Happy 2024! The Kings got to start the new year with a nice, cozy, four-game home stay. First up was the Charlotte Hornets, who entered tonight on an 11-game losing streak. Grateful to the Detroit Pistons, the Hornets have been able to hide in the shadow of Detroit’s recently broken 28-game losing streak. With the “clean slate” mentality that comes with a new year, the Hornets were due for a win. But the Kings needed to enter tonight with the mindset that time is a construct that essentially means nothing, and there are no such things as “clean slates” in the middle of an NBA season. The Kings needed to continue to build on the momentum of their last two wins and put a bad team down. Let’s see how they did:
Quick Stats
Outcome: Kings lose, 104-111
Sacramento Kings: 104 pts, 44.0% fg, 38.9% 3 pt, 58.8% ft, 23 ast, 47 reb, 21 to
Charlotte Hornets: 111 pts, 51.2% fg, 35.3% 3 pt, 78.9% ft, 22 ast, 35 reb, 15 to
The odds were in the Kings’ favor. The Hornets hadn’t won since the first week of December. They were missing their best player in their point guard LaMelo Ball. They were on the second night of a back to back. And yet, in a game that was nearly impossible to lose, the Kings found a way.
The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly
The Good:
- Glass Gang: The Kings won the rebounding contest 48-35. For much of the game, the Hornets showed little interest in attacking the offensive glass, allowing the Kings to secure most of their defensive rebounding opportunities. But the Kings found a lot of their scoring success on second chance opportunities on their own end, securing 15 offensive rebounds that they took advantage of. In a game where their offense never found a consistent flow, the Kings relied on their physicality on the glass to keep them in this game.
The Bad:
- Defense: The Hornets are not a good team. On top of that, they were missing their offensive engine in LaMelo Ball. With these two things in mind, Charlotte focused on one dimensional offense of one on one actions. For a good defensive NBA team, this would be a welcomed strategy. Unfortunately, the Kings are still not a good defensive NBA team. Instead, the Kings failed to stop the ball and allowed either straight line drives into the paint or simple drive and kicks for open shots to defeat them. Terry Rozier torched the Kings for 34 points on 13 made field goals. Off the bench, PJ Washington contributed another 17 points on 3-6 from the 3-point line, enjoying open looks from Rozier’s penetration into the paint. Losing to a complex, multi-threat level offense is one thing. Losing to a simple offense fueled purely by effort is unacceptable.
- Free Throws: The Kings had another frustrating night from the line, shooting 10-17. UGH.
The Ugly:
- Turnovers: Sacramento’s offense was sloppy, disjointed, and downright funky all night long. Despite the usual fourth quarter boost we have become so accustomed to from De’Aaron Fox (30 points), there was no consistency to the Kings’ offense. Most of this was due to the frequency of turnovers the Kings committed – 20 in total. Domantas Sabonis had an unusual triple double stat line tonight, finishing with 23 points, 19 rebounds, and 11 turnovers. So many passes flew through fingers and completely stymied any chance of building an offensive rhythm. The Hornets converted the Kings’ 20 turnovers into 17 points.
The King of Kings
Chris Duarte is still getting used to his new role in the starting lineup but we saw one of his best performances tonight. Duarte finished with 12 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, and a handful of hustle plays. On more than one occasion, he positioned himself to be in the right place at the right time to clean up some of the Kings’ sloppy execution by putting in the extra effort to save the play.
Up Next
Wednesday, January 3rd vs. Orlando Magic – 7:00 P.M. (PT)
