Highs and Lows: Sacramento Kings Get Outpaced by Indiana
By Rafe Wong
The Sacramento Kings lost a tough one tonight as they were defeated by the Indiana Pacers by a score of 106-100. Listed down below are the highs and lows that happened in tonight’s game pertaining to the Kings.
HIGHS
DeMarcus Cousins: Boogie Cousins continues to be dominant for the Sacramento Kings. What else is new? For the night, Cousins recorded 25 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists, posting his fifth career triple-double. It’s a broken record, but again, the Kings need Cousins to be dominant for Sacramento to be competitive, and he did exactly that tonight.
Perimeter Shooting: The Kings had a great night in terms of efficiency shooting from the perimeter. For the night, the Kings made 42.9% of their three-pointers led by Rudy Gay and Arron Afflalo. When the Kings make their jump shots, they are a much better team.
Ball Movement: For most of the game, the Kings’ offense was clicking thanks to some great ball movement executed by the team. As a result, the Kings were able to record 28 assists for the night and have six players on the team score nine points or more.
LOWS
Turnovers: The turnovers continue to stymie the Kings’ offense. Recording 20 turnovers tonight really prevented the Kings from running away with this game. It gave the Pacers momentum when they had little, which caused Indiana to rally back and to beat the Kings.
Rudy Gay: Although the Great Rudini recorded 21 points tonight, his night ended with a thud. The starting small forward for the Kings was forced to leave the fourth quarter with a low body injury as he was carried off the court by his teammates. Hopefully, the injury to Rudy Gay isn’t serious, but if it is, it would be a huge loss. Not only would the Kings lose their second scoring option, but with the added injuries of Ty Lawson and Omri Casspi, the Kings would have little depth within their roster for their upcoming eight-game road trip. Get better Rudy.
Same Ole Kangz: The Kings were leading the Pacers by 19 points going into halftime. A definite win, right? There are no easy wins for the Kings. Rather than playing off the momentum they had in the first half, the Kings had no answer for Indiana in the final two quarters of play. Being outscored 65-40, it resulted in another loss for the Kings, ending their seven-game homestand with an abysmal 1-6 record.