As usual, its preseason, so throw out the final score. The Kings lost to the Clippers on the Golden 1 Center’s national TV debut, and the broadcast might as well have been a two-hour long promotion for the new arena. That being said, besides the arena histrionics, there was plenty to take away from the actual basketball action.

The game story doesn’t matter all that much; the Kings essentially blew this game in a NSFW-worthy second quarter, and couldn’t shoot well enough in the second half to make up the difference. Well, not until the benches were duking it out at the end of the game. The final score didn’t really show it, but the Clippers handled the Kings pretty comfortably. Here are some observations:

Ultimately, I think I’m more bullish on the Kings’ performance than what I’m seeing around the web and social media. They had one nasty quarter where they had 11 (!!!!) of their 22 total turnovers, but rebounded nicely in the second half. I thought they were generating good shots and playing much better on the defensive end, but their shooting let them down, preventing them from putting a dent in the lead the Clippers had already built. The Clippers are a stellar team who will compete for the Western Conference crown, so that kind of shooting is going to bury you against them more often than not.

Still, that second quarter can’t exactly be ignored, so the team should have plenty of film to pore over in the eight days before the season starts. Hold onto your butts because from now on the team plays for keeps.

For the opponent’s perspective, visit Clips Nation