Author: Charlie O. Mallonee

by Charlie O. Mallonee

The Sacramento Kings have posted their best start to a season since 1999 by going 5-1 to kick off the 2014-15 NBA campaign. The Kings won their fifth game of the season on Friday night in Phoenix downing the Suns 114-112 in double overtime. The victory was the fifth consecutive win for Sacramento.

The Kings win in double overtime is more amazing when you know that they played both extra periods with DeMarcus Cousins on the bench with six personal fouls. Cousins fouled out of the game with 34 seconds to play in regulation.

Carl Landry, Darren Collison, Ben McLemore and Rudy Gay stepped up in overtime to lead the Kings to the win. A turnaround jump shot by Gay with 1:07 left to play in the second overtime gave the Kings the lead and ultimately the win.

Gay had struggled throughout the contest shooting just five for 22 and scoring only 11 points. After the game, Kings Head Coach Michael Malone revealed that Gay had fought through illness to play 47 minutes and hit that winning basket.

The Kings gave up 36 points to the Suns in the first quarter as Phoenix shot over 60-percent from the field. Down by nine points after one quarter it looked like it would be a long night for Sacramento. The Kings held the Suns to just 22 points in the second quarter, 30 points in the third and just 11 points in the fourth quarter. The game really became about the Kings defense.

Sacramento ultimately held the Suns to just 42.9-percent (42 for 98) shooting from the field. Phoenix shot 32.3-percent (10 for 31) form 3-point land. The Kings outrebounded the Suns 60-42.

The Kings shot 42.9-percent (39 for 91) for field goals. They shot just 18.8-percent (3 for 16) from beyond the 3-point line. Sacramento went to the free throw line 39 times and converted 33 (84.6-percent) of those opportunities.

One stat that will make Michael Malone smile is assists to turnover ratio. The Kings had 16 assists and just 15 turnovers.

Another area that showed marked improvement was the play of the shooting guards. Ben McLemore (15 points) and Nik Stauskas (nine points) gave their team the best production of the season from the two guard position. Malone made note of their play in his post-game remarks.

Cousins recorded another double-double scoring 25 points and grabbing 18 rebounds in 34 minutes on the floor. Cousins did not score his first points until the 7:57 mark in the second quarter.

Darren Collison put up 16 points while Carl Landry added 12 points off the bench.

Eric Bledsoe led the Suns in scoring with 23 points and his backcourt mate Goran Dragic added 22 points.

This game also was the first meeting between Sacramento and former King guard Isaiah Thomas. The meeting turned out to be a non-event as Thomas scored just three points in his 17 minutes of playing time.

The Kings left Phoenix for Oklahoma City where they have a game with the Thunder on Sunday night.

by Charlie O. Mallonee

The Sacramento Kings won their first game of the year on Halloween defeating the Portland Trail Blazers 103 – 94. The Kings rode a 40 point performance from Rudy Gay along with playing solid defense and taking care of the basketball to their first win of the 2014-15 season.

Gay shot 13 for 19 from the field including three 3-pointers. He went 11 for 13 from the free throw line. Gay did not try to dominate the game. The game just kept coming to him and he answered the call. It was truly an unselfish 40 point performance that included eight rebounds, one assist and one steal in 36 minutes of playing time.

Kings point guard Darren Collison also had a strong game. He scored 17 points, grabbed 8 rebounds, posted eight assists and added three steals in the game. Collison went 5 for 6 from the free throw line.

DeMarcus Cousins recorded 17 points in the Kings victory. Cousins shot just 6 for 16 from the field but went 5 for 6 from the charity stripe. He also recorded nine rebounds in just 31 minutes of playing time. Cousins picked up his fourth personal foul midway through the third quarter and spent the rest of that quarter along with part of the fourth period on the bench.

The Kings shot .420 (34-81) from the field. They hit on 4 of 10 attempts (.400) from beyond the 3-point line. Sacramento really helped themselves at the free throw line hitting on 31 of 35 attempts (.886) from the stripe.

The key to the victory was the way the Kings took care of the basketball. After turning the ball over 27 times versus Golden State, the Kings turned the ball over just 10 times against the Trail Blazers. Those turnovers resulted in just 12 points for Portland. Kings coach Michael Malone was very pleased with the way his team protected the ball.

Sacramento also played solid defense versus Portland. The Kings held the Trail Blazers to just .410 (34-83) shooting from the field. The Blazers hit on just 9 of 26 3-point tries. Portland went to the free throw line just 19 times in the game.

The Kings out-rebounded the Trail Blazers 49 – 38.

The Trail Blazers were led by LaMarcus Aldridge who scored 22 points, four rebounds, three assists and two blocked shots. Damien Lillard posted 20 points to go with seven rebounds and two assists.

After the game, Kings head coach Michael Malone was very excited about his team’s strong effort on defense. He was also very happy about the way the team played unselfish basketball. “Oh, what a great game. I thought our guys played unbelievable tonight on both sides of the ball.”

Rudy Gay said, “I just wanted to be aggressive – for the most part I hadn’t really had a good game this season, preseason or in the season. So I just wanted to make sure this one was.”

Malone said, “The way he (Gay) played tonight, not just on the court but in the huddles, the positive leadership, stressing the ball movement, all the things we’ve been talking about; it’s great when you start hearing the players hold each other accountable.”

The one area of concern for the Kings has to be the lack of production from the shooting guards in the game. Ben McLemore scored just seven points taking only five shots while Nik Stauskas was held scoreless in his 16 minutes of play. The Kings will need to find a way to get the shooting guards more involved in the offense.

The Kings are now 1-1 on the young season and now must ready themselves for their first road contest of the season. Sacramento will face the Los Angeles Clippers at the Staples Center on Sunday at 12:30 PM.

By Charlie O. Mallonee

Before we give you the score of the Maccabi Haifa – Sacramento Kings game, let us give you a little -background on the team from Haifa, Israel.

Maccabi Haifa Basketball Club plays in the Israeli Super League. The team won the Super League Championship in 2012-13. Maccabi Haifa was the runner-up in last year’s Super League Championship.

Maccabi Haifa is owned by an American, Jeff Rosen. Under Rosen’s direction, the team has risen from the lower divisions and returned to prominence in the Super League Division. Maccabi has its own feeder team, the Miami Midnites, which plays in the ABA Summer League in the United States.

Maccabi Haifa has been playing NBA teams during the preseason since 2010. They have never won a contest versus a NBA opponent.

Maccabi Haifa is still looking for their first win versus a NBA team as they lost to the Sacramento Kings 91-59 on Saturday night. The Kings won every quarter in the contest.

Kings head coach Michael Malone has to be happy with the way his team played defense. The Kings held Maccabi Haifa to just .278 (22-79) shooting from the field. The most points the Kings allowed was 17 in the third quarter.

The Kings shot .450 (27-60) from the field. They shot .364 (4-11) from 3-point range.

DeMarcus Cousins led the Kings in scoring with 15 points in 26 minutes of play. Derrick Williams and Darren Collison each added 12 points apiece. Ramon Sessions scored 11 points while Nik Stauskas hit for 10 points.

Rudy Gay did not play due to an ankle injury that occurred in a team practice.

The Kings next preseason game will be on October 20^th in San Antonio versus the Spurs.

News from the Reno Bighorns

The Reno Bighorns, the Kings D-League affiliate, have named a new head coach. David Arseneault Jr. will be the head coach for the 2014-15 season.

Arseneault, who is just 28 years old, has been the associate head coach for Grinnell College for the last four seasons. His father is the head coach at Grinnell. Grinnell is a NCAA Division III school.

The Bighorns have also named Ben McDonald assistant coach. He was an assistant with the Erie Bayhawks last year. The team has promoted Scott Schroeder from assistant coach/video coordinator to Director of Basketball Operations.

by Charlie O. Mallonee

The Sacramento Kings opened the 2014 preseason on Sunday night in Vancouver versus the Toronto Raptors. The Raptors won the game 99-94.

As with all sports in the preseason, the win-loss record does not mean much. The preseason is all about evaluating your talent and deciding who will be with the big club, who will go to the D-League and who will be unemployed when the 2014-15 season starts on October 29th.

Ramon Sessions led the Kings in scoring with 14 points in 28 minutes of playing time. DeMarcus Cousins and Darren Collison each poured in 13 points apiece. Rookie and Canadian native Nik Stauskas scored 12 points in his NBA debut.

The Kings starting line up included Rudy Gay and Jason Thompson as the forwards, DeMarcus Cousins at center and Ben McLemore and Darren Collison at the guard positions. That may well be a preview of the Kings’ starting five for October 29th.

Carl Landry played 20 minutes and scored seven points while grabbing five rebounds. Recent addition Omri Casspi played just six minutes and did not score.

The Kings shot .469 (30-64) from the field, .385 (5-13) from 3-point range and .725 (29-40) from the free throw line. Sacramento turned the ball over 29 times versus just 16 turnovers for Toronto.

The Kings next preseason game will be on October 11th at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai, China against the Brooklyn Nets. The Kings and Nets will also play on October 15th in Beijing.