The Sacramento Kings were handed their 49th loss of the season this afternoon to the Houston Rockets as they lost by a score of 135-128.
Listed down below are the highs and lows of today’s game that pertain to the guys wearing purple.
HIGHS
Youth Playing Big: The youth of the Kings continues to shine, particularly the group of Skal Labissiere, Willie Cauley-Stein, and Georgios Papagiannis. For the day, the trio totaled 47 points, 19 rebounds, and 6 assists for the game. The play by these three bigs keeps the optimism going for Kings fans about their team’s future.
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Ty Lawson: With Darren Collison out for today’s game, Ty Lawson was put in the position to start for the Kings at point guard. For the afternoon, Lawson didn’t disappoint as a facilitator. He recorded 20 points for the game off 7-12 shooting and also set others to score as he dished 11 assists as well.
Ball Security: Finally, a game when the Kings value the basketball. After a bevy of games where the Kings turn the ball over at a high rate, the purple and white only recorded 5 turnovers today. Hopefully, this can be the start of a brand new trend for these young Kings to have going forward.
LOWS
Ryan Anderson: The Sacramento product known as Ryan Anderson continues to torch his childhood team. For the game, Anderson was able to score 21 points while shooting 7-9 from the floor overall. For his career, Anderson has been exceptional against the purple and white as he averages 17.2 points per game in the 20 matches he has played in. Those numbers will increase after today.
The Beard: The Kings’ defense struggled mightily today and the main reason why was because of the destruction of James Harden. For the game, Harden was working his magic as he recorded 35 points, 11 rebounds, and 15 assists in the 36 minutes he played.
Perimeter Defense: The Rockets have been known all year to be a three-point scoring team, and they proved that notion again in today’s contest. For the game, the Rockets were on fire from beyond the perimeter as they made 41.9% of their three-point shots. There’s a good argument that perimeter shooting was the main difference between the two teams in this game. While the Rockets were making their three, the Kings weren’t as Sacramento finished the day shooting just 29% from the three-point line.