2022 is off to a good start as the Sacramento Kings managed to outlast the Miami Heat in a hard-fought game on Sunday afternoon, winning 115-113.
De’Aaron Fox was the savior for Sacramento, scoring 13 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter, including the final two free throws that sealed the game with 6.2 seconds left. The Miami Heat had one chance to tie or take the lead, but Jimmy Butler’s turnaround floater was off target and the Kings walked away with the victory.
The Heat were missing 12(!) players due to various injuries and Covid protocols, and as such had to rely on big minutes from guys like Omer Yurtseven, as well as former Kings Nik Stauskas and Kyle Guy. Yurtseven ended up having a career night, scoring 22 points to go with 16 rebounds, six of which were on the offensive glass. The Heat as a team feasted on the boards, outrebounding the Kings 55 to 47 but with an 18 to 7 differential on the offensive glass. As a result, Miami ended up shooting 27 more FGA than the Kings, but thankfully didn’t convert enough at a high rate to make a difference.
One area where the Kings dominated was in getting to the line, and that was mainly because of De’Aaron Fox. The Heat were 12-12 from the line and Fox was 14-15 by himself. It was a career-high in attempts for De’Aaron, and he made the most of his opportunities, which is very nice to see for someone we’ve seen struggle at times with his free throws. After tonight, De’Aaron is now shooting 75.1% from the line for the season, a career-high and trending upwards.
The Kings have been getting healthier lately but were without Richaun Holmes and Terence Davis. Damian Jones got his first start with the Kings and did relatively well, scoring 18 points to go with 10 rebounds and 3 assists. Jones also had some nice moments defensively late in the game where he was continually getting switched onto smaller players like Kyle Lowry, Jimmy Butler or Tyler Herro but managed to stay in front of them for good contests. He has definitely solidified his spot in the rotation with his play of late.
Tyrese Haliburton continues to be on a passing tear. He finished with a game-high 12 assists tonight with just 2 turnovers. Over his last 9 games, he’s averaging 10.44 assists a game. If he is on the Kings for the foreseeable future, I’m fairly confident he’s going to wind up on top of the Sac-era assist leaderboards (currently held by Mike Bibby at 2,580 h/t Will Zimmerle on Twitter)
Buddy Hield led the Kings and the game in scoring with 26 points, making 7 of his 14 three point attempts. Hield’s shooting was particularly important late in the 3rd quarter when the Heat started to build up a decent lead, going up by 8 points with 2:35 remaining. Between Hield and Davion Mitchell (12 points on 5-7 shooting), the Kings managed to enter the final period tied at 90.
Miami would go on a 7-0 run to start the quarter, but Buddy managed to keep it close, scoring 8 of Sacramento’s first 9 points, including a three to tie the game at 99. From there on out, it was the De’Aaron Fox show, with Fox getting into the paint at will and either making shots or getting to the line.
The Kings had a couple of chances late to really seal the deal as Fox found Buddy Hield and Harrison Barnes wide open on back to back possessions for open threes, but they clanged off the iron and Miami was able to hang in there. Omer Yurtseven hit a mid-range jumper to cut the lead to 2, and on the ensuing possession, Buddy Hield was trapped in the corner and forced up a very tough fadeaway three that clanged off the top of the backboard
With 26.6 seconds left, Jimmy Butler bullied his way into the paint and hit a tough floater over the hands of Damian Jones to tie the game up at 115.
After a timeout, Harrison Barnes inbounded the ball to De’Aaron Fox in the backcourt, and after killing some time, began his drive towards the rim with about 10 seconds left on the clock. Fox spun on Tyler Herro, who quickly fouled him to avoid what would have been an easy layup. Fox stayed on form and Butler couldn’t repeat on the other end.
The Kings next play in Los Angeles on Tuesday against another sub-.500 team.
As I said in the game thread, I didn’t see that coming. Wish they’d play that way all the time. Everyone dance!
If.you saw it coming, you’d be a savant.
An idiot savant
ahh they’ll get us good back in Miami
That was a ton of fun to see in person. Got a couple high fives from Vivek and thanked him for getting the team to stay in Sac. (I know, suck up). Even had a quick “hotter than fish grease” shout out to Mark Jones.
you should’ve told him to stay out of basketball operations…stick to mining Bitcoin or whatever the hell he thinks of next.
Thanks for boosting the little chaps ego.
Honestly, why? I guess you are nicer than I
Thanking V is the opposite of what he deserves.
Aneel ?
Dance ..
….the night away…
Win is a win ! Get the idea that Kyle Guy may become another version of Seth Curry ! Just keep improving ( smarts and shooting sells ) !
Miami Heat always seem to find value in some Guy
Bagley for Guy and Stauskas?
2 things on fox:
1) he realized that you actually have to make free throws to win games just now in his 5th year?
2) fox is slow now and can’t stay in front of opponents as well as he used to. The 🦊 is fat
The really good ones are known for winning games. Nobody talks about how fast they are.
Yes, totally agree. I only mention speed because it was a plus in the past and a way for him to stay in front of opponents and at least try and make it harder for them. Now, guys just blow by him. Also, I could care less who the fastest guy in the league is, I just want the team to win.
I agree with you completely. He was fast, now not so fast. He is now a mediocre player without speed.
You made two very good points.
You are both out of your minds. Go ahead and let ur blind hatred of Fox make you look silly. No matter how well he plays you’ll both go on saying tired old shit that has no basis in reality.
Fox is a decent player. He is not a max deal point guard that can lead a team.
Don’t hate him. He is not what the Kings need for a point guard. Change this roster or put him on another team. Either here or somewhere else he is not a max deal point guard.
I don’t hate fox either, I have just come to the realization that he isn’t going to do anything for this current team. He will probably excel and make the all star team with a change of scenery, coach, players, etc, just not while in Sac.
also, if you have been following fox for the last 5 years you will understand what I mean about his ft’s and his recent downward trend in speed. Again not hating just stating what I see
Can this site bring back the down vote button?
Luckily, I couldn’t downvote this, so I’ll just respectfully disagree.
Honestly. People need to know that their ravings aren’t simply being overlooked when they get no likes. And I got as many of them as anyone.
This site rremoved the down vote before Youtube, pretty ground breaking by TKH. Anyways, we can’t be hurting people’s feelings with down votes.
I seriously doubt anybody’s feelings were hurt by downvotes. I also seriously doubt that had anything to do with the reason they were removed.
Ultimately, I don’t really care either way. That said, I do like a structure that encourages people to form an actual response of some sort. Anonymous, drive-by tomato (or rose) throwing doesn’t interest me much. Much less the weird automatic personal feud downvotes.
Regardless, the up/down votes are meaningless. As far as I know, there aren’t any repercussions or rewards attached anyway.
Perfectly put.
Are you trying to take away our TKH rights?
I’m not trying to take away TKH rights at all. I’d just like to down vote takes that I disagree with.
I disagree.
Works…..
I disagree.
Understood.
Agree to disagree?
Great job Fox. Please continue to play like this so it’s a win-win for all. Monte can get a decent trade (pending Vivek dumbass approval), and you can leave purgatory.
Undefeated in ‘22!
But when that first loss comes….
For me, it’s the opposite. Loses are wins to me. The only way out is being terrible….maybe
Nooooooooooooo. Wishing for a speedy recovery, G-Man!
https://twitter.com/ggerould/status/1477884261638172680
Love the G man, but he sounded terrible. I was wondering if he had been tested…. get well
soon!
I mentioned something like this last week, too, but a barely‐win at home against a depleted team isn’t cause for celebration. The Heat were missing basically their entire roster. Start winning most of your games and we can start thinking about feeling good after wins like this. Right now, these wins are costing us ping pong balls.
I would have to agree. Heat missing 12 players. Kings have no chance in this if Miami is healthy. They are a superior team and it’s not even close.
Would you think better of them if they lost?
It’s not Kings fault the Heat were missing players. I wont get too excited about this win, but I won’t shit on it either just because the Heat had some covid issues.
Welcome to Kings fandom. It’s a confusing rotten place. LOL
I may be totally off-base, but it seems to me that most of our wins come on the back of good games by Hield.
If we connect from outside, there’s more spacing and ball movement, if not everything stalls on offense, it appears to me.
Not a very insightful observation, I know, but it just came up in my muddled mind.
When he’s having a typical game when it comes to shooting, it makes life vastly easier for his teammates on the floor. Even when he’s off, he can’t be left alone.
LOL, what? Are you infering last night was typical? In 31 games in Nov and Dec he was 53% TS%. Last night he was 71% TS%.
I ask, what is typical 53% TS% over 30 games, reflecting relatively linear macro trend downward since 2018-2019 or one game to start 2022?
4 years of TS% > 59% 56.6% 56.7% 55%
If and when Buddy gets TS% back to 57%, even if it consists of stat padding and shot making when the team is out of the game or way ahead, speaking of typical, and where he was last two years when he had crappy years, IMHO, costing the team post-season birth, IMHO, at least then we can talk about the stabilization of his effeciency, instead of the disconcerting decline.
At least if he gets to 57% TS% you can make the case he’s not getting worse. That is going to take a series of games over course of a month or longer like we have not seen in years. Maybe it happens, I am not betting on it!
What is typical in your mind anyway? The guy is regressing in effeciency, so typical would be aligned with the trend or the 53% TS% in Nov and Dec, unless you want to redefine the meaning of the word.
The Heat defense was having problems. I have not seen Buddy get as open as he was getting in quite a while. Besides Butler they did not have wing defenders.
Lowry could not stay with Fox nor could any of their guards. I don’t know who they were missing as defenders besides Bam, but for their sake they had better hope to bring on more defenders besides him if they want to advance in the playoffs.
Buddy has not put back-to-back games in many months. I have said he plays well 1 out of 4 games and that is probably generous. And he helps you win 30-40% of your games and that is generous. Last night was one of those outlier games.
It goes to the fundamental issue of shot creation, shot quality and creating space. Buddy was able to do that last night, made his first couple of shots, unlike most games. And the unshakable confidence he pretends to have, false bravado, but does not, was buoyed. More than anything though he was beneficiary of weak opponent defense instrumental to help him to get the clean looks; this will not last.
When he needs to resort to quickness juke moves and savvy to get open, does not possess these traits to suffient level against stiffer competition, the results will be predictable, aka, typical.
The only thing that is not typical is that he is not forcing quite as much. Hence we have seen the 1-5 FGs from 3s and the reduced shot attempts. I guess if you want to consider this a positive you can, not shooting you out of games as much. This is atypical, just like his performance last night.
You don’t watch the HEat much. I live in Miami. They were without 12 players. Some of their best defenders and shooters: Duncan Robinson, Bam, PJ Tucker, Morris, Okpala, Vincent. just to name a few. All of those players are first rate defenders. Miami is ranked 6th in team defense. Kings ranked where? 28th. Morris and Tucker would have shut down Buddy all night long.
The Kings did what they had to do. Get a win against team missing 12 players. When The Kings play Miami. I’ll be at the game. It’s not going to be close if Miami is healthy.
Reality is not reflected in that statement.
Typical……
Actually, the majority of the Kings wins this season has been due to the misfortunes of the other team. Covid, Injuries, etc. Kings really only have a couple of good wins against quality opponents. The Suns early in the season and the first time playing Charlotte. When the Kings have to play the Nets, Bulls, or Bucks( If those teams are healthy) Kings don’t have a chance.
The Kings are still bad. Despite the Western Conference having an off year.
Kawhi Out, Murray and Porter Out, Lakers getting old, etc.
There is really only 4 teams: Suns, Dubs, Jazz, and Grizz.
The Kings don’t believe in tanking. Expect a few minor moves by the trade deadline, another 8-12 pick, Rinse and Repeat.
Team has no direction, overvalue the roster, and the high water mark is qualifying for that stupid playin.
The west is only a 3 team race, the Grizz can’t compete with those teams, come on
Every team is dealing with covid, you can’t treat our wins differently
Muddled mind perhaps but your point is accurate. I’d expand that to entire team.
Because they don’t have an actual offense, if they hit shots they can win. Fox made FreeThrows and Buddy hit so they eked Out a win.
It’s all garbage. A mirage tricking Vivek-and his ego.
And speaking of shooting, how the fuck does Bagley and Metu to a lesser degree, ever have more 3 attempts than Hali. Or more shots.
idiotic. Crazy notion- set offense up to allow better shooters to take shots.
Personally, I’d attribute it to Buddy not wasting shots. If he hits them, we are more likely to win, but he’s always going to take the same amount of shots. If Buddy is missing those same shots, we lose because he shot us out of the game. I think we’ll be better without Buddy, replacing him with Davion.
Nope, that’s the problem really. If you’re dependent on Hield to be consistent on this team, the body of work says that’s not happening. I don’t think Buddy’s the only problem, or the biggest problem, but I do think it makes a lot of sense to move on from him as soon as possible.
Monte and Wes got sent to the principal’s office, hahaha! “See boys, this is how you build a powerhouse.”
Nik Stauskas was a team high +12.
Stat of the year!
Just wait until Castillo’s next 10 day hardship deal is here in Sac.
Thread Jack: ESPN 1320 continues to beat KHTK in the monthly ratings. Would love to see them add an AM or PM show.
KHTK’s response is to bring in an outsider from New England to do a local Sacramento evening spot.
3 things stick out about yesterday for me.
1) Buddy’s tradeable. Not for what Vivek Ranadive wants, but tradeable. Trade him already. Yesterday’s game is too few and far between for the Kings. What Buddy does in his next stop is irrelevant since he’s not doing it in Sac.
2) Rebounding is still a real problem. Not that that is a surprise, but there ya go.
3) De’Aaron getting to the FT line 15 times was good to see. Hitting 14 of them is even better.
Ultimately, as many are saying, it’s not a win that gives you confidence in this team or anything. It was just another ho hum win by a couple points but ultimately it’s meaningless in terms of really being a playoff contender.
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