Timberwolves 110, Kings 98: Rudy Gobert is the Grinch who stole Christmas

SACRAMENTO – The league’s most efficient defense faced off with one of its best offenses Saturday night, and it was no contest as far as which won the battle.

Sure, the Kings were without reigning 6th Man of the Year Malik Monk, but the Timberwolves were missing Karl Anthony Towns. And yes, it was the dreaded “second night of a back to back”, but at some point, if you want to be considered among the league’s best teams, you have to find a way to win these types of games.

Sacramento could not find a way Saturday night, falling at home to the Timberwolves by a final of 110-98.

It shouldn’t be all doom and gloom amongst Kings fans, as they saw their team go 4-2 over the pre-holiday home stand, with impressive wins over the Thunder and Suns. But it was another double-digit loss, as eight of their ten have been this season, and the concerns are legitimate. And  although they were more competitive than they have been in these scenarios this season, it wasn’t good enough.

“You want to keep the game close throughout, not just try to fight back in the fourth quarter,” De’Aaron Fox said. “We have to be better throughout the course of the game.”

Much has been made of the bench and the desire (need?) to upgrade it; the last two games show just how critical that may end up being. In Friday’s convincing win over the Phoenix Suns, the Kings’ bench managed just 16 points; a day later – and without Monk – the production was still lacking despite Trey Lyles scoring 10, nine of which came in the final frame.

“Missing [Monk] definitely was a factor,” Brown said. He’s a guy that makes the game easier for his teammates. We took good shots that just didn’t go in. They’re long, they’re athletic, and they fly around. There’s a little bit more pressure to get that shot off quickly.”

Truly, anyone not named Fox struggled for Sacramento most of Saturday night. Though Keegan Murray had some nice moments, finishing with 20 points after getting hot in the fourth quarter, Fox carried with 27/6/4. Sabonis finished with another triple-double, his second in two games, with 17/10/10, in one of those games that fans tend to take for granted. But the interior presence of Rudy Gobert was felt by Kings players, as Fox noted post game.

“Having Rudy back there makes you think twice going to the rim,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Timberwolves got pretty much whatever they wanted offensively, scoring 28 fast break points to the Kings’ 5, dominating the paint to the tune of 66 points – 44 of which came in the first half – and running the style of offense that the home team is used to, assisting on 31 of their 44 made baskets.

“I thought early in the game we didn’t do a good enough job shrinking the floor,” Brown said. “This is a team, you’ve really got to play the percentages. When you have a guy, 7-foot-2 that’s a multi-time All Star, you’ve got to pay attention to him, get to him early.” Brown did note that the team did a much better job in the second half defensively, but wanted them to be more physical with Gobert in the pick and roll game. “We could have been there sooner when Rudy was rolling, but besides that our physicality was at an okay level. And for the most part I thought our effort was good. In previous back-to-backs I didn’t think we did a good job in that area.”

It was an ugly game from the start but one that the Kings made interesting at least at the finish.

Sacramento managed just 20 first quarter points and did not connect on a three pointer until Fox hit on a step back 50 seconds into the second quarter. They would finish 8-33 from deep on the night, well below their usual success rate from behind the arc. Fox scored Sacramento’s first 10 points of the second quarter, and it took over five minutes for another King to score, when Kevin Huerter found a cutting Sabonis for a two-handed dunk. The Timberwolves would stretch their lead to as many as 20 in the third quarter, but the Kings would not roll over and die, going on an 8-0 run over the final 1:41 of the third to get within 11.

“I thought our guys did try and bring it tonight,” Brown said of his team’s effort. “The areas that we can control, I thought we tried to control them. I thought our communication was good, I thought at times our physicality was better.”

But Gobert came out firing in the fourth, converting an offensive rebound into two points and connecting on an alley-oop from Mike Conley to stretch the lead back to 15 quickly. It would grow to 20 from there before a late flurry sparked by Murray got Sacramento back within five with 2 minutes to play. Back to back turnovers would turn into a very quick 10 points for the Timberwolves and put the nail in the coffin of Sacramento’s 11th loss of the season.

Anthony Edwards starred for Minnesota, scoring 35 points with 10 assists. Gobert was a force, going for 27/11. All five Timberwolves starters finished in double-digits with Jaden McDaniels making it three players with 20+ for Minnesota on the night.

But it’s what McDaniels did on the defensive end that had Brown talking postgame.

“He’s a special defender. He does a lot of things that don’t show up on the stat sheet. Defensively, his impact is a lot higher than what may show in the stat sheet.”

Ultimately, the Kings fall to 17-11 on the season and 0-3 on the second night of a back to back. Though it’s not time to sound the alarms, Brown did make mention of a weakness of his team that Minnesota was able to exploit, and how they might address it.

“You always look for length,” Brown said. “You look – especially at the current NBA Champions – you want to mimic that. The current Champions, it’s a long team. Maybe there’s something to it. But you build your team the best you can the way you play, but it’s not anything that you go consciously go bring a guy just to be bigger, they have to fit, they have to be able to play the way you want to.”

Sacramento will hit the road after the holiday to take on Portland Tuesday. That game is followed with trips to Atlanta and Memphis before the Kings return home for a date with Charlotte on January 2nd.