Category: Sacramento Kings

Sacramento Kings podcast with Charlie O: Hornets force turnovers as Kings go down 110-102

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Photo credit sacbee.com: The Charlotte Hornets Terry Rozier (3) drives towards the basket against the Sacramento Kings D’Aaron Fox as the Hornets defeat the Kings by eight points in Charlotte on Tuesday night.

On the Kings podcast with Charlie O

The Sacramento Kings on Tuesday night in Charlotte just simply got outplayed physically. In fact, that was one of the things that Kings head coach Luke Walton said. The Kings just physically got beaten up by the Hornets. It wasn’t in a bad way. It wasn’t like they played dirty.

The Hornets just went out and played a very physical game. They were determined. The biggest number that showed how physical Charlotte was that the Hornets outrebounded the Kings 53-31. When a team is outrebounded with 18 rebounds in a game, you’re not going to win.

Charlie O does the Kings podcasts each Tuesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Kings fall to Hornets 110-102 in Charlotte

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Photo credit: @SacramentoKings

By Jeremiah Salmonson

The Sacramento Kings have not been at full strength since the first game of this 2019 season. Tuesday would mark the first time since then the Kings would have all players available. The matchup was the Sacramento Kings visiting the Charlotte Hornets. For Kings fans, they hoped Tuesday would mark the beginning of the season they could have had started if fully healthy.

In the first quarter, the Kings offense sputtered out of the gate. Sloppy ball handling and missed shots allowed the Hornets to only be trailing 9-7 with 6:00 left in the quarter. The rest of the way, the offense continued to sputter.

It’s hard to fault the Kings who are playing with lineups they haven’t seen all year.

Unfortunately, the offense looked a little lost in the first quarter something the Kings would look to remedy in the second quarter. All in all, the Kings put up 21 points compared to the Hornets 26. Leading scorer for the Kings thus far was Harrison Barnes with 5 points while Marvin Williams put up 8 for the Hornets.

In the second quarter, the Kings perimeter shooting continued to struggle. The Kings shot a mediocre 33.3% in the first half from downtown. That being said, they were able to put up 47 in the half. The Hornets didn’t play exceptionally well either, who shot an identical 33.3% from three, were able to put up 53 in the half to lead the Kings 53-47 going into halftime. The leading scorers in the game were De’Aaron Fox for the Kings with 11 points and Hornet Marvin Williams with 10 points. The Kings offense didn’t look smooth, but it wasn’t all red flags. De’Aaron Fox, after missing the last 17 games, looked good in the opening half. Sure the offense didn’t flow the same way it has in recent games, but the Kings are well on their way to getting the rhythm back.

In the second half, the Kings started to hit their three-point shots. The Kings shot much better from downtown making five threes and it makes a difference in the score. The Kings were able to put up 32 in the third out scoring the Hornets who added 27. In his return, De’Aaron Fox continued to lead the Kings putting up 15 points through three quarters. The Kings would try and do something they haven’t done all year on the road; win trailing after three quarters. The Kings went into the fourth trailing 80-79.

In the fourth quarter, the Kings faltered early. Hornets guard Malik Monk started hitting shots after struggling early and the Kings were in a 101-90 hole with 4:25 remaining. From there, the Kings weren’t able to muster anything against the Hornets. The Kings didn’t attack the basket with enough urgency as the Hornets were in foul trouble and that led to a disappointing defeat. The Kings dropped the first game of the road trip by a final of 110-102 in a game dominated by the Hornets in the fourth quarter. The Hornets ended up out scoring the Kings 30-23 in the fourth. The positive for Kings fans from this game was the return of a healthy De’Aaron Fox. Fox led the Kings with 19 points.

Up Next: The Kings travel to Indiana to take on the Pacers on Friday at 4 PM PST.

Kings get over the Warriors 100-79

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By Charlie O. Mallonee @Charlieo1320

After losing to the NBA’s worst team — the New York Knicks — on their home court on Friday night, the Sacramento Kings (12-14) needed to bounce back into the win column in a big way versus the Golden State Warriors (5-23) on Sunday night in the brand-new Chase Center in San Francisco. After years of being the perpetual underdogs when facing the Warriors, the 2019 Kings knew they were the more talented team going into the game on Sunday evening.

The Kings dominated the first quarter shooting 62.5% from the field while outscoring the Warriors 26-18. It appeared that injury-depleted Warriors were well on their way to another humbling defeat at the hands of their Northern California neighbor.

The Warriors woke up in the second quarter
Golden State started attacking the basket using the dribble-drive to make layups and cut into the Kings lead. D’Angelo Russell (who may or may not be a Warrior much longer) and Damion Lee did most of the damage in the quarter. The Warriors outscored the Kings 16-8 in the paint.

Both teams shot 9-for-16 from the field in the second period. Sacramento held a 16-point lead at one point in the quarter, but Golden State trailed by just nine points at the half.

The Kings changed the story in the second half
Sacramento came out in the third quarter and shot 64.7% overall and 60.0% from 3-point range to outscore Golden State 28-17. The Kings were up 79-59 at the end of 36 minutes and had the game well in hand.

Luke Walton used 11 players in the game rather than just eight as he had in the previous games. A big lead will give a coach that luxury. The Kings outscored the Warriors in the final quarter 21-20. It was like the kid who has been bullied for years finally had the opportunity to get even and they did.

When the final buzzer sounded, the Kings had beaten the Warriors 100-79.

Lead tracker
The Kings biggest lead in the game was 25 points. The Warriors largest lead was just three points.

The game was tied four times.

The lead changed four times in the game.

The Kings never trailed in the second, third and fourth quarters.

Team Numbers

  • Points in the Paint: SAC 46 GSW 44
  • 2nd Chance Points: Kings 6 Warriors 5
  • Fastbreak Points: SAC 10 GSW 4
  • Rebounds: Kings 38 Warriors 26
  • Assists: SAC 27 GSW 24
  • Turnovers: Kings 27 Warriors 20
  • Field Goal %: SAC 60.3% GSW 39.0%

Leading Scorers

  • Bogdan Bogdanovic was the games high scorer with 25 points
  • Former King Willie Cauley-Stein led the Warriors with 14 points

The Glass Cleaners

  • Marvin Bagley III led the Kings with six rebounds
  • Marquese Chriss was the Warriors leading rebounder with six

Distributing Dimes

  • D’Angelo Russell was the assist leader with eight
  • Cory Joseph was the Kings assist leader with five dimes

Up Next
The Kings travel to Charlotte to take on the Hornets on Tuesday night.

The Warriors also hit the road to play the Trail Blazers in Portland on Wednesday evening.

Knicks Stun Kings, Win 103-101

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Photo credit: @KnicksNationCP

By Jeremiah Salmonson

The Sacramento Kings are flying. After taking down formidable opponents in Texas in the Houston Rockets and Dallas Mavericks, the Kings came home and defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder. So, the Kings were coming off a three-game win streak and facing the dysfunctional New York Knicks in Golden 1 Center on Wednesday night.

In the first quarter, the Kings did what they should have. Behind the scoring from Buddy Hield (14) and Nemanja Bjelica (6), the Kings jumped out to an early 32-20 lead over the Knicks. The Knicks leading scorer was Julius Randle, who managed to score 9 points. The Kings managed to shoot 71.4% from downtown and that played a big role in the early lead. Going into the second quarter, the Kings had a comfortable 32-20 lead.

In the second quarter, the Knicks made a little run at the Kings’ lead. Thanks to more scoring from Julius Randle, the Knicks put a dent in the Kings’ 12-point first-quarter lead. The Knicks put up 25 second quarter points to make it a 54-45. Buddy Hield continued to torch the Knicks and finished the first half with 22 points. Nemanja Bjelica followed behind Hield as the King’s second-leading scorer with 9 points. The Knicks were led by Julius Randle who was the game’s second-leading scorer with 17 first-half points. The Kings didn’t play their best first half of the year, but considering the opponent, it got the job done. In the second half, the Kings would look to put away the worst team in the NBA.

The third quarter was not the best for the Kings. Playing against the worst team in the NBA, the Kings were unable to increase their lead. In fact, their lead decreased by one point in the quarter as the Knicks outscored the Kings 27-26 in the third. Buddy Hield added 5 points to his total in the third to bring his total to 27 on the night. Julius Randal continued his hot hand in the game to give him 22 on the night. The Kings would take a 80-72 lead into the final quarter of action.

In the fourth quarter, things got a little dicey for the Kings. The Knicks, the worst team in the NBA, managed to make up the deficit coming into the quarter and tie the game at 93 with 5:15 remaining in the game. The Kings had to get back to work if they wanted to keep their win streak alive. Unfortunately for Kings fans, they weren’t able to do that. The Knicks came roaring back in the fourth to beat the Kings.

It was easily the worst loss of the season for the Kings, who should have defeated the Knicks. Julius Randal led the victorious Knicks with 24 points followed by Elfrid Payton with 16. Leading the Kings in defeat was Buddy Hield with 34 points followed by Harrison Barnes with 15. The Kings and Luke Walton will remember this loss. In a game against the worst team in the NBA the Kings couldn’t hold an 8 point lead going into the final quarter. The final in Sacramento was the Kings 101 and the Knicks 103.

Up Next: The Kings travel to San Francisco to play the Warriors on Sunday evening at 5:30 pm PST.

The Knicks stay West and play the Denver Nuggets on Sunday at 7 pm CST.

Kings Roar Back, Beat Thunder 94-93

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Photo credit: @SacramentoKings

By Jeremiah Salmonson

SACRAMENTO–The Sacramento Kings were back home. After over a week on the road, the Kings returned home after splitting the road trip 2-2. The two wins for the Kings on the trip came on the toughest part, the back-to-back against Dallas and Houston. The Kings were able to pull off both those wins and came home with a good feeling about rising to .500 in the coming week. The Kings started off the homestand with a game against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night at Golden 1 Center.

In the first quarter, the Kings were looking to get off to a good start against a team they should have a good chance beating on paper. The Kings didn’t shoot as well as they would have hoped in the first at just 40% from the floor. However, that was better than the showing the Thunder put on shooting only 30% in the first from the floor. Leading the Kings was Nemanja Bjelica with 7 points, followed by Trevor Ariza with 5 points. For the Thunder, Steven Adams led with 5 points. Going into the second quarter, the Kings led the Thunder 23-18.

In the second quarter, things would unravel a bit for the Kings. Thanks to poor shooting and the Thunder knocking down shots, the Kings would give up the lead going into halftime. The Kings were only able to manage 15 points in the second as opposed to the Thunder’s 29. Dennis Schroder finished the first half as the game’s leading scorer with 15 points. Continuing to lead the Kings in scoring, despite not adding a basket in the second, was Nemanja Bjelica with 7 points. Buddy Hield got on the board, scoring 5 in the second quarter. Overall, the Kings shot 35.65% from the field in the first half compared to the Thunder’s 41.5% clip.

In the second half, the Kings looked to come out with the energy they lacked in the first half. Unfortunately, the Kings were lackluster on offense. Taking a 9-point deficit into halftime, the Kings had only let that deficit grow to a 64-50 Thunder lead with five minutes remaining in the third. The Thunder had been shooting extraordinarily well at a 40% clip from downtown. The rest of the way in the third it would get much better for the Kings. They finished the third down by two points 71-69. Buddy Hield finished the third with 15 points and Marvin Bagley had 11 points.

In the fourth quarter, the Thunder would retake the lead early. They retook a 10-point lead 83-73 at the 7:49 point in the game. From there, it would be all Kings as they came roaring back to tie the game with 1:00 remaining in the game. Bogdan Bogdanovic would foul the Thunder and they made both their free throws. The Kings took a timeout with the ball with 30 seconds left down 93-91. Bogdan Bogdanovic was able to get open and knock down a three to set up the last possession for the Thunder with 13.4 seconds left in the game. The Thunder got the ball to Chris Paul, who was defended by Richaun Holmes. Paul tried to hit a pullup jumper but missed it and the game ended. The Kings came away victorious 94-93.

What’s Next?
The Kings stay home to host the New York Knicks on Friday at 7 PM PST.

The Thunder continues the West Coast trip against the Denver Nuggets on Saturday at 6 PM PST.

Sacramento Kings podcast with Charlie O: Kings take two on the road, host OKC and Knicks in upcoming homestand

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Photo credit: mavsmoneyball.com

On the Kings podcast with Charlie O:

Looking at the road trip, our initial projections were the two teams they could beat on the road trip were Portland and San Antonio, they lost to Portland and they lost to San Antonio. The two teams we figured that they had no chance to beat the Dallas Mavericks and the Houston Rockets.

The Mavericks and the Rockets were back to back and that’s almost asking too much on the road. They lost to the Trail Blazers, they lost to the Spurs a heartbreaker, turned around and they beat the Mavericks and the Rockets in a back to back.

Charlie O does the Kings podcasts each Tuesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Kings surprise the Rockets on a last-second 3-point prayer

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By Charlie O. Mallonee 

The Sacramento Kings shocked the 18,055 fans at the Toyota Center in Houston — when with one-second left to go in the game — Nemanja Bjelica put up a 33-foot, 3-point jump shot that went in for the winning basket. The Kings players ran off the bench to mob Bjelica, while the Rockets stood around with mouths wide open trying figure out what had just happened.

What had happened was the Kings had beaten the Houston Rockets 119-118 to close out their four-game road trip. What was even more of a surprise was this was the second game of a back-to-back set on the road. On Sunday, the Kings beat the Dallas Mavericks on a last-second basket also by Bjelica.

The Kings finished the road trip 2-2. SAC suffered back-to-back losses in Portland and San Antonio before putting together consecutive wins over Dallas and Houston (15-8). After losing the first two losses, the Kings could have easily gone 0-4 on this road trip. Finishing with two last-second victories over two of the best teams in the Western Conference is a testament to the Kings tenacity and response to the new coaching staff.

Sacramento (10-13) has endured a very tough time without two of their star players – Marvin Bagley III and De’Aaron Fox. The good news for the Kings is that Bagley — who has been cleared for full basketball contact — may well be back in the lineup on Wednesday night when the OKC Thunder visits the Golden 1 Center. The team reports that Fox’s rehabilitation is going well, but no timetable has been set for his return.

This game was truly a battle that featured 12 lead changes and 14 ties.

Leading Scorers

  • Russell Westbrook was the high scorer in the game putting 34 points in the scorebook.
  • Buddy Hield led the Kings scoring attack with 26 points.

The Glass Cleaners

  • J.P. Tucker pulled down 19 rebounds and made it a double-double game by scoring 10 points.
  • Harrison Barnes was the Kings top rebounder with eight.

Dishing out dimes

  • James Harden was the leading assist distributor dishing out 10 dimes to go with 27 points.
  • Trevor Ariza contributed seven assists for the Kings.

Game Notes

  • The Kings hit 40 of 88 (45.5%) field goal attempts in Houston. 20 of those buckets were 3-point baskets.
  • SAC worked the free throw line in this game. The went to the line 22 times and put the ball through the hole 19 times.
  • The Kings kept the turnovers to a minimum again making just 10 giveaways that resulted in 13 Houston points.
  • Both coaches used just eight players in the contest.
  • The Kings bench outscored the Rockets second unit 27-23.
  • Cory Joseph must be given credit for the incredible job he did on defense. He spent most of the game guarding “The Beard”. Joseph put up 14 points and added six assists while guarding Harden.

Up next

The Kings return to action on Wednesday night when they will host the OKC Thunder at the Golden 1 Center.

The Rockets head out to Cleveland to face the Cavaliers on Wednesday night.

Kings go big and hang on to beat the Mavericks 110-106

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Photo credit: @SacramentoKings

By Jeremiah Salmonson

The Sacramento Kings have been struggling. That’s no secret. They haven’t started the season the way they wanted to and are were on a three game skid. Things didn’t get easier either as the Kings took on Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks at the American Airlines Center on Sunday. Tip-off was set for 4 PM PST.

In the first quarter, the Kings came out strong. Nemanja Bjelica and Buddy Hied both came out shooting very well. Nemanja up 12 in the first and Buddy dropped 11 on the Mavs defense. The Kings also played lock down defense in the first. The Mavs were able to put up 27 points in the first. However, that doesn’t accurately depict the quality of the defense by the Kings. The score going into the second was 36-27 Kings.

In the second quarter, the Kings came out just as strong as the first quarter. This had been arguably the best half of basketball the Kings had played l year. The Kings continued to get good looks off screens and ball movement while holding the Mavericks and Luka Doncic down on defense. Leading the Kings in scoring for the first half was Buddy Hield with 18 points. The leading scorer for the Mavericks in the first half was Tim Hardaway Jr. with 17 points. Heading into the second half of basketball, the Kings were up 66-46 and looking to finish the job on the road.

In the third quarter, both teams played at a high level. One thing entering the third that the Kings could not do was give up a large run to the Mavs. They didn’t allow that to happen. Even though the Mavs began hitting some of their tough looks they failed to cut significantly into the Kings lead. The Kings started the quarter with a 20-point lead and ended the third with a 14-point lead. The quarter would end with the Kings ahead 92-78. Tim Hardaway Jr. continued to put up big numbers finishing the third with 29 points. Nemanja Bjelica also continued his torrid play finishing the third with 25 points.

In the fourth quarter, it was the Kings game to lose with a 14-point lead. The Kings needed to continue to compete on the defensive end and knock down shots. However, the game got a little dicey late. The Kings, who had done such a good job taking care of the ball in the first three quarters, started being careless. The Kings turned the ball over multiple times leading to easy baskets for the Mavericks. What was a 14-point lead entering the fourth had evaporated into a two-point 108-106 lead with 13.4 seconds left and Dallas ball. In the last possession of regulation for the Mavs, they got the ball to Luka Doncic and he pulled up and missed a jumper. Kings rebounded and were immediately fouled with four seconds left. Kings head coach Luke Walton drew up a great play on the inbound to give Nemanja Bjelica a clear path to the basket and the dunk to seal the win. The Kings won 110-106.

The Kings finish up the Texas swing next with a game against the Houston Rockets on Monday at 5 PM PST.

It’s heartbreak deep in the heart of Texas for the Kings losing in OT to the Spurs 105-104

Published on by Charlie O. MalloneeLeave a comment
spurs 2
Graphic: @NBC Sports CA

By Charlie O. Mallonee

The Sacramento Kings played game two of their four-game road trip on Friday night in San Antonio. The Kings lost game one on Wednesday night in Portland. It took 53 minutes to decide the winner of game two in the “Alamo City”, but when the final buzzer sounded, the Spurs had won the game 105-104 in overtime.

The Kings have now lost five of their last six games and have fallen five games under .500 with a record of 8-13. Not only are the men of SAC headed in the wrong direction in the standings but their immediate future prospects are not great. Their final two games of this road trip are with the Dallas Mavericks (15-5) and the Houston Rockets (14-7) – two of the hottest teams in the NBA.

When the Kings left on this road trip, we projected that they would win one game and lose three. We expected the one win to happen in Portland or San Antonio. Now that Sacramento has lost to both the Trail Blazers and the Spurs, our projection has changed to the team finishing the road trip 0-4. That would put the Kings nine games under .500 by the time they return to Sacramento.

The Kings could have won this game
The game was tied at 89-89 with 3:44 to go in the game. The Kings went on a 9-0 run to take what looked like a commanding lead with just 1:43 remaining in the contest, but this is the NBA and you can never assume anything.

The Spurs scored eight unanswered points in less than a minute. The Kings were stunned. San Antonio possessed the ball with 14.3 seconds to go in regulation time. The Spurs worked the ball to Marco Belinelli with 4.1 seconds on the clock. Belinelli let a 3-pointer fly from the right angle and put it through the hoop to tie the game at 100 apiece and force OT.

Overtime was not pretty
The first point in OT wasn’t scored until the 3:07 mark when DeMar DeRozan hit the first of three free throw attempts. There would be only a total of nine points scored in the entire five minutes of overtime. It was just plain ugly.

The Kings wound up with the final possession of the game when it was ruled that Spurs last touched the ball that went out of bounds after a jump ball.

Sacramento did their best putting up four shots in the final 17.4 seconds to try and take the lead. They fought ferociously to get rebounds to have the opportunity to take another shot but none of their four final attempts would fall. When time expired, the Spurs had won the game 105-104.

Leading scorers

  • Buddy Hield scored a game-high 23 points for the Kings.
  • LaMarcus Aldridge led Spurs scoring attack with 19 points.

The Glass Cleaners

  • Richaun Holmes pulled down 14 rebounds to go with 13 points for a double-double game.
  • LaMarcus Aldridge also had a double-double by grabbing 13 rebounds to go with his 19 points.

Tossing out the dimes

  • The Spurs DeMar DeRozan dropped nine dimes in the game.
  • Harrison Barnes – who also scored 21 points and had 10 rebounds – distributed 5 assists.

Think about it

  • The Kings starters scored 69 points while their second unit added 35 points.
  • The Spurs starting five scored 52 points and their bench put 53 points. That’s called depth.

Up next

The Kings will have Saturday off and will play the Mavericks in Dallas on Sunday.

The Spurs go on vacation as they are off until next Thursday when they will host Cleveland.

Short-handed Kings battle, but fall to Trail Blazers 127-116

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Photo credit: @trailblazers

By Jeremiah Salmonson

The Sacramento Kings were coming off a tough loss to the Chicago Bulls. They arrived at the Moda Center to play the Portland Trail Blazers, who have struggled this year coming off a tough double-digit loss to the Clippers the night before. Both the Kings and the Blazers are banged up with starters and role players hurt. Namely, the Kings started the game having declared Bogdan Bogdanovic out with a knee contusion. So, the Kings needed big contributions from Buddy Hield, Harrison Barnes, and Richaun Holmes to compete with the Blazers.

In the first quarter, it was a tale of two stories. In the first six minutes, the Kings looked like a team lost in the Pacific Northwest as the Blazers jumped to an early 24-16 lead. From there, the Kings looked a different team. Struggling guard Buddy Hield started making shots and the Kings took off to finish the quarter up 35-30. Buddy finished the quarter with 14 points to lead the Kings.

In the second quarter, both teams continued their torrid pace. Thanks to both teams continuing to get the ball up and down the court, the game turned into a shootout. Buddy Hield and Richaun Holmes led the Kings on the offensive end scoring 17 and 11, respectively, in the first half. For Portland, a major portion of the offense was scored by CJ McCollum, who had 23 points while shooting better than 75% from the field. Headed into halftime, the Kings trailed the Blazers 66-64.

The first half treated fans to a shootout. In the third quarter, both teams continued to put up points. Kings center Richaun Holmes had a great quarter in which he scored 10 points. Buddy Hield and Nemenja Bjelica also continued to score to keep the Kings close. However, the Blazers were able to hit a few more shots and led the Kings 95-100 going into the final quarter.

In the fourth quarter, the Kings hoped to turn what had been a shootout into a win. If they hoped to accomplish this, they needed to tighten up their play on the defensive end and continue to hit shots on offense. Unfortunately, the Kings fell victim to what the NBA knows as “Dame Time” as Damian Lillard played extremely well in the fourth and made a series of difficult shots to lead the Blazers to a 127-116 victory. CJ McCollum led all scorers with 33 points and Richaun Holmes led the Kings with 28 points and 10 boards. The Kings fell to 8-12 on the season as the Blazers improved to 9-13.

The Blazers stay home to face the LA Lakers on Friday evening at 7:30 pm PST.

The Kings continue the road trip with a three-city Texas swing that starts in San Antonio on Friday evening at 7:30 pm CST.