Willie Cauley-Stein’s 17 Not Enough For Kings Against Clippers

A strong opening quarter led by Willie Cauley-Stein’s eight points and five rebounds was not enough to push the Sacramento Kings past the Los Angeles Clippers, as they fell 95-122 on the road.

A 12-3 run to end the first quarter and close the score to 30-30 seemed to drain the Kings. Once the period was over, the Clippers took control and never looked back.

Sacramento was able to shoot 52% in the first twelve minutes, but the dropped to under 45% from the floor and 15% from three by halftime.

It just was not Sacramento’s night on offense, as hardly anyone could get a shot to fall. Not even the usually steady scoring from Zach Randolph was effective as he shot just 4-14 from the field.

The third quarter was much of the same with the team getting outscored 24-20 in the period. The fourth didn’t offer a reprieve for the Kings either. They were outscored 27-22 and were never really a threat to win since the beginning stages of the game.

For the game, the Kings shot 42% from the court while allowing the Clippers to shoot 55% overall, 42% from the perimeter, and 78% from the line. All 10%+ better than Sacramento.

Takeaways:

De’Aaron Fox missed his third straight game as a result of his partially torn quad. This is not a surprise as he is expected to miss a minimum of two weeks. His two-week timeline puts him in a spot to return sometime in early-mid January.

Willie Cauley-Stein was far and away the Kings’ best player tonight. He recorded 17 points, seven rebounds, and three assists for the game while shooting 8-11 from the field. The Kings are gonna need him, among others, to step up if the Kings want to be a competitive team in 2018.

The Kings were great at taking care of the ball, until the fourth. Through three quarters, they had just four turnovers for the contest but did record five in the final period. Keeping the turnovers low will be key for the Kings going forward.

Skal Labissiere was a healthy scratch tonight, as well as Vince Carter who came into the game listed as probable (ribs). Skal’s usage remains increasingly difficult to figure out on a game by game basis. This was his second straight game with a DNP.