The Kings concluded their five-game road trip with a final stop in Phoenix to face a healthy Suns squad. After a heartbreaker in Milwaukee on Sunday night, the Kings looked to brighten their spirits in sunny Arizona. With the scoring trio of Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal standing in their way, the Kings needed to focus in and have a collective performance on both sides of the ball to compete in this one. Let’s see how they did:
Quick Stats
Outcome: Kings lose, 117-119
Sacramento Kings: 117 pts, 50.0% fg, 45.0% 3 pt, 58.3% ft, 34 ast, 31 reb, 14 to
Phoenix Suns: 119 pts, 49.4% fg, 45.9% 3 pt, 90.0% ft, 32 ast, 46 reb, 20 to
It feels as if everything around me is on fire. Is this basketball hell? Or am I just feeling the effects of the hot rage pulsing through my veins because I have to write about what I just witnessed? I am almost left speechless at the way the Kings lost this game. Keep in mind, I’ve been around for awhile, and have seen some pretty shocking ways to lose a basketball game. But this one? This one might take the cake.
The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
The Good:
- The First 90%: The Kings had the whole city of Sacramento riding high for 43 minutes of this game. From tip off, the Kings came out looking like the better team on both sides of the ball. On offense, the best brand of Beam Team basketball was on full display. Cuts were sharp, the ball was constantly moving, and the pace was flying in the Kings’ favor. The Kings tallied 15 assists in the first quarter alone and shot 14-32 from the 3-point line through the first three quarters. De’Aaron Fox led the team in scoring with 33 points on 6-10 from the 3-point line. They enjoyed energized minutes off the bench from Malik Monk (13 points & 6 assists) and Sasha Vezenkov (14 points). On the defensive side of things, the Kings showed their best performance of team defense we’ve seen all season. For most of the game, it looked like Grayson Allen (29 points) was going to be the runaway leading scorer for the Suns (in the end, he was, but only by 2 points) because the Kings were able to contain Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal, who combined for just 37 points through the first three quarters. Sacramento was defensively active, causing turnovers (20 in total), and even forced four shot clock violations. All of these efforts gained the Kings a comfortable lead for most of the game, putting them in a position to be successful, as they were up by 17 points with 5:11 to go. Until…
The Bad:
- Free Throws: Certainly not the reason they lost, as the Kings should have won this game even shooting 0-12 from the line, but they only made 7 of these 12 attempts. That’s 58.3%. That’s bad.
The Ugly:
- 10% Meltdown: It’s going to take some time for me to forgive this team for making me write about this, but here we go. As stated above, the Kings played 43 minutes of beautiful basketball and led us all to believe it would be a great night. After leading for nearly the entire game, the Kings were sitting with a 17-point lead and only 5:11 left on the clock. What happened next felt like a nightmare. To sum it up: the Kings committed four turnovers, wasted two possessions on shots that were blocked, and the Suns finished on a 23-4 run that featured a barrage of 3s from Kevin Durant and Eric Gordon. To call it an epic crumble feels like an understatement. After doing so well for the first 90% of the game, the Kings completely fell apart in the last 10%. Kevin Durant finished with 27 points, with 12 of those coming in the final five minutes of the game.
The King of Kings
Domantas Sabonis collected his 11th triple double of the season with 21 points, 12 rebounds, and 11 assists. Another layer to my rage is the fact that these incredible performances by Sabonis are being wasted in winnable losses.
Up Next
Thursday, January 18th vs. Indiana Pacers – 7:00 P.M. (PT)
