Twenty Two.
That’s how many three pointers the Kings made against the Charlotte Hornets last night, setting a franchise record. It was an offensive explosion that it felt like we had been waiting for all season.
Buddy Hield led the way with 26 points, including 8 of 17 from three. He had one field goal attempt that wasn’t a three… and it was only because his toe was on the line. Just take a look at his shot chart:
The Kings as a team got it going early and didn’t let up. The Kings were 9-15 from beyond the arc in the first quarter and got out to a 41 to 22 lead. The Hornets came into the game with the league’s best offense but also the worst defense, and you could tell early on the Kings were enjoying the increased freedom. De’Aaron Fox didn’t even score in the 1st quarter, but he was able to penetrate the paint at will and find open shooters. Terence Davis, who had recently found himself out of the rotation and had been off to a bad start this season, came in and scored 8 points in that opening quarter, including 2 of 3 from beyond the arc.
The Kings are a relatively small team, oftentimes playing just one big man. Charlotte is even smaller, and it showed tonight. Richaun Holmes, who might have had a small grudge considering the Hornets were one of the teams that could have (and should have) pursued him in the offseason, dominated the paint. Holmes scored 23 points on 9-12 from the field and set a career-high with 20 rebounds. The Kings as a team shot 55.2% from the field and still managed to get 13 offensive rebounds for an absurd offensive rebounding rate of 38.2%. Mason Plumlee, Charlotte’s starting center, finished with just 6 points, 6 rebounds and 6 fouls in just under 22 minutes.
The Kings let their foot off the gas slightly in the 3rd quarter, but not by much. Gordon Hayward got going, scoring 14 of his 25 points in the quarter. The Kings still took a 17 point lead into the final frame, but we’ve seen this story before and a few minutes into the fourth quarter I was starting to get nervous, as Charlotte made it a 12 point game with 8:18 left.
The Kings responded in kind though, with Davion Mitchell and Buddy Hield scoring 8 and 9 points respectively over the next 7 possessions to push the lead up to 25, effectively breaking Charlotte’s back.
This was the closest to 48 minutes of basketball we’ve seen from the Kings this season, and it resulted in their biggest win to date. While Gordon Hayward (25 points) and LaMelo Ball (24 points) got their own, nobody else on the Hornets was able to do much. Miles Bridges and Terry Rozier combined for 7 of 28 from the field. Every single King who played had a positive +/-. This was a complete win, and I hope to see more like it in the future.
King of Kings
Who could it be but Richaun Holmes? On a night where his teammates were draining three after three, Holmes was the Secretary of the Interior. Holmes just might be the most efficient big man in the entire league. After last night’s game, he is averaging 15.9 points on a ridiculous 69% (nice) from the field. The 20 rebounds is icing on the cake too. Tristan Thompson and Alex Len are both capable bigs, but Holmes provides such versatility on both ends of the court that the Kings miss him tremendously whenever he’s off.
Random Observations
- Harrison Barnes didn’t have the best shooting night, but still managed to put up 14 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assists. Harrison’s rebounding this season has been perhaps the most underrated part of his game, and it’s allowing the Kings to continue to play small.
- Speaking of playing small, the Kings guard rotation of De’Aaron Fox, Tyrese Haliburton and Davion Mitchell all showed out tonight. Fox started off cold, but finished the night with 21 points and 9 assists. Haliburton scored 14 points on 6-8 from the field to go with 5 assists, and Mitchell had his best shooting night of his young career, scoring 19 points including 4-5 from three. When these three are all clicking, it’s very fun to watch, and I think it’s only going to get better as they get more experience playing with each other.
- Moe Harkless is so valuable when he can knock down those corner threes. He’s not the best shooter so he’s often left open, but when he hits them it just opens things up for everyone. The Kings don’t need a lot from Moe, but he’s been giving the team good minutes on both ends.
Coming Next
The Kings continue their home stand as the Indiana Pacers come to town for an early 3 p.m. tip-off on Sunday.
I can’t remember the last time the Kings won a game and it didn’t take every single second to accomplish.
That was CLEANSING
My thoughts exactly. I wonder how many years it has been since a comfortable win.
I don’t remember the last time we had a positive green number in points diff. We’re at +2.2
(Small early Sample Size)
Nov. 1, 2018, the 6-3 Kings capped off a 5 game win streak with a 146-115 win in Atlanta over rookie Trae Young’s Hawks.
After the game, Joerger said “Nobody saw this coming.”
3 days later, the Bucks crushed them, 144-109
I’m just curious as to what the analogy here is. If there is any, for that matter.
Other than “the Kings have to prove they’re good”. And to which I’d respond:” Yeah, and? Your point is? I knew that already.”
Crandell’d?
Would you have bothered with a next day recap if it was an ugly loss?
But this one’s definitely good enough to savor a few days.
And when will Greg put up the game thread for last night’s game?
Is this the game thread?
Please don’t game thread.
Kings win!
I am not as enthusiastic as some are–odd because sometimes I have seen lots of good play in losses. Last night I saw unnecessary bad play in a lopsided win.
Here’s the problem: the Kings were lights-out in things they cannot always control, shots dropping. They were sloppy in things they can control: taking care of the rock and defensive intensity and rotations.
Even in the first half, when they seemed to be playing great, they turned the ball over ten times, adding eight more in the second. Barnes and Richaun had four each.
I thought that, after a good start, Buddy reverted to trying to do too much on offense and losing focus on defense.
The Hornets got too many damn layups. Sure, they get a layup, we get a 3–that’s not good basketball. Control the things you can control. Keep focus.
That said, De’Aaron was terrific. Using clichés, he “let the game come to him” and (borrowing one from football) he “took what the defense gave him.” He, Tyrese, and Davion were all great at handling the ball and getting assists. If he plays like that every night–or realistically–almost every night, the Kings will win a lot. All three were delights to watch last night. Perhaps others who see the game better than I can speak to their defensive intensity and awareness.
So I am not too excited about the great shooting. The lapses I saw will get you beat against the really good teams (who will defend the 3-point line better than the Hornets). Focus on the details, control what you can control.
♫ … Cheer up, Garry St. Jean
Oh, what can it mean that
To a daydream believer
And the homecoming Kings ♫
🙂
Quit Monkeeing around!
I’m scared. As the game was ending I was think if they play with that energy and pace every game they can beat anyone. As a Kings fan, thoughts like those are terrifying. (I’m also a Charger and Padre fan. Brrrrrr…)
Totally right there with you. I went into this season focused on staying pessimistic, and committed to not give the Kings org any of my money until they finish a season with 42+ wins.
Now I’m starting to believe in this team, and am ready to buy a Mitchell jersey. It’s going to hurt like hell when they inevitably, before Christmas, do something big to destroy their season.
I would like to see TKH make some Richaun and/or Barnes merchandise.
They’ve got stuff for Fox, Davion (used to have something for Tyrese)…
Maybe a Mobile Holmes shirt? Black Falcon shirt?
Maybe Buddy, too?
Hell, I’d buy a Moe Harkless TKH shirt.
I’m not Fat, I just got stung a little. I’m Fine, I just Fox LaMelo Ball
Thank you, Charlotte.
The Kings should use a Richaun Holmes 22 jersey to promote
the upcoming playoffs in April ’22.
Here He Stayed
Hell yeah, good win, but buddy should not be handling the rock because he still turns it over. Also did nbc get rid of Matt Barnes? I hope so, I ended up writing them as someone else her had suggested.
It’s possible that last few games may have conflicted with court appearances for Barnes.
I honestly thought the Kings record would be something like 1-8 at this point and I also thought Fox’s slump had to do with him looking over his shoulder for Davion. Boy, was i wrong about both of those. Would it be too far-fetched to think they finally have the right combination of youth and veterans and they have a legitimate shot at going to the playoffs?
In the course of the season we can only expect the younger players to get better. They will also learn how to work together better in the combinations Luke is using. I think playoffs are very realistic, but I tend to be very optimistic.
Back in the olden days, we coined Brad Miller’s 20/20 nights as a double double, animal style. Cousins may have had one or two? And now Richaun. That is a lunch pail evening.
What stands out more to me is that his effort does not stand out more to me, the byproduct of increased effort by those around him. Mitchell & Hali have brought a nice infusion of raised effort. Almost makes me think that this front office has a player type that it likes (conveniently ignores Whiteside signing).
Another two and a half months of this and you can color me convinced. In the mean time it sure is fun. Go Kings!
Olden days of when the Kings were good….
Imagine if they were serving Iceberg lettuce in the restaurant on board.
Wow. Too many positives to include in one comment. They’re playing good basketball and are a treat to watch, not just for our standards but also for an impartial nba fan.
Things are going too well right now, Vivek is going to have to do something stupid like fire McNair.
…I mean it sounds ridiculous, but….well we’ve seen lots of ridiculous Kangz things so I’ve still got my fingers crossed.
Then let’s hope he does something EXTRA stupid and tries to fire McNair but calls the wrong number and fires Walton instead! NBA 0.3, baby.
You mean something like this?
Suns Owner Robert Sarver Reportedly Wanted Local Strippers To Get Pregnant By NBA Players To Have An Advantage In Free Agency (msn.com)
Has it been 20 games yet? We need this so badly.
Looking ahead oatf the schedule, we have a real chance here. What’s our longest winning streak in the last 10 years? I think we might be able to get there.
Looking at everything dating back to Eric Musselman, the longest streaks were 5 and 4 games. That was 2006-07.
2007-08: 2 4 game streaks.
08-09: 3 games
09-10: 2 4 gamers.
10-11: 1 4 gamer.
11-12: 2 3 gamers.
12-13: 1 3 gamer.
13-14: 1 3 gamer.
14-15: 1 5 gamer (early w/ Malone), 1 4 gamer (late w/ Karl).
15-16: 1 5 gamer.
16-17: 2 4 gamers.
17-18: 4 2 gamers (not a typo)
18-19: 1 5 gamer
19-20: 4 3 gamers
20-21: 1 5 gamers, 2 4 gamers
In the playoff drought era, it seems the nut to crack is 5 games. I would be daring enough to suggest theway if the Kings manage a 6 frame streak, they are playoff bound.
They have a few ways to go before getting there. Like beating Indy today and beating Phoenix tomorrow on a SEGABABA with Phoenix having the rest advantage. At least both games are at home.
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