Category: Sacramento Kings

Sacramento Kings podcast with Charlie O: Kings-Wolves go back and forth in overtime

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The Minnesota Timberwolves Jarrett Culver (23) drives on the Sacramento Kings DeWayne Dedmon (13) on Monday night at Target Center in Minneapolis

On the Kings podcast with Charlie O:

#1 It went into overtime and the Kings (17-29)  pushed the envelope at the Target Center home of the Minnesota Timberwolves (15-32) and got over the hump in overtime victory 133-129.

#2 The Kings never gave up and broke away from two ties to get the victory from the Timberwolves.

#3 The Kings Buddy Hield has been a machine of late and last night in Minnesota Hield scored 42 points and everyone them counted to win this game.

#4 In a game like this Kings head coach Luke Walton might have had to change strategy several times but it seem in the overtime stanza he had it working

#5 Thunder and Kings on Thursday Charlie O sets up this contest at Golden One Center in Sacramento

Hield, Kings shock the Wolves with fourth quarter, overtime blitz

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By Morris Phillips

Buddy Hield coming off the bench? Yeah, that’s working quite nicely.

After shooting poorly over an extended period dating back to December which in part prompted coach Luke Walton to take his leading scorer out of the starting lineup, Hield put on a good face and took his demotion in stride.

But being a team player didn’t immediately perk up his game. That transformation came on Monday night in Minneapolis… in the fourth quarter with the Kings in a seemingly helpless place trailing by 19 points after a sleepy, defensive effort through three quarters.

Hield scored 20 points in the fourth quarter, part of his career-best 42-point night, as the Kings wiped out a 22-point deficit in the final 5:42 and shocked the Timberwolves in overtime, 133-129. The Kings’ comeback was so improbable, it hadn’t been accomplished previously in the next generation statistics era beginning in 1997. Over the final 2:49, the Kings wiped out a 17-point deficit to send the game into overtime, where they prevailed. Over the previous 24 seasons, and in well over 8,000 occasions, teams had trailed by 17 points with less than three minutes remaining in regulation or overtime, and lost each time.

Then the Kings came up with the comeback of comebacks on Monday.

“We should be able to play with a 15-point lead with a couple of minutes left. They made shots. We didn’t execute our defensive game plan. We didn’t get rebounds when we needed to. We didn’t make the needed plays,” said Wolves coach Ryan Saunders.

Over the final 5:42 of regulation, the Kings scored 33 points, in itself a once-in-a-generation accomplishment for offense in such a short period. Hield came up with four of the seven Kings’ 3-pointers in the final stretch, including a 29-foot bomb with 30 seconds remaining. Only one more three, from Nemanja Bjelica, came in overtime, as the Kings shot 18 of 40 from distance for the game.

But that was small bits compared to the Wolves, who made a franchise-record 23 (in 46 attempts) but still came up short. Minnesota lost for the 10th consecutive outing, which led to a locker room filled with disbelief after the game. Shabazz Napier, who missed a pair of critical free throws with 34 seconds remaining even invoked the memory of Kobe Bryant in relaying his disappointment in his and his team’s performance.

“The competitor he is, he would be upset with us, truly upset with us,” Napier said. “Today we did a dishonor to him , to the Minnesota Timberwolves organization, to the fans.”

 

The Kings play defense and beat the Bulls 98-81 on Friday in Chicago

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By Charlie O. Mallonee @Charlieo1320

The long national nightmare is over for “Sacramento Proud” as their team’s six-game losing streak has come to an end in Chicago. The Kings (16-29) downed the Bulls 98-81 on Friday night at the United Center.

The last time the Kings won a basketball game was on January 7th in Phoenix. Those 16 days between wins seemed like an eternity for Sacramento fans.

A major change to the starting lineup

Sometimes a coach must shake things up to in order to get his team’s attention. In this case, Kings head coach – Luke Walton – made a change to his starting lineup. Guard Buddy Hield has been in a shooting slump, so Walton took Hield out of the starting rotation and replaced him with Bogdan Bogdanovic who has been the Kings sixth man all season.

Moving a starter to the bench is always dangerous because a coach never knows how the player will react. In this case, the lineup moves worked.

Hield took the change in stride

In reality, Hield did more than take things in stride – he thrived. Hield led the Kings in scoring by putting up 21 points in the game. He shot 7-for-12 overall and hit 5 of 9 from behind the 3-point line. Hield also grabbed eight rebounds.

After the game, Kings head coach Luke Walton was full of praise for Hield for his play and his reaction to his change in the rotation.

The key to the win was defense

This was the second game this season that the Kings held their opponent to under 90 points. The Kings are 2-0 in those games.

Sacramento held Chicago to just 39.2% (31-for-79) shooting overall and the Bulls hit only 8 of 37 (21.6%) from 3-point range.

The Kings caused the Bulls (17-30) to turn the ball over 21 times which resulted in 16 Sacramento points.

The Bulls largest lead of the game was three points.

Top performers

Leading scorers

  • Buddy Hield was the Kings leading scorer with 21 points
  • Zach LaVine led the Bulls scoring attack with 21 points

The Glass cleaners

  • Cristiano Felicio of the Bulls was the game’s leading rebounder with nine
  • Buddy Hield led the Kings with eight rebounds

Dropping dimes

  • De’Aaron Fox was the game’s assist leader with seven dimes
  • Kris Dunn led the Bulls with six assists

Up next

The Kings travel to the Twin Cities where they will play the Timberwolves on Monday night.

The Bulls will play in Cleveland on Saturday night.

 

 

 

Royalty Flushed: Kings drop sixth straight in Detroit,127-106

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By Morris Phillips

Losing streaks are hard enough to digest, and the individual moments within those streaks even more so.

For the Kings, losing at the middling Pistons, the ninth-ranked team in the Eastern Conference, for their sixth straight loss while allowing Detroit 19 points more than their season average may rank as the nadir for fading Sacramento.

It certainly felt like it in the third quarter when the Pistons turned a 57-50 advantage at the half into a rout.

“Basketball is a simple game: Defend without fouling, make the right play and knock down shots early,” coach Bill Walton said. “I feel like we didn’t do any of those things.”

The Kings certainly didn’t defend. The Pistons were without Andre Drummond and Blake Griffin, along with taking the occassion to send a message regarding punctuality to rookie Sekou Doumbouya, who didn’t start for the first time in 10 games. Despite the absences, the Pistons got way too comfortable shooting the basketball at 53 percent for the game, and at an even higher clip than that in their 36-point, third quarter that put the game away.

Meanwhile, the Kings certainly didn’t have a coherent plan to match the high-scoring Pistons. Missing 25 of their 35 3-point shot attempts kept Sacramento’s offense disjointed and unable to make up the deficit, which grew and grew.

“There are times where we are out there playing good basketball and there are times when we’re not,” De’Aaron Fox said. “I said it before, you just try to play the best basketball you can for the most amount of time. I don’t think we’re doing that right now.”

With the recent trade of Trevor Ariza to Portland, and the Pistons’ lineup changes, the game became a battle of new faces. One stood out: Reggie Jackson, playing in his first game after missing 42 due to a back injury, led the Pistons with 22 points and four assists.

“When you alternate (Jackson with Derrick Rose, who also scored 22 points), you have stability at the point guard position, and that’s what this league is all about, guys that can create and run the floor,” coach Dwayne Casey said of his team’s offense.

Rose, the NBA’s renaissance man, and the guy most frequently mentioned to upgrade a playoff contender’s outlook down the stretch of this season, scored better than 20 points for the 10th straight game, matching his career-best stretch from his MVP season in 2011.

Christian Wood added 23 points to give Detroit three scorers with 20 or more, and Svi Mykhailiuk added 13. The Pistons poured it on in a 70-point, second half that far too much resembled a basketball clinic for the Kings’ liking.

“It’s about where we’re going and I’m a very patient person,” Walton said. “I believe in our group, but we need to do a lot of things including starting games with a much more competitive, engaged mindset. So, I still have all the belief in the world in our team. It’s still surreal to be coaching this team, but there are some things that we need to improve on and improve on quickly because it’s too late in the season to be having these same types of mistakes so frequently.”

The Kings continue their road swing on Friday in Chicago. The Kings and Bulls will be meeting for the second time this season after the Chicago held on for a 113-106 win at Golden 1 Center on December 2.

 

 

 

 

 

Sacramento Kings podcast with Charlie O: Kings can’t stand the Heat on five game losing streak

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msn.com photo: msn.com photo: Sacramento Kings guard Buddy Hield (24) attempts a 3-pointer over Miami Heat guard Kendrick Nunn, left, and forward Duncan Robinson (55) during the first half, Monday, Jan. 20, 2020, in Miami.

On the Kings podcast with Charlie O:

#1 The Sacramento Kings lost another one this time by five points 118-113 in Miami it was the overtime stanza that dropped the Kings as the Heat outscored them 13-8

#2 The Kings only won in the first frame the first quarter 24-21 but dropped the rest of game and showed flashes forcing overtime

#3 The Kings Nemanja Bjelica led with 22 points he was one of the main reasons why Sacramento stayed in this one.

#4 For the Heat Kendrick Nunn kept things going with a team leading 25 the highest scorer of the contest.

#5 It’s off to Little Cesar’s Arena in Detroit, the Kings will face the Detroit Pistons (16-28) Wednesday night. The Pistons have been playing .500 ball winning four of their last eight.

Charlie O hosts the Sacramento Kings podcast each Tuesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

The Kings lost their fifth consecutive game in Miami 118-113

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By Charlie O. Mallonee

The Sacramento Kings lost their fifth consecutive game on Monday afternoon in Miami. The Kings took the Heat to overtime but lost 118-113.

The optimist will say the Kings came close to handing the Heat just their second home loss of the season. The proper response at this point of the season is: “Close on counts in hand grenades and horseshoes!”

The situation is going supercritical

The Kings record has fallen to 15-28 for the season. They are now 5.0 games out of eighth place which is the final playoff spot. With the season more than half over, time is slipping away at a rapid rate.

As head coach Luke Walton said over a week ago, “No one is coming to save us.” Sacramento is not going to be able to make one blockbuster trade that is going to change their entire direction for the remainder of the season. They just do not have the pieces in place to make such a deal.

FiveThirtyEight.com gives the Kings just a 2% chance of making the NBA Playoffs. They are projecting Sacramento to finish with a record of 32-50 which certainly seems to be within the realm of reason. That would also put the Kings well short of being a playoff team … again.

The Kings battled hard in this game

After being blown out in Utah to start this road trip, the Kings regrouped to put up a fight against the very talented Miami Heat. In fact, the Kings held a 58-56 lead at the half. The Kings continued to battle the Heat and the game finished in a tie in the regulation 48 minutes after Bam Adebayo tied the game with a layup with less than a second left in the game.

Miami went on a 7-0 run to finish overtime to guarantee the win over the Kings. Miami has lost just one game this season at home and after the game on Monday, the Kings now know why.

Top performers

Kings

  • Nemanja Bjelica scored 22 points and pulled down six rebounds
  • Buddy Hield put up 20 points, grabbed seven rebounds and added seven assists
  • De’Aaron Fox scored 14 points and dished out eight assists
  • Bogdan Bogdanovic scored 14 points
  • Harrison Barnes scored 11 points and hauled in five rebounds

Miami

  • Kendrick Nunn scored 25 points to go with seven rebounds and six assists
  • James Johnson added 22 points, six rebounds, three assists and two blocks
  • Goran Dragic put up 18 points plus four assists
  • Bam Adebayo finished with 16 points, 11 points and five assists

 

 

Up next

The Kings will travel on to Detroit to face the Pistons on Wednesday.

The Heat will host the Wizards on Wednesday night.

 

Kings dropped their fourth consecutive game on Saturday night in Utah 123-101

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by Charlie O. Mallonee

The Sacramento Kings lost their fourth-consecutive game in Utah on Saturday night 123-101. That is not how the Kings wanted to kick off their five-game road trip.

The Kings were never really in the game against the Jazz. Utah outscored the Kings 38-22 in the opening quarter and that set the tone for the entire game.

Sacramento (15-27) was not able to stop the Utah (29-13) pick and roll attack. The Kings also kept sending the Jazz to the free throw line and Utah kept converting those opportunities.

The Kings were missing Holmes

The Kings defense really missed the injured Richaun Holmes on Saturday night. When Sacramento beat Utah back in November, Holmes played a very physical game versus Jazz star Rudy Gobert. On Saturday night, no one kept a body on Gobert and he had his way with the Kings.

Bogi was back for SAC

Bogdan Bogdanovic returned to the lineup for the Kings, but it was apparent that he was still a bit “rusty” as he returned from being off the court. Bogdanovic scored 11 points shooting 5-for-11 from the floor. He also added four rebounds and four assists in his 22-plus minutes of playing time.

The other Bogi was really on

Utah’s Bogdanovic – Bojan – scored 30 points in his team’s victory. He shot 10-for-15 overall and 6-of-9 from behind the 3-point line. Bogdanovic was really just unstoppable.

TOP PERFORMERS

Leading scorers

  • Bojan Bogdanovic was the game’s high scorer putting 30 points in the book
  • De’Aaron Fox scored a team-high 21 points for the Kings

The Glass cleaners

  • Rudy Gobert the leading rebounder with 15 and made it a double-double game by scoring 28 points
  • Marvin Bagley III led the Kings with seven rebounds

Dropping dimes

  • Joe Ingles distributed a game-leading 12 assists
  • Fox led the Kings with eight dimes

THE BIG HEADLINE OF THE NIGHT

According to league sources, the Portland Trail Blazers and the Sacramento Kings have made a five -player trade. There has not been an official announcement because one of the players involved cannot sign a regular NBA contract until Tuesday.

Reportedly, the Kings will send Trevor Ariza, Wenyen Gabriel, and Caleb Swanigan to Portland in exchange for Kent Bazemore and Anthony Tolliver. The Kings would also receive two second-round draft picks, one in 2024 and one for 2025.

The reason Portland was interested in the trade is believed to be their interest in adding Kevin Love to their roster. This trade will clear millions from their payroll that they need in order to make room to make a deal for Love.

The Kings were interested in the deal because they will receive two serviceable players with expiring contracts. Combined those contracts will be worth over 21-million dollars salary cap clearing-dollars. Sacramento may have just made the way to keep Bogdan Bogdanovic a Sacramento King for the long term.

The Kings will also open an extra roster spot in the deal.

Look for the next deal that the Kings will make to involve Dewayne Dedmon who has publicly requested a trade. The Kings will no doubt be looking for a player with an expiring contract in order to have the flexibility for next season.

Kings just couldn’t get to finish line Mavericks win it 127-123

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@Sportsnet photo: The Dallas Mavericks Luka Doncic was hard to contain as he and the Mavericks rains buckets on the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday night at Golden One Center in Sacramento

By Jeremiah Salmonson

SRS Kings beat writer

SACRAMENTO–The Sacramento Kings continued to be mire in the mist that is mediocrity. Just when you think they are turning a corner they have a puzzling defeat that puts them back at square one.

The Kings were hoping to flip the script against an opponent they beat on the road last month, the Dallas Mavericks. It was set to be the showdown of Luka Doncic and Marvin Bagley both of whom were picked high in the draft two seasons ago. The tip-off was set for 7 PM PST at Golden One Center.

In the first quarter, the Kings got a strong showing from Buddy Hield. Trying to put his early-season struggles behind him, Buddy was in double figures in the first with ten points. However, the Mavericks managed to take the early lead on 55.6% shooting 35-31. Maxi Kleber was the leading scorer for the Mavs with eight points.

In the second quarter, The Kings kept things close. The Kings scored 36 points in the second but it wasn’t enough to take the lead. The Mavs added 36 as well to keep the game right where it started in the second at a four-point Kings deficit 71-67. The games leading scorers to this point were Buddy Hield and Seth Curry who both had 16 points. The Kings would look to keep up the pace on defense to contain the Mavs offense.

In the third quarter, The Kings had a familiar occurrence take place. That is the third-quarter meltdown. The Mavs outscored the Kings 37 to 26 in the third to make it a 108-93 game. The Kings looked defeated. The Kings defense had let them down in a big way. The Mavs had scored 35, 36, and 37 points in the first three quarters. No NBA team is going to win a game with those numbers. The Kings were heading into the final session looking for a miracle.

In the final quarter, no miracle occurred in Sacramento. The Mavericks scored 19 in the fourth compared to the Kings 20 as the Mavs came away with the victory 127-123. The Leading scorers for the Kings in defeat were De’Aaron Fox with 27 points, Buddy Hield with 25 points and Harrison Barnes who put up 22. For the victorious Mavericks, it was Luka Doncic who had 24 points to go along with 17 assists and 15 rebounds. The Kings are now 15-26 on the season and are running out of excuses.

They are about to embark on a long road trip that will really test this team’s resolve to stay in the hunt this season.

Up Next: The Kings head out on the road to take on the Utah Jazz on Saturday at 6 PM PST. The Kings won’t return home until January 29th.

Sacramento Kings podcast with Charlie O: Kings can’t force overtime lose by a bucket 114-112 to Orlando

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nbcsports.com photo: The Sacramento Kings De’Aaron Fox (35) defends against the Orlando Magic’s center Nikola Vucevic (9) Monday night at Golden One Center in Sacramento

 On the Kings podcast with Charlie O:

#1 The Kings were focused and concentrated but in the end they lost by a bucket in a see saw fourth quarter loss to the visiting Orlando Magic 114-112 on Monday night at Golden One Center.

#2 The Magic wanted this one just as badly as the Kings did and both team played to death and maybe forcing sudden death but the Magic were able to survive and win in regulation.

#3 Four players in double figures for the Magic with Nikola Vucevic finished on top for the Magic with 26 points it was hard to defend the Magic.

#4 Talk about the kind of night that Nemanja Bjelica who led the Kings in double figures with 34 points the highest scorers for both team

#5 Wednesday night at Golden One the Kings will try again to get in the win column as they tip off against the Dallas Mavericks at 7:00pm

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

 

Empty Sac: Kings battle back only to come up short, lose to Magic 114-112

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By Morris Phillips

SACRAMENTO–Slow starts, heartbreaking finishes, the Kings have seen enough of those this season.

But the reality is that’s what the Kings are about, and Monday’s heartbreaking 114-112 loss to the Magic–decided on Aaron Gordon’s three-point play with 1.1 seconds remaining–was another painful reminder.

“You don’t want to come down to these one-point games because crazy things happen,” coach Luke Walton said. “You have to take care of business before that.”

The Magic came in as the NBA’s lowest-scoring team, averaging just above 103 points per game. But the Kings immediately made the visitors feel comfortable by allowing them 33 first quarter points, which matched their best output in the opening quarter this season. Orlando didn’t have to up the tempo, they just took what the Kings gave them: 26 shot attempts, ample second chance opportunities, four made threes and five made free throws. Down 33-25 after a period, the Kings were already trending negatively.

With the threes falling, and the free throw opportunities swinging dramatically in Orlando’s favor, the Magic took their biggest lead of the night, 65-48 with a minute remaining before halftime. At that point the Kings not named Nemanja Bjelica started to play, constructing a 15-2 run ending the second quarter and starting the third that got them back into it.

Bjelica was keeping the Kings afloat at that point, scoring 25 of the team’s first 63 points. Bjelica would go on to put up 34 points and eight 3-pointers, both career bests, but his super efficient output wasn’t what consumed his thoughts after the game.

“We lost the game earlier, and we need to stop that,” Bjelica said. “We need to start the game like we finished the last five minutes.”

In the game’s final five minutes, Kings’ guard De’Aaron Fox turned on the jets and helped his club wipe out a 100-93 deficit. As the capper to his 31-point, 10-rebound, 8-assist night, the speedy guard got into the lane and converted a three-point play that gave the Kings a 112-111 lead with 15 seconds remaining. As a small consolation, Fox thoroughly outplayed Markelle Fultz in matchup of guards taken in the first five picks of the 2017 NBA Draft. Fultz finished with 16 points and two assists.

On the Magic’s final possession, Evan Fournier patiently dribbled down Fox, but didn’t gain much advantage, and seemed content to settle for an off-balance jump shot at the free throw line extended. Instead Fournier got the ball to Gordon in the lane, who flipped the ball in the basket as Cory Joseph fouled him for the three-point opportunity. The resulting free throw put the Magic up 114-112 with little time remaining.

The Kings felt a foul should have been called on the game’s final play in which a pass in bounds gave Harrison Barnes a four-foot shot opportunity that fell short. But whistles weren’t blowing in Sacramento’s direction on Monday: the Magic converted 25 of 30 free throw attempts to the home team’s 10 of 11.

The Kings fell to 15-25 with the loss, and it was eighth time this season they’ve lost by three points or less.

Marvin Bagley Jr. returned to the lineup after missing the previous ten games and had a strong game with 18 points, six rebounds and two blocks in 23 minutes. Buddy Hield added 16, but Barnes and Trevor Ariza combined to miss 11 of their 14 shots.

The Kings continue their homestand on Wednesday when the Dallas Mavericks come to town looking to break a four-game losing streak to Sacramento that dates back to last season.