he keeps playing like this he’s trade value is nil.
I see a change back to Ellis if the Kings start out of the gate slow A lost to the Lakers might be enough to put Ellis back in.
Let’s get Derozan into the playoffs as a King before we deride him for his playoff performance over his career. It was the first game of the regular season. I like the fact that he has been there enough to have playoff statistics.
He has a really cool book as well. It talks about having a positive outlook on life and how to maintain that.
Let’s not tell other fans how to react, comment or feel?
When it suits you, you dissuade people to criticize Brown because of his record.
And when it suits you, you dissuade people to criticize DDR and to ignore his (play-off) record.
I would love to see him in the playoffs wearing a Kings uniform. That is progress through winning.
Bad 3pt defense and some terrible calls from Gleaming the Cube’s Yabbo (hopefully 80s kids get that reference). The one thing that surprised me was the lack of 3s we took in what appears to be a new NBA era of 50 threes a night.
To be fair, there is no one in the starting lineup who was better than a league average three point shooter last season. Certainly the argument would be about what guys did two seasons ago, or making a case for Sabonis on one three per game.
In Keegan’s case, I think increased volume, trying to create shots and the league covering him more closely reduced his numbers. This year is TBD. I wonder how Huerter’s confidence is after the debacle in the Warriors series and his down numbers last season.
I do think they’re going to take a lot of threes, but they were 16th in three point percentage last year and lost two of their best three point shooters in the offseason. This is a team that can’t defend, wants to outscore the other team, but also can’t outshoot them from the three point line. They’ve made up for it in other ways – with midrange scoring, getting to the line, three superior iso scorers in Fox, DeRozan and Monk, etc. but it’s a thin needle to thread if the goal is to get out of the first round of the playoffs.
Well said.
First Carl rec of the new season. Won’t be the last.
The first half had the Kings looking like the better team.
The second half started much the same as the first and Sac just went cold for 4 minutes – sort of lazy on offense and TWolves took advantage.
The 4th Q allowed Sac to climb back in and the team that executed better (Minny) beat the team that missed free throws, took tough shots (good D by TWolves) and the Kings fell short.
I loved the fast pace and active defense Sac opened with but they couldn’t sustain it. Alex Len with solid few minutes, Malik scored with only a few “Bad Monk” plays.
I like the slow down offense with Deebo and the single man fast break by De’Aaron. Not many DHOs.
82-1 from here on out.
i’m not convinced the Kings roster-making shot callers are looking at the team through the right lens. Are people making the roster construction decisions even watching the games?
There were glaring holes on last year’s team, and the issues were not addressed properly, especially with respect to defense and bench depth.
Boogie Ellis ought to have been kept. It was painfully obvious, using an old but effective method called the eye test, that he was far more effective in one-on-one defense – the skill most in-need for this team – than any other bench player on this team, save Keon Ellis.
Lets look at recent experience using the tangible proof of Minutes Played in 22-23. Outside of Monk, and Keon Ellis (new in 22-23) here are all the players (all members of the bench except Huerter) which had a reduction in their on-court time from the year before (in order of minutes played last year).
Robinson- Injured (8.4), Len (9.3) McLaughlin (11.2) McDermot (11.3), Huerter (24.4).
Again, Kings talent evaluators and decision makers don’t seem to be making talent-driven decisions using the results of recent court experience and performance.
As the season goes on, I see the starting unit getting over-used and tired, absent any more experienced talent.
Game 1 and gotta give ‘em time to play 2gether but I’m not sure about this team. The way it is constructed is counter intuitive to playoff winning ball. And good roster construction.
Derozen add? Doesn’t shoot the 3. So so D-causing glut of similar types and positions. Took ball outta Sabs hands (maybe just this game) He’s a good player but is he what Kings need? Ellis/Trey/Heurter (though I’m not huge fan) can’t get minutes and Carter is there too…… . Roster still needs balancing.
On other hand- will this become a good team that wins at end of games with Fox/Derozen taking turns closing. A little monk/Keegs thrown in?
I found a lot to like tonight despite the loss.
Domas really looked for his shot from range, and had some terrific synergy with DeMar. DeMar’s entry pass to Domas doubt 90 seconds into the game was gorgeous. I am excited to see how the efficacy of these two grows thru the season.KEEGAN MURRAY. He is the float of Grand Marnier in the King’s Margarita. He looked magnificent tonight, and if by January he is in the discussion for the King’s second or third best player, this team is going places.Line-up versatility. K-Von, Keon, and Trey were overall fairly ineffective, but you don’t have to squint to see how there is some versatility in this roster, along with Dougie McBuckets.DeMar. I love DeMar, he was my favorite non-Kings player in the NBA. In fact, the last two players who were my favorite non-Kings players have become Kings: DeMar DeRozan and Domas Sabonis. I just turned 56, and read A LOT of comic books as a kid, and have always wondered if I had a super power, and seeing the Kings acquire Domas and then DeMar in such close proximity, I thought to myself, there it is. There is your super power finally blossoming. You can will your favorites to the Kings, and checked my spreadsheet where I keep track of these things (like top ten sandwiches of all time, the five types of shoes every man needs, favorite film in each year I have been alive, best three ingredient cocktails, etc.) and realized Steven Adams is next on the list, so a bit deflating. Nevertheless, DeMar fit really well, I thought. His shot creation, his ability to draw fouls, his passing, and his passable team defense, were all very positive. So much silliness from writers/twitter about “he doesn’t shoot three’s”, like you can give him room from the line. HE IS A PREMIER SHOT CREATOR STILL AT 75yo! He needs to be guarded like a premier shooter because if he gets any room to drive he will score or get fouled. I think within a few weeks we will see some true magic as he integrates himself with Fox, Domas, et al. An amazing upgrade from the HB minutes.
A win would have been nice, but that was a fun and well played game for this point in the season. Does Randle really fit, or is he gonna Buddy Heild it and perform well for twenty games, then be a bit meh for a stretch, and then fall off a cliff. It is a contract year for him, but with Conley being close to getting an AARP card, and Gobert at this point in his career being a ne plus ultra Caldwell Jones, I don’t know if this Minny team has the juice of last season.
I enjoyed tonights game, and think this King’s team is gonna win 50.
You got me curious there, Michael. What are your top 5 three ingredient cocktails, and does it contain the Negroni?
Keon’s career is just in free fall. Not only should he not be starting on an nba team imo after his non development in the offseason as I saw in SL/preseason, but I feel better with McLaughlin taking those bench minutes. Keon’s on ball defense won’t do much for the second unit to negate the offensive setback
I’m going to pace myself with Fox. Since there wasn’t a page dedicated to it I will address his contract situation. He is laughably far away from the type of contract another all-nba team would command – which given the increase in talent in the nba since he very barely eeked out third team a few years back and the amount of offensive power we have he doesn’t have a chance IMO to get anyways. BUT, if he plays like he did last year, as a sub league average ts% volume scorer who wasnt particularly clutch and vastly inconsistent, I wouldnt feel good about a regular non all-nba max either. So I’m glad he didn’t accept any extension so we can think twice about it after this year. But he needs to do better in the clutch than tonight, he is repeating last years unclutch heroics so far
As for the good – glad to see why our FO didn’t want to include Keegan in any Markannen talks. Solid on both sides
When Fox said he wanted to wait and see where the team is going before he signs. He wants to be in contention. OK then you better step up especially in the 4th quarter as one of two clutch players. You want to be a contender it goes both ways.
Keon’s career is in free fall because one bad game?
I didn’t even think he played that poorly. He had a couple deflections and one that led to a steal and a fast break and he had a nice drive where he got fouled and hit a couple free throws. I thought he was fine.
This game was highly engaging.
Likes:
Dislikes:
And 1 dislikes:
Agreed. They had 2 timeouts at that point, they ended us using one for the failed challenge. Would’ve been better to manage that clock and ensure it was a real 2 for 1, with a proper play call.
Some bad trends from last season continued in this game.
Too many open 3pt attempts for the opponent.
Stagnating offense that went minutes at a time without a FG, which lead to many Minnesota runs to close lead in a short time.
3rd quarter execution, again.
Ball movement often stopped, again, like last season which leads to bad shots and a disjointed offense that takes a long time to get back to being good again. Not sure if Brown stops calling play and goes with the “flow offense” (p.s. that flow crap sucks), or the players just freestyle and do what they want at time.
What really grinds my gears is that when Keegan is shooting well, he rarely gets the ball in crunch time. Last season it was Fox/Monk keep away from Keegan, and this game DeRozan joined that duo to make a trio.
I almost cried last night especially in the 4th quarter. We now have the 2 best clutch players in the NBA right now and it was sameO sameO in the 4th. Can’t win the 4th quarter. I hope this isn’t the trend from past years. The other sameO sameO is we can’t defend the 3 ball. Other than those fouls late in the 4th. I thought we played a good game. Playing McDermott wasn’t a good Brown move. That’s when they started their small run to turn it around. Huerter rightly had a nonexistent game as well as Ellis. I think both will turn things around. We’ll see.
I agree although Keegan looked like he might be better than last year. 11 rebounds and 23 points. If he gets the ball more would have had 30.
PS I liked the fact Brown went to Keegan for the last play. Shows confidence in the kid.
That seemed like a busted play and Keegan was the one who happened to get the ball.
I think it was always for Keegan, but it looked busted because there was that false start on the Kings moving before they could inbound. They had to reset, but the defense had a quick read on what they were about to do.
This. All those concerns need to be addressed immediately.
Offense looked good but the defense wasn’t good enough to win. Minnesota is projected to be better but at home I wanted this one and was hoping the Kings might look more like a top 5 team in the West. They looked more like a #6 team. Play Huerter less, sticking with veterans continues to burn MB. Ellis and Trey need to shoot more. Solid effort but nothing spectacular, everyone could’ve played better.
Lyles had a pretty good numbers for the few minutes he played. Definitely a positive opportunity with him and he adds size to a small team.
Should have played more. Should have a least taken McDermott’s minutes.
They tried McDemott out. Probably because they wanted a veteran in that situation. Hopefully McDermott will smooth out. He clearly knows the game but is new to the Kings. I hope it gels.
I did enjoy the game though but close to winning doesn’t really help us. Watching DeMar and this team will be fun and they did look a little better than last year, we’ll see.
I know it’s a small sample size of five preseason games and one regular season game, but I’m struggling to understand why Monte McNair put together a roster that shoots less threes than its opponents in 2024 expecting to win. The wolves doubling up the Kings’ three-point attempts is simply unacceptable and there’s no way to outrun the math here. You can keep hitting mid rain shots at a high clip and it still won’t be enough just withstand onslaught of threes from the other team.
If the Kings can’t correct this issue, then they’ll be beat by every single time. You would think that our GM who came from the Morey tree would understand the math problem here. But it might be expecting too much from McNair, who spent the last two seasons essentially running it back with the same roster, expecting different results despite the obvious weaknesses that this team has had.
You can say that the team won’t give up that many threes every game, but I would tell you that they did that pretty much every game last season so what is going to change now? Unless the NBA decides how it calls the game defensively again in the middle of the season, I think we can expect more of the same from this roster.
The Kings are a mediocre defensive team, and the front office is either unwilling or unable to address it.
I would’ve liked to see Keegan on Randle a bit more last night, give Fox, Ellis, DDR, etc a chance on Ant
I think that’s the downside to having Ellis coming off the bench. Not a knock on Huerter, and I don’t necessarily think they need to change anything yet, but in the current starting lineup you only have one truly reliable defender.
Agree. I just don’t see value or strategic advantage in having Keegan guard Anthony Edwards. Edwards beat him badly on the winning drive that led to a foul and two game-winning free throws.
Keegan Fuckin Murray! If this is the Keegan the Kings are getting in his third year, then look out league. Yeah the Kings lost, but there are plenty of things to like. Huerter and Lyles showed rust, but if either of those guys were a bit more effective last night, the Kings win.
When it comes to 3pt defense, yikes! I’m not sure what is going on but wonder if it’s a system thing. Jordi is gone and I believe Luke Loucks is the defensive coach now. Could be working out kinks, or the game plan is to make other teams beat you from deep while focusing on denying points in the paint. It appeared that way in pre-season and it could be a trend if it continues like last night
It appeared to me that the kings defenders tend to give ball handlers on the perimeter too much space. The ballhandler does a fake drive, which easily becomes a step back three. It happened throughout the game, by nearly every King. I was telling myself “that’s gonna be a step back 3”, then splash, 3 ball.
Just like last year.
Agreed, and that’s why I wonder if it is intentional that they sag off the perimeter. Maybe the plan is to not give up the straight line drives and collapse on the paint, but at the cost of outside shooting. With no true rim protector the Kings may be more afraid of points in the paint or Sabonis getting in foul trouble. Could be a strategy? I don’t know.
I wonder if Domas getting in foul trouble this season, compared to last season, is not as big of a deal because DeRozan can help mitigate the lack of offense if Domas is out?
Adam I think you remembered last year. Every team we played had so much confidence in shooting the 3 we couldn’t stop them. We need to fix this quick or it will happen again this year.
Just want to second the Keegan Murray thought here. Had 23 and 11 while guarding Ant on an island by himself most of the time. That’s something! Also seemed to be the only guy to my eyes who really got the memo about crashing the offensive boards. Really good game from Keegan, and if he can approach that level of impact on a consistent basis, watch out! (PS, I’m not really a stat hunter, so if I’m wrong about the offensive boards, well, sorry about that!). I will also say that I watched that offensive board strategy play out last night, and I think they just may be on to something.
this seemed to be a better performance against the T-Wolves than the last two years.
Hi! Long time lurker (all the way back to the old site), first time poster, so please be kind! Why start posting now? The more important question is why didn’t I post before? Well, I’m an idiot, at least compared to most of you in the community. I don’t have your depth of knowledge, and perhaps not even your writing skills. Mostly, by the time I got to reading, anything I might say would be just redundant, so instead, I just enjoyed everybody’s comments, as well as the writing from TKH team. (Will’s preview yesterday is an excellent example!) So why now? I retired recently, which makes me an idiot retired guy with time on his hands! Lucky you! Before I get to my point, I just want to say thank you to community for all you’ve shared over the years. Thank you.
My observations on last night’s game:
I’ll leave it here for now. Good game, my sense from it, though, is that we’re going to have some frustrating nights throughout the season, but still end up with a pretty good record, but will it be enough in the West?….not sure.
Welcome. Post more often.
Welcome!
Welcome in!
Welcome!
If you’re as much of an idiot as you claim to be, you will fit right in. Welcome.
We should have won this game. It’s only one game, but we need that “dawg” in us. Up 10 in the 3rd quarter, should have won by 15-20. Maybe I’m old school, but I’m whooping your ass until it’s zeros on the clock. Everything else is trivial.
On to the next game.
In a game decided by the thinnest of margins, I really gotta question what the hell MB was thinking with those 4th Quarter McDermott minutes.
Like last season when he would just Duarte or Edwards out there and hope for the best.
I hope the team plays well the first few months, or the Kings might be paying another coach to not coach the team (I am NOT advocating for Brown to get fired). The rumors will start, it’s how the NBA is.
I can’t understand why people are continually harping on Luka for complaining, but somehow Ant gets a pass from virtually everyone.
That was the first time I really got to see him play a full game. The complaining was bad. Reid and Gobert did the same. Really surprised Reid didn’t get a tech as he was fairly combative all every call.
Too bad they didn’t have another second left, would’ve had time to inbound to Fox or DeRo fist as a diversion, then flip a quick pass to Murray coming off a down screen from Domas. Kinda risky to go for the win on Brown’s part, but didn’t have much choice I guess, as Demar & Foxy seemed a bit cold in the 4th.
Badge Legend