Category: NBA

Kevin Durant leads the Warriors to their first win of the year, beat the Pelicans

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by Jerry Feitelberg

AP photo: Golden State Warriors Kevin Durant goes for the high percentage points as the Dubs chalk up their first win of 2016-17 against the New Orleans Pelicans Friday night

New Orleans-The Golden State Warriors, led by the stellar play of Kevin Durant, subdued the New Orleans Pelicans 122-114 Friday night in New Orleans. The Dubs, although they led most of the way, could not break away from the Pelicans. The Dubs, however, had an answer for every challenge thrown at them by the Pelicans. Golden State took an early 7-6 lead and kept it until late in the third period when the Pelicans led by a single point 74-73. The Warriors went on a 19-7 run to finish third period leading 92-81. The Pelicans refused to quit. Golden State led by sixteen 103-87 but Anthony Davis and company continued to peck away and closed the gap to six with just 19.4 seconds left in the game.

The Warriors did not play well in the opening game against San Antonio. They were looking to get the offense going behind the Big Three of Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, and Steph Curry. They also wanted improvement on defense, especially rebounding. They did improve in both those categories but still need to be better.

Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson led the Dubs to a 59-50 halftime advantage. Durant scored eighteen and had ten rebounds. Klay Thompson found his shot and knocked down fourteen. Steph Curry, saddled with three personal fouls, added six. Steph picked up the pace in the third period. He drained a couple of three-point shots and had a bucket and a free throw to complete a three-point play the hard way. Kevon Looney entered the game slightly after the mid-point mark of the period and was very effective as the Dubs closed out the period on a 19-7 run. Kevin Durant continued to amaze everyone as he blocked an Anthony Davis shot and the ran the court to make a spectacular dunk. The Dubs worked hard for the win. The biggest lead of the night was sixteen points, and they had to work hard on the defensive end to stop the Pelicans from overtaking them. Golden State wins a tough contest 122-114.

Game Notes. Kevin Durant had a double, double in the game. He scored thirty points and had seventeen rebounds.  Durant has now scored at least twenty points in sixty-six consecutive games. It is the longest streak since Michael Jordan’s sixty-nine in the 1990-91 season. Klay Thompson added twenty-eight, and Steph Curry finished with twenty-three. Za Za Pachulia had a double, double, too. Pachulia scored ten and had eleven rebounds. Draymond Green finished with eight points, and he recorded eleven rebounds, too. The Pelican bench outscored the Warrior bench 39-23.  The good news for Warrior fans was the play of Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingstone. They made several key buckets and the second unit played much better than they did against San Antonio. The one sour note was the injury to Patrick McCaw late in the first half. McCaw sprained his left ankle and was helped off the court. The Dubs do not know the extent of the injury at this time.

Anthony Davis led the New Orleans attack with forty-five points and seventeen rebounds. He had ninety-five points in his first two games of the year. New Orleans lost both. Tim Frazier had a career-high twenty-one points to go along with ten assists and six rebounds.Lance Stephenson and Duane Cunningham each scored fifteen, coming off the bench.

After the game, Klay Thompson said: “it felt great to get the first win of the season.” , “I was just trying to be myself” when asked if he was too aggressive in the first half. He  said this about Kevin Durant: “he’s gonna be huge for us all year.”

Dubs’  head coach Steve Kerr was pleased the Dubs had just fourteen turnovers in the game. “We did a good job of taking care of the ball.He added that we had “lapses defensively and (that we have)some things to work on.” “We played hard, but we had some breakdowns when everyone just looked at each other.” It was “more lack of communication that led to the breakdown.” “We are going to get much better. You can see how much work we have ahead. We gotta be smart, tough, and grow.”

The Dubs travel to Phoenix to play the Suns Sunday. Game time is at 3:00 pm

 

The Golden 1 Center opens on Thursday night ; the Spurs beat the Kings 102-94

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NBA: San Antonio Spurs at Sacramento Kings

Photo credit: Sergio Estrada USA Today

Charlie O. Mallonee

Sacramento – Thursday night had all the pomp and circumstance of a Hollywood premiere as the long awaited official opening of the NBA home season took place for the Sacramento Kings. The NBA commissioner was there along with the former commissioner David Stern who sat with Governor Jerry Brown. Out-going mayor Kevin Johnson received his standing ovation for his efforts to build the arena. In-coming mayor Darrell Steinberg and members of the city council managed to get some face time.

Former Kings player Chris Webber and Washington Nationals manager Dusty Baker were seated courtside. If you were anybody in Sacramento or thought you were anybody, you were in the Golden 1 Center for the game on Thursday night.

DeMarcus Cousins officially welcomed the fans to arena on behalf of the team. Majority owner Vivek Ranadive took great pride in welcoming fans to the state of the art arena the ownership group promised them when they bought the team.

The opening was really something to see. If you missed it, you can go to Kings.com and take in the highlights. It will be worth your time.

Then, there was the game between the unbeaten San Antonio Spurs who shocked the Golden Stated Warriors on Tuesday night in Oakland and the 1-0 Sacramento Kings who dominated the Phoenix Suns on the road in their season opener on Wednesday night.

The Kings knew they would be in for a fight because they had to face the team that is picked to win the Southwest Division – even without Tim Duncan- on second half of a back-to-back, away-home schedule. Even though the team was full of adrenaline to do well in front of their faithful fans at the opening of the Golden 1 Center, the task before for them was a difficult one at best.

The Kings played with tenacity and gave the crowd cause to cheer often,but ultimately the talent of Spurs and the fatigue of the back-to-back games caught up to them in their pursuit of a win. The Spurs defeated the Kings 102-94 in first ever regular season NBA game in the Golden 1 Center.

Kings (1-1)

DeMarcus Cousins led the attack for the Kings against the Spurs. He scored 37 points and pulled down 16 rebounds to record a double-double in the game. Cousins shot 10-for-22 from the floor, 3-for-5 from beyond the 3-point arc and went 14-for-16 from the free throw line. The Kings big man spent much of the second-half under the basket involved in a very physical battle with LaMarcus Aldridge and the San Antonio front line. At times, Cousins temper seemed to be very close to boiling over, but he managed to keep it in check.

Rudy Gay had to do battle with Kawhi Leonard all night. Gay finished the game with 17 points with 10 of those points coming at the free throw line. He hauled 7 rebounds, had two steals and two assists as well.

Ben McLemore finished with 10 points in the contest. His best efforts came in the first-half. McLemore shot 3-for-4 from the field and 4-for-4 from the free throw line. Unfortunately for him, it will probably be back-to-back turnovers that resulted in back-to-back personal fouls in the fourth quarter that many of the fans will remember.

Ty Lawson did his job at point guard for the Kings. Head coach Dave Joerger had said that Lawson would see heavy minutes of playing time and he worked 35 minutes on the floor versus the Spurs. Lawson dished out nine assists and turned the ball over just one time. Lawson added seven points, four rebounds and one steal.

Kosta Koufos scored eight, Arron Afflalo seven, Matt Barnes and Willie Cauley-Stein three points each and Anthony Tolliver had two points.

As a team, the Kings shot 40.0-percent (28-for-70) from the floor after shooting 51.4-percent in the first-half. They went 6-for-20 (30.0-percent) from beyond the 3-point line while going 32-for-38 (84.2-percent) from the free throw line. They matched the Spurs by grabbing 40 rebounds. The Kings tallied 22 assists against 15 turnovers.

Spurs (2-0)

To no one’s surprise, Kawhi Leonard led the Spurs scoring against the Kings. Leonard scored 30 points shooting an impressive 11-for-21 from the floor. He was a perfect 7-for-7 from the free throw line. Leonard also distributed five assists and recorded five steals. He played the last half of the fourth quarter with five personal fouls but it did not seem to slow him down.

LaMarcus Aldridge – the supposed discontented member of the Spurs who wants to be traded – added 16 points and five rebounds while giving DeMarcus Cousins fits under the basket for the entire game. Aldridge played hard and did not give off any signals that he was a player who wanted to be in another uniform.

Dewayne Dedmon and David Lee both had an impact in the game off the bench with 12 points each. Dedmon also had seven rebounds while Lee dished out two assists and had two steals.

San Antonio shot 45.6-percent (36-for-79) from the floor and 33.3-percent (6-for-18) from 3-point land. The Spurs went 24-for-27 from the charity stripe. They recorded 40 rebounds, 23 assists and 10 assists. The Spurs turned the ball over nine times.

What they had to say after the game

“Good game, good effort,” said Kings head coach Dave Joerger. “As competitors, you never want to say you played hard but you lost. But I liked a lot of the things I saw tonight. I thought we ran out of gas a bit. I think out turnovers were deadly and I think they made some tough, tough shots down the stretch. I thought our half-court defense was very solid. When our defense was on the run after turnovers, it’s very difficult to get back and defend.”

“Yeah, it was a big night for everybody. Us, playing in front of the fans and for the fans. This is a lot – this is a new era of basketball in Sacramento and it was good to be a part of it,” said Kings forward Rudy Gay. “Obviously the fans drive us to a new level. This was a playoff atmosphere and it’s good to have that.”

“Coach Joerger is a hell of a coach,” said Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich. “He’s got them playing defense already after one game because of the way they played defense in Memphis. That’s because he knows what he’s doing, obviously. But, that’s a tribute to those guys to pick that up and jump in. If they sustain that, that’s going to be a good basketball team. You can see his stamp all over it defensively.”

Notes

The first home game at Golden 1 Center was a sellout with 17,608 in attendance.

The Kings next opponent is the Minnesota Timberwoles on Saturday  night at 7:30 PM at the Golden 1 Center.

The Spurs will have their home opener on Saturday night when they host New Orleans.

Kings grab opening night win in blowout over Suns

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By: Eric He

The Sacramento Kings notched their first opening night win in three years on Wednesday night with a 113-94 thrashing of the Suns on the road.

DeMarcus Cousins led the way with 24 points and six rebounds, while Rudy Gay chipped in 22 points. Matt Barnes added 14 points off the bench with Gary Temple scoring 12.

The Kings jumped out to a double-digit lead at the end of the first quarter as a monster dunk by Willie Cauley-Stein put them up 28-18. Sacramento extended its lead in the second quarter, taking a 20-point lead early in the frame and a 57-38 lead into halftime.

Phoenix cut the lead to 10 in the fourth quarter, but a 12-1 run by the Kings put the game away for good.

Devin Booker’s 18 points led the Suns, while Eric Bledsoe had 16.

It was a positive start for new head coach Dave Joerger’s debut in Sacramento.

“They got after it on defense,” Joerger told ESPN. “The key for our defense is to set it. We executed offensively and didn’t turn it over. When we did that, we were able to set our defense.”

The Kings are back at it Thursday at home against San Antonio.

Golden State Warriors Tuesday game wrap: Big Tumble–The San Antonio Spurs trounce the Dubs on Opening Night.

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by Jerry Feitelberg

AP photo: Golden State Warriors Stephen Curry can only roll on the floor in the first half after being overwhelmed by too much San Antonio Spurs in Tuesday night’s game at Oracle Arena for the home opener

My oh my. The San Antonio Spurs spoiled opening night by trouncing the Golden State Warriors 129-100. The Spurs, led by Kawhi Leonard, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Johnathan Simmons outplayed the Warriors in every facet of the game and sent the sellout crowd home wondering if the Warriors are in trouble. Golden State did not look at all like the team that won 73 games last year. They are still a very good team, but it may take a little time for all the pieces to mesh together.

The Dubs took the lead 16-14 with 5:54 left in the first period. That was the only lead they would have the entire night. The Spurs outran, outshot, outrebounded and beat the Dubs on defense all night long. The Spurs, Kawhi Leonard who was second in last year’s MVP voting, scored a career-high thirty-five points. Big LaMarcus Aldridge knocked down twenty-six and had fourteen rebounds. The Spurs bench outscored the Dubs’ bench by an astounding 45-13. Every time the Dubs made a run to narrow the gap, the Spurs answered the challenge. Leading 18-16 late in the first period, they went on a 13-4 run to lead 31-20 at the end of the first period. The Spurs scored thirty-three in the second period as they took an eighteen-point lead at the half 64-46. Steph Curry and Kevin Durant led the Dubs’ attack with eighteen and fourteen respectively, but Klay Thompson had just two points and was one for seven from the floor. The Warriors made just four three-point shots in nineteen attempts. San Antonio made six treys in just ten attempts. Leonard, Aldridge and Jonathan Simmons, off the bench, were the key players for San Antonio.

The home crowd was hoping for a patented Warrior come-from-behind surge in the third period. However, The Spurs continued to beat the Dubs on offense and continued to disrupt the Warrior attack. The Spurs led by twenty at the end of the third and won by twenty-nine 129-100. Leonard finished the game with 35, Aldridge with 26 and bench players Simmons had 20, Mills with eleven and the veteran, Manu Ginobili pitched in with 10. Kevin Durant led the Dubs with 27 points and ten rebounds. Curry scored 26, and Draymond Green knocked down 18 to go with six assists and twelve rebounds. Klay Thompson finished the night with 11. The Spurs dominated the board on both ends of the court. They outrebounded the Dubs 62-41. They had the edge in offensive rebounds 20-8 and 34-27 on defense. The Dubs turned the ball over sixteen times to add to their woes.

The Warriors are a work in progress. The Warriors lost six key players. The new players have shown that they can play in the NBA. However, it takes time for the players to mesh together and find the rhythm that the Dubs had the last two years. They have 81 games left, and the Spurs are an excellent team and will be in contention for the best record in the Western Division. The Dubs play the next three games on the road. They face the New Orleans Pelicans Friday night. They then travel to Phoenix on Sunday. They are in Portland next Tuesday to face Damian Lillard and the Blazer. They return home November 4th to face the Oklahoma Thunder, Kevin Durant’s old team. Talk about a grudge match. That game should be a barnburner.

Sacramento Kings podcast with Charlie O: Analysis on the release of Cousins and Farmar and how it impacts the Kings

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AP file photo: Los Angeles Lakers Jose Calderon defends against the Sacramento Kings Jordan Farmar during Thu Oct 13th’s pre season contest in Las Vegas. Farmar was released by the Kings on Monday.

The Sacramento Kings released Jordan Farmar, Isaiah Cousins and kept Ty Lawson. They did like Cousins and Farmar and with Farmar he used to play for Kings head coach Dave Joerger last year in Memphis. Farmar is a nine year veteran out of UCLA who knows what he’s doing on a basketball court they just couldn’t find a spot for him. The other thing that plays into that is the fact that Darren Collison wouldn’t be gone as long as they thought.

The guy I was surprised about was the release of Cousins he was a draft pick in the second round they got him 59th overall a point guard out of Oklahoma. Cousins never really seemed to get traction with the team didn’t get a lot of playing time and only got into a couple of games and only got to play 12 minutes but he didn’t read too much into that because he’s a young guy but the Kings cut him loose.

Charlie O does the Sacramento Kings podcast each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

Kings waive two and set the opening night roster

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sac3

by Charlie O. Mallonee

SACRAMENTO–Monday was the deadline for all teams in the NBA to trim their rosters down to 15 players in preparation for the start of the regular season this week. The Kings still had 17 men on the team as the day began so two players had to be released.

Sacramento vice president of basketball operations and general manager Vlade Divac announced Monday afternoon that guards Jordan Farmar and Isaiah Cousins had been waived by the Kings.

Farmar is a nine-year veteran of the NBA who played his college basketball at UCLA. Farmar spent the 2015-16 season playing for Kings head coach Dave Joerger in Memphis. He averaged 6.5 points in four preseason games for Sacramento.

Isaiah Cousins was drafted by the Kings in the second round (59th overall) out of Oklahoma in the 2016 NBA Draft. Cousins appeared in two preseason games playing a total of 12 minutes.

The Kings opening night roster will feature three rookies. Center George Papagiannis, Forward Skal Labissiere and Guard Malachi Richardson were all added to the team via the draft in June. Expect to see the three rookies log some time in Reno playing with Kings D-League team to go along with working out with the big club in Sacramento.

Ty Lawson will be a point guard for the Kings when they open the season in Phoenix on Wednesday night. After a turbulent 2015-16 season, Lawson ran into controversy with the Kings over being late to a workout and missing a flight in Las Vegas after a preseason game in “Sin City”. Lawson met with team officials and was kept on the roster. With Darren Collison lost to suspension for the first eight games of the season, Lawson will probably be the starting point guard versus the Suns in the season opener.

Sacramento native Matt Barnes will be a key member of the Kings as they open the 2016-17 campaign.  The 6-foot-7 forward/guard will be counted on to bring some much needed floor toughness with offensive aggressiveness that will add fire to the Sacramento game. Barnes played for Dave Joerger in Memphis last season so he is already familiar with his system and coaching style.

Three additional NBA journeymen will be new to the Kings roster this season. Guard Arron Afflalo, guard Garrett Temple and forward Anthony Tolliver all bring solid experience to the Kings. It appears that the Kings will really depend on Tolliver to be a spark plug off the bench with the second unit early in the season.

Also back are the usual suspects. Cousins, Gay, Collison, Casspi, Cauley-Stein, Koufos and McLemore are all names that Kings fans know well from previous seasons. There have been rumors flying that Rudy Gay and Darren Collison could be on the move to Miami or Minnesota, but for now, they are just rumors. McLemore has also been mentioned as a possible trade piece.

The Kings open the 2016-17 season on Wednesday night in Phoenix against the Suns. The team returns to Sacramento on Thursday evening to open the home season versus the San Antonio Spurs in the new Golden 1 Center.

Golden State Warriors Friday game wrap: The Warriors big guns play well, beat the Portland Trailblazers

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by Jerry Feitelberg

AP photo: Draymond Green knows whose top notch as he celebrates after a score on the Portland Trailblazers in pre season action on Friday night at Oracle Arena in Oakland

Oakland- The Portland Trail Blazer played very well in the early going of the final preseason game before the start of the regular season. The Blazers, behind the play of Damian Lillard and C.J.McCollum led 24-9 about halfway through the first period. The Warriors, however, started to play defense and Steph Curry got hot and the Warriors were able to come from behind the defeat the Blazers 107-96.

Curry scored fourteen in the first period and twenty-eight in the half. The Warriors led by just a single point 57-56 at the end of the first twenty-four minutes of play. The Dubs, behind Kevin Durant, outscored Portland 33-16 in the third period.  Durant was on fire. He scored fourteen points in the period and tallied twenty-eight for the game. He also had seven rebounds. The Blazers made a run in the fourth period, but it was their bench against the Warriors bench.  They scored twenty-four and held the Dubs to seventeen. Ian Clark, coming off the bench, scored seventeen points in just seventeen minutes of play.

Steph Curry scored thirty-five and Klay Thompson was held to nine. Draymond Green had eleven rebounds. The Dubs outrebounded the Blazers 51-45.

The Dubs offense was terrific once they got untracked and the defense was superb. After the game, Kevin Durant said’ Steph had it going early on.” He also remarked the he “can’t wait for the start of the season.”  Coach Steve Kerr noted that the Blazers are “one of the hardest teams to guard.  (they are) explosive and space you out and we weren’t quite ready” at the start of the game. He also said this about Draymond Green”(he was) all over the place defensively.” Kerr praised Ian Clark this way ” really like him, and he will play a big role for us this year.”

The Dubs went 6-1 in the preseason. However, those games do not count. The season opens Tuesday night at the Oracle Arena. The Warriors will face the San Antonio Spurs. The Spurs, coached by Greg Popovich, are always tough. Tim Duncan has retired, but they still have Kawhi Leonard, LaMarcus Aldredge, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker. They may be a little older, but they know how to win. Game time will be at 7:30 pm.

Golden State Warriors Wednesday game wrap: Curry in season form in pre season match with Lakers scores 30 pts

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by Jessica Kwong

goldenstatewarriors.com photo: The Golden State Warriors Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, and Kevin Durant are a force against the Los Angeles Lakers during Wednesday night’s pre season game in San Diego

The Golden State Warriors showed they are ready for the regular season right around the corner with a 123-112 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in San Diego on Wednesday night.

Golden State took charge in the first quarter, with three pointers by Draymond Green and Stephen Curry.
Then Kevin Durant got a dunk, Curry hit two free throws and Zaza Pachulia made a jumper to put 12-0 on the scoreboard. The quarter ended with the Warriors up 33-20 over the Lakers.
At halftime, the Warriors led 52-43. Curry, Durant and Green displayed much of the athleticism and shots that made them stars last season.
The young, Kobe-less Lakers, led by Warriors former assistant coach Luke Walton, tried to come back but were overpowered by the solid-looking Warriors.
Curry has his most impressive performance yet this preseason, with 30 points, making 11 of his 19 shots.
Other top scorers for the Warriors were Durant with 27 points, Thompson with 19 points and Green and Kevon Looney with 10 points each.
The Warriors finished with 34 assists and 14 turnovers.
Golden State, 5-1, play their last preseason game versus the Portland Trail Blazers back at Oracle Arena on Wednesday Oct 20. Tip off is at 7:30 p.m.
The regular season begins on Tuesday Oct 25th, with the Warriors facing off the San Antonio Spurs at Oracle Arena in Oakland catch Jerry Feitelberg for the post game wrap up right here at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

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Kings: Trade rumors and roster moves

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rudygayinjuryby Charlie O. Mallonee

The NBA preseason came to an end for the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday night. Now comes the tough job of setting the final roster to begin the regular season. The Kings must be down to 15 players by October 24 and they have 18 players on the roster right now.

To complicate the issue, many teams are evaluating their personnel and are realizing that they do not have the players they need or do not have the players they want to keep for the beginning of the new season. That has caused an uproar of rumors to rise up as “leaks” from reliable sources are reported and repeated about trade deals that teams would like to make or are thinking about making before the start of the season.

The Kings have figured prominently into some of those rumors. If the rumors are to be believed, the Miami Heat are ready to ship point guard Goran Dragic to the Kings in return for Rudy Gay and Darren Collison. Why would the Heat be willing to make this deal? Miami is now in a rebuilding mode after the loss of Dewayne Wade and Chris Bosh. Gay will opt out of his contract at the end of the season and Collison’s contract expires. The money from those contracts plus the money available from Bosh being off the books would give Miami approximately $42-million to spend in 2017-18 season to spend on free agents.

For the Kings, they would receive a high quality player that they would control through the 2018-19 season. Dragic does have a player option in 2019. Dragic would give them a quality point guard to go with Serbian shooting guard Bogdan Bogdanovic who the Kings anticipate signing before the beginning of the 2017-18 season.

There have also been rumors that a deal with Miami might happen that would send DeMarcus Cousins and Rudy Gay to Miami for Hassan Whiteside and Goran Dragic. Such a deal cannot happen immediately because Whiteside cannot be traded by league rule until December 15 because he just signed a four-year $98-million contract. The Kings are not going to wait until December to move Gay because his value is falling daily because of his ability to opt out of his contract at the end of the season. That is not to say a Whiteside for Cousins deal could not happen but they will not be tied together with a deal involving Rudy Gay.

On Wednesday, Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical reported that the Kings are pursuing Minnesota point guard Ricky Rubio. Rubio – who is owed $43-million over the next three years – is expected to become the Timberwolves back up point about 20 games into the season when number five overall draft pick Kris Dunn takes over the point. Then, Rubio is expected to become expendable. The Kings are trying to expedite the process.

Roster Move

The Kings officially announced on Wednesday afternoon that guard/forward Lamar Patterson has been waived. Vice President of Basketball Operations and General Manager Vlade Divac made the announcement.

The Kings claimed Patterson off waivers from the Atlanta Hawks during the off-season. Patterson played his first season in the NBA with the Hawks in 2015-16. He was drafted in 2014 out the University of Pittsburgh by the Detroit Pistons and round up playing the season in Turkey.

The Kings roster is now down to 17 players. They must make another two cuts before October 24 to have their roster at the league mandated 15 players.

 

Sacramento Kings Tuesday game wrap: Kings Fall Again 92-89; Cousins 23 in 25 mins effort not enough

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by Tony Renteria

AP photo: The Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins (left) tries to put the pressure on the Los Angeles Clippers Marreese Spreights  whose taking a jumper in the first quarter at Golden One Arena on Tuesday night

SACRAMENTO–The Sacramento Kings (1-3) hosted the visiting Los Angles Clippers (3-3) and fell behind early but battled back to lose by just three as they fell, 92-89.  The Kings have yet to win a game in the new Golden One Center against an NBA team in this preseason.

Tonight’s preseason game had a Nation wide broadcast on ESPN as the Kings continued as a team to have locked arms during the National anthem.  While some professional athletes have made this into  political lightning rod subject,the Kings seem to make a subtle but powerful statement.

DeMarcus Cousins has continued to make his own statement in this preseason by averaging close to a point a minute while on the court and tonight was not exception while he scored 23 points in just 25 minutes.

J.J. Redick tried to match the level of play that Cousins brought by scoring 18 points in his 22 minutes of play.  Both Blake Griffin and Chris Paul failed to live up to their billing as they scored twelve and eight points respectfully.

The Kings need to find the right balance as they approach the start to the 2016-2017 Season on October 27th at home against a now Tim Duncan free San Antonio Spurs.