Category: NBA

Los Angeles Clippers’ Blake Griffin, right, looks to pass after retrieving a loose ball against Sacramento Kings’ Willie Cauley-Stein, left, during the first half of an NBA basketball game Wednesday, April 12, 2017, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

On the Kings podcast with Charlie O:

1) What are the final numbers for the Kings?

2) Who will be running the Kings basketball operations?

3) Will there be any coaching changes

4) What player personnel changes can we expect?

5) Who will be in the Kings draft

Charlie O Mallonee podcasted Kings basketball for 2016-17 and Jeremy Harness, Tony Renteria, Eric He, Pearl Lo, and Morris Phillips all covered the Kings during the season

Sacramento Kings’ Ben McLemore, left, is fouled by Los Angeles Clippers’ DeAndre Jordan during the second half of an NBA basketball game Wednesday, April 12, 2017, in Los Angeles. The Clippers won 115-95. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

~ By Pearl Allison Lo

~ LOS ANGELES– The Clippers kept their lead at Staples Center this time with a 115-95 win over the Sacramento Kings Wednesday in the NBA’s regular season final night.

With the win, Los Angeles has home court advantage in playoffs and will face the Utah Jazz, who also won. The Clippers ended the regular season with wins in their last seven.

The Kings were at a higher deficit in the fourth quarter, 21 points behind and were not close to shortening it like the last time the two teams met.

However, Los Angeles head coach Dave Joerger pointed out, “What’s validation for it? For Game 82, [the Clippers] had their starting group on the floor with five minutes to go, for whatever reason. But they had to because we pushed them to it. We pushed it to them last week.”

Overall on the season, Joerger said, “[It was a ] terrific season. [I’m] really proud of our guys. They fought and played hard to the end…Guys have really hung in there.”

Sacramento’s Willie Cauley-Stein finished with a game-high 19 points as part of his double-double with 14 rebounds. Los Angeles’ DeAndre Jordan had a double double with 18 points and 17 rebounds, and tied a season-high with four blocks.

The Kings have now lost 19 of the last 23 games versus the Clippers and lost the season series 1-3.

Sacramento had the higher shooting percentage after the first half but Los Angeles got better as the game continued. Quarter by quarter, their lead went from nine to 10 to 14 to 21.

The first quarter’s fourth tie was part of a 12-2 run that gave the Clippers a lead they would not relinquish. Part of it was an 8-0 run with 4:11 left. Within the 12-2 run, the Kings’ Ben McLemore fouled twice, Los Angeles’ J.J. Reddick scored from the line three times and Jordan had three rebounds, including one off Marreese Speight’s missed shot.

In the second, the Clippers’ biggest lead went to 10 points with 2:37 left. Before that, Sacramento twice got to within two points but could not tie up the game.

It was still close at the half, Los Angeles leading 53-47. The Kings shot better at 48.8% but the Clippers had 18 points off three’s compared to six for Sacramento.

Then Los Angeles started pulling away. By the end of the third, they were shooting 50% compared to 49.2% for the Kings. Reddick’s 201st three capped an 11-2 run and was the first time they got a 14 point lead in the quarter. Reddick’s three also set a club record with the most three’s in a season.

Sacramento reached 100 points with 6:21 left in the game and followed that with two buckets to reach their biggest lead of the match for the first time.

After a video tribute to the Clippers’ Paul Pierce, playing in his final regular season game, chants of “We want Paul” erupted from the crowd including Coach Doc Rivers, as Pierce entered the game. Pierce was reluctant to go on the court both times but the Inglewood native commented, “To be able to end it all here in front of family and friends, being back home, it’s special.”

Los Angeles Lakers guard Tyler Ennis, right, tries to take the ball from Sacramento Kings forward Anthony Tolliver during the second half of an NBA basketball game, Friday, April 7, 2017, in Los Angeles. The Lakers won 98-94. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

By Jessica Kwong

LOS ANGELES – The Sacramento Kings allowed the Los Angeles Lakers, two spots behind them in rankings and second to last in the western conference, to come up from behind and win Friday night’s game at Staples Center.

After Darren Collison’s triple with 14 seconds remaining, the Kings finished the quarter up 31-18, but that dwindled, and the close game got out of reach for Sacramento in the last minute.

Kings head coach Dave Joerger said what the team talked about postgame was “the consolation prize.”

“That we put ourselves in another game-ending situation, some things that you can learn,” Joerger said.

The Kings quickly blew a 13-point lead from the first quarter. A minute-and-a-half into the second quarter, Jordan Clarkson made a three-pointer to cut the lead to 31-25, forcing the Kings to call a timeout. The Lakers tied the game at 37 points when Julius Randle made two free throws with just under four minutes to go in the quarter.

Los Angeles lead by as many as four points before Collison passed the ball to Skal Labissiere who made a cutting dunk to put the Kings back up 45-44.

The third quarter was head-to-head, with neither team leading by more than five points and four lead changes. Sacramento managed to take the lead after George Papagiannis made an eight-foot turnaround hook shot. Then Collison made a running layup to put the Kings up 70-67, but Brandon Ingram made two free throws to put the Lakers within one point at the end of the quarter.

Sacramento again led by as many as five points in the fourth quarter, but the Lakers tied the game four times and sealed the win in the final minute.

D’Angelo Russell made a driving finger roll lay-up with 41 seconds remaining to give the Lakers up 93-92. Buddy Hield made a bad pass and Corey Brewer stole the ball, the Kings’ 23rd turnover. Langston Galloway fouled Brewer, who made both at the free throw line.

“Guys are trying to make plays. Most of them are not forced turnovers with us. Some of them are just losing the ball or a loose ball rolling off the foot or unforced turnovers,” Hield said. “We have to fix that and I think we’ll be fine.”

Hield made a driving lay-up with a second left in the game to 96-94, but fouled Russell, who made both at the line and give the Lakers a win by four points.

“They threw us around in the paint and got 16 offensive rebounds,” Joerger said. “Is it good for us to learn some of that stuff? Yes, because hopefully down the line that play that we have to draw up at the end is for us to get into the playoffs or the difference between getting fifth seed and seventh seed.”

The regular season for the past few weeks for the Kings has been about giving young players more time on the court and getting ready for a better season next year.

“That’s all this time is right now is gaining experience. Trying to compare through things like that. That’s big for our young guys and us making a step forward to making the playoffs for next year,” Cauley-Stein said. “You have to be able to execute those plays down the stretch. That’s part of learning it.”

The Kings return to the Golden 1 Center on Sunday to face the Houston Rockets. Tipoff is at 3 p.m.