Tag: Michael Malone

Kings Handle Houston 106-91

Published on by Charlie O. Mallonee1 Comment

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By Charlie O. Mallonee

The Sacramento Kings took the floor on Sunday against the Houston Rockets and looked like an entirely different team than the one that lost to Phoenix on Friday. They moved the ball on offense, blocked shots, made steals and played solid defense. The Kings beat the Rockets 106-91 because they played like a different team.

The game came down to the fact that Sacramento’s big three – Cousins, Gay and Thomas outplayed Houston’s big three of Howard, Harden and Parsons. The Kings big three outscored the Rockets big three 66-57.

Rudy Gay had a big game in his Sacramento home court debut. He scored 26 points (14 in the first quarter), shot 50.0% (10-20) from the floor, pulled down 5 rebounds, added four assists, made four steals and had one blocked shot. Yes, Rudy Gay is a difference maker for this Kings team.

DeMarcus Cousins posted a double-double, 21 points and 10 rebounds, despite not scoring his first points until 6:01 in the second quarter. Isaiah Thomas scored 19 points, had eight assists and made two steals in his 41 minutes on the floor.

Dwight Howard scored 13 points for the Rockets. He really hurt his team at the free throw line where shot 5 for 13. “Hack-a-Howard” looks like a solid defensive plan.

Harden put up 25 points and was 3 for 9 from 3-point land. Chandler Parsons recorded 19 points, seven rebounds and five assists in 40 minutes of playing time.

The Rockets jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead in the first quarter. It looked like Houston might make it an early runaway. Then, Rudy Gay made a steal and a score that led the Kings on a 6-0 run. Gay, in his home debut, kept the Kings in the game with 14 first quarter points. Sacramento needed that from Gay as Cousins was held scoreless in the first period. At the end of one, the game was tied at 28 all.

The second quarter started off with the teams trading easy baskets. Derrick Williams led the Kings early in period and ended the first half with nine points. Isaiah Thomas hit a 3-pointer and was fouled. He hit the free throw for the rare 4-point play. Cousins scored his first points with 6:01 left in the half on a breakaway dunk. Sacramento opened up a 48-38 lead. The Kings also helped themselves from the free throw line. The Kings shot 16 for 19 (84.2%) from the line while Houston went just 10 for 20 (50.0%) from the stripe. Dwight Howard went 3 for 8 for free throws.

At the half, the Kings led the Rockets 57-49. Sacramento held Houston to just 21 points in the second quarter.

James Harden opened up the third quarter with a long 3-pointer. The Kings answered with an “alley oop” from Isaiah Thomas to Rudy Gay. At 10:54, Harden rolled his ankle while driving the lane. He shot two free throws one footed and left the game. The Rockets responded by stepping up their game and cut the Kings lead to one, 61-60. The Kings woke up and started scoring. Dwight Howard continued to kill his team from the charity stripe. Sacramento made steals, blocked shots and make baskets that allowed them to open up a 10 point lead. Harden returned at 5:26 but was obviously not at 100%. The third quarter ended with the Kings leading 81-71.

The Rockets made a mini run to open the fourth quarter cutting the Kings lead to 81-75. Howard continued to shoot poorly from the free throw line. The Kings settled down and opened up a 91-78 lead. Cousins, Thompson and Gay continued to break down the Houston defense and score baskets down low. The Rockets started looking tired, Harden was quiet and the Kings opened up a lead that they would never relinquish. Sacramento won the game 106-91.

After the game, Kings Head Coach Michael Malone said, “I felt better about the defense. We must have had a great film session.” Malone felt his team was ready to play.

Malone also stated, “I want DeMarcus (Cousins) or Rudy (Gay) on the floor at all times. Rudy makes us tougher to guard.”

With his team facing four games in five days on the road, Malone is hoping that the tough road trip will help his team build chemistry.

Note: Quincy Acy saw his first playing time as King versus the Rockets. He played 12 minutes, scored four points, had three rebounds and blocked one shot. Aaron Gray did not play on Sunday, but Malone indicated that Gray would see action on the road trip.

 

 

Kings Fall In PHX 116-107

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Photo credit: Barry Gossage

By Charlie O. Mallonee

Three sets of numbers summarize the Kings versus the Suns game on Friday night – 49.4%, 50.0% and 57. The Suns shot 49.4% from the field and posted 50.0% from 3-point land. Phoenix guards Goran Dragic and Eric Bledsoe combined for 57 points.

The Phoenix Suns defeated the Sacramento Kings 116-107.

Why did the Kings lose the game? Head Coach Michael Malone says it was a lack of defense. In his post-game interview, Malone said, “I am embarrassed by our lack of defense right now.”

The Kings gave up 122 points to the Utah Jazz on Wednesday night and gave up 116 to Phoenix. In the NBA, a team is not going to win many games giving up that many points.

Before the beginning of the season, Malone had set a goal of not allowing the opposition more than 20 points in a quarter. The Suns scored 28, 30, 27 and 31 by quarter against the Kings.

In spite of all the negative numbers, the Kings had a chance to win the game in the fourth quarter. The Kings trailed the Suns by just three points (87-84) at the 11:09 mark, but the play of Bledsoe and four fourth quarter dunks by Miles Plumlee kept Sacramento from making a comeback.

The Suns were led by Dragic with 29 points, Bledsoe’s 28 and Plumlee added 12 of his own. Dragic was four of five from beyond the 3-point line.

The lack of a true defensive effort overshadowed the debut of Rudy Gay in a Kings uniform. Gay scored 24 points in 36 minutes of playing time. He was eight for 12 from the floor (66.6%), eight for nine from the free throw line, had one assist, one steal, two blocks and one rebound. After the game Malone said he was happy with Gay’s debut except the one rebound. There will be rebounding drills tomorrow for the newest King.

Aaron Gray also made his Kings debut against the Suns. Gray scored seven points and pulled down nine rebounds in his 13 minutes on the floor. He also showed his ability to set some serious screens on offense.

Isaiah Thomas led the Kings with 29 points. DeMarcus Cousins put up 15 and Derrick Williams added 14 points.

The Kings will have to regroup quickly as they host the Houston Rockets on Sunday in Sacramento. A strong defensive effort will be needed if the Kings are to defeat Dwight Howard, James Harden and company.

Kings Fold in the Fourth; Lose to Lakers 106-100

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Photo Credit: Rocky Widner/NBAE/Getty Images

By Charlie O. Mallonee

The Kings lost at home on Friday night to the Los Angeles Lakers 106-100. It was game they did not have to lose. It was a game the Kings should have won.

After the game, Kings Head Coach Michael Malone said one word was on his mind, “discipline. And, we had none in this game tonight.”

Turnovers and lack of defense in the fourth quarter led to the Kings defeat. The Kings turned to ball over five times in the final period. The Lakers outscored the Kings 25-13 in fourth. That lack of discipline cost Sacramento the 87-81 lead they had after three periods of play.

The game started slow for the Kings. It looked like they might fall back into their habit of falling seriously behind and then having to play catch up later in the game. With 3:19 to play in the first, Isaiah Thomas came into the game for Vasquez and the Kings’ tempo changed dramatically. They went from trailing the Lakers by seven to leading the game by two points (30-28) by the end of the quarter. The crowd knew their team could win the game if they continued to play at that level.

In the second quarter, Thomas continued to lead the way. He played the entire 12 minutes, scored 10 points and dished out three assists. The problem for the Kings became their shot selection and shooting percentage. Sacramento’s field goal shooting dropped to 36.0% (9/25) while the Lakers shot 50.0%. The Kings managed to outscore the Lakers 25-24 in the quarter and took a 55-52 lead with them to locker room at the half.

The Kings came out in the third quarter ready to do battle. They established an eight point lead (68-60) by the 7:39 mark in the period. Then with 6:39 to play, DeMarcus Cousins picked up his fourth personal foul which would ultimately have a dramatic impact on the game as he had to sit on the bench. The rest of the Kings went to work picking up the slack. When Ben McLemore hit back-to-back 3-pointers, it looked like the Kings were poised to beat the Lakers. When the quarter ended, the score was the Kings 87 and the Lakers 81.

Then came the disastrous fourth quarter and the Kings shot just 23.5% (4/17). Isaiah Thomas was 0/4, Cousins was 0/4 and Williams 0/1 from the field. Sacramento turned the ball over five times. They allowed the Lakers to steal the ball five times in the period. The Lakers outscored the Kings 25-13. The Kings ran out of gas, things got ugly and they lost the game 106-100.

“Obviously this isn’t what we worked on, diagrammed or hoped for,” said Michael Malone. “It’s obvious that we have to do a lot more. I thought we had great late-game execution against Golden State. We got whatever we wanted, we scored, and we executed. Tonight, down the stretch, we turned the ball over on almost every possession. It was very disappointing, obviously. We’ll have another chance tomorrow in Utah and we need to regroup to find a way to get a road win.”

DeMarcus Cousins and Ben McLemore led all scorers in the game with 20 points each. Isaiah Thomas tallied 14 points before going cold in the fourth quarter. John Salmons added 13 points; Williams and Thompson had nine points each.

Cousins made it a double-double game with his 20 points and 11 rebounds.

Pau Gasol and Jodie Meeks led the Lakers in scoring with 19 points each. Nick Young scored 14, Wesley Johnson and Steve Blake 13 each and Robert Sacre added 11 points.  Blake posted a double-double by adding 10 assists.

The Kings boarded a plane for Salt Lake City after the game. They will play the Utah Jazz on Saturday night. The Jazz were destroyed by the Trail Blazers on Friday night 130-97. On paper, the Kings should have real chance to defeat the Jazz, but that’s on paper. The reality is the game is on road versus a team that is just as hungry for a win as are the Kings.

Kings Lose Heartbreaker to Warriors 115-113

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By Charlie O. Mallonee

No matter who won the game, the opening paragraph was going to be the same. For one team it would be a well-deserved, hard fought victory and for the other team it would be a heartbreaking loss.

It was a well-deserved, hard fought 115-113 victory for the Golden State Warriors and a heartbreaking loss for the Sacramento Kings. The game literally came down to the final second on Sunday in Sacramento.

The fact that the game came down to last moment was a testament to the Sacramento Kings bench who did everything they were asked to do and more. With 2:08 left to play in the third quarter, the Kings trailed Golden State 88-72. Kings Head Coach Michael Malone said his team could have lost by 30 or fought back in attempt to win the game. The Kings fought back and Malone seemed very proud of his players.

The fourth quarter began with the Kings down by 10 points (GSW 90-SAC 80). Malone went with Patterson, Salmons, Thomas, Thornton and Hayes to start the period. That group closed the gap to six points. Green hit a 3-Pointer for the Warriors to make it a nine point lead as time was called with 8:13 to go in the game.

Coming out of the timeout, Cousins entered the game for Hayes. Cousins had an immediate impact with an assist and driving dunk that cut the Warrior lead to six.

Following an Isaiah Thomas steal and a Marcus Thornton 25 foot jump shot, the Warrior lead was down to one.

The Kings took the lead on a Thomas 3-Pointer off an assist from Cousins 104-102.

The game continued to see-saw back and forth. With 47.8 seconds to play, the game was tied at 111-111. Draymond Green put the Warriors back on top with a put-back of a Curry missed jumper.

After a 20 second timeout, Cousins hit a five foot jump hook to re-tie the game at 113-113. Salmons fouled Curry who hit both of his free throws to put the Warriors back in front 115-113.

Isaiah Thomas missed a lay-up with 1.8 seconds left to play. Bogut grabbed the rebound and the game was over. Golden State had defeated the Kings 115-113.

After the game Head Coach Michael Malone said, “Our guys have a ‘no quit’ attitude. I challenge them a lot. I never want them to be a team that just rolls over. What I like about our guys is that it could’ve been a 16 point deficit that turned into 30 but it turned into a two point lead and giving ourselves a chance. We were only one defensive rebound away from winning that game. The challenge that we have as a team is to stay together and find ways to close things out. Yes, we play the toughest schedule in the NBA but the reality is that we have another team coming in Tuesday night that’s not going to feel sorry for us. We have to do a better job at taking care of the ball and defending at a much higher level.”

The Kings came into the needing to shoot better on offense and to do a better job of defending the other team especially from beyond the 3-Point line. They accomplished one of those two goals on Sunday.

The Kings took advantage of a Warriors team that does not play great defense. Sacramento shot 52.6% (40/76) from the field and shot an impressive 47.4% (9/19) for 3-Pointers. As a team, they shot 85.7% (24/28) from the Free Throw Line. On offense, the Kings did a great job.

Their defense however let them down. The Kings allowed Golden State to shoot 51.2% (42/82) overall and an incredible 60.0% (15/25) from 3-Point land. Stephen Curry scored 38 points with 15 of those points coming from beyond the arc. Klay Thompson scored 28 points and 24 of his points came off of eight 3-Point goals.

DeMarcus Cousins led all Sacramento scorers with 24 points. Marcus Thornton scored 21 coming off the bench including five 3-Point goals. Patrick Patterson shot 100.0% (8/8) scoring 18 points in his off the bench role. Isaiah Thomas scored 19 points. The Kings bench scored 65 points on Sunday night against the Warriors.

POST GAME NOTES:

The Kings fall to 4-11 overall and 3-7 at home. It was the fourth consecutive loss for the Kings.

DeMarcus Cousins 24 point game was his ninth 20 point plus game of the season.

The Warriors are now 10-6 overall and 5-6 on the road.

Golden State has won both games with the Kings this season.

The Warriors and Kings will play again on Wednesday 2/19/14 in Sacramento.

 

Kings Lose to Clippers 104-98 in OT

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By Charlie O. Mallonee

Round three of the 4-game season series between the Clippers and the Kings was just as exciting as last Saturday’s 103-102 Los Angeles win. This time it took overtime to decide who the victors would be in Sacramento. When the final buzzer sounded, the Clippers had won the game 104-98 to take a commanding 3-0 lead in series.

The Clippers have not lost a game this season in which they have scored at least 100 points. On Friday, they started a new streak of winning a game with Chris Paul on the bench for the entire contest. The league’s best point guard could not play on Friday due to the strained hamstring that he experienced against the Knicks on Wednesday.

Darren Collison started at the point for LA and handled the team very well. He had 15-points, 2 assists and 1 steal in his 40 minutes of playing time. Collison quietly kept the ball moving into the hands of his teammates who did the most with their opportunities.

Jamal Crawford came off the bench for the Clippers and showed us that it is his world and we are just allowed to live in it. Crawford poured in 31-points (12/22 FG, 3/7 3-pt, 4/4 FT) with 11 assists and seven rebounds in 37 minutes of playing time. No matter where you looked, it seemed like Crawford was there. His 31-points led all scorers in the game.

DeMarcus Cousins played tough and at times moved Griffin and Jordan around underneath the basket at will. Cousins played 41 minutes posting 25-points, nine rebounds, six assists and three blocked shots. He played with fire and determination which was required especially against DeAndre Jordan who played a take no prisoners’ type of game all night.

The Kings may have had their best first quarter of basketball of the season. They played a high energy type of game on both offense and defense. The Kings were 11/20 (55.0%) from the field and held the Clippers to just a 38.1 (8/21) field goal percentage. The Kings led 24-23 after one quarter.

The game settled down in the second quarter and Jamal Crawford began his domination of the game. Crawford scored nine-points and had five assists in period. The pace of the game was also affected by the referees calling offensive and loose ball fouls. It was like the league office called and ordered them to call more of those type of fouls. That did not continue in the second half. The Clippers outscored the Kings 27-21 in the quarter and led at half-time 50-45.

The third quarter saw a change in the style of play. Rather than running the fast break or taking outside shots, both teams began playing tough under the basket and looking for high percentage shots which was reflected in the shooting stats. The Clippers shot 7/12 (58.3%) while the Kings shot 11/21 (52.4%) from the field. The Kings outscored LA 27-23 and trailed the Clippers 73-72 at the end of three quarters.

The fourth quarter was tough and gritty. Points came hard for both teams. The crowd became more involved as the teams battled for supremacy. The Kings won the quarter 22-21 and after 48 minutes of play the game was tied at 94-all.

In the overtime period, the depth of the Clippers came to bear on the Kings. The Clippers outscored the Kings 10-4 in the extra five minutes. Jamal Crawford and Blake Griffin led LA with four-points each. Patrick Patterson scored all four of the Kings overtime points. When the buzzer sounded, the final score was Los Angeles 104 – Sacramento 98.

After the game, Kings Head Coach Michael Malone said, “It was another tough loss against a team that we’ve played against three times already. We can’t get over the hump. I loved how hard our guys played tonight and there were a lot of great things that came out of the game. We don’t play them again until the last week of the season and maybe by then we’ll figure out a way to get a win against them.”

One of the major stories of the night for the Kings was the play of their newest acquisition Derrick Williams. Williams was traded to the Kings from Minnesota earlier in the week. He played 32 minutes, scored 12-points, had four assists and pulled down 6 rebounds.

Per Coach Malone, “I thought he was terrific. Right away I said that he’s a guy that brings great athleticism and versatility. We had great plays and transitions, we got out and ran. We had some plays at the rim and he was a big part of that. He’s only going to get better as he gets his feet set and gets more comfortable.”

UP NEXT: The Golden State Warriors will be the next opponents for the Sacramento Kings on Sunday at 3:00 PM in Sleep Train Arena. It will be the second meeting of the season between the two teams. GSW won the first game on November 2 in Oakland 98-87. The game will be the second contest in a four-game home stand that includes the OKC Thunder next Tuesday and the LA Lakers on Friday December 6. Per Kobe Bryant, Friday could be his first game of the 2013-14 season.

GAME NOTES: The Kings and Clippers next and last meeting of the season will be on April 12, 2014 at the Staples Center. It will be game 80 of the season for the Kings. The schedule was designed to create some early excitement for the new season, but four months between games in the division is bit much. There must be a better way to make divisional play more exciting spread out over the entire season.

Kings Lose Again

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By Charlie O. Mallonee

The Sacramento Kings suffered their fifth consecutive loss on Saturday night to the Portland Trail Blazers 96-85. The Kings trailed by as many as 20 points but made a comeback late in the fourth quarter. It was too little and too late.

In his post-game comments, Coach Michael Malone said his team needs to be more physical on defense. His team allowed the Blazers to pull down 19 offensive rebounds which created second and third chance opportunities for Portland to score.

Malone made no bones about what is going to happen before the Kings next game versus Brooklyn. He said, “… there will be changes.” He stated after six games he had seen enough to know that changes have to be made.

Malone also said that the Kings comeback attempts are coming too late in the game to give the team a chance to win. He knows his team has a great deal of work to do on both ends of the floor.

The Kings were outscored in three of the four quarters on Saturday night. They did manage to outscore the Blazers 31-27 in the final period.

On Friday night, the Kings were undone by the combination of LaMarcus Aldridge and Damian Lillard. Lillard scored just four points on Saturday in 36:45 minutes of playing time.

It was the combination of Aldridge and Wesley Matthews who inflected the pain on Saturday. Aldridge shot 10 for 19 from the floor scoring a team leading 22 points. Matthews was 8 for 11 from the field putting up 21 points for the game.

Coach Malone felt the play of Matthews was one the keys to Portland’s victory. He felt Matthews just scored at will.

Four of the five Portland starters scored in double figures. As a team, the Blazers shot 43.9% (36-82) from the field. That was well below their 48.8% of Friday night, but things became sloppy for the Blazers in the fourth quarter.

The Trail Blazers out rebounded the Kings 52-33. They also kept the Kings out of the paint in the first half forcing them take low percentage outside shots.

After the game Portland Head Coach Terry Stotts said,”It’s good to get a win. Back-to-back wins against the same team is not easy to do. The Kings are a good home team here. They’ve come back on everybody that they’ve played. It’s good to get out of here with a win. We played three good quarters of very good defense; they just made a strong run at the end.”

DeMarcus Cousins scored 30 plus points for the second consecutive game. Cousins finished with 33 points and 12 rebounds. He scored 15 of his 33 points in the fourth quarter. Cousins led all scorers in the game.

Isaiah Thomas added 12 points but only two of those points came in the second half. Thomas played just 17:20 minutes in the game. Greivis Vasquez played 32:19 at the point and scored six points plus he had five assists.

The play of Ben McLemore was one of the highlights for the Kings on Saturday night. The rookie played 27:30 minutes scoring 13 points. He was three for three from 3-point land and shot 50.0% (4-8) from the field. McLemore pulled down three rebounds along with one steal and one assist.

12 of the 13 Kings players saw playing time versus the Blazers. Only Ray McCallum did not enter the game for Sacramento.

The Kings shot 46.2% (36-78) for the game. Sacramento shot an abysmal 25.0% (3-12) from beyond the 3-point line.

The Kings coaching staff must search for answers between now and Wednesday when the Brooklyn Nets come to Sleep Train Arena.

That search for answers has already begun. As I walked to my car after the game, I observed Coach Malone and two of his assistants standing in the parking lot talking about what they should do to change things.

 

 

 

 

Kings fall hard at Golden State

Published on by Charlie O. Mallonee1 Comment

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By Charlie O. Mallonee

Every NBA fan knows that there is nothing harder for a team to do than win game two of a back-to-back schedule. The Kings traveled to Golden State and proved how hard it can be as they lost to the Warriors 98-87 after losing to the Clippers on Friday night. Do not let that score fool you. The game was much uglier than the final score would suggest.

In his post-game comments, Kings Head Coach Michael Malone summed up the game by saying his team did not shoot well and they did not defend well. He went on to say that his team’s effort was less than acceptable.

The game was essentially over after the first half. The Kings shot just 31.7% (13-41) from the field and were outscored by 10-points in the first and second quarters. The Warrior shot 53.7% (22-41) from the field and 46.7% (7/15) from behind the 3-point line. At half-time, the Warriors led the Kings 56-36.

The Kings came out hot in the third quarter by going on an opening 8-0 run to start the period. As the Kings attempted to fight their way back into the game, Golden State kept finding ways to score and keep the Kings at bay. At the 2:28 mark, Klay Thompson hit a 3-pointer followed by a Kings turnover that set up another Thompson 3-pointer. Sacramento never recovered from that sequence.

In the final quarter, both coaches went deep into their rotations to finish up the game. For the Kings, there was the first Jimmer Fredette sighting of the season. The Kings closed up the score but still lost 98-87

The Kings finished the game with a 34.5% (30-87) field goal shooting percentage. No matter what else you do, a team cannot win shooting 34.5%.

On defense, the Kings allowed the Warriors to shoot 51.3% (39-76). Sacramento allowed the Clippers to shoot 50% from the field on Friday night. The Kings cannot allow opponents to shoot that well and expected to win.

The one highlight of the game for the Kings was the play of rookie Ben McLemore. McLemore scored 19-points in 30 minutes of playing time. He also pulled down four rebounds, blocked two shots and added one assist. McLemore may have earned more playing time for himself with his performance against the Warriors.

The Kings will take Sunday off and return to practice on Monday. Their next game will on Tuesday when they host the “new look” Atlanta Hawks at Sleep Train Arena.