Category: Sacramento Kings

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.

by Ken Gimblin

SACRAMENTO–Sacramento Assistant City Attorney Matthew Ruyak says that the subsidy measure that would ask Sacramento voters if public subsidies could be used to build a new arena could make the ballot and that a judge could be persuaded enough to allow the measure to reach the ballot according to a confidential memo. Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson has said that the ballots are flawed and that the petitions are not legal and should not be allowed.

Sacramento Taxpayers Opposed to Pork or STOP and Voters For a Fair Arena Deal filed a lawsuit that their petitions were following political protocol and that they have the constitutional right to have their measure be legally on the ballot since they met beyond the minimum requirements to be on the ballot with 22,938 petitions over the ten percent minimum and some of the legalees were minor.

Sacramento City attorney James Sanchez sounded off immediately after STOP filed their lawsuit saying the petitions were not up to code and legal, “we believe the legal shortcomings presented by the STOP petitions will be persuasive to a judge, we believe a judge will be hardpressed to conclude they complied with the election code.” said Sanchez

But it’s Ruyak’s confidential memo that lends credence that the measure has a shot at making the ballot, although in basketball parlance it’s not a slam dunk Ruyak says there is no guarantee the city can fight to keep it off the ballot even with some of the legal inconsistencies, “we can not conclude with the requisite level of confidence that a court would more likely uphold an action to disqualify the initiative or it’s signatures. Given the fundamental right of the electorate to assist their voice through initiative, we cannot definitely conclude that there is a greater than 50 percent chance of prevailing in court should the city council refuse to place the measure on the ballot.” said Ruyak

STOP attorney Brad Hertz said that even though there were flaws on the petitions and legal disclaimer errors they are minor enough and that the initiative should go forward on the ballot, “it was a lot of very enthusiastic people with, you might say, too many cooks in the kitchen, all of (the flaws) are minor, technical, no voters were deceived” said Hertz

Ken Gimblin is covering the Sacramento Kings and Golden State Warriors arena developments for Sportstalk Radio

By George Devine, Sr.

The Sacramento Kings played once more without DeMarcus Cousins and Rudy Gay. Cousins had missed two previous matchups after spraining his left ankle. Gay, who had a strained left Achilles, warmed up but was removed from the starting lineup. Both have been leading scorers for the Kings — each averaging just over 20 points per game — but even without them, their teammates stepped up and came close at times in a 106-99 loss.

The Kings came into the contest closely matched to the win-loss record of the Utah Jazz. But after a close first period the Jazz began to take over, and a fourth-quarter rally could not pull the game out of the fire for the visitors who came up short, 106-99.

Jason Thompson led the scoring for Sacramento, with 19 points. He contributed 11 rebounds, 7 of them defensive, and 2 blocks. Derrick Williams had 17 points and 15 boards, again mostly defensive (13). Ben McLemore scored 14 points and had 9 rebounds.

For Utah, Marvin Williams and Enes Kanter each had 16 points. Williams also had 13 rebounds. Derrick Favors had 17 points and a dozen boards, and Jeremy Evans had 14 points with 10 rebounds.