Category: Sacramento Kings

AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli

By Jeff Hall

SACRAMENTO –

The Kings played strong and beat the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves 116-111 at Sleep Train Arena . Omri Casspi had a career high night in scoring with 31 points. Rudy Gay led the Kings scoring with  33 points Minnesota has lost 11 of it’s last 17 games.

In the beginning of this one the Kings came out firing against the T-Wolves and jumped to an early 6-0 lead in the first quarter. But once the Kings started doing what they have been doing throughout the season and started turning the ball over. It allowed the T-wolves to bounce back and they took advantage of the sloppy play and jumped ahead five minutes into the first.   The Kings had seven turnovers in the first quarter. Former King Kevin Martin led all scorers in the first quarter with ten first quarter points. Omri Casspi led the Kings in scoring with nine points in the first. The T-Wolves led the Kings 31-23 at the end of the first. The Kings turned the ball over nine times that led to eight points for Minnesota.

Turnovers have been the Kings primary issue all season long and

The Kings began the game short on players with DeMarcus Cousins out with a sore foot and Carl Landry (serving a one-game suspension) and Darren Collison Karl was asked if it was difficult to coach with the small line-up. “Actually it’s easier.” Karl said.

The Kings played their strongest quarter of the game in the third quarter. And finished with a 19 point lead 90-74. By the end of the third the Kings were shooting 54.8 percent from the field. The Kings had no turnovers in the third quarter. Minnesota was shooting 42.3 percent by the end of the third.

The Kings got back into to the game thanks in most part to the offensive play of Rudy Gay who scored nine points in the first four minutes of the second quarter and regained the provided an offensive spark to the Kings and put the Kings back into the lead . The Kings only made two turnovers in the second quarter. 54-49 at the half Gay led all scorers with 14 in the first half an Martin led Minnesota with 17 first half points

Former Sacramento King Kevin Martin had a strong performance against his former team scoring a game high 37 points.

Career Highs

It was a big night for Omri Casspi who had a career high in points in the third quarter with 28 points, Casspi reached the mark with a three point shot giving the Kings their largest lead of the game a 19 point margin. “ I was happy with the way I played, but winning is the more important to me.” said Casspi

Ray McCallum had a career high night in rebounds with nine rebounds.

Magic Johnson is not on this team

Prior to the game Kings Head coach George Karl said he wanted to see his players work on spacing and simplicity as they close out this season “ too many times we try to make the Magic Johnson pass. We don’t have Magic Johnson on this team.” Karl said.

Kings Make History again Introducing first time players from other countries

The Kings made history when they called on the 7 foot 5 360 pound center Sim Bhullar  in the game’s final 16 seconds.  Bhullar received a strong ovation from the 16,770 in attendance to see him become the first player of Indian Descent to play in the NBA. The Kings are no stranger to introducing players to the league Tariq Abdul-Wahad (also known as Olivier Sant-Jean) became the first player to be raised in France to play in the NBA in the 97-98 season.   Many Kings fans will remember Hedo Turkoglu was the first Turkish player in 2001 and Omri Casspi became the first Israeli player to play in the NBA when he debuted for the Kings in the 2009-2010 season,

Up next the Kings will head to Utah and take on the Jazz tomorrow night at the Energy Solutions Arena.

by Charlie O Mallonee

SACRAMENTO–The Sacramento Kings lost to the New Orleans Pelicans and the Utah Jazz on Friday and Sunday nights by scores of 101-95 in both games they were in the games all the way but it was very similar in the fourth quarter the opposing teams pulled away. The Kings just didn’t have the opportunity to stay in.

Just based on the play of DeMarcus Cousins on Sunday they looked like they were going to pull that game out and Cousins scored 24 points and he had 20 rebounds and 13 assists a triple double. That was his second triple double of the week because he had a second triple double on Wednesday night against Houston.

The Kings had a chance to ride it back in and make it go and one of the problems with the game and it’s been an ongoing problem for the Kings was a lack of bench production they only have a total of 17 points off the bench. You’ve got to have more bench production along the way if your going to win games.

The Kings also ran into a buzz saw of a starting line up for New Orleans four of the starters scored in double figures and the lowest double figures of that was the Pelicans Quincy Pondexter who scored 18 points. Anthony Davis had 20, Eric Gordon had 21 and Tyreke Evans had 19 for the Pelicans.

Evans doesn’t always go this way a former King was had just one assist shy of having a triple double as well. It was a game where the Kings could have won it. They lost it really in two places, they gave up too many three point shots, they allowed New Orleans to shoot 48 percent from three point land.

This has been an ongoing defensive problem for Sacramento as they’ve been allowing too many three pointers and the Kings did not do too well at the free throw line. This is a team that shot almost 80 percent from the free throw line all season long and they shot just 60 percent at 15-25 in that game.

Charlie O is a beat writer for the Sacramento Kings at http://www.sportsradioservice.com listen to his podcast below

By Robert Steward

HOUSTON–

On a night that saw the Sacramento Kings’ All-Star Center DeMarcus Cousins have a monster game, it unfortunately went to waste. Cousins had a triple-double, scoring 24 points, while grabbing 21 rebounds and dishing out 10 assists, along with a career-high 6 blocked shots. But it was overshadowed by the Houston Rockets’ All-Star James Harden, who scored a career-high 51 points to lead the Rockets past the Kings, 115-111, the third loss in a row for Sacramento.

Sacramento was playing without Forward Rudy Gay, who was not in the lineup due to a concussion that he suffered two nights ago in a loss to Memphis. It’s unknown as to when Gay will return. He must pass the league-mandated concussion protocol first before being allowed to play again. The Kings started out slow, missing 6 of their first 7 shots and turning it over 5 times in the early going to help Houston jump out to a 13-3 lead with 6:57 left in the first quarter before the Kings called a timeout. While Sacramento eventually was able to trim the lead down to 1, at 22-21, a 13-4 run by the Rockets found them leading, 35-25, as the quarter came to an end. Harden was locked in, hitting 5 of 7 from the floor, including all 3 of his attempts from downtown, to finish the quarter with 16 points. Ray McCallum was also off to a nice start for the Kings, hitting all 4 of his shots to lead Sacramento with 9 points in the quarter. The Rockets shot 52% from the floor, including 6 of 12 beyond the arc, while the Kings shot 46% from the floor.

The Rockets turned up the heat as the 2nd quarter began, going on an 11-2 run behind the three-point shooting of Trevor Ariza, who made of 3 of 4 from long-range during the run, forcing the Kings to call a timeout with 9:18 left, facing a 46-27 deficit. But just when it looked like Sacramento was going to get blown out, they fought back, cutting the Houston lead to 48-41 with a chance to cut it to 5 but Omri Casspi missed an uncontested layup, which was then followed by a Harden 3-pointer at the other end to push the Rockets’ lead back to 10. Once again, the Kings rallied, going on a 12-3 run of their own to once again trim the lead down to 1, at 54-53, with 1:32 left. Houston lead 58-55 at the half. Despite 10 turnovers for Sacramento, they outrebounded the Rockets, 33-24, en route to 40 points in the paint.  Cousins was the one doing the most damage for the Kings, with 11 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists, and 5 blocks in the first half. McCallum, after a hot start in the first, did not take a single shot in the 2nd quarter. Harden was well on his way, leading the Rockets with 24 points, including 5 for 5 on 3’s, while Ariza had 14.

The Kings started off the third quarter making 3 of their first 4 shots and took their first lead since 10:45 in the first quarter, going up 61-60 at the 9:51 mark. Both teams see-sawed back and forth and the game was still tied at 72 with 6:20 left in the quarter when Harden, who had 27 up to that point, scored 14 of the Rockets’ next 21 points as the lead grew to as many as 15. Houston closed the third period with a 97-86 lead, torching the Kings for 39 in the quarter, lead by Harden’s 17 points.

Sacramento could have rolled over after the third quarter but, to their credit, they kept coming after Houston, eventually trimming the deficit to 2, at 104-102, with 5:37 left. But following a timeout by the Rockets, Harden got it going again. Up to that point in the 4th, Harden was scoreless. However, he scored the next 10 points for Houston to make the score 114-107, Rockets, with 1:45 to go. The Kings made one last attempt to comeback. Down by 4 with 10 seconds left, Casspi missed a 3-pointer and Harden grabbed the rebound and was fouled. He then missed both of his free throw attempts, the only 2 he missed all night, but the Kings failed to capitalize and didn’t score as time expired.

In addition to Harden’s 51, which included 8 of 9 from downtown, Ariza ended up with 22 and Terrence Jones contributed 16 for Houston, who finished the night 18 of 40 from 3-point range. Houston shot 46% for the game. Sacramento had 7 players in double figures, led by Cousins’ 24. Casspi had 18 while Jason Thompson came off the bench to score 16, to go with 10 rebounds in 21 minutes. McCallum, who only took 2 more shots for the rest of the game after hitting his first 4 in the first quarter, and Ben McLemore both had 14. Carl Landry and Derrick Williams both chipped in with 10 apiece. The Kings finished at 50% for the game from the floor but shot poorly from the free throw line, hitting only 8 of 16. They did, however, outrebound Houston, 57-42.

The Kings return home on Friday to host New Orleans at 7pm.

by Charlie O Mallonee

SACRAMENTO–Kings head coach George Karl said that the last 30 games of the season would be like a mini season and in some ways it’s almost like a transition and the Kings are getting an opportunity to try a lot of things and Karl is getting a chance to look at a lot of players. There is going to be a some real player movement on the Kings in the off season.

They’ll be making some decisions about who they want to pursue and who they want to package up and how exactly they want to do that. Every game even if it’s not with a full compliment of players it’s a very interesting contest just to see how their putting things together. When the Kings went on this four game trip that started off in Phoenix and then they went to New Orleans and Memphis and on Wednesday night they’ll be in Houston.

If they could win one game and steal one game out of these four games it would be a successful road trip. Well they won in the opening game of the trip they were able to beat Phoenix 108-99. They put a win under their belt and things didn’t go particularly well in New Orleans and then against Memphis they had the big disadvantage of no DeMarcus Cousins.

They deliberately didn’t play Cousins because they wanted to rest him and of course this is the big controversy that’s been going on throughout the NBA because the Kings are resting players whether or not that should happen. It’s just a whole cadre of things I don’t want to far field on it. With Cousins right now he’s got a lot of things going on with him, he’s got a hip and knee problems, nothing in the way of a stress fractures or any of that kind of stuff.

You have to remember Cousins has played basketball continuously now for over a year. He played over the summer with USA National Team, he went to the World games. So Cousins hasn’t had no break and right now they have the opportunity to give him some rest, not have to work him quite as hard and why not? The Kings aren’t going to the playoffs they know where they’re going to be an right now it appears the plan for them is to play in the four remaining home games.

Charlie O is a Sacramento Kings beat writer for http://www.sportsradioaservice.com catch his podcast below

by Charlie O. Mallonee

Two four game streaks came to an end on Friday night in New Orleans. The Pelicans four game losing streak ended, and the Kings four game winning streak came to an end as New Orleans beat Sacramento 102-88.

The teams played each other very evenly in the first half. The Pelicans held a 46-42 halftime lead, but in the second half New Orleans just pulled away led by the play of former Sacramento King Tyreke Evans.

Evans finished the night as the Pelicans high scorer putting up 25 points by shooting 10 for 15 from the floor. Evans also made it a double-double game by adding 10 assists.

Anthony Davis had another big night for New Orleans as he scored 24 points in 40 minutes of playing time. Davis had six blocked shots in the game.

The Pelicans were also helped by their second unit that scored 29 points off the bench. Kings coach George Karl felt the New Orleans bench just outplayed the Sacramento bench. The Kings bench could only produce 12 points in game.

The most frustrating fact of the night was the Kings failure to take advantage of the monster numbers put up by DeMarcus Cousins.Cousins scored 39 points and grabbed 20 rebounds for his 44th double-double of the season. He shot 16 for 28 from the field and went seven for 12 from the free throw line. Cousins had three blocked shots.

Rudy Gay’s numbers were down but not significantly. Gay scored 18 points but shot just seven for 18 in the game.

Omri Casspi with 10 points was the only other Kings player to score in double figures.

The Kings backcourt was very quiet in the game. McLemore put up just seven points and Ray McCallum scored just two points.  Between the two guards they had just one point in the first half.

Sacramento shot 44.3-percent from the field for the game. They were seven for 15 (46.7-percent) from 3-point range. The Kings went to the free throw line just 18 times in the game and were successful just 11 times (61.1-percent). Free throw shooting is normally a strength for this Kings team.

The Kings assist to turnovers ratio was not good on Friday night. They had just 14 assists and turned the ball over 11 (12 points).

New Orleans shot 51.2-percent (43 for 84) from the floor. The Pelicans shot nine for 20 (45.0-percent) from 3-point land with most of those coming in the second half.

The Kings will Saturday and Sunday off and then must face the very defensive minded Memphis Grizzlies in Memphis on Monday night.