The Sacramento Kings came into this game against the Detroit Pistons having lost nine straight games. They were able to end the losing streak after beating the Detroit Pistons 110-107 in a close matchup.
With Tyrese Haliburton, one of Sacramento’s best defenders, out on the second night of a back-to-back, there was a reasonable concern heading into the game.
They came out the gate with a refreshing high energy level, jumping out to an early 12-3 lead on the back of stellar shooting that would expand to 22-9.
It was a nice change to watch another team switch everything on defense for absolutely no reason. Isaiah Stewart, Svi Mykhailiuk, and Mason Plumlee stood no chance against Fox in isolation.
Holmes and Bagley were effective in the paint, and the Kings held a 35-25 advantage at the end of one.
With the entire city of Sacramento wary of a Detroit comeback, the second quarter was as expected. The Kings only scored six points in the first five minutes of the half. There were no effort issues, they actually were winning most of the 50/50 balls, but their offense became stagnant.
20 free throw attempts at the halfway mark kept Sacramento ahead, but Jerami Grant came alive in the second quarter along with Saddiq Bey shooting to cut the lead to three going into the half. 55-52.
The beginning of the third quarter was some of the ugliest basketball I have witnessed. For some reason, I don’t think either one of these teams are very good at basketball.
Marvin Bagley impacted the game on the offensive end of the floor, but still was a liability on defense. With a little under five minutes in the third, the Pistons tied the game at 72.
Late in the third, Luke Walton was desperate for bench production and put Justin James into the game. That lineup consisted of:
CoJo/James/Hield/Barnes/Bagley
They made Josh Jackson look good, and Detroit went into the fourth quarter leading by five. 80-75. Two total points off the bench.
Trade chip Nemanja Bjelica started the fourth with the hope of adding to that saddening number – and he did just that.
Then, it seemed like De’Aaron Fox remembered that he could do whatever he wanted against this Detroit G-League roster. He scored or assisted on nearly every possession to bring the Kings back to life after they fell down by 8.
Guess what? The defense was still horrible and Richaun Holmes getting his fifth foul with roughly four minutes remaining in the game led to Sacramento’s best big being hesitant to contest shots at the rim.
Harrison Barnes absolutely cooked Mason Plumlee to give Sacramento a four-point lead with less than a minute to go.
After giving up an easy dunk, Barnes threw up a three that rimmed out and Buddy Hield tipped back in through contact.
AND IT WAS OVERTURNED, OFFENSIVE FOUL ON HIELD.
Josh Jackon gets two free throws and intentionally missed the second free throw for some unknown reason. It then became a long free-throw game.
Despite missing multiple free throws, the Sacramento Kings were able to pull out the win against the now 9-24 Detroit Pistons.
Cade Cunningham plays vs. Oklahoma tomorrow at 12:00 pm PST.
Goddamnit.
Was really rooting for us to get Cade Cunningham from them
We can’t even tank correctly. So Kangz.
Seriously, Walton had to be deliberately trying to lose with some of those lineups.
somebody explains to me why Joseph played 18 mins?
Will you leave the poor guy alone
He’s been genuinely awful this season and it isn’t like he has upside at this point in his career. There’s really no reason for him to see the floor aside from “ran out of guards”
Also, “ran out of forwards that can fill in for guards”.
That kinda seems like legitimate reason…Guy needed more minutes tonight? Jefferies? Justin James? They were all objectively awful along with Joseph tonight. Point being the whole bench sucks, probably doesn’t matter who is in there, the production is going to be crap most nights. Fox and Hield played 38 minutes on a back to back. Someone has to play as a ball handler.
Guy, Jeffries and James at least have upside. If you’re gonna suck, suck with the young guys.
Jeffries has a minor amount of upside. Like 9th -10th man upside. If Guy and James are still in the League in 2 years I would be very impressed.
In the meantime, Frank Kaminsky seems to be a nice contributor on Phoenix’s bench…
yes…point being what in regards to this? Frank coming back as the new point forward?
The point being that on a decent team, and with decent coaching, role players can contribute.
That’s a pretty obvious statement. I never contradicted that point. Last I checked this isn’t a decent team, without decent coaching and it’s role players tonight we’re joseph, James, Jeffries and Guy. The initial discussion was why Joseph played so much. Point was he kind of had to tonight. Because this bench sucks…not benches in general.
Well, you asked and I answered. I didn’t say you contradicted it, did I now?
And I answered in direct response to your comment lamenting guys like Jeffries and James. So I don’t know why the conversation should be suddenly limited to Joseph or the initial discussion.
Well your statement clearly indicates that I indicated role players in general can’t have impact. There’s no real other interpretation. THESE role players will likely not. The Kings 7-12 on roster is one of the worst in the league and a prime reason I feel they aren’t a more middling team right now.
Also, I’m sure Frank K looking good has nothing to do with him playing most of mins with Chris flippin Paul
Dude, I wasn’t even arguing with you, just adding a comment about our non-existent bench.
And somehwo you turned it into a silly argument, about what exactly?
Have a nice day.
I interpreted it as being snarky…if that’s wasn’t intent I apologize. You have a good one too.
Okay, cool.
I guess I’m snarky so often that I invite such responses once in a while.
Yeah, I could see that.
Objectively I have to fall on RikSmits side of your conversation
Xavier Tillman looks like he can play …
Aaron holiday as well…are we doing this right?
LOL, I knew we were in trouble when that was Vlonty McDivac’s second big move after screwing up the Bogie trade.
You think a tank moves with no driver?
Looks like we’re a better team without Tyrese.
Might as well trade him for Luka!
Barnes still being on this team is questionable from McNair either way
I understand the vet leadership and the fact that this team could be better without Luke, but my goodness if he’s still the difference in winning/losing several games this year
Honestly, I wouldn’t be sad if they hang onto Barnes if there are no great offers incoming. He’s a genuinely good NBA player in a lot of different ways and can easily fit with a rebuilding team if it comes down to it. Put him on the auction block for sure but don’t sell unless the reserve price is met.
Yep on Barnes. If genuinely getting something for future then fine, but I really don’t believe (last 9 games aside definitely doesn’t help this point) that this team is bad enough to tank down to the bottom 3-4. Even with trading Barnes. I see a low spot of probably 6-7 if they really went with youth last 30 games.
If this team can trade Barnes and tank down to the bottom 4 then we are more screwed than we think, because a) Fox is not worth anything near that contract extension if he can’t help to drive this team to a few wins and b) Hali regresses or stagnates most likely if that happens.
Barring injury, with those two I think this teams gets some wins and ends up in the 6-9 range. If they can’t then we are probably starting from total scratch and don’t have much except a 1b type player in Hali and Fox on a questionable huge contract. If a fully healthy Fox and Hali lead this team to the second worst record or something, then this puts all your eggs in the lotto gods basket with more even odds than ever amongst lottery teams. There is less advantage to tanking than previous years, even though I have probably given Tankathon enough clicks over the years to hire a small staff for them.
They have to trade Barnes asap for max value. His value has never been higher.
“Max value” probably isn’t that much, considering his contract. Maybe next year.
I’m really struggling to understand how trades and removal of NBA players helps the Kings improve on the court.
I guess where I’m at is that I hope Monte McNair has control of this thing and can make decisions that he believes is in the best interest of the org.
I can dream, can’t I?
It only helps if you bring value back that helps move the franchise forward down the road, at least I believe that’s the concept.
That’s only one sentence but it nicely sums up the points being made in different ways in this thread!
Look at it the other way around. If you have most of your cap space tied up in average to below average players, how do you get better?
And if you’re the KANGZ, maybe offloading Buddy Hield for cap relief enables you to fire Luke Walton.
What do you mean? Teams make trades to improve on the court all the time. Obviously, that’s the reason any team makes any trade. Because they believe it will make them better on the court within the timeframe they’re targeting. The idea with trading Barnes is that the resultant assets (players, picks, cap space, etc.) will help the team improve on the court next season, or the one after that. Though there’s a chance trading Barnes could improve the play on the court in the short term if they target multiple players with a collective productivity that is higher than Barnes as an individual. Or target a plater who may be better than Barnes but either even more overpaid or a poor fit for their current team.
I like him but I feel like he’s an average NBA player at a in-demand position (big wing). That’s a valuable piece to the right contender or fringe contender. On this team? Please free the man from this dungeon!
An interesting stat I just found out is that the record of our starting lineup of Holmes Bagley Barnes Hield Fox is actually 13-12. Either one or more of them have them have been out at times during our losing streak, exposing our main problem which is a lack of depth. We are definitely closer to a play in team when fully healthy than a bottom 5 team. That’s just the harsh reality. Barnes’ contract is a slight overpay but CoJo’s is a robbery.
The problem being that NBA teams are rarely fully healthy. So talking about what we would be if fully healthy is a lot like talking about drive times in LA without traffic.
Cojo’s contract is not robbery. I doubt that Cojo signed it with a smirk and fingers cross thinking to himself “I’m going to take you fuckers on a ride all the way to the bottom”.
It’s an overpay at a high level with a guard who didn’t anticipate the decline in his game that just a few years was going to bring.
You can say whatever you want to and I’ve probably said it to myself many times but you can’t argue that Cojo is just mailing it in, He brings what he has every night but what he brings isn’t what he used to have earlier in his career and it would be my guess is that he may well not even realize it himself.
CoJo makes what Holmes SHOULD be making right now. Paying him 12.4 million a year and 30 million guaranteed to be a veteran presence is a robbery. Our bench combined for 10 points this game and only had 2 points until halfway through the fourth. CoJo was partially brought in to lead that second unit. You don’t pay 12.4 million dollars to a player to have him put up a goose egg in 18 min against what should be an inferior team talent wise. Therefore it IS a massive overpay whereas Barnes is a slight overpay.
We have to overpay to get anyone to come here, because they sure as hell aren’t chasing a title if they come here.
Somehow the Kings emerged from the Detroit exhaust fumes with a win!
Respect the original!
Fun fact – that very Bus is owned by a friend and is on display at his shop in Vacaville.
Solid
Yay?
Can this season end already
Not a big deal win, but it’s better than talking about a 10 game win streak.
I mean I can’t remember the last time I saw one from this team, but I’m up for the discussion ; )
LOL. I’m not. I loved watching the game even though there’s nothing long term to believe in.
What can I say? Love watching Holmes and Fox play. Daquan Jeffries also.
That game was awful. A really bad team trying to give a game away to a completely awful team.
Bring on baseball season.
Well, I enjoyed it. I don’t have high standards, though.
If we all had high standards, we’d have jumped ship long ago. ð
Off-topic: sounds like the A’s new stadium is on track?
Still baffled as to why it’s 34,000 seats, but I really, really hope it gets done, and that the NIMBYs don’t kill it.
All I want is to take a drunken gondola ride to the stadium
I think that’s a bit small, but close to perfect for baseball.
I’ll believe it when I see shovels hitting the ground for a new stadium at this point. It’s all any one reasonably understanding of what’s going on can say, really.
That had to be the dumbest game I’ve watched in a while. What in the world was the Pistons doing at the end of the game? Why would you purposely miss FTs in a one procession game Josh Jackson and Dennis Smith?
I do want to shout out Kyle Draper and Kayte. They did a great job of announcing in the first quarter.
Could this be evidence of Detroit deliberately tanking?
As in Jason Kid bump me with a half filled cup type of evidence? Missing free throws just to ensure Kings win, but keep it close to not look as obvious type of strategy?
I don’t know if any of you watched old school South Park but that game was the real life version of the kids playing little league and trying to lose but they win because the other team tries to lose better.
The last two minutes was the worst basketball I’ve ever seen and that’s crazy because before that, the worst basketball I’d ever seen was the previous 46 minutes.
In this game I counted, between these two “professional” organizations, four or five airballs, a pass to no one, dribbling out of bounds, stepping out of bounds, an intentionally missed free throw when there was still plenty of time left… Followed by an unintentionally missed free throw that led to, yep, another intentionally missed free throw, and finally… intentionally fouling to prevent threes then inexplicably abandoning that strategy to allow the potentially game tying three…
You’re the best! Around!
Two horrible organizations, but lucky for us we have the FO member who helped Detroit crumble.
Dumars…Vivek meddling is depressing. Unless McNair wrestled control we are stuck.
Watching the Kings sans Haliburton in an exercise in futility, so I didn’t.
They could have mailed it in, but it’s good to see our guys play hard for Coach Walton. I see a big winning streak coming!! Go Kings!!!
Heck, we are only three games out of the play in games now.ð¤
Nobody gave you the key to the ‘chasm font did they?
Our bench is atrocious outside of Haliburton.
The refs did their part to attempt to drive our tank but failed horribly.
I also like how they were emphasizing our tough first half schedule like it excuses the lack of effort. Like Kenny Smith says, effort alone can win you 30-35 games in the NBA, talent in addition to that makes you a playoff contender. Which pretty much describes our season records these last few years. We win more when we show up engaged and with energy. It would be nice if we built upon 2018 instead of whatever we are trying to do now. At least back then we had an identity.
OT: Not great news for MLS in Sac it looks.
So, MLS in Sacto is crumbling, Sam Amick reports that Vivek & son/Dumas are still meddling, Luke Walton is still employed by my favorite team …
… yeah, this win isn’t cheering up my sportsball feelings!
It is so very disheartening to see Dumars/Vivek meddling. Dumars steps into role of idiot/sycophant for Vivek. I’m not sure how Sac will ever be decent until Dumars and/or Vivek go.
It’s not and and/or proposition. Vivek will just replace Dumars with the next one. You have to cut off the head of the snake; and that by now doesn’t just mean Vivek but the entire Ranadive family.
Dave is talking that Vivek needs to go if Monte can’t turn this team around in the next 3 years. Dave is usually in the loop on these sort of things.
Is he in the loop or is he expressing his wishes? If it’s the latter, perhaps he can spearhead the next #HereWeBillboard movement in 2024?
We’ll have to give the new GM/coach/water boy three years to figure it out first.
Wasn’t Burkle part of the original save the kings bid then backed out?
If so It looks like hey gets in, uses the connections to root out deals and opportunities. If there end up being better opportunities elsewhere, away he goes. I used to work for a guy that did a lower value of this. It is kinda shady but…. I wonder what sort of development deals he got introduced to being the big shot of the year.
I miss the days when Marvin Bagley’s dad asked on Twitter that his son be traded.
I have never in my life heard someone say out east.
Not saying your wrong Brenden, only saying I’ve never heard it.
Glad they got the win. It seemed like the losses were weighing on them. Sometimes we need to step back and realize they take these losses harder than we do.
Could be, but plenty of time I see them laughing and smiling and joking around at the end of a game (of which plenty have been losses).
Now, I don’t get mad about that. Losses are part of the game, and the guys at the the side of the floor are their colleagues as much as they are their opponents.
But I sometimes do wonder how passionate about winning most of these guys actually are.
This is their job, and they collect a nice paycheck, they learn to approach lossses with a certain kind of emotional detachment, and can get traded or move on free agency to another franchise. Not letting lossses affect you is part of the professional toolkit. Of course, winning is a perk and an importnat one.
On the other hand (most) fans are emotionally attached to just this one team and lack the professional detachment.
So over the whole, it could be that plenty of the fans take these losses harder than most players.
I have to say Walton takes the losses harder than me. I’ve never smashed a clipboard.
I have thrown my TV out the window a few times, though.
Forgive me for saying this, it’s only a reflection of my present King’s fandom but I actually thought that maybe one of his assistants scored the clipboard with a box cutter or something to make sure that when Luke smashed it to the floor it would break.
I usually don’t give a shit about the haters and losers that thumbs down harmless posts, but this one bugs me. You can disagree with me, but downvoting someone showing empathy, regardless of if you feel it’s warranted, is psychopath shit.
I honestly think fans take any given loss harder than the vast majority of players. At least, I certainly hope so. If a player were to go through the bipolar-esque reactions of many fans there’s zero chance they would make it through a season with their sanity in tact. I can see players taking long term losing harder, the same way being in a job that constantly beats you down wears on your sanity.
I agree with you. Can’t imagine being a player on the Kings having to deal with this. It must be really hard, and justifies the praise that players like Barnes get for their professionalism.
Even with all the thumbs down you’re still at 5-5 … which is .500 … better than the Kings!
What was up w Haliburton? Realized he’s apart of the worst organization in sports?
but seriously, why out?
A calf strain, I believe.
Calf *soreness
Welcome to cowtown!
don’t moo
Can’t even tank right.
A win like this saves Luke for a couple more weeks, that is good for the Tank.
Hmmm…If Kings brass watched this game figuring they would make a coaching decision based off the outcome then we are more screwed than I thought.
It’s not the outcome of a single game, it’s the outcome of a single game (played against an inferior opponent) that culminates in the 10th loss in a row. I was actually cheering for DET tonight because I felt for sure that would have been the nail in the coaching coffin.
Have to admit that I felt this way as well. It’s the PR appearance of not having a 10 game losing streak, which is enough to keep Walton on board.
Kudo’s to Bagley on improving on offense, but I can understand how his D even manages to anger the softspoken Barnes.
That is the type of effort that should get you benched for a week
Late to the party here, but DSJ did drive right around Fox, let’s not ignore that.
Much harder to defend the open court against a quick player than it is to make literally no effort in the paint.
This is a good example of how hard it is to quantify defensive impact. Imagine if they started included defensive lapses in a player’s stat line. Bagley would lead the league.
Bags spirit animal is a turnstile, just the counting kind. Not the secure version!
There are 3 equal culprits here for the result. Bagley should have stepped up and hedged immediately to his right to attempt to contain Dennis. Fox didn’t fight through the screen and as too willing to getting into the worst on ball position being on someone’s hip and seemed content staying there. And the reason that Dennis dunked on everyone is because of Holmes. He should be stepping up to take a charge or contest but he just gets caught flat footed and watching. This is poor TEAM defense.
No disrespect, but are any of Bagley’s painfully obvious defensive lapses actually his fault?
No disrespect taken. I think people are too keen to zero in and blame Bagley possibly without knowing what exactly SHOULD be happening in these situations. I didn’t absolve him of his responsibility. Once Fox went over the screen instead of under (Bagley gave him enough space to play it under), He needed to jam him and he didn’t. Then he got stuck in no mans land as his man popped out beyond the arch. The way him and Fox played the PnR was the catalyst for the whole thing. Holmes’ poor help D is why they got dunked on instead of a contested layup or floater. It’s a team game: Guys need to take responsibility and avoid pointing the finger. Bagley, Fox, and Holmes could have all played that situation much better than it was played.
The problem is he couldn’t get to his legendary second jump to block the dunk because he forgot to do a first jump.
Just watched the game this morning.
That was some of the shittiest basketball I’ve seen in years.
Yes it was. I turned to league pass to be sure I remembered what it looked like. I have an unhealthy disdain for the Balls but damn Ball and Charlotte played hard to the buzzer long after the game was decided. Would love to see that effort here.
Some recognition for Tyrese.
NBA Rookie Power Rankings: Tyrese Haliburton’s strong week puts him ahead of the rest of his class – CBSSports.com
It’s time for Buddy Hield to take mid to long range jump shots instead of going to the hoop, I can’t count how many times I’ve seen him struggle, sometimes embarrassingly, to score at the basket under even the lightest defensive presence.
I’m starting to wonder if Buddy is dogging it because he’s unhappy.
If he is, it’s a pretty bad approach. If he’s unhappy and wants out the best thing he could probably do is tell Monte that and that he’s going to do everything he can to make himself attractive to other teams as a trade target.
That is, if he’s intentionally dogging it. If he’s just playing poorly and without energy because he’s sad and can’t bring himself to step up, then that’s another conversation all together.
How are people coping with the new lottery odds? Even if the Kings had the WORST record they are more likely to pick 5, than 1-3. As much as tanking helps me feel like we have a general direction as a franchise, every time I remember the new draft odds I am reminded that it’s truly a crap shoot this year’s lottery
This is one of those wins where you really can’t be happy about in any sense. They played spirited at first but that quickly fizzled. It was sloppy, it was ugly, and it seemed as if the Pistons were the hustlers at the end. I wouldn’t happy if I was the players, wouldn’t be happy if I was the coach. When I coach I always tell my kids…”It’s not about the end result, it’s about the process and product we put on the court. We can have games that we’ll win and I’ll be angry at you guys, and we’ll have games that we’ll lose and I’ll feel proud of you guys and your effort”. The process and product on the court were bad, even if it ended in a win.
OT: With the Nets willing to move an injured Dinwiddie for a defensive wing or center. Do the Kings pick up the phone?
I suppose the answer would depend on Dinwiddies contract and expectation of pay on the next: Short answer yes
NO. These are the kinds of moves that leave the Kings holding the bag.
For Pervis Bagley, yes, without blinking.
This Battle for Cade game reminded me of that old Onion article where the Penguins and Red Wings were both trying to lose the Stanley Cup Finals because neither city could afford a victory parade if they won.
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