Category: NBA

Sacramento Kings podcast with Charlie O: Kings pull away with 27-point win after four ties with Bulls Sunday

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Photo credit: @SacramentoKings

On the Sacramento Kings podcast with Charlie O:

#1 It was a game that saw seven lead changes and four ties, but the Sacramento Kings in the end mustered up a 27-point win over the Chicago Bulls Sunday.

#2 After Bogdan Bogdanovic got a three-point shot to put the Kings ahead after the first period 24-23, the Kings never looked back.

#3 In the paint, Kings head coach Dave Joerger said the team worked the paint inside for five six seconds and if not worked the ball outside and took open shots, including threes and layups. It paid off the Kings went 80-56 against the Bulls for the inside game.

#4 After having a rough time on free throws on the road, the Kings went 81.2% on the free line on Sunday at Golden One.

#5 Tuesday night the Kings host the Brooklyn Nets (36-36), who are a very improved club.

Charlie O does the Sacramento Kings podcasts each Tuesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Kings crush the Bulls 129-102 on St. Patty’s Day

Published on by Charlie O. MalloneeLeave a comment
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Bagley shoots over Lopez Photo: Charlie O. Mallonee

by Charlie O. Mallonee

The Sacramento Kings broke up a three-game losing streak on Sunday by devouring the hapless Chicago Bulls 129-102 before a delighted sellout crowd at the Golden 1 Center. After returning home from a very disappointing four-game road trip that saw the team pick up just one victory, the young Kings were in need of something to put a smile back on their faces. There were plenty of smiles after the game on St. Patrick’s Day.

Kings head coach Dave Joerger said, “… they do work so hard, it’s fun to see them get the result that does make them feel good.”

The teams played a tough first quarter that saw seven lead changes and four ties. It appeared that the Bulls had arrived ready to put up a fight on Sunday.

Sacramento was trailing 23-21 with 6.7-seconds to go in the first quarter. Bogdan Bogdanovic brought the ball up the court while watching the clock, took a step back behind the 3-point line, and sank a 26-foot shot to give the Kings a 24-23 lead at the end of the first period.

The Kings would never trail in the game again.

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The bigs crash the boards Photo: Charlie O. Mallonee

Why did the Kings win?

  1. Sacramento was ready for a win, and they came out willing to work for it. Dave Joerger revealed after the game that their plan was to work the for a shot in the paint early in the possession (four to six seconds) then start looking for open shots outside if layups were not available. The Kings outscored the Bulls 80-56 in the paint.
  2. The Kings shot the basketball very well in the contest. They shot 52.4-percent (54/103) overall and 34.8-percent (8/23) from 3-point land. They also converted 13-of-16 (81.2%) or their free throw attempts. Poor free throw shooting had hurt them on the road trip.
  3. The Kings also banged on the boards. Sacramento out-rebounded Chicago 48-39. They also outdid their opponent on the offensive glass 15-10. The Kings scored 23 2nd chance points to 15 for the Bulls.
  4. Sacramento continued to take very good care of the basketball as they turned it over just 12 times (13 CHI points) while the Bulls turned it over 20 times (25 SAC points).

Top Performances

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Bogi challenges Lopez Photo: Charlie O. Mallonee

Kings

  • Marvin Bagley III played an amazing 21-minutes of basketball (we believe the minutes restriction from his knee injury is still in place). He scored a game-high 21-points by shooting 9-for-14 from the field and going a perfect 3-for-3 from the charity stripe. MB35 also grabbed nine rebounds and dished out two assists.
  • The other young big – Harry Giles III – also played 21-minutes. H20 scored 16 points while shooting 8-for-14 in the contest. He also hauled in six rebounds, added three assists and blocked three shots.
  • And those other guys: De’Aaron Fox scored 17 points, Buddy Hield, 16, Harrison Barnes 15, Willey Cauley-Stein 9, Bjelica 8, and Bogdanovic 8.
  • All 13 players on the active roster saw playing in the game on Sunday.

Chicago

  • Zach LaVine was the leading scorer for the Bulls with 18 points. You may remember that Kings tried to get LaVine in the off-season, but the Bulls matched the Sacramento offer to keep talented guard in Chicago.
  • The real star for the Bulls is “tankathon”. Chicago is 19-52 on the season and their real goal is to finish with the best chance to get the number one pick in the NBA Draft Lottery in June. Right now, they have the fourth worst record in the league and have a 12.5-percent chance in Zion Williamson sweepstakes. It is tough to be too motivated when you know your team’s goal is to be “the biggest loser”.

Import Milestone

The Kings record improved to 34-35 after the win on Sunday. That is most wins for Sacramento since back in 2007-08 when the team won 38 games. The prognosticators at FiveThirtyEight.com predict that the Kings will win 39 games this season.

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Bjelica hits the corner three Photo: Charlie O. Mallonee

Up Next

The Kings are off until Tuesday night when they will face the much improved and playoff-bound Brooklyn Nets at the Golden 1 Center.

Chicago traveled to Phoenix after the game and will play the pesky Suns on Monday night.

Warriors, without Kevin Durant, roll over OKC Thunder 110-88

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Photo credit: nba.com/warriors

by Jerry Feitelberg

The Golden State Warriors won their second game in a row on the road by beating the Oklahoma City Thunder 110-88. They did it without the services of Kevin Durant, who is recovering from a right ankle contusion, which happened last Sunday against the Phoenix Suns. The Warriors are answering questions about their ability to repeat as champions. DeMarcus Cousins had two good games back-to-back for the first time this year. He had handled Houston’s Clint Capela and the Thunder’s Steven Adams. He will be tested Monday night as he will be playing against the Spurs’ LaMarcus Aldridge.

The Warriors–behind the exceptional play of Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, and DeMarcus Cousins, along with a very dominating defense–held the high-scoring OKC offense to just 88 points, their lowest scoring game of the year. Also, Thompson and Andre Iguodala put the clamps on Russell Westbrook. Westbrook, averaging a triple-double for the season, tallied just 7 points. He was 2-for 16 from the floor and did not make a 3-pointer in 7 attempts. DeMarcus Cousins blanketed Adams. Adams, who has tormented the Warriors in the past, was held to just 9 points and 9 rebounds. The Warriors won easily 110-88.

The Warriors had a great first period. Behind Thompson and Cousins, the team had an early 20-8 advantage. Curry started to put points on the board in the second half of the first period, and the Warriors finished with a 40-27 lead after the first 12 minutes of play. Steph recorded 14 points, and Klay had 10. Draymond Green knocked down two 3s in the first period to help the Warrior offense.

The Warriors outscored the Thunder 24-19 to finish the first half leading 64-46. Curry led the attack with 19 and Klay had 14. Cousins had 9 and held Adams to 7. Paul George was the man for OKC with 12. Dennis Schroder, coming off the bench, tallied 10. Russell Westbrook did not make a field goal in the first half, and the points he put on the board came from the free throw line. Westbrook’s total for the half was three.

The Thunder was not able to get back into the game in the third quarter. They did outscore the Warriors by 2 points 25-23, but the Warriors were in control. The Warrior defense refused to wilt as the Warriors entered the final period of play leading 87-71.

The Warriors started the fourth quarter with Shaun Livingston, Quinn Cook, DeMarcus Cousins, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green. Shaun made two key buckets, and Cook nailed a 3. Draymond connected on his third three of the night to increase the Warrior lead to 20, 98-78. OKC cut the lead to 15, 101-86, but the Warrior defense held the Thunder to just two points the last three minutes and 54 seconds of the game. The W’s outscored OKC 23-17 to win 110-88.

Game Notes and Stats: With the win, the Warriors are now 47-21 for the season and lead the Denver Nuggets by one game for the best record in the NBA. The Warriors own a 2-1 advantage over Denver, and they play again in Oakland on April 2nd. The Thunder, currently in fifth place in the Western Conference standings are now 42-28.

The Thunder’s Russell Westbrook, averaging 23.5 points per game, made two buckets in the second half to finish the night with 7 points. Westbrook was charged with his 16th technical foul of the year. The call came after he intentionally ran into Klay Thompson. Thompson had blocked Westbrook’s shot. Westbrook complained to the refs that Klay fouled him, but the refs didn’t change their minds. Westbrook will have to sit out a one-game suspension unless one of the technical is rescinded.

Steph Curry led the Warriors with 33 points and made 5 3s. Klay Thompson had 23 points, 8 boards, and 4 assists. He was 3-for-8 from the 3-point range. DeMarcus Cousins had 12, 8 rebounds, and 6 assists. Cousins left the game in the fourth quarter with a sore ankle. Draymond Green had 9 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists, and all his points came on the 3 threes he made. Quinn Cook led the bench with 8, Alfonso McKinnie 7 and Shaun Livingston 6. The rest of the reserves added 10.

The Thunder’s Paul George led his team with 29 points and 13 rebounds. Jerami Grant had 11 and Dennis Schroder 15.

The Warriors’ Quinn Cook was charged with his first career technical foul in the four quarter. The Warriors have the best road record in the NBA 23-11.

Up Next: Game three of the four-game road trip will be played Monday night against the San Antonio Spurs. Game time will be at 5 pm.

The playoffs are “slip, sliding away”: Kings lose to Boston 126-120

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Photo/graphic: @NBCS

by Charlie O. Mallonee

On Thursday night, the Sacramento Kings record fell under .500 for the first time since January 8th when they lost to the Boston Celtics 126-120. The Kings are now 33-34 on the season after this loss on the road. They are now 1-2 on the four-game road trip with one game to go in Philadelphia on Friday night

This was once again a battle of the tiers. There are three tiers in the NBA. Tier one is the upper one-third of the teams that are guaranteed a playoff spot and have a relatively realistic chance to go deep into the playoffs.

Two tier teams are the ones that are battling for the number seven or eight slots in the playoffs and may wind up in the draft lottery with very late selections. Tier three teams are tanking to get the best shot at one of the top three picks in the draft lottery in order to turn their team around as soon as possible.

Boston is a tier one team. The Kings have made the jump from tier three to tier two this season. That has been exciting for fans, but ultimately, it is going to be painful because each loss drops the Kings further out of playoff contention.

Why did the Kings lose?

  1. The first reason the Kings lost was the play of Kyrie Irving. Irving is a closer. He is a legitimate superstar. Irving posted a triple-double scoring 31 points, dishing out 12 assists and grabbing 10 rebounds. As they said in the classic movie Glengarry Glen Ross, “Coffee is for closers.” Kyrie can have the whole pot.
  2. The Kings also lost because they did not convert their opportunities at the charity stripe into points. Sacramento went to the free throw line 23 times but put only 13 shots through the hoop. A 56.5-percent free throw shooting percentage is just unacceptable for professional basketball players. This has been an on-going problem for the Kings this season, and it is a problem that the team must address in the off-season if they are to take their game to the next level.

Kings top performers

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Photo:@NBCS
  • Buddy Hield was the game’s leading scorer with 34 points. He hit 14-of-24 shots overall and went 6-for-10 from long distance. Mr. Hield also distributed seven assists while turning the ball over just one time.
  • Willie Cauley-Stein recorded a double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds. WCS added four assists and made zero turnovers.
  • Marvin Bagley III returned to the court and scored 14 points in just over 19 minutes of playing time. It is reasonable to believe that MB35 was playing with a minutes restriction in place. After the game, Dave Joerger said it was unfair to expect too much from Bagley having to come back in a “playoff game”.
  • De’Aaron Fox turned in another strong performance scoring 19 points while dishing out nine dimes and hauling in seven rebounds.
  • Harrison Barnes put 20 points up on the board.

Boston top performers

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Photo:@NBCS
  • Kyrie – see point 1 on why the Kings lost.
  • Jaylen Brown came off the bench to score 22 points. His play proved to be a real “back-breaker” versus the Kings.
  • Marcus Morris posted a double-double with 21 points and 12 rebounds.

Where the teams stand after the game

With the loss, the Kings remain in sole possession of ninth-place the NBA Western Conference, but they are now five games back of the eighth-place LA Clippers. The Kings have 15 games left to play in the regular season. The projection has been that they would need to win a minimum of 43 games to make the playoffs. That would mean going 10-5 in the final 15 contests.

The Celtics record improves to 42-27 on the season and Boston has a very secure hold on fifth-place in the Eastern Conference. They have a 6.5 game lead over sixth-place Brooklyn. Boston is chasing Philadelphia for fourth-place. The Sixers currently have a 1.5 game lead over the Celtics.

Up next

The Kings made the short flight to Philly and will play the very tough 76ers on Friday in the second game of a back-to-back set on the road. The tip-off is scheduled for 4:00 PM PDT.

Boston will host the scrappy Atlanta Hawks on Saturday afternoon.

Headline Sports with Tony Renteria: Raiders getting Brown for draft picks–a steal; Despite dysfunction, Warriors still a winner; plus more

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photo from nbcsports.com:  Oakland Raiders wide receiver Antonio Brown (center) receives his new jersey standing at podium during Wednesday’s presser with head coach Jon Gruden (left) and general manager Mike Mayock (right)

On Headline Sports with Tony Renteria:

#1 Oakland Raiders wide receiver Antonio Brown said he can lift the rest of the team offense for the rest of the season

#2 Brown is a seven time Pro Bowler as the Raiders sent a third and fifth draft pick to Pittsburgh for Brown.

#3 Brown will get $54.125 million for the next three seasons with Oakland

#4 On the Warriors their well published dysfunction didn’t stop them from picking up a win over the Houston Rockets on Wednesday night 106-104

#5 San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey trying to come off his off season surgery caught in Monday’s game but manager Bruce Bochy decided to rest Posey on Tuesday. Bochy expects Posey to go full strength once the regular season begins

Tony Renteria does Headline Sports each Thursday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Warriors, without Kevin Durant, win a thriller over the Rockets 106-104

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Photo credit: @warriors

By Jerry Feitelberg

The Golden State Warriors broke two streaks Wednesday night as they beat the red-hot Houston Rockets 106-104 in the Toyota Center. The first streak they snapped was the three-game winning streak Houston had over Golden State, and they snapped Houston’s nine-game winning streak. The Warriors had to figure out a way to do it without the services of Kevin Durant, who suffered a bone contusion on his ankle Sunday night in the loss to the Phoenix Suns. Warriors’ head coach, Steve Kerr, inserted Andre Iguodala into the starting lineup to replace Durant. The Warriors needed the Splash Brothers, Klay Thompson and Steph Curry, to be at their best to win. Thompson and Curry did well, and DeMarcus Cousins came through with a season-high 27 points and was able to contain the Rockets’ big man, Clint Capela.

The Warriors needed to get off to a good start in the first quarter. They outscored the Rockets 33-23 as Curry knocked down 13 points in the first 12 minutes. The Warriors had an early 15-7 lead, but the Rockets went on an 8-0 run to tie the game at 15. The Warriors responded with a 14-2 run to lead 29-17. Curry and Kevon Looney each made a two-point bucket to increase the lead to 33-23.

The Warriors’ second unit played well early in the second quarter. Quinn Cook, DeMarcus Cousins, and Klay Thompson upped the lead to 46-34. The Rockets, at this point in the game, came to life and charged back. They tied the game at 52 before Steph made a basket and the first half ended with Golden State leading 54-52. Thompson led the Warriors with 16. Curry had 15 and Cousins had 7. Boogie also had five boards and six assists. James Harden and Chris Paul led the Houston attack with 16 each. Capela had 8. The W’s bench outscored the Rockets’ bench 11-5.

In the third quarter, DeMarcus Cousins was a force. He, as mentioned earlier, put a lid on Clint Capela’s game. He scored ten points in the period to keep the Warriors ahead. Klay and Steph were on target, too. Kevon Looney was magnificent on defense in the quarter, and he made a key bucket late in the period. The Warriors outscored Houston 31-16 and finished with a seven-point advantage 85-78 after three-quarters of action.

The Warriors used the second unit with Cousins and Thompson to start the fourth quarter. Rockets’ coach, Mike D’Antoni also had his starter, James Harden, resting on the bench. Cousins knocked down another 10 points to give the Warriors the lead 102-89. Harden re-entered the game at this point. Houston refused to cave, and their defense stifled the Warriors as they climbed back into the game. They kept chipping away at the Warrior lead and outscored the Warriors 11-2 to make it 104-100 with 47 seconds left to play.  Houston connected on a three, and now it was a one-point game 104-103. Steph made a bucket to increase the lead to 106-103 with 8 seconds remaining to play. After a timeout, Kerr told his players to make to foul either Harden or Chris Paul and not let them attempt a three-point shot. The Warriors fouled Harden. He made the first free throw and intentionally missed the second in an attempt to get the rebound and make a basket to tie the game. The strategy failed, and the Warriors won 106-104.

Game Notes and Stats: Kevin Durant rested his ankle on Wednesday and the Warriors hope that he will return to action Saturday night when they play the Thunder in Oklahoma City.

With the win, the Warriors improve to 46-21. Houston falls to 42-26. If the teams were to meet in the playoffs, the Warriors would have the home-court advantage unless the teams end the season with the same record. In that case, the Rockets would have home court as they beat the Warriors 3-1 for the season.

Klay Thompson led the Warriors with 30 points. He made 5 three-point shots in 10 attempts. DeMarcus Cousins excelled on offense with a season-high 27 points. He had 8 rebounds and 7 assists in his best performance with Golden State. Curry had 24 points and connected on 3 threes in nine attempts. The Warriors bench kicked in with 20. James Harden led Houston with 29.  Harden connected on 2 threes in 12 attempts. Chris Paul had 24. Eric Gordon pitched in with 17, and he made 3 threes for the Rockets. Capela had a double-double with 13 points and 13 boards. The Houston bench added 18.

The Warriors shot 49.4% from the floor. The made 12 threes, They were 10-for-10 from the charity stripe. They outrebounded Houston 44-31. The Rockets had 13 more free throws as Harden, and Chris Paul know how to draw fouls as they drive to the basket.

Up Next: The Warriors play the OKC Thunder Saturday night in OKC. Game time is at 5:30 pm. Game three of the four-game road trip will be in San Antonio Monday night, and they finish with a back-to-back set against the Minnesota Timberwolves Tuesday night.

Headline Sports with London Marq: Improved Kings need wins in Philly and Boston

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photo from nbcsports.com file: The Sacramento Kings and D3’Aaron Fox head to Boston and Philadelphia for games Thursday and Friday nights.

On Headline Sports with London:

#1 The Sacramento Kings dropped a tough game to the Washington Wizards 121-115. The Kings made it close losing by six.

#2 The Kings head to Philadelphia and Boston this Thursday and Friday. Can the Kings pick up some key wins after losing to Washington in their bid to try and make the postseason?

#3 De’Aaron Fox led the Kings in scoring. Talk about what he means for the club this season.

#4 In MLS action, the San Jose Earthquakes are headed to New York to face the NY Red Bulls. The Quakes are coming off two losses to the Montreal Impact and the Minnesota United FC. The later game was rough as they lost in a 3-0 shutout.

#5 After watching the 3-0 shutout, was this reminiscent of last year’s Quakes team or maybe more concerning than last year’s team?

London Marq does the Headline Sports podcast at http://www.sportsradioservice.com each Wednesday

Sacramento Kings podcast with Charlie O: Kings drop first game on road trip; Head to Boston and Philly next

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Photo credit: bulletsforever.com

On the Kings podcast with Charlie O:

#1 The Sacramento Kings (33-33) lost a very close game to the Washington Wizards (28-39) on Monday night 121-115. A six-point loss, the Kings lost the game but they are a never give up team.

#2 For the Kings, De’Aaron Fox led with 23 points the team really relies on his ability to aim and hit the bucket.

#3 After last Thursday’s game against the Boston Celtics, the Kings’ Marvin Bagley III has been ruled day to day. How bad was the sprained knee and do you see him returning to action on this current road trip?

#4 The Kings need to beat teams like the Wizards and the Celtics. Do you see them getting any daylight and getting a shot to get over the Mendoza line and get into the postseason?

#5 The Kings play back to back nights in Boston (41-26) and Philadelphia (42-25) on Thursday and Friday nights. How do you see the Kings stacking up with these two clubs?

Charlie O does the Sacramento Kings podcasts each Tuesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Golden State Warriors podcast with David Zizmor: Injuries, players planning not to return, or just plain tired–what’s wrong with Golden State

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Photo credit: @warriors

On the Warriors podcast with David:

#1 The Warriors have lost six out of their last ten games. It’s not in their DNA for the last five years to go on a run like that. Has this team finally reached it’s peak and heading downhill?

#2 Warriors head coach Steve Kerr can’t put a finger on it, but he’ll have fast as the Warriors have four big dates on the road, starting with Houston on Wednesday night. Will they recover?

David Zizmor does the Warriors podcasts each Tuesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Kings battle, but fall to Wizards 121-115 in DC

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Photo credit: @sbgglobal

By: Jeremiah Salmonson

In the first half, it was a tale of two quarters for the Kings. The Kings appeared to get off to a quick start against the Washington Wizards, scoring the first five points, but that would prove to be just a mirage at the Capital One Arena Monday evening. After that, De’Aaron Fox and company struggled mightily in the first quarter. The Kings were only able to muster 20 points while shooting 29% from the field and making two of three from the stripe.  The Wizards, on the other hand, were able to score 28 points to take control of the game in the first.

In the second quarter, the Kings flipped the script. The Kings put up an impressive 40 points to take the lead in the game 60-59 going into the locker room at the half. At one point, Fox went on a run to score 15 points in just over 3:30. Going into the locker room, the Kings appeared to have some confidence after a very up and down half. Going into the third, it was imperative for the Kings to keep the momentum and add onto the lead they managed to capture in the second.

However, the Kings weren’t able to do that. They came out in the second half much like the performed in the first quarter. They gave up their second 31-point quarter and only managed to score 21 points, a near carbon copy of the first quarter, but the Kings weren’t done yet.

The Kings managed to retake the lead in the fourth with 3:21 remaining on a Willie-Cauley Stein free throw. Unfortunately, they lost steam after an encouraging run. They missed a couple of key shots while the Wizards made some key shots and that proved the difference in the game.

When it was all said and done, the Kings gave up six too many points in the early quarters and fell to the Wizards 121-115. Notable scoring performances were De’Aaron Fox with 23 points for the Kings and Bradley Beal with 27 points for the Wizards. This game ended the way so many Kings games have ended lately. The Kings were close but were unable to finish the game in the final minutes.

Kings head coach Dave Joerger summed it up perfectly in postgame, “This game sucks, this one hurts.” Indeed, this game hurt the Kings’ playoff chances as they fall 4.5 games back of the Clippers and Spurs with 16 games left.

Close but no cigar for the Kings:

FG PCT: Kings 45.1%, Wizards 46.5%
3PT PCT: Kings 33.3%, Wizards 37.8%
REB: Kings 47, Wizards 47
AST: Kings 28, Wizards 29
TO: Kings 16, Wizards 17
BLK: Kings 3, Wizards 1

Scoreboard Watch:

Kings fans will be locked in Monday evening to the Clippers vs. Celtics matchup on NBA TV. The Kings desperately need the Clippers to lose to keep the deficit to four games behind the eight seed in the Western Conference.

Up Next:

The Kings travel to Boston to take on the Boston Celtics on Thursday afternoon at 4:30 PM PST.