Notes From the Sacramento Kings’ Third Preseason Game
By Ti Windisch
The Sacramento Kings are three games into the NBA Preseason, and I know more than ever about the 2015-16 Kings squad. I also know almost nothing about them. It’s funny how these things turn out sometimes.
More from Kings News
- 3 Ways Chris Duarte improves the Kings chances in 2023-24
- Bleacher Report crazily lists Kings’ All-Star as “most overrated NBA player”
- Kings and Heat fans clash on Twitter to debate All-Star players
- Sacramento Kings’ Chris Duarte playing in 2023 FIBA World Cup
- 3 Young players the Kings must develop, 2 to give up on
The Kings beat the San Antonio Spurs 95-92 on Thursday night, and much like the Kings’ second preseason game Rudy Gay carried the team. Exactly like that game Gay shot 77 percent from the field, although he scored 26 points instead of 30 this time.
Obviously that’s still a great performance from Gay, who led the game in scoring and also added seven rebounds, two assists and a steal. Clearly Rudy has no intention of letting anybody take his spot from him, and if he keeps playing like this he might end up a starter..on the All-Star team.
DeMarcus Cousins had a better game than his contest against the Suns, racking up 17 points, ten rebounds, four steals and an assist in the Sacramento victory. Cousins’ starting frontcourt partner was Willie Cauley-Stein, who was all over the stat sheet.
Trill managed four points, seven rebounds, one steal, one block and an assist. He may be the starter once the season starts–Geroge Karl seems to have taken a liking to him starting with Boogie.
Oct 8, 2015; Sacramento, CA, USA; Sacramento Kings guard Rajon Rondo (9) dribbles the ball against the San Antonio Spurs during the first quarter at Sleep Train Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
As far as the Kings’ starting frontcourt, Rajon Rondo looked a lot more like the point god we’ve been expecting. In 25 minutes Rondo managed six points, ten assists, eight rebounds, two steals and no turnovers. That’s the Rondo we’ve been hoping to see–hopefully he can stick around.
James Anderson curiously got the start at shooting guard–Ben McLemore continued his poor play, but Anderson hasn’t been much better. They both managed just four points on nine combined shots–shooting guard has not been a strong position for Karl thus far this preseason.
As far as other guards that played in this game, David Stockton, Seth Curry and Darren Collison all got minutes. None of them looked exceptional, although Stockton managed four assists and four rebounds in 13 minutes and Collison got seven points and two assists in just ten minutes.
Omri Casspi continued to struggle as well–he missed his only field goal attempt in his ten minutes. Kosta Koufos wasn’t great either, managing just four points and five rebounds in 24 minutes.
Finally, Marco Belinelli continues to shoot like a star, although for the second straight game his stroke was off. He shot under 40 percent from the field, mostly because he shot a sad 14 percent from beyond the arc. He still managed 19 points, four assists and a rebound though.
Really only a few Kings played well in this game. Darren Collison deserves more than ten minutes based on his play–he was the only bench player who seemed to have a really strong game with the possible exception of Belinelli.
Rondo, Cousins and Gay were all good though. Good is an understatement for Gay’s performance actually. For the second consecutive game he was clearly the best player on either team. As good as he’s been in years past, we might be about to see Rudy Gay’s best NBA season.
More from A Royal Pain
- 3 Ways Chris Duarte improves the Kings chances in 2023-24
- 5 Players the Sacramento Kings never should have signed
- Bleacher Report crazily lists Kings’ All-Star as “most overrated NBA player”
- Kings and Heat fans clash on Twitter to debate All-Star players
- Sacramento Kings’ Chris Duarte playing in 2023 FIBA World Cup