Photo Credit: D. Clarke Evans

By Charlie O. Mallonee

If effort counted, the Kings would have defeated the Spurs on Sunday night in San Antonio. Unfortunately, effort counts but point totals decide the winner, and the Spurs outscored the Kings 112-104 to win the contest.

This game was the first of a “Texas Two Step” road trip that takes the Kings to San Antonio and to Houston to end the 2013 portion of the season. The toughest game of the trip was going to be the battle with the Spurs.

The Kings came out strong in the first quarter. Rather than falling 12-15 points down as has been the pattern, Sacramento stayed even with San Antonio. DeMarcus Cousins came out strong and put up 10 points in the first period. Tim Duncan and Tony Parker scored nine points each. When the Kings second unit took the floor, the Spurs were able to open up a small lead and end the quarter leading Sacramento 27-23.

The Kings second unit stayed on the floor to open up the second quarter and proved to be no match for the Spurs’ strong bench players. The Spurs quickly opened up a 15 point lead as the Kings tried to live on outside, low percentage shots that were not falling. Sacramento also hurt themselves at the free throw line hitting just 60.0% of their shots. The Kings starters came back on the floor and cut the Spurs lead to seven. The teams went to the locker rooms with San Antonio leading the Kings 57-49.

The Kings came out hot to start the third quarter. Big baskets by Cousins, Gay, Thomas and McLemore helped them to cut the Spurs lead to three points. Sacramento continued to hustle, take high percentage shots and took the lead with 5:28 to go in the period 69-67. Isaiah Thomas led the effort scoring 15 points in the quarter. With the Sacramento starters playing almost the entire time, the Kings scored 38 points in the third. That is the most points given up by the Spurs in one quarter this season. After three quarters, the Kings led the Spurs 87-81.

The Sacramento second unit started the fourth quarter. They began to attempt low percentage shots and were giving up points on defense. The San Antonio bench led by the incredible Manu Ginobili pulled the Spurs back into the game and cut the Kings lead to three. With 2:45 to play, Tim Duncan completed a three point play by hitting the free throw, and the Spurs took the lead 105-102. The Kings were not able to get decent open shots and were unable to score. Tony Parker hit a killer 3-pointer with 50.0 seconds to go to up the Spurs lead to 108-102. The Spurs would score four additional points to make the final score 112-104 in favor of San Antonio.

The difference in the game was the bench play of the Spurs. Ginobili scored 28 points off the bench while Boris Diaw scored 14. San Antonio’s bench never allowed the game to run away from them. When the Sacramento bench was on the floor, the team went backwards. That is the difference between an upper echelon team and a rebuilding team.

The Kings had some outstanding performances in the game. DeMarcus Cousins posted his 17^th double-double scoring 29 points and gathering in 14 rebounds. After scoring just five points in the first half, Isaiah Thomas finished with 27. Rudy Gay recorded 24 points and grabbed nine rebounds. The big three did their job in the game. The Kings bench scored just 12 points and played poor defense. That is where the game was lost.

The Kings have Monday off and then they face another tough opponent on Tuesday in the Houston Rockets. It will take another strong effort by the starters if they are to defeat the Rockets in their own house.