{"id":36691,"date":"2023-12-11T22:04:57","date_gmt":"2023-12-12T06:04:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kingsherald.com\/?p=36691"},"modified":"2024-04-28T10:44:38","modified_gmt":"2024-04-28T17:44:38","slug":"kings-131-nets-118-city-of-threes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kingsherald.com\/articles\/kings-131-nets-118-city-of-threes\/","title":{"rendered":"Kings 131, Nets 118: City of Threes"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Kings were back home tonight after a short trip to Phoenix to light the beam as they hosted the Brooklyn Nets. We have all reached that point where we are so close, yet still so far from the holidays and as each day passes, the motivation for production dwindles. Hopefully the Kings are better at their jobs than I am and can remain focused on the tasks ahead, because it’s a long work week for them. Tonight was the first of four games in six nights and nobody likes to start a long work week off with an L. Let’s see how they did:<\/p>\n

Quick Stats<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Outcome<\/strong>: Kings win, 131-118<\/p>\n

Sacramento Kings<\/strong>: 131 pts, 51.1% fg, 55.6% 3 pt, 71.4% ft, 38 ast, 42 reb, 13 to<\/p>\n

Brooklyn Nets<\/strong>: 118 pts, 47.7% fg, 48.3% 3 pt, 95.2% ft, 23 ast, 41 reb, 13 to<\/p>\n

That was FUN. The Kings are way better than I when it comes to doing their job and I am so grateful for that. When the Kings are hitting their shots AND playing defense, there’s no better basketball to be witnessed. The Kings held control of this game for all 48 minutes. Brooklyn made a run late in the game, hitting 5 3-pointers in the fourth quarter and cutting the Kings’ lead to just 6 points. But every time the Nets got close, the Kings responded accordingly and did so in exciting and entertaining ways.<\/p>\n

The Good, The Better, & The Best<\/strong><\/h4>\n
The Good:<\/strong><\/h5>\n
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  1. Bench Mob<\/strong>: The Kings got so many productive minutes off their bench tonight. Trey Lyles contributed 17 points on 5-6 from the 3-point line. While the Kings went with their small ball lineup to start the fourth quarter, Sasha Vezenkov (5 rebounds) proved why this tactic can be so effective for the Kings as he had back to back defensive stops playing big down low. And\u00a0I’ll give you two guesses but you will probably only need one to figure out was the most electrifying spark for the Kings tonight – that’s right, none other than our 6th Man of the Year candidate, Malik Monk. Immediately upon entering, Monk hit a corner 3 to get the bench rolling. He followed this up with 28 minutes of pure entertainment on the court, finishing with 21 points and 9 assists and shooting 4-7 from the 3-point line. Beyond these numbers, it felt like every exciting Kings play was either started by or completed by Monk. You know a guy is electric when the highlight of a game is one of his rare misses:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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    Imagine if Malik made this \ud83d\ude31\ud83d\ude31 pic.twitter.com\/KBXkFaXgFw<\/a><\/p>\n

    — Kings on NBCS (@NBCSKings) December 12, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n