Its a battle for the ball between the Sacramento Kings guard Corey Joseph (left) and the New York Knicks center Nerlens Noel (right) Sat Jan 21, 2021 at Golden One Center in Sacramento (AP News photo)

By Barbara Mason

Friday night the Sacramento Kings (6-10) took on the New York Knicks (8-9) followed by a scheduled second game against the Knicks Sunday evening. The Knicks have had a very solid start at 8-8 and much of their success had been attributed to Head Coach Tom Thibodeau.

In six years the Knicks had gone through seven coaches and now it looks like the Knicks have found the fit that they have so desperately looked for. While it is early in the season the Knicks are looking very good.

The Kings on the other hand have had some struggles and snapped a four game losing streak at Golden One Center with a 103-94 win over the Knicks to improve their record to 6-10. This game will present a challenge for the Kings because they struggled against drop schemes, a scheme that the Knicks run more than any other type of defensive scheme.

The good news for Sacramento is that they have one of the best young cores in the league in De’Aaron Fox and Tyrese Haliburton. This duo is indeed impressive. Fox is coming off a career high 43 point and 13-assist effort while Haliburton is just 13 games into his career and already averaging 11 points and 5 assists per game.

Fox has said that Haliburton is built for this game. The maturity and skill that he plays with belies the fact that this is his rookie year. He, in fact, looked like a second or third year player. These two guys mutually admire each other and they work together with an uncanny ease and skill.

They are the bright spot on this team despite the struggles they are having. A lot was expected from both of them in this game. Another Kings player that has slipped under the radar is Richaun Holmes who is a stand-out. He is averaging 14.0 and shooting 76.9 percent. There are not many players out there that work as hard or efficiently on the offensive glass and he has a great pick-and-roll chemistry with the guards. He is another weapon that the Kings have on their squad.

The Knicks are coming in on a three game winning streak while the Kings are struggling with a four game slide losing a couple to the Clippers, and one to New Orleans and one to Portland. The Matchup predictor has the Kings with a 60.5 % edge over the Knicks at 39.5%.

This was a battle with the Kings leading at one point 23-17 in the first quarter. The Knicks began to pull a small lead as the half came to an end 54-49. The Kings Julius Randle led in scoring points with 14 after two quarters and the Kings had a nice showing from three of their starting players. Tyrese Haliburton had 13 points after a quiet start and De’Aaron Fox and Harrison Barnes both turned in a nice first half showing with 11 points for each of them.

After trailing by 5 points at the half, the Kings took a 76-72 lead to end the third quarter. The King really turned it on in the fourth quarter although the Knicks did pull close on a number of occasions. The Kings finished the Knicks off in the final minutes, in a great nine point win for Sacramento. The Kings got impressive performances from Fox with 22 points, Barnes with 21 and 16 from Haliburton.

The Kings will next take on the Magic Wednesday in a road game. Tipoff is at 4:00 in Orlando.