Game 64 Notes: Sacramento Kings Couldn’t Handle The Magic
By Rafe Wong
The Sacramento Kings continue to struggle down the stretch of the regular season as they lost to the Orlando Magic last night 107-100.
Last night’s loss to the Magic is the 4th consecutive defeat for the purple and white and their record has fallen to 25-39.
Notable performances from players on the Kings were Rajon Rondo who recorded 16 points, 14 assists, and 5 rebounds, Kosta Koufos who scored 19 points, and Marco Belinelli who scored 17 points off of 6-11 shooting and 4-7 from the perimeter.
Top performers from the Orlando Magic last night were Aaron Gordon who recorded 20 points and 11 rebounds, Victor Oladipo who had 18 points, 5 assists, and 5 steals, and Evan Fournier who recorded 16 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists.
In the game, the Kings started out slow but were able to regain themselves by only trailing 27-21 at the end of the first quarter. The Kings then countered back by playing a good second quarter, outscoring Orlando 28-23. The Kings would go into halftime trailing the Magic 50-49.
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Throughout the third quarter, the Kings were able to gain the lead, but the Magic continued to fight back and control the momentum. As a result, the Magic were able to develop a comfortable lead throughout the majority of the second half and achieve the victory.
For the Kings and their fans, last night’s defeat was disappointing, to say the least. What else is new? Although the Kings were without their star player in DeMarcus Cousins, due to suspension, the Magic also were without parts of their main core in Elfrid Payton and Nikola Vucevic.
Bottom line, there was no excuse for the Kings to lose this game. On a talent standpoint, the Kings are still a decent team, even without Cousins, and are good enough to beat a team like Orlando.
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Factors that held the Kings back last night was again their lack defense and also losing the game in crashing the boards. The absence of Cousins definitely showed last night as the Orlando outrebounded Sacramento 51-37.
Overall, the Kings again lose another winnable game this season and pretty much their playoff hopes are down the drain. The Kings next matchup will be against the Utah Jazz Sunday afternoon.