It took De’Aaron Fox just seconds into his return to ignite the Kings offense, and Sacramento’s firepower never cooled off in a 132-120 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers at Golden 1 Center. After missing the Kings’ previous five games with an ankle injury, Fox swiped the tip-off jump ball and immediately attacked the basket – he missed the initial shot, but tipped in the rebound for Sacramento’s first bucket, just 6 seconds into the game. It was a sign of vibes to come, as Fox scored 28 points on 11-20 shooting and looked like he hadn’t missed a beat. Keegan Murray, Domantas Sabonis, and Kevin Huerter all joined Fox with 20 or more points, and Sacramento shot 59% from the field and sank 20 three pointers while keeping a talented Cavaliers squad at arms length for the 2nd half. Coach Mike Brown secured his 400th career victory against the squad that started his NBA tenure, and Coach earned the DPOG Crown.
Murray finished with 25 points and 8 rebounds on 9-13 shooting, and, most importantly, shot 5-8 from 3. Keegan has been a star this season at everything but deep shooting, and finally seemed to break through his shooting slump – while also snagging big rebounds against the taller Cavs opponents and playing the best defense of the Kings starters. Keegan was matched up for much of the night against Donovan Mitchell, and while Mitchell had a team-high 22 points for Cleveland, he shot just 7-21 from the field and was clearly bothered by Murray’s length. If the DPOG Crown hadn’t gone to Brown in recognition of his 400th career win, I have no doubt it would have gone to Murray.
Keegan Murray’s opponents are shooting 46.9% at the rim this season, 12.5% worse than their average.
That’s good enough for 15th in the NBA.
— SactownBabyGiraffe (@TimMaxwell22) November 14, 2023
Sacramento got offense contributions across the board, with six Kings finishing in double-figures. Sabonis finished with a near-triple-double, with 23 points, 10 assists, and 9 rebounds, and attacked the Cavs big combo of Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen with regularity and confidence. Kevin Huerter had 20 points with 6 made threes, and scored 11 points during a big 13-5 run in the 3rd quarter that helped give the Kings a commanding lead they’d never relinquish. Malik Monk finished with 13 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists with some ridiculous passes, and drew one big charge in the 4th quarter that had Mike Brown more animated than anything else in the contest.
The Cavaliers never fully faded in the contest and made some moves in the 4th quarter, cutting Sacramento’s lead down to 126-113 with 3:13 left to play. But apparently J.B. Bickerstaff had seen enough, as he pulled his starters at that point, long before Brown did. The Cavs had 7 players in double-figures, as Mobley had 16 points and 11 boards and Caris LeVert had 21 points off the bench.
After missing the past few games, Sasha Vezenkov gave the Kings a big lift as the first reserve called in by Brown. He scored 8 points of his 11 points in the first quarter to help the Kings early offense stay ignited. Keon Ellis, who started the last 3 games in place of Fox, was the backup PG tonight when Fox rested. He didn’t have the cleanest evening and shot just 1-3 from the field, but had some strong defensive moments against Mitchell and Darius Garland. Davion Mitchell did not see the court tonight.
The Kings improved to 5-4 on the season and 4-1 at Golden 1 Center, but now head off for a 6-game roadtrip that tips off against the Lakers on Wednesday in Los Angeles.
I can’t extrapolate hard enough to….
Today’s my birthday, so I’m glad I got to see a Kings win today!!
No joke, the King’s record on November 13th actually has been good for the last handful of years.
Bring on the six game road trip. Glad Fox is back and that Keegan and Huerter appear to have found their shooting confidence again. Definitely coming at a great time.
OMG… Happy birthday Klam!….. Happy Bithday!
Congrats Klam!
Let’s make everyday your birthday!
happy birthday, Klam!
HBD Klam!
Happy birthday!!?!
You should have a birthday every day. It seems to be good for the team.
~~~Happy Birthday~~~….Klam
Happy birthday bud! Hope you had a great one!
Happy birthday, Kevin!
Klam
a
lam
a
ding-dong.
Cleveland got rocked!
I’m A pRoFeSsIoNaL
Live by the three, make other teams die by the three.
Three game winning streak!
Finally some good Kings basketball! Helps put those soul destroying Houston games out of mind.
Hopefully Fox still has plenty left in the tank for the upcoming road trip, he played more minutes tonight than I expected
So awesome.
that’s gold
What’s covering MB’s face?
Keegan developing an impressive (not just improved, but impressive) defensive game is something I wasn’t expecting to see this season. If he can keep this up, he’s going to be squarely near the top of the mix for MIP.
I thought he showed flashes of it last season, but how quickly he improved there has blown me away. That’s gonna be the real access point for his offensive game I think
Trying to cover Fox all summer will either make you better, or quit the game.
No quit in our kid Keegan.
You misspelled MVP
I think spending the summer guarding De’Aaron one-on-one could possibly have something to do with the improvement 😜.
Agree. Keegs being a defender. Also, he finally stopped thinking when shooting. His 3 ball back.
Im impressed with Keegs improvement and Heurter finally being the Heurter I’d heard about.
Those two have improved as has Fox for sure. Especially when he sets his feet on the 3. The Vezler is starting to figure it out.
Overall, mostly drom
internal improvements, this team looks improved. And so many awesome
lineups to watch. I especially love it when Keegan, Heurter and Vez are out there shooting lights out.
This brings up a good point, in that the Kings (as long and the defense continues to hold true and isn’t fleeting) currently have a LOT of different looks they can throw at teams. That’s something that is going to grow even more once Lyles comes back, too.
Wait till Lyles gets back…. Spock, Heurter, Vez, Lyles, Fox or Monk.
Yikes!!
Purple Team Dance!
&ct=g
Great to see Keegs break out of his distance shooting slump. Let’s keep it going, young fella!
I was at this one – Kings were just rollin’ from start to finish. They shot >50% from 3 and were 66% FG the entire game until the last part of the 4thQ.
The home cookin’ was hot tonight.
I went to the G1C Cleveland game last year (9 November 2022) which the Kings won. Remember that one month later, Sac went to Cleveland and downed the Cavs in one of their most impressive wins of the season. The Cavs were 11-1 at home and Sac went on an 19-0 run to close them out.
Light The Beam! 👑🔦🟣
Chances had been given to Duarte, and he either keep fouling or keep missing 3..
The experiment should be done….
It’s time to try Edwards / Jones !!!!!
Sounds like good investments!
Look who’s on top of the Pacific again! Suck it, haters!
That was a fantastic win. Four players with more than 20 pts and Domas was one reb shy of another trip dub. We back!
It looks like the Kings may not need OG because they have Keegan. Seriously, he is picking up every team’s best scorer and giving them fits with his length and quick feet. What an improvement.
Is it fair to say that so far this season he has been the Kings best defensive player?
I think Keegan just have the size advantage on defending those players……
But he did move his feets fast enough to chase those guards…
Meanwhile, I think Edwards and Ellis is really good at “reading” the defense….they can predict the passing lane….just different types of defensive skill.
Is it fair to say that so far this season he has been the Kings best defensive player?
Yes.
All we need now is a good defensive young power forward.
Nine games in and here are my hot takes:
Keegan is the Kings best defensive player. Not Davion, Ellis, or Edwards
Ellis and Davion are about equal in my mind from a value standpoint. Neither are great. Decent defenders that bring different levels of mediocre value everywhere else.
Huerter’s defense is improved. His shot is and will continue to come around.
Sasha is adjusting and I can squint and see a really good player once he adjusts.
Monk is the Kings second best creator.
I’m not worried about Barnes.
I love that the Kings are running a lot more PnR this year. If they did that last year, Holmes might still be around.
All in all, I think the Kings are a slightly better team than last year.
Clippers and Lakers suck.
Thumbs up for this 🙂
If Keon and Davion are about equal and redundant then I’d imagine there is only one spot in the rotation between the two of them. Currently I lean towards Keon. What’s unfortunate is Davion is owed $5m this year and $6M next while Keon is on a two-way that can be converted to a very cheap deal if the Kings so wish. That should make Davion trade fodder.
I don’t necessarily agree with aplumley above when they say that Keon and Davion are decent defenders. That sells both players short. I think they’re both really active defenders who do an excellent job of keeping their opponent in front of them. Aside from that, I agree with everything else they say.
I was thinking the same thing as you during that game – that Davion is at risk of becoming trade bait. I’ve never been in the “don’t trade Davion” camp and I believe Keon gives the team much of what Davion does but can defend on switches better, simply due to the height difference. I loves me some Davion, but I see him being on the trading block at the deadline.
I say decent as in above average. Maybe even good, but I don’t see either as elite. Davion is limited because of length but does a great job of making up for it with effort, strength, knowledge and instinct. But that only goes so far. He’s an on ball defender for guards that is really good at keeping his man in front of him and staying in their space. Keon is slightly more switchable and is a good defender as well. Mitchell is the better ball handler, creator and passer. Neither of these guys are going to make or break the season unless one of them suddenly becomes a legitimate offensive threat. I think Kessler Edwards is a better defensive asset, albeit even more limited offensively.
Yep, I agree with all of that.
What a win! Didn’t get to see a lot but loved what I saw and it’s obvious this was a great team performance. Super happy the Kings are showing last hear was not a fluke, I was a little worried but still feel good about our chances this year.
A team that plays like the Kings did Monday night wins sixty-five games in its sleep.
Entirely too much to ask, as sometimes the shots don’t fall, but man, that was pretty basketball.
Andy says we getting 65 wins this year!
I am disavowing this unless the Kings win sixty-five games. In which case I would take credit as an accidental genius, the only type of genius of which I’m capable of being.
I am holding my breath and worried about saying this BUT this might be the turn around game. Kings 2-1 with Fox, then lost close one to the duds and were blown out by Houston twice but recovered enough to beat Blazers and OKC. Two wins without him and 3 losses. Now he is back and big win.
Kings learned how to play without him (not all that well) but now learned how to play with him. Good win. Hueter has turned the corner it seems. Keegan too. He is more set on his threes, like last year and drifting a lot less.
Sasha looked good. The adjustment to NBA speed is extensive. Now he knows how speedy the defenders are and knows when he can shoot. He was hesitating for a bit there. Looks like the Euro guy now.
I have always loved Keon and now he gets his chance. He has extremely quick and active hands. He is a bit reluctant to shoot and cautious on offense but paired with good Malik he does well. Keegan has raised his scoring2.5 points per game. His 25 were so quiet while Mitchells 23 were loud. Next 5-6 games important.
I can breathe now.
The new additions are starting to have an impact.
and Colby Jones is outscoring the duds rookie that their announcers have out in the Hall of Fame already. He might get minutes tonight after lil stephie sits it out and Day-day gets ejected.
CP3 body blocked Mike Conley at the knees. He is fitting right in. klank keeps shaking his head, side to side. looks like a bobble head. Despite what he says, he is worried about getting his “legacy” contract which means he expects to be paid far higher than current value. After all, they love stephie more than him and day-day and even the most hated Poole got their bag.
Why would the duds management pay him more than he is worth? But, then again, I don’t think like a legacy dude.
I like that day-day gets into it with everybody- his running around the court antics after ejection vs. the wolves was typical. Most players would get suspended but he is entertainment. Like WWE.
Badge Legend