The Kings lost their two game win streak against the Brooklyn Nets on the road as they played without Bogdan Bogdanovic on top of their already existing injuries. The Kings fell out of the game in the third quarter and saw their backups finish out the rest of the game. Sacramento drops to 6-8 as they head to Washington next to take on an interesting Wizards team.

Quarterly Recap

Both teams looked rough on offense to open up the game. The Kings were moving the ball with all their players getting involved, but it didn’t always lead to good results as they missed some good looks. However, Buddy Hield had to lead the way with Bogdan Bogdanovic, De’Aaron Fox and Marvin Bagley out and he came out strong with 12 points. Brooklyn’s defenders made it tough for Hield to get good looks from deep but he improvised with baskets inside the arc. Cory Joseph added five points and three assists. On defense, Brooklyn kept getting offensive rebounds and converted them into points. The Nets led 26-23 behind Garrett Temple and Spencer Dinwiddie scoring six a piece. Brooklyn came out shooting 3-14 from three.

The Kings had an interesting strategy of leaving Joe Harris wide open which resulted in three threes. The Nets took a 37-27 lead because of it. They stopped leaving Harris open after he racked up 17 points on 6-9 shooting. Harrison Barnes went up to 11 points as he started to attack the basket, but couldn’t hit his threes which plagued the entire team. The Kings shot 1-11 from deep, but somehow only trailed 56-49 at the half. Eight offensive rebounds gave the Nets so many opportunities for second chance points. Rookie Justin James played 13 first half minutes and scored four points with one assist on a quick jumper and a one-handed contested floater. James attempted to end DeAndre Jordan on a dunk but Jordan was called for a foul.

The Nets started the third quarter hot from the field, going 4-4 en route to a 10-2 run forcing a Kings’ timeout. Brooklyn led 66-51 early on. The Kings trailed 77-62 when Harry Giles and DaQuan Jeffries entered for the first time. Brooklyn was shooting 9-11, while the Kings were 5-13. Giles immediately got a layup to go along the baseline. Giles then had a chasedown block but was wiped away due to goaltending. A challenge would’ve surely reversed the call because Giles had it clean. The Nets would end the quarter up 86-70, led by Harris and Dinwiddie scoring 19 each. Sacramento was led by Barnes’ 18 points and Hield’s 16. They were shooting 3-19 (16.7%) from three.

The fourth quarter was just the benches going at it, so nothing eventful really occurred. With the Kings missing three key players, this was always going to be a difficult game regardless of the opponent as they fall to 6-8 on the season.

Notable Players

Harrison Barnes led the Kings in scoring with 18 points on 7-12 shooting. He grabbed five rebounds as well in 33 minutes.

Buddy Hield started the game well, but cooled off as it progressed. Hield finished 6-15 and 1-8 from three, but the Nets did a great job making his life difficult. Buddy had five assists as well.

Nemanja Bjelica started slow but did improve as the game went along. He finished with 13 points, seven rebounds, two assists and one steal. Bjelica also struggled from deep, going 1-5.

Richaun Holmes had another solid outing with 12 points on 5-6 shooting with eight rebounds, two assists, one steal and one block.

Justin James had to step up again due to Trevor Ariza being out and he had some good moments throughout the 33 minutes he played. James finished with 14 points on 6-14 shooting, three rebounds, three assists and one steal. Good sign that James can step in and contribute.

Notable Stats

The Kings were 4-26 from deep (15.4%).

Brooklyn won the rebound battle 48-33, but the Kings had more assists at 26-22.

The Kings had 16 turnovers to Brooklyn’s 18, but Brooklyn hitting 12 threes, eight more than the Kings showed on the box score.

Next Game

The Kings head to Washington this Sunday at 3:00 p.m. PST. The Wizards will be coming off a win against the Charlotte Hornets.