The Sacramento Kings faced off against DeMarcus Cousins and the New Orleans Pelicans tonight on the national stage. Scroll down below to check out how the purple and white fared in the game.
One of the more anticipated games of the Sacramento Kings’ season happened tonight in the Golden 1 Center. For the first time, DeMarcus Cousins competed against his former team in the place he once called home. Unfortunately, the Kings fell short of the victory as Cousins led the New Orleans Pelicans for the win by a score of 114-106.
Fast Start
For the game, Dave Joerger continued to go with the starting five consisting of George Hill, Buddy Hield, Justin Jackson, Zach Randolph, and Willie Cauley-Stein. Usually, this lineup has struggled in the beginning of games, but in this case, they were outstanding.
For the first period, the Kings were red hot on the offensive end as they blew by the Pelicans by a score of 40-27. The purple and white continued to play well in the second quarter which resulted in a 70-56 lead at halftime.
Same Players, Different Team
During intermission, it seemed like the Kings had the game in hand. But once the second half was in session, everything fell apart. The once hot offense from Sacramento started to cool off and the defense was lackadaisical on the other end. A 24-9 run by the Pelicans jumpstarted their team, and as a result, New Orleans led 88-87 after three.
Although the Kings completely folded in the third quarter, they were able to show some fight in the final period of the game. Led by De’Aaron Fox and Bogdan Bogdanovic, the Kings were able to rally back and remain competitive. It seemed like Sacramento was going to complete their comeback, but Cousins woke up and completely dominated the game during crunch time which confirmed the win for New Orleans.
Players of the Game
Notable performances from the Kings tonight were Fox who recorded 14 points and 5 assists, Skal Labissiere who scored 11 points off the bench, and Zach Randolph who recorded 13 points and 9 rebounds.
Notable players from the Pelicans were Cousins who recorded a whopping 41 points and 23 rebounds, Jrue Holiday who recorded 21 points and 7 assists, and Jameer Nelson who scored 18 points.
Next time the Kings hit the hardwood will be against the Washington Wizards where we will see who is the fastest between De’Aaron Fox and John Wall.