Kings 122, Hawks 107: Black Falcon > Hawk


It’s Monday again, folks, and the Kings embarked on the second half of their season after a long weekend off. Entering in the midst of a four-game losing streak, the Kings looked to right the ship against the Atlanta Hawks. It was their last chance to give the hometown crowd something to cheer about before they leave for a two-week, seven-game road trip. Let’s see how they did:

Quick Stats

Outcome: Kings win, 122-107

Sacramento Kings: 122 pts, 46.2% fg, 31.6% 3 pt, 88.9% ft, 22 ast, 51 reb, 9 to

Atlanta Hawks: 107 pts, 38.7% fg 35.0% 3 pt, 77.8% ft, 19 ast, 50 reb, 12 to

The beam is lit, the losing streak is over, and the city of Sacramento can rest easy tonight because the Kings looked like the Kings again. Without their star point guard, the Hawks relied heavily on Dejounte Murray, who did his best by scoring 35 points on 11-23 from the field. But the Kings put together a collective team performance to secure their first win of the second half of the season.

The Good, The Bad, & The Nasty

The Good:
  1. Team Effort: It was an unusual scoring night for the Kings, as their two most consistent scorers came out flat. De’Aaron Fox (12 points) didn’t score his first bucket until the second quarter, and Domantas Sabonis (14 points) barely achieved his 25th double-double in a row by reaching double digits late into the fourth quarter. With their stars in a rut, it may be hard to believe, but the Kings maintained a comfortable lead for most of this game. It came from a collective team effort from everyone. Harrison Barnes was aggressive early, attempting a total of 20 field goals tonight. Keegan Murray (13 points) had a big third quarter performance that slowed down the Hawks’ momentum when they started on a threatening run. And, of course, Malik Monk did what Malik Monk does – he finished with 13 points and 8 assists, creating quality looks for himself and his teammates to score. It was reassuring to see the Kings win this one by pulling together and getting contributions from everyone.
  2. Defensive Effort: Although the Hawks corralled 13 offensive rebounds, it didn’t really feel like it. The Kings held the Hawks to just 38.7% from the field and by the eye test, cleaned up the defensive boards nicely. Domantas Sabonis led with 21 rebounds, which were made possible by missed shots by the Hawks, created by some solid defensive effort by the Kings. Davion Mitchell got to showcase his menace mentality by forcing a handful of turnovers with his suffocating on-ball defense. Behind him, the Kings did a good job with scramble rotations, as they moved together as if on a string to close out on shooters and box out rebounders down low.
  3. Free Throws!!!: The Kings shot 24-27 from the line and made them when it mattered most. In a recently weird trend, this has been an area that the Kings have struggled with, so it was nice to see them correct tonight and get back to a normal free throw percentage.
The Bad:
  1. Too Many Fouls: The Kings sent the Hawks to the line 27 times tonight, where they cashed in for 21 points. The Hawks were able to go on runs during these moments because the game would slow down and the Kings’ momentum would get halted. There was a concerning stretch in the third quarter where the Kings’ offense seemed to lose its flow because of all the stoppage.
The Nasty:
  1. This: For this slam and big beam energy, JaVale McGee caused me to create a whole new section in this recap:

The King of Kings

Harrison Barnes was on a mission tonight to be the best bird in the world. The Black Falcon led the Kings with 32 points on 4-8 from the 3-point line and a perfect 6-6 from the stripe. It was old school HB work – post ups, slow euros, pump fakes, turnaround jumpers – we got it all.

Up Next

Thursday, January 25th @ Golden State Warriors – 7:00 P.M. (PT)





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