Category: Sacramento Kings

By George Devine, Sr.

The Kings were without a win on their current road trip, and seemed destined for one more loss before coming home to Sacramento. When DeMarcus Cousins limped off the court late in the game, there was little hope against the Knicks in their home court at Madison Square Garden. But a Sacramento rally in the fourth quarter brought the game to a tie and a surge in the extra period had the visitors winning, 106-101.

Rudy Gay was back in form, after being out a couple of games with the flu and playing below his typical 20-point level in the next two. He came in right at that number, but more to the point contributed a pair of key steals, 2 field goals from beyond the 3-point line (out of 6 attempts) and 7 rebounds, 4 of them on defense. He tied the score at the end of regulation — helping his team overcome a 13-point disadvantage — and his go-ahead trey in OT put the Kings ahead for good.

Cousins scored 19 points before departing the game, after playing 32:49. He had 14 rebounds, all but three of them defensive. Isaiah Thomas had 20 points and 7 assists. But the star of the evening, besides Gay, was Jimmie Fredette, who had his best night yet in the NBA with 24 points, and 2 crucial steals.

For New York, Carmelo Anthony scored 36 points and Tyson Chandler added 17. Each had 11 boards. Raymond Felton contributed 8 points and a dozen assists. Amare Stoudemire had 20 points and 2 blocks. Anthony missed what could have been a winning basket at the end of regulation, and the Kings’ defense shut him down in the extra period.

In their next game the Kings host the Golden State Warriors at Sleep Train Arena on Wednesday, February 19 at 7:00 p.m. PST.

By George Devine, Sr.

In tonight’s game at Cleveland, the Cavaliers beat the Kings 109-99 and Anthony Bennett showed why he was a top draft pick, scoring 19 points and contributing 10 rebounds. 7 of them defensive. The win for the Cavs has them in a good frame of mind approaching the All-Star break and has the opposite effect for the Kings who have had a tough road trip, losing 7 in a row away from Sleep Train Arena.

Rudy Gay, who had been the star for Sacramento in most of his recent games, scored only 14 points although he did have 9 boards, 7 on defense. The high scorer for the visitors was DeMarcus Cousins, with 21 points; he had 10 rebounds, 6 of them defensive. Isaiah Thomas scored 16 points and contributed 8 assists. However, 6 of Cousins’ rebounds and 11 of his points were in the first quarter, and then he was quiescent until halftime. At the other end of the evening, a 7-point run for the Cavaliers — sparked by Kyrie Irving beyond the trey line — made a crucial difference despite the Kings leading the scoring in that final frame but in no other.

The field goal percentages were roughly comparable with 47.7% for Cleveland and 45.9% for Sacramento.

For Cleveland, Luol Deng led the scoring with 22, and contributed 4 assists; Dion Waiters scored 20 points and had 8 assists. Bennett had 19 with 10 rebounds, 7 of them on D. Irving had 13 points and 6 assists and Tristan Thompson poured in 16 points, making 13 rebounds, 7 of them defensive.

The Kings next play at New York in Madison Square Garden on Wednesday, February 12 at 4:30 p.m. PST.

By George Devine, Sr.

In another game where neither team scored in triple digits, the Kings went down on the road. This time Rudy Gay joined in the action for 32:17 but only scored 5 points. He is recovering from the flu, which sidelined him in Friday’s loss at Boston, 99-89. This time it appeared he would be well enough to make a major contribution, but in fact he only achieved approximately 25% of his typical production. The Kings are 0-4 with Gay absent, not only due to the recent flu but previously on account of an ankle injury.

The other key to the game was the defense of Washington, led by Nene, who had not only 3 blocks but 18 points. This meant that Sacramento came up 9 points short despite an above-par 86% from the free throw line (down a tad from Friday’s 91.7%) and an advantage in rebounds, 49 to the Wizards’ 38. But on field goals the Kings trailed, 43%-35% and especially on three-pointers where the margin was a staggering 38%-18%. The long ball plus the “D” made enough difference to get Washington back to the .500 mark against the visitors, whose win-loss percentage is approaching the batting average of a successful MLB player.

Isaiah Thomas led the Kings with 30 points and had 8 assists. DeMarcus Cousins had 14 points, with 12 boards and 2 blocks. For the Wizards, 16 points were scored by Bradley Beal, including a pair of treys in the last six minutes of the game. Marcin Gortat scored 17 points and had 8 rebounds.

The Kings outscored the Wizards in the final period, 20-18 and in the third, 19-18, but their slim advantage after halftime was insufficient given the home team’s lead in each of the first two quarters.

The next game for the Kings is on Tuesday, February 11 vs. Cleveland at Quicken Loans Arena. Tipoff is at 4:00 p.m. PST.

By George Devine, Sr.

With Rudy Gay on the inactive list again, the Kings went to Boston and put up a good fight, but could not last against the Celtics, and lost 99-89. It is particularly disappointing given the relatively even records of the two teams, with the Kings at 17-32 and the Celtics at 17-33 coming into the game.

The ability of Gay to score an average of just over 20 points a game has been a key factor since his joining the Kings this year, and he was certainly missed although his teammates mounted a heroic effort to make up for his absence.

Sacramento actually led at the end of the first period, 29-21, and had a lead early in the third after a 6-0 run in the first two minutes of that quarter, but the home team dominated throughout. Boston was 45.5% from the field, with 40.9% on treys. Sacramento was only 38.6% on field goals, considered a poor percentage on the collegiate level, and 33.3% on the long shots. However, the Kings more than exceeded NBA expectations from the line, shooting 91.7% to Boston’s 66.7%. The inconsistency between field goals and free throws is indicative of a poor shooting effort even with superlative performance on the charity stripe.

DeMarcus Cousins led the visitors’ scoring with 31 points and contributed 16 rebounds, 13 of them on defense. Isaiah Thomas scored 24 points and had 6 assists. Derrick Williams played almost the whole game, 42 minutes and 19 seconds. He had 11 points and his main value was 12 boards, 8 of them on defense.

For the Celtics, Jared Sullinger led with 31 points and 16 rebounds, a dozen of them on defense. Jeff Green poured in 17 points and Jerryd Bayless had 19.

The Kings next play Washington at Verizon Center in the nation’s capital, at 3:00 p.m. PST on Sunday, February 9.

By George Devine, Sr.

The Kings are thriving on home cooking at Sleep Train Arena, having beaten Chicago 99-70 and now Toronto, 109-101.

A key factor was that Rudy Gay and DeMarcus Cousins were both on the court again Cousins accounted for 25 points and 10 rebounds. Gay had 24 points and also 10 rebounds. Jason Thompson was another to achieve 10 boards, and scored 9 points. Isaiah Thomas had 23 points and 5 assists.

For the visitors, Kyle Lowry had 21 points, 8 assists and 7 rebounds. Patrick Patterson had 14 points, and Jonas Valancianas had 12 points with 11 rebounds.

Sacramento led by a substantial margin in all quarters but the fourth, by which time it was too late for Toronto to overcome the lead.

By George Devine, Sr.

The fans at Sacramento didn’t mind the home team scoring below 100 points, as long as they won, which they did handily, defeating the visiting Chicago Bulls, 99-70. DeMarcus Cousins was the leader in points with 25 and rebounds with 16, coming back with a vengeance after missing six games due to an ankle injury. All but two of Cousins’ boards were on defense.

Isaiah Thomas scored 19 for the Kings, and Rudy Gay — who has been scoring an average of 20 points — accounted for only 14 but had 6 rebounds, 5 of them on defense. Coming off the bench, Jimmer Fredette scored 11.

For the Bulls, Jimmy Butler had 17 points and 5 rebounds. Tony Snell and Taj Gibson each had 11 points.

The Kings will host Toronto at 7 p.m. PST on Wednesday, February 5.