Kings Fall to Pelicans After Being Stymied in Second Half

The up-and-down game between the Sacramento Kings and New Orleans Pelicans, was all but decided in the third quarter, as the Pelicans outscored, and stymied, the Kings 31-15. The DeMarcus Cousins (24 points and 17 rebounds) and Anthony Davis (28 points and nine rebounds) battle was all it was supposed to be, as the final result ended in Davis’ favor, with the Pelicans (6-4) defeating the Kings (6-5) 106-100.

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With cowbells banging through Sleep Train Arena, the energy was mutual between the Sacramento Kings and their fans, as the team looked to prove to the national viewers, they’re for real.

A few quick turnovers weren’t enough to slow down the Kings, as they got out to an early lead on the visiting New Orleans Pelicans and didn’t look back. In a first half mostly controlled by the Kings, Sac once again relied on their starting five, as the bench gave up an early double-digit lead in the first half, before the opening unit returned to push the lead to nine at half.

With many fans who voted for the game to be shown on NBA TV’s Fan Night expecting Boogie vs. The Brow to be the big-man title fight, it was Jason Thompson who overshadowed both early, with a 12 point-six rebound first half performance. No Omer Asik allowed JT to control the inside key along with DMC. Boogie did fill the stat sheet, putting up eight points, nine rebounds, three assists and one block at the break, while Davis tallied fourteen points on twelve shots and only three boards at half.

And, it was pretty much all Pelicans after that.

The Kings starters were slowed in the third quarter, committing five turnovers in the period, while not gaining any assists. Nine of the team’s 15 third quarter points were scored by Cousins. The Sacramento-area native Ryan Anderson was key to the Pelicans boost, hitting multiple wide-open threes to extend the lead.

After the Pelicans pushed their lead to 10 in the fourth quarter, the Kings used a spurt to cut the lead to three, after a Rudy Gay three-point-play, with nine minutes left. But, the Kings just couldn’t get stops, as NOLA kept their lead at a comfortable level, with Eric Gordon getting his number called to take advantage of Nik Stauskas on back-to-back possessions, stretching the NO lead to eight.

After falling behind by 11, a final Sacramento push would get the Kings to within three with just over a minute to play as they hoped for a last-minute comeback, but their efforts would fall short.

NOTES:

Sacramento-area star, Anderson, finished with 22 points off the bench, hitting four of 12 threes attempted.

Ramon Sessions, the usual backup to Darren Collison didn’t see any time in the loss, with second-year Ray McCallum playing a season-high 21 minutes.

The Kings host the Chicago Bulls on Thursday at Sleep Train Arena.