Category: Sacramento Kings

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

Published on by Charlie O. MalloneeLeave a comment

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.

Headline Sports with Barbara Mason: Warriors drop their third straight 104-79; Raiders at their lowest point; plus more

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Photo credit: nba.com/warriors

On Headline Sports with Barbara:

#1 The Atlanta Hawks handled the Golden State Warriors 104-79 loss Eric Paschall lead all Warriors scorers with 24 points on Monday night. The Warriors’ Draymond Green didn’t play.

#2 Have the Oakland Raiders sank to their lowest point of the season losing huge to the Kansas Chiefs 40-9 on Sunday for their second straight loss?

#3 The San Francisco 49ers saw Baltimore Ravens kicker Justin Tucker kick a winning field goal to end the game Sunday in 20-17 loss for San Francisco.

#4 Last Saturday, the Sacramento Kings came back from a long four city road trip going 1-3. On Saturday they defeated the Denver Nuggets 100-97. The Kings lost to the Chicago Bulls on Monday night 113-106.

#5 The Cal Bears insured themselves a bowl spot after their victory over the UCLA Bruins 28-18. Cal quarterback Chase Garbers went 17-29 for 230 yards.

Headline Sports can be heard with Barbara each Tuesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Sacramento Kings podcast with Charlie O: Kings getting consistent scoring from Barnes and Hield

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Photo credit: aroyalpain.com

On the Kings podcast with Charlie O:

#1 The Kings came back after a four-game road trip to defeat the Denver Nuggets on Saturday 100-97 and then played the Chicago Bulls on Monday night and lost it 113-106.

#2 Talk about the recent consistent scoring from the Kings’ Harrison Barnes.

#3 Buddy Hield has come into his own, consistently scoring in the Kings’ top three.

#4 Talk about the Kings defense. For example in their game against the Denver Nuggets last Saturday, they held them to just seven points in the fourth quarter and they closed in on the Bulls on Monday night.

#5 The Kings head to Portland to face the Blazers on Wednesday. Talk a little about what’s in store for the Kings.

Join Charlie O for the Kings basketball podcasts Tuesday nights at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Kings suffer frustrating loss to the Bulls, 113-106, when their comeback falls short

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By Morris Phillips

SACRAMENTO–The rope-a-dope strategy employed by the Kings that shocked the Nuggets on Saturday didn’t translate on Monday against the visiting Chicago Bulls.

The Kings again spotted their opponent a sizeable lead, but this time the comeback fell short. Behind 28 points from Laurie Markkanen, and 20 from Zach LaVine, the Bulls survived Sacramento’s fourth quarter rally to win 113-106.

The Kings failed to climb within one game of .500, falling to 8-11 on the season. The loss also dropped the Kings a game behind the Suns–who won in Charlotte Monday–for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

The Kings had won 8 of 13 coming in, including their unquestioned best win of the season to date over the Northwest Division-leading Nuggets, in which they trailed by 17 at the half, only to rally for an overtime win, 100-97. Against the Bulls, the Kings trailed by 11 at the half, and 10 after three, but could get no closer than 102-100 with 2:18 remaining.

Buddy Hield led the Kings with 26 points, despite missing 10 of his 13 3-point attempts. Afterwards, he pointed to the Kings’ slow start as the reason for the loss.

“When you give a team confidence, they come back and bite you quick,” Hield said of the Bulls, who had lost both of their previous stops on their current road trip, and seven of nine.

After a fast start, things unraveled for the Kings in the second quarter, when the Bulls surged to a double-digit lead behind their five reserves that saw action.

Rookie Coby White, Ryan Arcidiacono, Thaddeus Young and Denzel Valentine each hit a 3-pointer, and along with center Daniel Gafford combined to shoot 8 for 15 from the field. Meanwhile, the Kings’ reserves committed seven turnovers as the home team fell behind by as much as 16 points, 47-31 with 3:20 remaining before the break.

Hield and Harrison Barnes combined to miss 11 of their 15 shots attempts in the first half, as Sacramento was again without Marvin Bagley III, De’Aaron Fox and Harry Giles.

Bogdan Bodanovic, the Kings’ spark off the bench, admitted afterwards that his balky, left hamstring has forced coach Luke Walton to put him on a minutes restriction where he’s limited to five minutes on the floor in any stretch. Since missing the Kings’ road game in Brooklyn on November 22, Bogdanovic has logged fewer than 30 minutes a game, and failed to make at least half of his shots from the floor. On Monday, Bogdanovic finished with 11 points, on 4 of 9 shooting.

For the Bulls, the win marked the first time this season their two, young stars, LaVine and Markkanen have each reached 20 points in a game.

“We’re still encouraging him,” LaVine said of Markkanen. “He had a great game. He needs to play that way all the time.”

The Kings start a four-game road trip in Portland on Wednesday with stops in Dallas, San Antonio and Houston after that. The Kings are in the midst of a stretch where they play 12 of 16 games outside of Sacramento.

Kings come back to beat Denver 100-97 in OT

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Photo credit: @SacramentoKings

By Jeremiah Salmonson

SACRAMENTO — Saturday marked the return home for the Sacramento Kings after a long road trip. The trip took the Kings through the cities of New York, Washington D.C., Boston, and Philadelphia. It was a tough trip for the Kings who went 1-3 beating the Washington Wizards. The Kings were looking to continue their climb back to .500 against a formidable opponent in the Denver Nuggets on Saturday afternoon. The tip-off was set for 2 PM PST.

In the first quarter, the Kings struggled early. No one on the Kings could seem to hit a shot and Denver began knocking down their’s after struggling in the opening minutes as well. With 2:00 minutes remaining in the first quarter, the Kings were already down 27-13. The rest of the quarter the Kings were able to put up a few more points to cut the deficit to 27-17 going into the second quarter.

In the second quarter, Yogi Ferrell ran the point, the Kings offense seemed to show life in the early minutes for the second. In the opening 2 minutes of time, the Kings managed to cut the lead to 5 points. However, the Nuggets starting piling on again after that. The Nuggets would put up a total of 57 first-half points compared to the Kings’ 40. This obviously wasn’t what Luke Walton and Co. planned for the first half. The King’s fans let out a subtle chorus of boos as the team headed into the locker room. Garry Harris led all scorers in the first half putting up 20 points. The leading scorer for the Kings was Harrison Barnes, who had 8 points for the Kings. If the Kings hoped to come back they needed to shoot better. Specifically, be better from long range.

In the third quarter, the Kings played better than they had all game. That’s not to say there wasn’t room for improvement. The Kings outscored the Nuggets 27-18, which was a marked improvement on both ends of the floor. Led by Harrison Barnes (12 points in the 3rd), the Kings managed to cut the deficit 67-75. The Kings would need to make a big ground in the fourth quarter to have a chance.

In the fourth quarter, the Kings still struggled to hit open shots. Namely, Buddy Hield really struggled. Buddy had a considerable number of open shots that he was unable to knockdown. Regardless of the shooting struggles, the Kings managed to hang tough. With 3:20 left in the game, the score was 87-80 and the Kings had a chance to execute. The Kings managed to do just that. The Kings were able to come back and tie the game with a Buddy Hield layup with 22.9 seconds left. The Kings then got the defense stop with a Rashaan Holmes block and it sent the Kings to overtime. In overtime, the Kings and Nuggets would battle and trade baskets. The game would come down to the final 14 seconds with the score 98 to 97 Kings up. Buddy Hield would be fouled on the inbound and make both his free throws. From there, the Kings got a stop and would go on to win 100-97.

The Kings stay home to host the Chicago Bulls on Monday at 7 PM PST.

Embiid goes off as the Sixers beat the Kings 97-91

Published on by Charlie O. MalloneeLeave a comment
Sixers B
Photo: @Philadelphia 76ers

by Charlie O. Mallonee

The Sacramento Kings wrapped up their four-game road trip in Philadelphia on Wednesday on a “low note”. The 76ers Joel Embiid exploded for a game-high 33 points and 16 rebounds to lead his team to a 97-91 victory.

Embiid really was in need of a good game after being held scoreless in his team’s loss to the Raptors on Monday night. Embiid said he didn’t feel any pressure to have a “statement game”, but he was happy his team came away with the “W”.

3rd Quarter letdown

After trailing by just one point at halftime, the Kings put themselves in a great position to steal this game on the road. After starting a bit slow in the third period, Sacramento came alive and kept the score close until midway through the quarter.

The Kings went into a 3:04 scoring drought at the end of the third quarter which allowed the Sixers to outscore them 29-19. Philly led 76-65 after 36 minutes of play and the Kings would never be able to catch up.

SAC outscored the 76ers in the final quarter but it was too little too late. The Sixers (12-6) won the game 97-91.

Spotlight on the Kings

Looking at the final box score there is one glaring stat that jumps off the page. The Kings (7-10) went to the free throw line only nine times on Wednesday night and converted just four of those opportunities. An NBA team is not going to win a game going to the charity stripe just nine times.

To give you a comparison, the 76ers went to the line 24 times in the game – a very acceptable number. They went 20-for-24 (83.3%) from the stripe which helped them to win the game.

Ironically, the Kings outscored the Sixers in the paint 40-38 even though they were facing Embiid, Al Horford and Tobias Harris.

The biggest lead for Sacramento in the game for SAC was one point. The 76ers held a 17 point lead in the fourth quarter.

The Kings also had a tough night from “downtown”. They shot just 9-for-34 (26.5%) from beyond the 3-point line.

Sacramento scoring:

  • Buddy Hield was the team’s high scorer putting 22 points in the book. He had a tough night shooting going 9-for-24 overall and 3-for-12 from 3-point land.
  • Dewayne Dedmon came off the bench to put up 18 points and grab six rebounds.
  • Bogdan Bogdanovic added 17 points hitting 7 of 15 shots.
  • Harrison Barnes scored 14 points and grabbed nine rebounds.

Focus on the Sixers

Sixers A
Embiid had a big game @ Philadelphia 76ers

The 76ers blocked 10 Kings shots in the game while SAC blocked just three of the Sixers shots.

Philly scoring:

  • Matisse Thybulle came off the bench to score 15 points. He went a perfect 5-for-5 from the field and hit 3 of 3 from behind the 3-point line.
  • Forward Tobias Harris scored 14 points.
  • The veteran Al Horford scored 12 points and hauled in seven rebounds.
  • Point guard Ben Simmons recorded a double-double putting up 10 points and grabbing 14 rebounds.

Up next

The Kings return home and will host the Denver Nuggets on Saturday afternoon at the Golden 1 Center.

The Sixers will face the Knicks on Friday night at the Garden.

Sacramento Kings podcast with Charlie O: Kings winners 7 of 11, lose to Celtics by one

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Photo credit: goldengatesports.com

On the Sacramento Kings podcast with Charlie O:

#1 The Kings lost a close battle with the Celtics 103-102 in Boston Monday night. Ironically, the same score the Kings beat the Celtics by in Sacramento.

#2 Bubby Hield gave it all he got this time scoring 41 points, but it wasn’t enough to beat the Celtics.

#3 Harrison Barnes whose had a hot hand of late scored 20.

#4 The score was close in the fourth quarter the Celts were just a little better 28-27 in a real razor-close quarter.

#5 The Kings get Tuesday off and face the 76ers in Philadelphia Wednesday night.

Sacramento Kings podcasts are heard each Tuesday with Charlie O at http://www.sportsradioservice.com