Highs and Lows: Sacramento Kings Cannot Handle The Heat
By Rafe Wong
The Sacramento Kings lost a tough matchup tonight against the Miami Heat by a score of 107-102. Listed down below are the highs and lows that happened in tonight’s game pertaining to the Sacramento Kings.
Highs
Bench Production: The reserves for the Kings continue to be a valuable asset towards the team’s success. As a collective whole, the group recorded 61 points, 7 rebounds, 12 assists, and 5 steals for the night. The starting lineup for Sacramento got behind early in the game, but the Kings’ bench was able to help the team come back and keep the contest close.
Garrett Temple: Temple was a spark plug for the Sacramento Kings tonight. He continues to be energetic on both ends of the floor which played a huge role in the Kings staying close in this game. For the night, Temple recorded 15 points on 7-11 shooting from the court.
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Three-Point Shooting: The Kings’ perimeter shooting was a pleasant surprise tonight. For the game, the team shot an efficient 40% from the floor which kept the purple and white alive for the entire game. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t enough to earn the victory.
Lows
Perimeter Defense: For the season, the Heat shoot 34.4% from the perimeter, but tonight, they were able to make 42.9% of their three-pointers. The Kings have been notorious this season for letting their opponents score three-pointers at a high rate this season, and this weakness has played a huge part in many losses for the team this season.
Feeding Boogie in the Paint: With the absence of Hassan Whiteside, the Kings had a great opportunity to give DeMarcus Cousins a field day in the interior. Unfortunately, Miami’s other bigs were able to buckle down and shut down Cousins by preventing any passes to get to him in the paint. For the game, Cousins scored just 13 points on 4-15 shooting from the floor. Credit to Miami for shutting down Cousins. If Cousins struggles, most likely the Kings will struggle.
Rebounding: Like I mentioned above, the Miami Heat were low on big men for tonight’s game, but they were still able to outrebound Sacramento 39-26. As a result, the Heat were able to dominate the paint and score vital second-chance points which showed to be valuable when the game was all said and done.