photo credit: capitalradio.org the Lakers Kobe Bryant puts the defense on the Sac Kings Rudy Gay in Thu Jan 7th’s game at Sleep Train Arena
SACRAMENTO–Kings fans at Sleep Train Arena who got caught up in all the hoopla with the return of LA Lakers star Kobe Bryant. Kobe promised to travel to Sacramento but no one was sure he was going to be able to play. Well Kobe got here on game day and said “I’m playing.”
Not only did he play he played for almost 31 minutes and scored 28 points he went 10-18 from the field he did well on the charity stripe and this guy had a great game. The Kings got out to a lead matter of fact their biggest lead the Lakers had in this game was two points.
The Kings got out into the third quarter and had a 27 point lead so you say, fall in, all done, all through, right? Salute Kobe and say goodbye, hugs and kisses get out of town. Well no, the Kings go through this tremendous let down they don’t shoot particularly well, they’re defense such as it is falls completely apart and they let the Lakers back into this game to the point where the game was in question.
At the end of the game the final comes out 118-115 Kings now were talking about the Lakers the 8-29 Lakers arguably if not the worst the second worst team in the NBA. Just behind the Philadelphia 76ers and the King just barely held onto win the game.
The Golden State Warriors lived by the 3-point basket on Saturday night versus the Sacramento Kings and it led them to a 128-116 victory. The Warriors connected on 19 of 37 3-point attempts (51.4-percent) and broke the back of the Kings in doing so.
Kings head coach George Karl said after game that great shooting is contagious. No one who watched the game against Golden State would be able to mount a defense to counter that notion.
The other area the Warriors dominated in the was rebounding. Golden State out-rebounded the Kings 48-34 in the game. Even though the Warriors played “small ball” most of the night, their ability to rebound the ball was almost uncanny.
There were two key plays that defined the game for the Kings. The first happened in the first period with 5:43 left to play. Rajon Rondo picked up his second personal foul and had to go to the Kings bench. The loss of Rondo and his assists denied the Kings the opportunity to build a lead. He would not return until the 7:37 mark of the second quarter. Rondo was limited to just 13 minutes of playing time in the first half. Another seven to 10 minutes of time on the floor could have been a difference maker in this game.
The second incident happened with 9:44 to go in the third quarter. That is when DeMarcus Cousins was charged with his fourth personal foul. Cousins had to sit down and would not return until the final period. The Kings cannot hang with a team like the Warriors without Cousins working the paint on both ends of floor.
Would the Kings won the game if Rondo and Cousins were able to keep playing rather than sitting on the bench with foul trouble? That is really difficult to project. What can be said is the Kings would have had a better chance to compete with Golden State if Rondo and Cousins had not been lost for extended periods of time.
It was entertaining game that energized the sellout crowd that included a large contingent of Golden State fans. The crowd was loud and loving the basketball they were witnessing on the floor.
The Kings record fell to 15-22 (10-10 at home). Golden State improves to 35-2 on the season and 18-2 on the road.
Kings
DeMarcus Cousins was the Kings leading scorer with 33 points. He recorded another double-double by hauling in 10 rebounds. Cousins shot 12 of 27 from the floor.
Rudy Gay was the “blue collar” workhorse for the Kings in the game. He played 38 minutes scoring 23 points and grabbing nine rebounds. Even when shots were not falling for Gay, he continued to work hard.
Darren Collison was a star off the bench for Sacramento. Collison logged 31 minutes scoring 16 points and dishing out six assists. He went 5-for-10 shooting and was a perfect 5-for-5 from the free throw line.
Marco Belinelli had an “agony and ecstasy” game versus the Warriors. Belinelli shot 0-for-6 from the floor in the first half. He finished the game shooting 5-for-14 and went 3-for-7 from long range. Belinelli just could not find his range in the first half.
Willie Cauley-Stein returned to the Kings lineup putting up 10 points in just nine minutes off the bench.
The Kings shot 46.7-percent (43-for-92) from the floor. They hit on 8 of 23 (34.8-percent) of their 3-point attempts. Sacramento went 22-for-29 from the free throw line.
Sacramento distributed 27 assists in the contest reaching the 20-assists mark for the 33rd straight game.
The Kings took good care of the ball turning it over just 10 times.
Warriors
The reigning MVP of the association – Stephen Curry – led the Warriors in scoring with 38 points. He scored 19 in each half. Curry made it a double-double night by adding 11 assists.
Draymond Green came up big for Golden State again on Saturday night. Green scored 25 points. He shot 5-for-6 from downtown.
The other half of the “splash brothers” – Klay Thompson – had an interesting night. Thompson scored 15 points but shot just 1-for-7 from beyond the 3-point line. He shot 7-for-17 for the game.
Andre Iguodala added 13 points, Brandon Rush 11 and Harrison Barnes 10.
Golden State shot 56.3-percent (49-for-87) from the floor including the 19 3-pointers. The Warriors recorded 35 assists. Their one blemish was turnovers. The Warriors turned it over 18 times.
What they said after the game
“This video is going to be good. This film is going to be good, too many good things (happened),” said Kings head coach George Karl. “I think you can learn from playing a team like this. It doesn’t feel good, but in the 3-minute mark (left to go) we were in a basketball game. I actually think we made a couple good defensive plays, and they made better offensive plays.”
“We played them pretty well for about 38 minutes, (Then) they turned it up in the end and made some tough shots (and) moved the ball around,” explained Rudy Gay. “They make you pay on everything. So, they’re a great team. They’re a championship team and they’ve been there before. That’s probably why they execute so well.”
“We did a better job engaging in the game (after the first quarter),” said Warriors interim head coach Luke Walton. “The first quarter we were turning the ball over. Just awful turnovers – like not even forced. Just throwing it away. This team – Sacramento – is a good team and they’re fighting for a playoff spot. We’ve beaten them three times already so there’s pride they have. Nobody wants to get swept by another team. They came out and they wanted it more than us. They were playing harder than us to start the game but out guys did a great job of getting reengaged and kind of slowly,slowly taking control of the game again.”
When asked about shooting 51-percent from the 3-point line Draymond Green said, “Yeah we were able to get something going. I think we really moved the ball and got good open shots. We got the shot. Guys knocked them down so we kind of took advantage of out ball movement.”
Up next
The Kings are off until Wednesday night when they will host the New Orleans Pelicans in the final game of this home-stand.
The Warriors will host the Miami Heat in Oakland on Monday night.
SACRAMENTO- Nostalgia was in the air at Sleep Train Arena tonight. The Lakers and Kings played a game that brought everyone back to the memories of what was once the NBA’s best rivalry. Kobe Bryant was vintage, taking us back into a time machine as well in his final game in Sacramento. The crowd got loud, the Beat LA chants surfaced and the game came down to the wire. But that same nostalgia should have never been as the Kings let a 27-point lead dwindle in a matter of minutes. Luckily for the Kings their lead was just enough as the team sent off Bryant with a loss in his final game in Sacramento, 118-115, in a tale of two halves.
The Kings came out of the gate with great ball movement and shot the ball with precision while playing with great tempo. The team was able to get off to a hot start, going on a 19-4 run before the Lakers took a timeout to try and stop the bleeding. The Kings pushed the ball up court well, totaling 11 fast break points. The ball was continuously moved throughout the quarter and the Kings dropped 11 assists while turning the ball over just 2 times. The Kings biggest lead of the quarter was 21 when they went up 25-4 over Los Angeles. The Lakers tried to find some sort of offense, but the Kings looked better on defense only allowing the Lakers to shoot 40% from the field. The Kings shot 60% from the field, 15-25. DeMarcus Cousins continued his recent dominance with 12 points, 3-6 from the field, with 2 of those field goals coming from behind the arc. Cousins also grabbed 5 rebounds while going 4-4 from the charity stripe. Rajon Rondo finished the quarter with 5 dimes and Quincy Acy was a nice spark with 7 points as he started the game for the Kings. Ben McLemore did a nice job of getting to the hoop as he finished with 8 points. Great overall team play put the Kings on top of the Lakers, 38-21, after the first quarter.
The second quarter featured much of the same for Sacramento, although the Lakers played a bit better cutting the Kings lead to 14 early in the quarter. The Kings found a way to answer right back, however, as the team was able to sustain. Cousins was an efficient scorer, adding 10 more points in the second, 3-3 from the field and 4-5 from the free throw line. Cousins totaled 22 points for the game high, adding 6 boards. The Kings shot the ball 59.1% for the half while only turning the ball over 3 times in the quarter, for a total of 5 at the half. Bryant made his presence felt with 18 points in the half on 7-12 shooting. The Kings used their dominance in the paint to keep the lead after 2 quarters, 69-48.
Up by 21 heading into the 3rd, the game was the Kings to lose. The team still found a way to hold a big lead through half of the 3rd quarter, going up by 27 at one point. Rondo still found a way to dish the ball out and Acy benefitted from it. Rondo also had a break out pass to Rudy Gay for a big hammer dunk in the quarter. But Cousins picked up a 5th with 5:48 remaining and that really hurt the Kings. The Lakers slowly cut down the Kings lead, Bryant totaled 10 points in the quarter, and finished the night with 28 points. Acy scored 11 points in the quarter and finished the 3rd with 18 points. D’Angelo Russell had a good quarter and finished with 16 points through 3. The Kings were still able to keep their shooting percentage up high at 58.6% and held the lead, 102-86.
The 4th quarter went as horrible as the Kings could possibly imagine. The young Lakers team played without Bryant for the 4th and they attacked the Kings defense. D’Angelo Russell scored 11 points and Jordan Clarkson added 12. The two young guards tore up the Kings defense while the Kings could not find a way to score. The Kings watched their lead completely disappear, as the Lakers went on a 24-3 run to take the lead, 109-108. The game soon became back and forth, with Sleep Train getting extremely loud. Gay took an alley oop from Rondo to put the Kings up late, but the Lakers came right back. The Lakers tried to foul rondo, who split a pair of free throws. Then Cousins was fouled and split a pair of free throws, the Lakers were up 115-114. . The Kings took the lead with 21.7 seconds remaining on a tear drop lay-up from Rondo. On the next passion, Cousins caused Clarkson to turn the ball over as the Kings were up by 1 and then drew a foul. Cousins made both free throws. As the Kings were up 118-115, Lou Williams took a 3 pointer in the final seconds and missed it. The crowd breathed a sigh of relief as the Kings were outscored 29-16 in the quarter, but pulled out the victory.
The Lakers shot the ball 55% for the quarter and finished shooting 54.7%. In the 4th, the Kings shot the ball at 40%. Cousins finished with 29 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists. Rondo finished with 9 points and 12 assists. Acy was a great spark for the Kings, finishing the night with 18 points. The Kings finished the game in sloppy fashion and ended the night with 15 turnovers. Their dominance in the paint did prevail, 64 points on the night. The Kings are now 10-3 when shooting over 50% with a 55.3 shooting percentage on the night. Russell scored 27 for the Lakers as he looks to be the new Kings killer and Williams added 20. The Kings barely squeaked out a win and Coach George Karl was not too pleased with his team afterwards.
After answering a few questions, Karl walked out of the media room.
After the game, Bryant reminisced on his time in Sacramento and about the applause from the fans.
“It was great. It’s a sign of respect, even though we’ve been enemies for years…” said Bryant.
Bryant also had high praise for Cousins who finished 1 point shy of 30. Cousins would have finished his fourth consecutive game with 30+ plus points had he made one more free throw or field goal.
Although the Kings won, there was little satisfaction.
Coach Karl said “Dallas was a good loss, tonight was a bad win..”
Boogie agreed. “I feel the loss against Dallas was better than this win against the Lakers,” said Cousins.
The Kings almost gave away a huge lead and need to find a way to close out games while not playing to the level of opponents who are much worse than them. The Kings will take on the Warriors at home this Saturday and if the team hopes to stand a chance, they will need to play like they did in the first half, while closing out the second half.
The Dallas Mavericks needed all 58 minutes Tuesday night to beat the Sacramento Kings 117-116. No, that’s not a typo. Deron Williams hit a three-pointer as time expired in a second overtime period to give the Mavs the win at the buzzer.
The Kings (14-21) looked like they’d pull out the win after leading by 7 in the closing minutes of the game. Dallas (20-15) scored the final 8 points of the contest to spoil Sacramento’s night and instead pile upon the game-winner Williams.
Sacramento was trailing Dallas 78-70 heading into the fourth quarter but outscored the Mavericks 28-20 to force the tie. Each team was held to only 6 points in the first overtime to end the extra session tied at 104.
DeMarcus Cousins played nearly 49 minutes, producing a game-high 35 points on 15 of 30 from the field. The Kings center hauled in 14 rebounds for the double-double. Rudy Gay added 31 points in the defeat. Rajon Rondo did not play in his return to the team he played for last season before being unceremoniously benched. Starting guard Darren Collison, another former Mav, also picked up a double-double with 14 points and a game-best 12 assists.
Williams led all Mavs in scoring with 25 points while Dirk Nowitzki produced 23 despite going 8-for-19 from the field. JaVale McGee produced the double-double coming off the bench with 13 points and 11 points.
The Kings will be happy to leave Dallas considering they haven’t won there in 22-straight games. They’ll head back to the Capitol to host the lowly Los Angeles Lakers fresh of a drubbing by the Warriors.
SACRAMENTO–The Sacramento Kings enjoyed a victory in Oklahoma City for a change getting a healthy victory there on Monday night 116-104. There was a low too when the Kings lost to the Philadelphia 76ers last week. The Sixers came into that game looking like a team on fire.
The Sixers came in and played tough defense they kept Cousins from being the unbelievable force that he could be and Philadelphia came out with a 110-105 victory. At that moment I knew what was going to happen on Saturday afternoon when the Phoenix Suns came to town because whatever team came out against the Suns was the team we were going to see for the rest of the season.
The Kings game in OKC saw the Thunder’s Kevin Durant out with an injury so the Thunder were playing with one hand tied behind their back. Cousins took high advantage of that rebounding a season high 19 and scoring 33 points.
Charlie O is a beat writer covering Kings basketball listen to his podcast below and every week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com
photo credit: USA Today DeMarcus Cousins scored 33 points on Monday night vs. OKC
OKLAHOMA CITY–The Sacramento Kings are starting to do the one thing they could not do all season, they are winning basketball games on the road, they went into Oklahoma City beating the home Thunder 116-104.
The Thunder played with out Kevin Durant who sat out with a sprained big toe on his right foot. This opened up the way for De Marcus Cousins to get a seasoned high 19 rebounds to go along with his 33 points.
The Kings who have suffered with sub pat third quarter play took a small lead into the second half and extended that lead by setting the tone in the third quarter by out pacing with Thunder 22-16 to start the second half. They held on in the fourth quarter to get the road win.
The Thunder were led by Serge Ibaka who scored 25 points for the home team. Russell Westbrook scored 17 and played over 41 minutes trying to keep pace with an energetic Rajon Rondo who had 19 assists.
The Kings continue the Texas swing by heading to Dallas Tuesday night and the Thunder stay home Wednesday to host the Grizzlies.
Darren Collison drives to the basket versus the Suns. Photo Credit: Godofredo Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
By Charlie O. Mallonee
Sacramento – Here are words you have not heard often this season – the Sacramento Kings waltzed their way to a win on Saturday afternoon destroying the Phoenix Suns 142-119.
The win ended a 3-game losing streak for the Kings. It was the eighth consecutive loss for the Suns (12-24) who have to play the Lakers in Los Angeles on Sunday.
The Kings (13-20) led by as many as 17 points in the first half but the Suns would not go down for the count. Phoenix outscored the Kings 35-28 in the second quarter and looked like they were ready to make a game of it.
At the half, the Kings led the Suns 59-53.
Sacramento came out in the third quarter looking like a team that was ready to put away their opponent. The Suns kept fighting and took the lead with 8:16 to go in the period. The Kings took the lead back off a Rudy Gay dunk with an assist from Casspi and they never looked back.
By the end of the third quarter, the Kings led the Suns 103-87 and every one in the building knew the fourth quarter would be a formality.
The Kings kept the hammer down in the fourth quarter outscoring the Suns 39-32. There was even a Willie Cauley-Stein sighting late in the game. Cauley-Stein played for the first time in almost a month due to a dislocated finger. The big rookie scored the first time he had the ball in his hands.
On Saturday, the Kings did what they should have done to Philadelphia on Wednesday night. They beat an inferior team and protected their home court. Sacramento is now 9-9 at home this season.
Kings
George Karl pointed to the play of Darren Collison as one of the main reasons the Kings beat the Suns. Collison came of the bench and scored 21 points hitting on 7-of-10 shooting attempts (2-for-4 3-pointers). He dished out six assists and went 5-for-6 from the free throw line in his 28 minutes of playing time.
DeMarcus Cousins had a positive outing scoring 32 points and grabbing nine rebounds. The big man shot 11-for-15 from the floor and 9-for-11 from the free throw line. Cousins spent a great deal of time in the paint and it payed off for the Kings as the Suns could not stop him.
Rajon Rondo posted another double-double game. He scored 15 points and distributed 15 assists in just 30 minutes on the floor. Rondo continues to amaze with his rebounding ability. He had six rebounds in the game with many coming at crucial moments for the Kings.
Marco Belinelli followed up his 28-point performance against the Sixers with 19 points versus the Suns. Belinelli shot 7-for-11 from the floor (2-for-5 long range) and was a perfect 3-for-3 from the foul line.
Omri Casspi had another solid game as a starter for Sacramento. He put up 13 points and hauled in seven rebounds in his 29 minutes on the floor. It is hard to see Casspi not staying in the starting lineup for the foreseeable future.
As a team, the Kings shot 60.9-percent from the field. They hit on 9-of-23 3-point attempts (39.1-percent). Sacramento outscored the Suns 60-32 in the paint.
Sacramento out-rebounded Phoenix 46-25. The Kings scored 14 second chance points to just nine for the Suns.
The Kings also took good care of the basketball. They turned the ball over 15 times while recording 30 assists for the desired 2-to-1 ratio.
Suns
No statistic of the game may be more important than the eighth consecutive loss for the Suns. If the Suns lose to the Lakers on Sunday, it is very conceivable that Jeff Hornacek will not be the Phoenix coach on Monday. The Suns have already replaced two of their assistant coaches.
Brandon Knight led the Suns scoring attack with 23 points. Rookie Devin Booker had an impressive game putting up 21 points for Phoenix.
The Suns had six players score in double figures.
Phoenix just could not match the Kings play in the paint and it cost them the game.
George Karl
The win over the Suns gave Kings head coach George Karl his 1115th NBA regular season victory. That ties him for fifth all-time with Phil Jackson.
When asked how it felt to tie Jackson on the all-time wins list Karl said, “Its a good, fun thing with my family. My son, my daughter, my son-in-law and my staff, we joke about it all the time. As I said to you before, he’s a great coach, he’s maybe the best. I don’t know what our record is against him, but I’m pretty sure it not very good. I know its not very good in the playoffs, but it might be decent in the regular season.”
What they said after the game
“One thing I just said after the game was we had two really good days of practice,” said Karl. “The effort in the second half, DC (Darren Collison) was incredible. It was effort. I’m not sure it was pretty. I’m not sure it was conceptually excellent. It was just effort. I’m just an old school guy that believes that effort magnifies talent.”
‘Oh it’s huge, it’s huge,” said Darren Collison on the victory. “We were embarrassed by the losses we had previously. We were able to get a win. It always feels good to get a win especially when you (have to) go on the road.”
Rajon Rondo made it clear that only the press is making his return to Dallas a big deal. He said it is just another road game.
He’s been coaching a long, long time,” said Suns head coach Jeff Hornacek about George Karl. “I played against him so he’s been there a long time. He’s always done a great job with his teams. They’ve always been high-scoring, high-flying teams and with the talent they have on the this team, they got them playing that way tonight. He’s one of those great coaches of all time with the amount of wins he’s racked up.”
Up next
The Kings will face the Thunder in Oklahoma City on Monday and the Mavericks in Dallas on Tuesday.
The Suns play the Lakers in Los Angeles on Sunday.
SACRAMENTO- The Kings have put themselves in an tough position as they find themselves on a 3 game losing streak after tonight’s loss. To add insult to injury, the Kings lost to the NBA’s worst team, the Philadelphia 76ers, who are now 3-31 on the season. The Kings played painfully careless with the ball as everyone watched them turn the ball over 22 times. The team also forgot how to box out their opponents, allowing the Sixers to grab 16 offensive boards. Marco Belinelli was the only bright spot for the Kings tonight as he started to find his stroke, but missed free throws and missed opportunities cost the team. The Sixers out hustled and out played the Kings leading to another Sacramento loss, 110-105, at Sleep Train Arena.
The Kings set the tone for the game in the 1st quarter on their first possession with a turnover, 6 in the quarter. Their defense also looked pretty poor as they started the game, but DeMarcus Cousins scored 8 points early on and 11 in the quarter, shooting 4/6 from the field. Belinelli checked in and scored 4 quick points. Marco finished the quarter with 8 points, going 4/5 from the field. His shot looked good early and the Kings were setting good off ball screens to get him open. Rajon Rondo did a good job of dropping dimes with 7 assists in the quarter. The Kings shot 60% for the quarter, but allowed the Sixers to grab 7 offensive boards. With the 1st quarter in the books, the Kings held a one point lead over Philly, 31-30.
In the 2nd quarter, the Kings showed much of the same. The Sixers looked like they wanted to be out there, while the Kings did a bad job of getting back in transition on the defensive end. The Kings continued to forget how to box out their opponent as the Sixers grabbed 4 more offensive rebounds in the 2nd. Belinelli was still the only bright spot, scoring 8 points in the 2nd on 3-5 shooting, 2-3 from behind the arc. Belinelli finished the half with 16 points. No other Kings player scored more than 5 points in the 2nd and even though they shot the ball well again, the turnovers caught up to them. The team turned the ball over 6 more times in the 2nd. Nerlens Noel had a solid quarter for the Sixers with 8 points in the quarter and 14 for the half. Although the team shot 55%, the Kings gave up 36 points in the paint and let Philly have way too many easy buckets. The Kings only totaled 22 points in the paint, where they usually thrive. With the first half finished, the Kings and Sixers were tied up at 57.
As the Kings headed out to start the 2nd half, the team needed more intensity, but there was none. The Sixers came out on an 8-2 run and Sacramento continued to turn the ball over, 7 turnovers in the 3rd. Both teams shot at 40%, but the Sixers found their 3 point shot. Philadelphia went 5-10 from downtown. The Kings were able to find a couple 3’s of their own and found some offense. The team cut the Philly lead to 75-71 with 6:30 remaining in the quarter, but the Sixers found a way to keep up their offense. The Kings had terrible shot selection and seemed to forget to get the ball down low to Cousins. Jerami Grant put up 9 points for the Sixers in the quarter, 2-2 from behind the 3 point line, 3/4 from the charity stripe. As the 3rd quarter ended, the Kings found themselves down, 85-81, to a team that has lost as many games as the Kings have played.
The 4th quarter got started with a fast break pass up court from Darren Collison to Belinelli who got fouled but could not convert the 3 point play. Luckily, the Kings only turned the ball over 3 times in the quarter, but they could not find much offense. Belinelli once again found his stroke, 4-7 from the field, adding 12 points for a total of 28. The Kings free throw shooting caught up to them again, going 8-15 from the line in the 4th. The Kings went 25/41 from the line, an atrocious 61%. The Kings smaller line up really hurt them throughout, giving up 4 more offensive rebounds in the 4th. The Kings had little ball movement and a lot of players were trying to play through themselves. Noel had an easy alley-oop as the Sixers constantly found easy shots at the basket and around the perimeter. The holes in the Kings defense hurt them all night who allowed Philly to score 110 points while their season average is 92 points per game. The frustration of the team showed and Cousins eventually fouled out on a poor call by the refs. Cousins frustrations showed all night as he got pretty banged up, but he kept his composure to an extent.
George Karl said “My feeling is we have too many offensive players and not too many defensive players.”
The team needs to start playing with more togetherness, especially on transition defense. The Kings took a bad loss, 110-105, as boos showered the arena and fans took off early.
Tonight’s loss to the Sixers is a big blow for the Kings. After the win against Indiana, the Kings looked to be in the drivers seat, only a game out of the 8th seed. While the playoff seeding is not important at this time, the idea is a boost of confidence for a team looking to please its fans. But the Kings dropped another one at home to Portland and then lost to a Golden State team who can suck the life right out of you. The Kings looked not to take the young Sixers team seriously and were completely outplayed. Coach Karl’s frustration showed and the Kings need some sort of change. Belinelli was a great spark off the bench, scoring a season high of 28, but the team needs to play more together. A lot of players are looking to play through themselves and the lack of team chemistry is alarming. With 3 straight losses, 2 at home, the Kings might need to look to switch things up. The loss of Willie Cauley-Stein is catching up to the team who plays little defense and cannot get defensive boards.
Karl preached the importance of defense again when he said “We play best when we play defense.”
The Kings are 2 game out of the 8th seed, which just goes to show how open the last couple of seeds are. But the Kings need to worry less about the playoffs and focus on winning now. The Kings (12-19) will take on the Phoenix Suns (12-22) this Saturday at Sleep Train Arena. Ironically, the Suns also added a victory to the Sixers record. Saturday will show if this team has the heart to move past this loss and get back to winning.
photo credit: yardbarker.com Sacramento Kings DeMarcus Cousins starts after officials after being kicked out of Monday’s game in Oakland
SACRAMENTO–Things didn’t go particularly well for the Sacramento Kings in the first quarter of Monday Night’s game at the Oakland Coliseum Arena or Oracle because Rajon Rondo of the Kings picked up three fouls and DeMarcus Cousins picked up three fouls.
Kings head coach George Karl thought it was a terribly officiated game and that’s going to cost Karl a little lighter in the pocket right there at $15,000. Coach Karl felt the officiating was horrible that aside the situation was such that the Kings had to work without Cousins all the way through the second quarter.
Then in the third quarter the Kings came out and they were excited because they had a one point lead and had a small lead to start off the third quarter and Cousins picked up a quick fourth foul and then he picked up a fifth foul that was just a silly foul that was on him as he reached out and wound up hitting Stephen Curry in the chest and Cousins picked up that foul and went ballistic.
So the officials teed him up and at that point Cousins has to think, “I got a T, I got a reputation I need to back up” Oh no he starts charging at the referees and he gets kicked out of the game after getting the second T and didn’t have the good sense to leave the court he has to be restrained by two players and a coach and finally after yelling and screaming at the top of his lungs he finally charges out of the arena.
To hear more of Charlie’s coverage of Kings basketball podcast click below and every week right here at http://www.sportsradioservice.com
OAKLAND–The Golden State Warriors gave the Kings a great chance to win Monday night, but that when the real Warriors eventually showed up, the Kings simply could not keep up.
Sacramento could not take advantage of a big night from Omri Casspi, and they ended up on the wrong end of a 122-103 beating at the hands of the Warriors at Oracle Arena.
In the early going, the Kings took advantage of some very sloppy basketball on the part of the Warriors, who committed highly-uncharacteristic turnovers and missed a high amount of shots that they usually knock down, while grabbing the lead for a great deal of the first half.
To do that, the Kings turned 18 Warriors turnovers into 21 points.
Sacramento did all of this despite the fact the DeMarcus Cousins committing three fouls in the first quarter alone and being forced to the bench.
That opened the door for Casspi, who caught fire and put the Kings in a great spot with a 20-point second quarter and making all of his seven shots, including six from behind the 3-point arc.
Casspi, meanwhile, finished the game with a career-high 34 points.
However, that seemed to ignite a scuffling Stephen Curry, who missed his first six shots of the game but scored 17 points in the final 3:16 of the second quarter to narrow the Kings’ lead to three.
While the Warriors slowly returned to its championship form, the Kings began to implode, starting from the first few minutes of the second half. At the point, Cousins picked up his fifth foul and was quickly whistled for a technical.
As he was given that infraction, he then went after one of the referees before being held back by Rudy Gay. Cousins was then hit with his second technical and an early trip to the locker room.
From that point, the Kings were suffocated by the Warriors’ improving defense, and they struggled to find open looks, and Golden State eventually got their transition game going, which they used to break the game open.
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