Author: Charlie O. Mallonee

by Charlie O. Mallonee

“Defense wins in the NBA and tonight we didn’t defend anybody.” Those were the words of Kings Head Coach Michael Malone just after his team had been defeated by the Orlando Magic 105-96 on Saturday night in Sacramento.

Both teams came into the game in similar situations. Both were without their big man due to injury. Both were playing the second game of a back-to-back schedule. Orlando appeared to be at a greater disadvantage as they played in Utah on Friday and had to travel to Sacramento for the Saturday game. Both teams were coming off a win on Friday night.

The Kings came out in the first quarter a bit flat while the Magic showed some initial energy. Ben McLemore hit the first bucket of the game after taking the opening tip to the hole for a lay-up. The Magic kept the ball moving and worked on high percentage shots plus some well-placed 3-Point baskets. After a Kings timeout at 8:33, Sacramento settled down and played improved defense. A steal and slam by Rudy Gay energized the Kings attack. The Sacramento starting five remained in the game until the 1:38 mark of the quarter. The quarter ended with the score tied at 27-all.

The Magic started the second quarter with a 6-0 run as the second units were on the floor for both teams. Reggie Evans scored the Kings first points on two free throws 2:54 into the quarter. After a 4-0 mini-run by Orlando, Rudy Gay and Ray McCallum entered the game. With the Kings shooting poorly, the Magic opened up an 11 point (45-34) lead by the time a timeout was called with 4:55 remaining in the half. After shooting poorly most of the period, the Kings helped themselves with back-to-back high percentage baskets by Collison and Gay. Capitalizing on Orlando turnovers and poor shooting, the Kings closed the gap but trailed the Magic 52-49 at the half.

The Kings shot just 40.0-percent (16 for 40) from the field in the first half while Orlando posted a 52.3-field goal percentage. The Magic out-rebounded the Kings 19-17 in the half.

Tobias Harris opened the scoring in the third quarter with a 3-Pointer and a steal that resulted in an easy lay-up. That opening set the tone for the quarter. The Kings continued to look sluggish while Magic shot 50.0-percent from the field and 50.0-percent from 3-Pointland. The Kings turned the ball over six times in the quarter and fell as many as 12 points behind. Rudy Gay sparked the Kings with a driving lay-up at 2:22, but Magic came back to take an 11 point lead into the fourth quarter. After three quarters Orlando led the Kings 77-66.

Orlando made it a 14 point lead after Ben Gordon hit for five points off two baskets to open the fourth period. It appeared that the Magic might coast to the win, but the Kings had other plans. Derrick Williams converted a 3-Point play that kicked off a 9-0 run for the Kings. Sacramento continued to whittle away at the lead and finally tied the game at 90-90 on a Derrick Williams slam dunk with 3:59 to play. With the game tied at 92-all, Orlando went on a 7-0 run and created a gap that the Kings could not fill. When the final buzzer sounded, the Magic had beaten the Kings 105-96.

The Magic shot 50.6-percent (42 for 83) from the field and hit on 9 of 26 3-Point attempts. Orlando only visited the free throw line 14 times but they converted 12 of those opportunities into points. The Magic recorded 26 assists against just 11 turnovers in the game.

Orlando had five players score in double figures led by Tobias Harris’ 27 points. Harris was 4 of 5 from beyond the 3-Point line. Victor Oladipo added 16 points and seven assists. Evan Fournier put in 15 while Kyle O’Quinn recorded 13 points filling in for injured Nikola Vucevic at center.

With DeMarcus Cousins still out of the lineup, the Magic out-rebounded the Kings 40-35.

“I saw fierce competition, a will to win, a will to compete, being relentless throughout the course of the game. Overall, really impressed with this group to finish the trip with the win,” said Orlando Head Coach Jacque Vaughn.

The Kings shot 44.3-percent (35 for79) as a team from the field and 26.7-percent (4 for 15) from beyond the 3-Point arc. Sacramento was 22 for 28 from the free throw line. They had 22 assists and 11 turnovers.

Darren Collison led the Kings scoring with 22 points. Jason Thompson scored a season-best 18 points. Rudy Gay had 16 points to go with five rebounds and six assists. Derrick Williams scored 14 points in 12 minutes of play coming off the bench to lead the Kings in the fourth quarter.

“You can’t allow a team, who’s coming in here with four games in five nights, to start the game as comfortable as they did. They were shooting 80.0-percent at one point, so it’s tough to start getting stops after a team feels really comfortable,” said Coach Michael Malone after the game.

The Kings are off until Monday when they will host the Utah Jazz.

Game Notes:

The Kings are now 10-10 overall, 5-5 at Sleep Train Arena … the Kings are 1-3 on the five game homestand … Sacramento is 1-4 without DeMarcus Cousins in the lineup this season … the Kings have another set of back-to-backs this week at they host Utah on Monday and visit the Lakers in L.A. on Tuesday … the Magic win ended a four game losing streak to Sacramento

by Charlie O. Mallonee

Sacramento Kings Head Coach Michael Malone had made no secret about the fact he was sick of his team’s four game losing streak. Yes, DeMarcus Cousins was unavailable for all four of those games, and Cousins was not available for the game against Indiana. None of that mattered to Malone. He said his team must learn how to win without Cousins in the lineup. To do that, the Kings would need to play improved defense and someone on the team would need to be the leader on offense.

At times on Friday night, the Kings did play strong defensively. Rudy Gay scored 27 points. Darren Collison added 20 points of his own, but the Kings still had to go to overtime in order to post a 102-101 victory over the Indiana Pacers.

After outscoring the Pacers 34-20 in the first quarter, Indiana outscored the Kings in the second, third and fourth quarters. Sacramento outscored the Pacers 6-5 in overtime.

The Kings won the game in overtime when Rudy Gay missed a jump shot with 2.9 seconds left in the period. Carl Landry was able to rebound the ball and put it in the basket with just 0.8 seconds remaining on the clock. It was the first time Landry had hit the game winner in his career.

Malone was pleased with the way his team played defense in the overtime session. The Kings held the Pacers to just two of seven from the field and gave up just five points. Sacramento outrebounded Indiana six to two in overtime.

The Kings came out in the first quarter passing the ball to cutters under the basket and looking for high percentage shots. Sacramento shot 65-percent (13 for 20) from the field and scored 34 first quarter points. They only turned the ball twice (3 points) and held the Pacers to just 20 points. The Kings defense caused Indiana to turn the ball over six times (12 points). Sacramento led by as many as 15 points in the period. Rudy Gay”s 11 points led the Kings scoring.

The second quarter was a completely different for Sacramento. Gone were the high percentage shots in the paint replaced with less than accurate outside shooting. The Kings field goal percentage dropped to 38.1 (8 for 21) while the Pacers shooting warmed up led by Damjan Rudez who was four for four from the field including two 3-Pointers. Indiana outscored the Kings 25-22 in the quarter. At the half, Sacramento led the Pacers 56-45.

The Kings took the floor after the intermission with a renewed attitude. Sacramento was back to playing uptempo basketball led by the play of Gay, McLemore and Collison. At one point, the Kings opened up a 15 point lead on the Pacers. The Indiana bench led by guard C.J. Watson began chipping away at the Sacramento lead and outscored the Kings 27-24 in the third quarter. At the end of three periods, Sacramento was clinging to a 80-72 lead.

The Kings were able to open up a 13 point lead early in the fourth quarter but once again the Pacers refused to go away. Indiana cut the Sacramento lead to just two points with 1:33 to play on a Rodney Stuckey rebound that he then drove to the bucket for an easy lay-up. The Pacers tied the game at :28 seconds to go on a David West jump shot. The Kings had possession of the ball and played for what they hoped would be the final shot of the game. Rudy Gay put up a jump shot from the right side with 4.9 seconds to go and missed the shot. Gay was incensed that a foul was not called. A television replay showed Gay was fouled but it was not called by the officials. Regulation time ended with the game tied at 96 all.

The Kings took the lead in overtime on a Darren Collison jump shot off an Indiana turnover. Sacramento opened up a four point lead but the Pacers closed the gap to 100-99 on a 3-Point basket by C.J. Watson. Indiana then took the their first lead the game since the first quarter on a Watson bank shot 101-100. Again the Kings would have a chance to run down the clock and take the possible last shot. Rudy Gay missed a jumper with 2.9 seconds to play. Carl Landry grabbed the rebound and put the ball up into the basket to give the Kings a 102-101 lead with 0.8 seconds remaining. Indiana was unable to convert on a final shot attempt and the Kings won the game 102-101.

Sacramento shot 43.4-percent (36 for 83) from the field. The Kings converted just two of 10 3-Point attempts. They shot just 70.0-percent (28 for 40) from the free throw line. Sacramento turned the ball over 15 times. Those 15 turnovers resulted in 22 Indiana points.

The Pacers were led in scoring by their bench. The Pacers second unit scored 49 points in the game. The Kings bench produced 26 points.

Final Takes: DeMarcus Cousins was at the game and sat with the team in street clothes. Cousins will still be unavailable on Saturday night versus the Magic … the Kings wore the red, white and blue uniforms of the Rochester Royals to celebrate their historical ties to the 1951 NBA Champions.

by Charlie O. Mallonee

The Sacramento Kings lost to the Memphis Grizzlies 97-85 on Sunday. The Grizzlies came into the game with the best record in the league at 14-2. The Kings started the game with record of 9-7 but had to play Memphis without their star center DeMarcus Cousins who was scratched due to a virus.

It was a tale of two halves for the Kings against Memphis on Sunday in Sacramento. In the first half, Sacramento turned the ball over 13 times and those mistakes were good for 18 Grizzlies’ points. Couple the turnovers with a lack of defense that allowed Memphis to shoot 56.5-percent from the field and it was no wonder the Grizzlies lead the Kings 58-42 at the half.

The Kings started the second half with a Ben McLemore nine foot jumper and it felt like a different team was on the floor for Sacramento. Then at the 10:51 mark of the third quarter, center Ryan Hollins was called for a personal foul and picked up his second technical foul of the game that came with an automatic ejection. With the Kings already without Cousins, it felt as if the team had been dealt a death-blow.

The Kings did not give into despair. Instead, they stepped up their game behind the inspired play of Reggie Evans and reduced their turnovers to just four to crawl back into the game trailing the Grizzlies 74-65 at the end of the third. Twice in the quarter the Kings cut the Memphis lead to just seven points. Sacramento shot just 36.8-percent in the quarter but they held the Grizzlies to just 33.3-percent from the field. The Kings outscored the Memphis 23-16 in the quarter.

The Kings cut the Memphis lead to just three points off a Carl Landry jump hook off a rebound with 9:12 to go in the game. The Grizzlies upped their lead to six points and the Kings cut it back to three points off a McLemore one footer with an assist from Landry. From that point, the Kings suffered from poor shooting and  four additional turnovers as Memphis upped its lead for an eventual 12 point victory.

After the game, Kings Head Coach Michael Malone said,”The play of Mike Conley and Tony Allen took the Kings out of their offense early in the game. Turnovers kept coming from over-dribbling. I’m happy we got back into the game.” It was obvious that he was unhappy his team had lost the game.

As a team, the Kings shot 47.1-percent from the field but they allowed Memphis to shoot 48.1-percent. The Kings shot just 09.1-percent (1 for 11) from beyond the 3-Point line. Some well timed 3-Point baskets would have helped the Kings in the second half. The Kings shot just 66.7-percent (18-27) from the free throw line. You cannot miss free throws when your team is trying to come back from a 16 point deficit.

Rudy Gay lead the Kings with 20 points. Reggie Evans scored 17 points and hauled in 20 rebounds in his role off the bench. Ben McLemore posted 18 points while Darren Collison added 16. Omri Casspi and Carl Landry had six points each.

Memphis was lead in scoring by forward Zach Randolph who scored 15 of his 22 points in the first half to go with 12 rebounds. Marc Gasol added 18 while Tony Allen had 13 points. The Memphis starting five all scored in double figures.

Michael Malone said he told his team, “… walk out of here understanding that we have a lot of work to do, but being 9-8 and having played the toughest schedule and the most road games in the NBA – we have a lot things to feel good about. We’ve only played one game against the Eastern Conference. That’s not trying to give them a false sense of security or accomplishment, but they’re 9-8 against the schedule that we played, which shows that they do deserve some credit.”

The Kings return to action on Tuesday night when they host the Toronto Raptors.