Well, that was certainly a game of basketball.
The Kings were back in action last night for their first preseason game and subsequently got blown out by Luka Doncic and the Lakers B team. Doncic played just about 16 minutes, but still managed to score 21 points. Nique Clifford led the way for the Kings with 23 points off the bench, while rookie Darius Acuff Jr. scored 19 and looked fairly comfortable doing it.
The first quarter saw both teams playing with most of their best players (The Lakers sat Walker Kessler, Austin Reaves and Collin Sexton, while the Kings sat Keegan Murray, Malik Monk and Ben Simmons), and it was a relatively close affair until the Lakers started getting hot from three towards the end. Domantas Sabonis suited up for the first time since late January and played just 10 minutes. He didn’t really look for his own offense, but he was doing his usual excellent screen setting and glass cleaning. I think Darius Acuff and Sabonis could learn to have a very nice two man game, as Sabonis was able to set several picks that freed Acuff up for wide open looks.
The Lakers came out with a mission to make Acuff’s life difficult, guarding him 94 feet from the start of the game, much like we saw teams do in the Summer League. Acuff handled the pressure relatively well, getting to his spots, using screens to free up for his own looks and also finding his teammates. There were some rough patches, and five turnovers is too much, but he looked more comfortable than he did in Summer League and was more efficient as well.
The game really fell apart for the Kings in the second quarter. The Lakers went on a 26-2 run to start the period, with the Kings only scoring their second basket with 4:51 to go. The Kings spent most of the quarter playing a two big lineup with Maxime Raynaud and Dylan Cardwell, and the lack of spacing stood out for the Kings.
Speaking of the lack of spacing, the Kings spent most of the game ignoring the three point line (on both ends). The Lakers shot 20-44 from distance thanks to a bevy of wide open looks. Meanwhile the Kings shot just 4 of 23, and it’s the attempts number is more concerning to me than the makes. Preseason should be about experimenting and getting out of your comfort zone. The Kings were one of the worst three point shooting teams in the league last year both in attempts (30th) and efficiency (29th). Somehow a team that lost DeMar DeRozan and Russell Westbrook attempted even fewer threes, in a preseason game where the stats don’t even matter. That’s on Doug Christie as a coach, and hopefully just a one game fluke. The three pointer is everything in today’s game, and the Kings need to embrace it to open up the floor. Emanuel Sharp and Daeqwon Plowden were the only ones really letting it fly from distance for the Kings, but they shot just a combined 2-13.
Nique Clifford was a genuine bright spot for this team, although he did struggle a little when asked to run the Point. The Kings lack of a true backup point guard was glaring in this game, and hopefully it will look better going forward when guys like Ben Simmons and Malik Monk are available. Nique did a much better job when off the ball and I liked his aggressiveness in attacking the rim. Nique scored a game-high 23 points, and got to the line 10 times. He also posted 9 rebounds and 2 assists with just 1 turnover. He was the only King to finish with a positive plus-minus.
Overall it was a pretty disappointing first performance for the Kings, but they’ll get a chance to redeem themselves against this very same Lakers squad on Thursday in LA.
Random Observations:
- De’Andre Hunter and Precious Achiuwa started in the frontcourt next to Domantas Sabonis and were both fairly invisible. Hunter seemed to have the primary job of guarding Luka Doncic, and that didn’t go that well.
- Zach LaVine scored a very efficient 9 points on 4-6 from the field in just 15:27. He was also a game worst -25.
- Maxime Raynaud might have had an ok counting stats game (12 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists) but he didn’t look that great. It took a while for him to get going offensively, and playing with Dylan Cardwell really clogged the paint. Raynaud did let a couple three point shots fly, but they looked slow and awkward. He also had five turnovers. Until Raynaud can consistently hit an outside shot, I don’t think pairing him with another non-shooting big like Cardwell is going to work.
- As usual, Dylan Cardwell is a whirlwind of energy. 9 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals to go with 5 fouls in about 29 minutes.
- Emanuel Sharp had a bad shooting night (2-11), but his hustle was great. He was one of the few Kings getting physical out there and he earned each and every one of his 6 fouls.
- Alex Karaban only played 16 minutes but did a good job of being in the right spot at the right time but was otherwise fairly unremarkable.
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