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Kings Pulse: The Kings inch closer to breaking a few records

Chris Watkins joins the show to talk about nearly clinching the postseason and Keegan Murray's rookie three-point record.
By | 6 Comments | Mar 26, 2023

Following the Sacramento Kings 121-113 victory over the Utah Jazz on Saturday night, Chris Watkins of Sactown Sports 1140 joined the show from inside Golden 1 Center.

The first segment focused on the game from earlier that day. The night-and-day defensive difference between the two halves, what led to Walker Kessler’s career night, backcourt play without De’Aaron Fox, Keegan Murray’s all-time shooting in his rookie season, and more.

Saturday’s showing against Utah was the second game in a row where the Kings looked atrocious on the defensive end for the first 24 minutes of the game. Chris and I spent some time talking about why that is concerning before acknowledging that Sacramento did manage to turn it up in the second half in back-to-back games and walk away with a victory.

Defensive Player of the Game Matthew Dellavedova, Keegan Murray, and Coach Mike Brown were all asked about the differences between the two halves in postgame and audio was included in this episode.

Malik Monk was ejected in this game, and we explained what we were told postgame the communication was like leading up to that moment.

As for Keegan Murray, who is extremely close to breaking the all-time rookie record for most threes made in a season, there was a hilariously on-brand postgame moment from the Iowa alum when asked about it postgame.

Simultaneously, the Sacramento Kings could have ended their infamous 16-year postseason drought on Saturday night, but the schedule did not end perfectly in their favor. We attempt to explain our understanding of what the updated clinch scenario is headed into Sunday and Monday.

Other topics included:

  • The ball pressure of Davion Mitchell and Matthew Dellavedova
  • Asking Coach Mike Brown where his optimism about Sacramento’s postseason defense comes from
  • Our level of concern heading into the first round of the playoffs
  • And more!

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murraytant
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March 26, 2023 4:29 pm

Keegan will break the rookie record for three pointers made. He has shot from 3 way better than expected. At the same time, while he occasionally makes one at the rim, just as often he gets blocked. Like last night on the break. Throw it down! Way too much soft shit.
He needs wok in off season- the work where the coaches blast him with big rubber mallets so he can learn to take the hit.
His steal and save in the second half were spectacular. I think he stays on the court because he does not make many mistakes, but he needs to get far more aggressive.
Utah plays us tough.

They got Kessler in the Minnesota trade + a ton of picks and Markenon + Agbadgi in the Mitchell trade.
I want to hire Danny Ainge to trade in my car. He could get me a Lamborghini for a 30-year old Toyota.
They will be good because they have serious length and are getting shooting.

Kings need some length. Duh.
Kings have grit, have a scheme, have Fox and Sabonis.
Huerter, HB, Davion, good Malik, Lyles and Keegan have all stepped up. Oh yes, they have Brown and his coaches.

lutherRackley
March 26, 2023 5:55 pm

Preferred order of finish in Western Conference assuming Kings stay in three spot.

4-Suns
5-Warriors
6-Clippers

What an unexpected pleasure to even think about these scenarios!

RPO
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RPO
March 26, 2023 6:21 pm
Reply to  lutherRackley

I feel much more confident if they face the Clips in the first round than the Warriors. The lack of defense may be too much to overcome against GS.

UpgradedToQuestionable
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March 26, 2023 10:48 pm
Reply to  RPO

Ya gotta think that Clippers and Warriors would rather face Sacramento in the first round rather than a healthy Phoenix team with Durant, Booker and Chris Paul.

I would bet they game the 5/6 slot, but maybe not. Last few games will be interesting as the playoff race and seeding is tighter than Charles Barkley in skinny jeans.

RPO
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RPO
March 26, 2023 11:40 pm

Minny showed tonight that GS is beatable in SF if you play defense. Unfortunately we don’t play defense, at home or on the road.

Last edited 1 year ago by RPO
Kingsguru21
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March 27, 2023 11:04 am

Ya gotta think that Clippers and Warriors would rather face Sacramento in the first round rather than a healthy Phoenix team with Durant, Booker and Chris Paul.

Actually, a week ago I was thinking the Kings really didn’t want to face Phoenix in the 1st rd….but I’m going to take a guess and say they don’t want to face Sac in the 1st rd as much as they might have a month ago. The matchup is looking less, and less, in their favor. Sac plays at a fast tempo that already puts their roster at a disadvantage (IMO), and the Warriors and Clippers don’t want to play at the Kings tempo either. The Clippers are a really slow team (I saw Ty Lue admit that before one of their OKC games last week) and that alone puts them at a disadvantage. Watch what De’Aaron Fox said after the 176-175 game about ‘we knew we could speed them up.’ That was not what anyone in the Western Conference FO wanted to hear. All you got was the “I don’t give a fuck whose over there’ quotes on social media but that wasn’t the real takeaway of that presser IMO. What De’Aaron said about 7 minutes later was far more revealing, and far more dangerous to every team out West. I guarantee everyone knows it, too. The Kings, they be a’ comin!

This Kings team plays a very fast tempo in the halfcourt. You have to have size, length, a lot of offense that can attack this team effectively, and you have to have someone who can manage the tempo of the game in your favor. Paul is that guy….but he’s mostly not a threat offensively like he once was. Mike Conley is similar only he’s more effective. I’m not sure if the Warriors truly have that guy (I don’t think that’s a strength of Steph/Dray IMO.). The Clippers do not. In otherwords, you really want to be Milwaukee, Boston, Philly and to a lesser extent Denver. Those are the teams that I would hands down pick to beat the Kings in a 7 game series. RIGHT NOW.

Tempo, not pace (that’s about how many times you get up and down the court), is how you beat the Kings and how you stop them offensively. You make them work for every shot in the halfcourt, you don’t let them shoot it quickly before you’re completely set up. (We saw that against Memphis, Toronto, Philadelphia, Boston, Milwaukee.) Like we saw against Utah, they bombed early and often because attacking Walker Kessler was just something they weren’t going to do that successfully. Utah’s size and length kept them in the game (that and they probably had a lot left in the tank after getting blown out at home vs MIlwaukee the night before) far longer than it should have because the Kings just didn’t have quite enough counters at scoring in the paint without De’Aaron Fox. But even against Utah, as the game wound down, the points in the paint favored Utah less and less as it had early on. They won that battle by 20 points, and lost to the Kings by 21 at the 3pt line. In a game in which the Kings didn’t shoot especially lights out and on a SEGABABA which does not favor jump shots usually.

That’s the thing with this Kings team. They don’t beat you offensively one way. They are one of the lowest live ball TOV teams in the league which helps their defense to not constantly give up a stream of layups on the defensive end. Which is good since they don’t have any sort of rim protection whatsoever. They speed you up in the halfcourt with the way they flow and cut and shoot and what not. They are conditioned for it, too. Plus they don’t quit. They make you beat them. It’s a testament to the coaching staff and players alike just how committed they are to playing their game. They rarely get frazzled, they rarely make horribly bad decisions, and so forth. Plus they can score…. a lot.

This Kings team is not one that I suspect a lot of the West teams will be eager to see. Can they lose in the 1st rd? Absolutely. But the Warriors mystique is gone (IMO), the Clippers have a lot of wear and tear on their key players and aren’t the daunting matchup some to seem to believe they really are, the Suns need DeAndre Ayton to be great and he’s not every night (and Durant/Booker won’t be enough to beat every team out West either). There’s a game within a game component that people keep missing with this Kings team and all we keep hearing about (especially nationally; occsionally locally) is what they don’t do.

But it would be a mistake to assume this team can’t make noise and can’t score on their opponents. Especially since they will likely be rested for the playoff push. Just a sample size based on something I looked up (because of a conversation I’m having on Twitter):

Kings ORtg against:

LA Lakers: 124.8 (2nd highest of any Lakers opponent)
LA Clippers: 125.5 (3rd highest of any Clippers opponent)
Phoenix Suns: 119.9 (7th highest of any Suns opponent)
Golden State Warriors: 112.9 (19th highest of any Warriors opponent)

But let’s remember a point about those Warriors games: They were all played within the first 13 games of the season (and through November 30th the Kings had a 116.1 ORtg), and since Jan 1st the Kings have a 121.9 ORtg and a 118.4 DRtg (and a 26-14 record; which amounts to a 53 win pace) which puts the Kings in the same place they’ve been all year — elite offense and below average defense — but they don’t beat themselves either. They make you beat them in the halfcourt, they play for their defensive rebounds to push the tempo, they play for the opportunistic steal (which is a real problem for the Warriors given how turnover prone they are) and we saw how that helped against the Clippers, you can’t just keep this team out on the paint or leave them alone at the 3 pt line, fouling them is a problem since they are top 5 in the NBA in made FTs (and close to that in FT rate), and you have to figure out a way to stop multiple lineups that can really score.

We can talk about the bad matchup’s for the Kings, but they are a bad matchup for a lot of teams out there, too. Let’s not forget that part of the equation in our rush to provide a fair and balanced viewpoint of our beloved dipshits.

The team I want in the 1st rd, believe it or not, is Golden State, and yes I know the series will not be easy. I know the 50-50 calls will go against Sac at least 65% of the time (maybe 70% early on). But….I don’t think that’s what really determines the game. I think the matchup’s dictate that the Warriors will have to stop Domas down low, keep De’Aaron out of the paint, the mid range and so forth. They’ll have to stop the movement of Huerter, they’ll have to slow down Murray on the perimeter or he’ll just get 12 3FG every game and likely hit half (which is a ton to give up in the halfcourt and in the playoffs). Much of the series might hinge on how each side is able to get the most out of their bench. The Dubs have older players with a lot of wear and tear and a lot of experience, too. But I think that won’t be the advantage everyone thinks it is either. At the end, we aren’t talking about whether or not experience wins you games, it’s whether or not experience gives you the ability to execute. The Warriors when they beat the Celtics mainly did so because they had the fresher guys and were able to wear them out.

I know the common wisdom is we should be afraid of other teams due to lack of experience, but that’s just hogwash IMO. These guys are professionals, they are tremendous players with a ton to prove (and their regular season isn’t quieting any doubters)., there’s quite a bit of depth on this team Mike Brown has at his disposal, and the Kings have not matched up recently with the Dubs which will likely make it even tougher for the Dubs to gauge what they have to do to beat the Kings. A week and half ago the Dubs lost in the Crypt to the Clippers even though Steph had a 50 point outing. BY DOUBLE DIGITS. That never happened before. He put up 47 at home to barely beat the Kings (in what was an absolutely insane performance), too. The Kings didn’t let him beat them the next go around at the G Spot, remember, and the Warriors/Kings ended up in a tight affair the Kings ultimately prevailed in.

Cherry pick all the shit you want out of this matchup, but Domantas Sabonis knows what it feels like to be blown out in the 1st rd. But every year he was in the playoffs with Indy, they started off their playoff series on the road (or in the bubble). This will be a very new experience for him. De’Aaron Fox was always going to be ready for the playoffs, the question is how even can he be. But I think he’ll be fine. The moment has never bothered him. Davion will be fine; these moments aren’t too big for him either. Monk was made for these games, the question is whether or not he hits his shots. Huerter knows the drill and is in the same boat as Monk IMO. Lyles has been in these games before (although not as many as I thought before I looked it up). The only guy for whom the playoffs will be completely new for is Keegan Murray…and that was always going to be the case. Past the first game, the kid’ll be fine. He’s got the temparement and moxie for the NBA playoffs. “Between the ears game is what this team has and what they did not possess in previous seasons.

Yeah, I can’t wait for the playoffs. I’m ready for this regular season to get over with (and the Kings to get their 50 W’s and top ORtg) AND LET’S FUCKING GO PEEPLEZ!!! THESE BEAMERZ ARE GONNA WHOOP DAT AZZ COME PLAYOFF TIMEZ!! YA HEAR?!?!?!? They bringing HELL and BEAMZ WIT ‘EM!

Yep, I’m ready. 🙂

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