Game 54 Notes: Sacramento Kings Spoil Former Coach Malone’s Return In Win
By Rafe Wong
The Sacramento Kings were able to get on the right foot to start the second half of the regular season by defeating former head coach Michael Malone and the Denver Nuggets last night 116-110.
The Kings now improve their record to 23-31 and are sitting 4 games back from the 8th seed in the Western Conference.
Tonight the main the reason why Sacramento got the victory was because of their electric offense.
Averaging 107.2 points per game this season (ranked 3rd in the league), it was expected that the Kings were going to put up a lot of points on the board. Especially since the Nuggets are 22nd in the league in points allowed per contest in 103.7.
Although the offense was expected to do its part last night, what made it exciting for fans to watch was that a handful of Kings had exceptional offensive performances.
Obviously, recently named All-Star DeMarcus Cousins was going to have his success, as he dominated the paint with ease against the Nuggets bigs.
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Other Kings that made huge impacts offensively were Rajon Rondo, Rudy Gay, Darren Collison, and Willie Cauley-Stein.
Final stat line for notable Kings players: Cousins finished the game with 37 points and 20 rebounds. Rondo recorded 24 points, 10 rebounds, and 9 assists. Gay finished with 24 points. Collison scored 17 points off the bench. And Cauley-Stein scored 10 points (5-5 shooting).
Although Sacramento did its thing on offense tonight, it was clear that their defense remains to be an issue. The Nuggets average just a tad over 100 points per game and yet Sacramento allowed them to finish the game with 110.
Notable performances from Denver were made by Danilo Gallinari who scored 27 points, Joffrey Lauvergne who recorded a career high with 20 points, and Will Barton who recorded 17 points. The Nuggets also finished the game scoring 23 points off of 22 Sacramento turnovers.
Overall, the Kings were faced with a game where a win was expected from them. And to their fortune, they were able to do it.
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This game really showcased the Kings strengths and weaknesses. Tonight the offense was flowing and the purple and white were able to put a bunch of points on the board.
On the other hand, they allowed Denver to score a ton of points as well and turnovers still remain to be a concern.
The Kings were able to muster the win tonight, but when they do encounter much tougher competition in future games they must do a better job of limiting their weaknesses.
Sacramento’s next contest will be held in Denver where the Kings will have another chance to defeat the Nuggets again Tuesday afternoon.