For the first time in more than two weeks, the Kings are back in the win column.
Sacramento withstood multiple runs in the first 2.5 quarters, but began to pull away with some strong defense en route to a 131-110 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday at Paycom Center.
The win snaps a four-game skid and pulls the Kings half a game closer in the race for last play-in spot.
De’Aaron Fox overcame some early struggles to lead the Kings with 29 points and 10 assists and six players reached double figures for Sacramento.
Some observations:
Getting the call, taking advantage
Coming into Monday’s action, Trey Lyles appeared in four games with Sacramento and averaged just 7.5 minutes, 3.0 points and 2.0 rebounds. In his first start as a King, and just his fourth overall in 56 games this season, Lyles lit it up.
The forward hit his first three shots and showed out on offense throughout with an array of jumpers, driving layups and dunks to finish with 24 points on 10-of-14 shooting.
The scoring output is his second-highest of the season, trailing only a 28-point game for the Pistons in a loss against the Heat on Dec 23.
Defense leads to offense
The Kings kept things level in the first half despite Domantas Sabonis sitting the final 8:40 due to foul trouble and Fox struggling on offense.
Despite hanging tough up to that point, the Thunder didn’t look shaken. They opened the second half with a 9-0 run and held the lead until just short of the three-minute mark of the quarter.
However, the Kings caught fire and would not be denied. They closed the period on a 19-7 run behind several steals and deflections, held a 99-90 lead entering the fourth and didn’t look back. Sacramento outscored Oklahoma City by 12 in the final quarter for good measure.
Surviving Shai
The Thunder (19-42) are heading toward a high lottery pick. That didn’t seem to matter to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. The fourth-year guard proved to be a problem in nearly 33 minutes, going 12 of 16 from the field, including all three of his 3s, and 10 of 14 from the free-throw line for a game-high 37 points. He also had 10 assists, seven rebounds and three steals.
SGA was whistled for his fifth foul with just under four minutes left in the third quarter, which seemed to subdue his aggression on the defensive end and it doesn’t seem like a coincidence that the Kings took off around that time.
Looking ahead
The Kings (23-40) are now three games behind the idle New Orleans Pelicans (Sacramento’s next opponent) for the final play-in spot. They also have to leapfrog the Portland Trail Blazers (25-36) and the San Antonio Spurs (24-38), a team they’ll face Thursday to close a back-to-back.
It won’t be an easy run by any means. Eleven of the Kings’ remaining 19 games are on the road. Also, 12 of their contests come against teams over .500, including a brutal six-game stretch: vs. Denver, at Utah, vs. Chicago, vs. Milwaukee, vs. Boston and vs. league-leading Phoenix.
Up Next
Wednesday, March 2 at New Orleans Pelicans (25-36) — 5 p.m. (PT)
Give credit to Gentry…at least he knows that lineup is not working….
and he put Trey Lyles instead of Harkless…putting Barnes back to his normal SF position.
Good to see Lyles played a really nice game… (he is calm, and real freaking good at those “Kyle Anderson” pump fake………..)
Also, DDV and Mitchell played a good game.
My 13-7 record for our final 20 games gets off to an excellent start on to new orleans. Really happy to see we have finally benched harkless, my goodness we were basically playing 4 on 5 on offense and it’s not he is a stopper of any sort, Lyles brought a breath of fresh air.
Lyles does seem a better fit with Sabonis and Barnes ! Hope to see more of DDV and Mitchell and none of Holliday !
Holiday seems good for 10-15 minutes a game but I’ve been quite puzzled as to why he’s starting over DDV or Mitchell. My only guess is that he simply looks the part of ‘lanky wing.’
I think it’s the ‘known quantity’ deal. Gentry knows what Holiday is, he doesn’t with Mitchell.
nice stat line from Divincenzo
Sad that teams around us that don’t want to win will bench some key players and give us a few extra W’s that will probably cost us a spot or two in the draft. This season is over, but I agree it’s been nice to watch our team at least be somewhat entertaining lately.
I don’t watch enough basketball to know for sure if this is a Kangz issue or not, but damn it feels like you can never know who the hell is going to get minutes on this team off the bench. Is it common to have multiple players go from starting and playing big minutes to getting DNPs with no injuries?
I don’t think that will be the case with Spurs or Pels. Neither are actively tanking. In fact , the Pels have been a .500 plus ball club since their 1-12 start.
Pels are gonna be tough. Kings are going to have play much better against the Pels than they did against OKC to win tomorrow night.
Why does anyone keep talking about the play-in game?
This team is cooked. They have ZERO chance. They can barely compete against the bottom dwellers.
anyone isn’t talking about anything. Get under it.
I missed most of the game but DDV looked like he was playing with some energetic prowess.
Have to hand it to Presti. The man is building OKC the right way. Shai/Giddey, Dort. Besides their Top 5 in 2022. They will have the Clipper pick, Suns, and PIstons Top 16 protected. and about 50 million to spend over the Summer. This team is not going to be bad for long.
OKC isn’t getting Detroit’s pick anytime soon. It’s too well protected for it to be anything other than a non lottery pick.
Eh… Presti was ok with the loss. The Kings had to win to save their chance at a play in.
Presti could care less With all the assets and cap the Thunder will have next year. Expect them to be very improved. Don’t be surprised if they pass the Kings in the standings.
Also, no guarantee they will ! It may be 5 years before they are as good as they were before tanking !
I don’t think Presti is nearly as good as people think he is. Collecting decent, not great, assets during a perpetual fire sale got him fired in Phila. How long does the OKC firesale go on before he keys in on an actual core? SGA, Giddy and Dort sound like a super team, just young, amirite?
Presti was never in Philly. Pretty sure you’re confusing him with Hinkie.
That was Hinkie ! The league got rid of him due to the never ending ( Process) !
My bad, thank you for correcting…!
I unfortunately haven’t been able to say it that often this year, but: Fox was an absolute joy to watch last night. Offensively he didn’t meet much resistance and got in the paint at will with 13 of his 20 shots coming there. Added 14 FTA attempts as well. Defensively, he tried harder than I’ve seen all year. Still got caught on screens every now and then, but his effort was nice to see. Small victories.
Oh, and he added 10 assists, of which this one was absolutely stunning:
I thought that pass should be in Top 10 play…….just incredible outlet pass to DDV !!
Off topic: Ja is crazy to land both Top 2 plays of the night
Yeah, that pass was astounding. I saw him disappear into the trees, and all of a sudden, the ball sails out like a bullet to a wide-open DD. I don’t know how he saw it, let alone pulled it off.
The bar for this team is so low. They had to claw and fight against a team that is actively trying to suck, while they qere missing their 2nd and 3rd best player. Whoopdy freakin’ doo.
I agree beating OKC without Giddey or Dort isn’t that big of a deal. But this team isn’t a cakewalk, you have to expend effort to beat this OKC team. Plus you have to out execute them.
“You have to expend effort.” Yep, the bar is low, indeed.
Didn’t claim the bar was high.
How many accounts do you need Napear?
ALL ACCOUNTS MATTER
Only politically correct accounts matter !
Well played, Andy. Well played.
Domas and De’Aaron had 9 TOVs last night. The rest of the team had 7. Domas and De’Aaron had 17 assists last night. The rest of the team had 13 total assists. And this is a team that had De’Aaron and Harrison combine for 25 FTA.
All good things (outside of the TOVs by Domas) if sustainable.
That’s some framing. Domas and I had eight turnovers last night.
I was thinking that most nights, they’ll likely combine for 7. And the split wouldnt be egregious. That’s why I combined them.
Lyles is very much like a bigger version of Barnes. Strong fundamentals, stretches the floor, a willing passer, moves his feet on defense. He’s also not going to run past you or jump over you, but uses his smarts to eat your lunch all the same.
And he’s got something in common with Moe Harkless that I love: When both guys drive toward the basket, they aren’t thinking about layups. They’re looking to dunk and take contact if necessary.
Not being too familiar with Lyles’ game, this was eye-opening.
This is a chance for the Kings to see what they have with the new guys going into next year. Guys like Lamb and Jackson are gone next year, no reason to waste minutes on them. Lyles has a nice little $2.5M team option next year, DDV is an UFA, Holiday is back next year, these guys need to see good minutes over the next few weeks to see what next year can look like.
I was looking at HoopsHype and saw that cheap team option for Lyles next season. Barring something weird, that seems like a no-brainer, even if he only gets 10-12 minutes per game.
And while I’m here, Damion Jones was really effective out there last night. He definitely changes the defensive dynamic when he’s in, and he’s shown that he’s got passing skills, and can hit shots outside the paint. It’d be fun to see a lineup with him, Sabonis, Davis, Mitchell, and Barnes, I said, having no actual idea how that might play.
Monte is in a tough position with Jones next year unless he can find deals for Holmes and/or Len.
I’d expect a decent market for Holmes, but probably for nothing particularly interesting in return. Maybe you go for a young project player, the main thing is to clear that contract.
I’d not be surprised to see interest in Len as a break-glass option for better teams. He’s good at the things that he’s good at.
Holmes and Len are both on very movable deals, that should make life a bit easier for Monte but he needs to figure that out before making a move on Jones. We don’t want another 6 C’s like last offseason.
(ugh, not this shit again gif)
I don’t think that’s all that tough of a situation. Jones isn’t really a must-have player. He’s likely looking at another league minimum deal.
If Shai isn’t in foul trouble, this game is probably closer and possibly comes down to the final minute or two. I’m happy for the win, but not terribly impressed beating SGA and the OKC G League team. Lyles could be something to watch down the stretch.
Probably closer, but Sabonis was in foul trouble a bit too. But Shai for sure couldnt be as aggressive in the forth because of it
Why can’t the Kings play this OKC team like 45 times per season?
They could if they joined the G-League!
This was a “should-win” game and it was a little surprising that there still was some questions about the outcome going into the 4th.
One thing I’ve had issue with all year – why did no one try and attack SGA after he got his 4th foul? We do not do a good job of taking advantage of this. Ever.
Lyles…! Let’s not make it an outlier, guy.
Sabonis is my new favorite player. He’s really freakin’ good.
Would have been cooler if we’d have blown them out on their home floor but a win is a win is a win.
#dancegif
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