{"id":17732,"date":"2022-03-16T22:21:12","date_gmt":"2022-03-17T05:21:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kingsherald.com\/?p=17732"},"modified":"2022-03-16T22:21:12","modified_gmt":"2022-03-17T05:21:12","slug":"bucks-135-kings-126-dontes-inferno","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kingsherald.com\/articles\/bucks-135-kings-126-dontes-inferno\/","title":{"rendered":"Bucks 135, Kings 126: Donte’s Inferno"},"content":{"rendered":"

I spent the past few days contemplating on how to open this recap and get y’all interested in still tuning into this team at this point. With only 11 games left after tonight, no reason for a play-in push, and no reason to win, I was finding it difficult to find anything enticing to preface this all with. And then the great Blake Ellington published a fantastic article detailing\u00a05 things to watch in the final 12 games of the season<\/a>. So, go read that and get pumped for some late season Kings basketball! They continued on one of the hardest stretches of their schedule by facing the Milwaukee Bucks tonight. Let’s see how they did:<\/p>\n

Quick Stats<\/h5>\n

Outcome<\/strong>: Kings lose, 135-126<\/p>\n

Sacramento Kings<\/strong>: 126 pts, 48.9% fg, 37.2% 3 pt, 85.7% ft, 27 ast, 39 reb, 15 to<\/p>\n

Milwaukee Bucks<\/strong>: 135 pts, 52.8% fg, 51.4% 3 pt, 71.9% ft, 21 ast, 47 reb, 13 to<\/p>\n

Well, in case you needed any extra reasons to keep watching the Kings, they offered up a handful of them tonight. Despite the loss, this was one of the most entertaining games to watch this season. Golden 1 Center was vibrating with energy, the Kings went toe to toe with the reigning champions, and I feel like a proud grandmother that just loves and appreciates the effort and fight from my boys.<\/p>\n

The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly<\/h5>\n
The Good<\/h6>\n
    \n
  1. Donte’s Inferno<\/strong>: Where are my Divine Comedy fans at? This was scheduled to be Donte DiVincenzo’s revenge game against his former team, and although the Kings didn’t secure the win, I couldn’t have been more entertained by his performance. Donte finished with 19 points, three steals, and four made 3-pointers. He was clearly on a mission and it felt like his teammates were supportive by finding him within the offense.<\/li>\n
  2. Bench Mob<\/strong>: While De’Aaron Fox secured his 17th consecutive game of 20+ points, as well as his 2,000th career assist, he was still visibly struggling with a right-hand injury all game. With Fox hindered, the Kings needed others to step up and carry the load, and the bench came all the way through. Led by Donte DiVincenzo and Davion Mitchell, the bench contributed a total of 53 points. It was also the bench unit that provided the defensive spark that got the Kings going to bring them back from an 11-point deficit and keep them within striking range down the stretch of the game. Chimezie Metu had a few great sequences on both ends of the floor, as he finished with nine points on 4-5 from the field. It was also great to see Richaun Holmes find some rhythm and have some big plays, including an absolutely disgusting put back in the fourth quarter.<\/li>\n
  3. D&D<\/strong>: I am not sure I can even find the words to describe how much I loved watching Donte DiVincenzo and Davion Mitchell tonight. Both played huge roles tonight in keeping the Kings in this game as they combined for seven made 3-pointers. But my favorite part was watching them work on defense. Against much bigger matchups in Khris Middleton, Jrue Holiday, and, oh yeah, that one freakishly built human named Giannis Antetokoumpo, Donte and Davion showed absolutely no fear. To make up for their disadvantage in size, Donte and Davion both put in the extra effort to get their bodies in front of men, and be physically felt by their opponents.<\/li>\n
  4. Playing the Slow Game<\/strong>: The pace of this game felt much slower than what the Kings typically try to play at. Against a championship team, they were forced into a half court game more often than not, shown by them only scoring seven fast break points. I was nervous about this, as we’ve heard the goal of pace being hammered into our brains for the past five years, but the Kings showed growth and success in the half court set tonight. The Bucks aimed to pack the paint most of the night, and the Kings showed patience and ball movement to probe the defense before finding open shooters. The Kings worked the ball inside and out, took what the defense gave them, and in most instances, made the right pass to an open shooter.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    The Bad<\/h6>\n
      \n
    1. Black Falcon, We Need You<\/strong>: Harrison Barnes had a quiet night, finishing with just 10 points on 3-5 from the field and 3-3 from the free throw line. Alvin Gentry went with the three guard lineup to close the game, leaving Barnes to log just 22 minutes. It took three quarters for Barnes to attempt five field goals. Against a powerhouse like the Milwaukee Bucks, the Kings really needed more from Barnes tonight. As the Bucks’ big 3 of Giannis Antetokounmpo (36 points), Khris Middleton (32 points), and Jrue Holiday (21 points) tallied their usual contributions for their team, the Kings were missing their third guy in the box score alongside Domantas Sabonis (22 points) and De’Aaron Fox (21 points).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
      The Ugly<\/h6>\n
        \n
      1. Turnovers<\/strong>: The Kings were trading baskets with the NBA champions in the final minutes of this game. It was fun, it was thrilling, and it made me actually want them to win. But in the last two minutes, De’Aaron Fox committed four turnovers as the Kings tried to match the Bucks’ final scoring possessions. Two things can be true at once: (1) De’Aaron Fox had another great game of 21 points and seven assists and was a big reason the Kings were in a position to win and (2) De’Aaron Fox cost the Kings their opportunity to win in final possessions with some poor decisions.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
        The King of Kings<\/h5>\n

        Donte DiVincenzo, of course, gets the crown for being the most fun player to watch on the Kings tonight. The motivation to torch his former team, the fight to bang with the bigger bodies, and the confidence it takes to score 19 points off the bench were all things I loved to see from him tonight.<\/p>\n

        Operation: M.C.N.A.I.R. Watch<\/h5>\n

        Tonight’s chosen charity is\u00a0Project HOPE<\/a>, which is currently on the ground responding to the crisis in Ukraine and providing essential medicines and medical supplies to Ukrainians.\u00a0Donate here<\/a>\u00a0and be sure to notify Will via Twitter (@WillofThaPeople) or e-mail (donations@kingsherald.com) so he can continue to track donation totals.<\/p>\n

        Up Next<\/h5>\n

        Friday, March 18th vs. Boston Celtics – 7:00 P.M. (PT)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        I spent the past few days contemplating on how to open this recap and get y’all interested in still tuning into this team at this point. With only 11 games left after tonight, no reason for a play-in push, and no reason to win, I was finding it difficult to find anything enticing to preface […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":17759,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,24],"tags":[929,32,102,58,49],"coauthors":[813],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBucks 135, Kings 126: Donte's Inferno - The Kings Herald<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/kingsherald.com\/articles\/bucks-135-kings-126-dontes-inferno\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bucks 135, Kings 126: Donte's Inferno - The Kings Herald\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I spent the past few days contemplating on how to open this recap and get y’all interested in still tuning into this team at this point. 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