by Charlie O. Mallonee

The Sacramento Kings (19-35) went to school on Saturday night in Los Angeles versus the Clippers (37-19), and the Kings did not have a good time. The Clippers crushed the Kings 126-99.

After outscoring the Clippers 29-24 in the opening quarter, the Kings fell apart in the second quarter as Los Angeles went on a 28-4 run and scored a total of 42 points in the period. The Clippers left the floor at halftime leading Sacramento 66-47, and Los Angeles just played clean up for the rest of the game.

“They (Clippers) play at such a high level of well – even if we had played our A-game I don’t know that we would have won the game tonight. After the first quarter, they were working. Everything was working for them,” said Kings Head Coach George Karl.

The Clippers shot 73.9-percent (17 for 23) from the field and went six for eight (75.0-percent) from 3-Point range in the second quarter. JJ Redick shot a perfect three for three beyond the arc. Matt Barnes connected on both of his 3-Point shots. The Kings turned the over six times resulting in 15 points for the Clippers.

Austin Rivers scored a career-high 28 points for the Clippers. JJ Redick scored 24 while Jamal Crawford poured in 23 points. Chris Paul had quiet night scoring just 10 points but he also added nine assists to his stat totals.

Los Angeles shot 48.4-percent (46 for 95) from the floor and hit on 14 of 35 (40.0-percent) 3-Pointers. They shot 71.4-percent (20 for 28) from the charity stripe. The Clippers turned the ball over just 11 times and recorded 31 assists.

DeMarcus Cousins led the Kings scoring with 21 points but had a tough night shooting connecting on just six of 19 shots. He grabbed just four rebounds.

“I think some fatigue kicked in. This is a new playing style for this whole team. I think the fatigue kicked in. Then our energy level went down. We let them gain confidence and they just ran away with the game,” explained Cousins after the contest.

Rudy Gay scored 15 points but was just four for 13 from the field. Omri Casspi scored 11 points and grabbed 17 rebounds (career high).

The one real bright spot for the Kings was the play of point guard Ray McCallum. He scored 10 points, pulled down seven rebounds and dished out five assists in his 23 minutes on the floor.

The Kings shot just 34.1-percent (30 for 88) from the field. They hit on just four of 16 3-Point attempts. They had a good night from the free throw line hitting on 35 of 46 opportunities (76.1-percent).

Sacramento turned the ball over 17 (28 points) and recorded just 18 assists. That ratio will not lead to wins.

“In many ways, we are in a mid-season training camp. We’ve got to take the video and then come out against Memphis. We’ve got three great teams coming into out building. All three have a skill-set that we have to get better at defending and also get better offensively not creating mistakes or turnovers,” said Karl.

The Kings will have a few days to practice their new playbook. They will be off until Wednesday when they host the Memphis Grizzlies.