A Royal Pain
Fansided

Sacramento Kings’ Ups and Downs Against The Charlotte Hornets

By Rafe Wong

The Charlotte Hornets' Dwight Howard (12) works against the Sacramento Kings' Zach Randolph (50) in the first half on Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2018 at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, Calif. (Hector Amezcua/Sacramento Bee/TNS via Getty Images)
The Charlotte Hornets' Dwight Howard (12) works against the Sacramento Kings' Zach Randolph (50) in the first half on Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2018 at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, Calif. (Hector Amezcua/Sacramento Bee/TNS via Getty Images) /
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The Sacramento Kings were unable to handle the stellar offensive performance by the Charlotte Hornets, giving the purple and white the loss for tonight’s game.

To start the year of 2018, the Sacramento Kings opened with a loss tonight to the Charlotte Hornets by a score of 133-111. With this loss, the Kings now stand at a record of 12-25 for the season.

Offensive Kind of Night

For the game, the offense for both teams was the main theme. The Kings did a solid job scoring the ball tonight as they recorded 111 points and 22 assists while shooting 52% from the floor, 41% from the three-point line, and 78% from the charity stripe.

But as good as the Kings were on offense, the Hornets one-upped the purple and white and took their scoring to another level. For the game, Charlotte was excellent scoring the ball as they recorded 131 points and 25 assists while shooting 57% from the court, 47% from three, and 78% from the free-throw line.

What Went Wrong?

In my opinion, the Kings were completely outmatched in two aspects of the game: Perimeter shooting and ball security.

For tonight, the Hornets were great shooting the ball from deep as they made 15 three-pointers compared to the Kings’ seven. In terms of ball security, the Kings had a rough night taking care of the basketball as they turned the ball over 15 times compared to the Hornets’ three.

Final Thoughts/Takeaways

Overall, not a great night for the Kings to start the new year as their defense failed to have much success against the Hornets’ offense. Although tonight was a bust for Sacramento, they were able to muster some encouraging flashes which could help them going forward.

Here are the positive takeaways from the game:

  • Zach Randolph continues to be an offensive powerhouse for the Kings as he finished tonight with 24 points on 11-18 shooting from the floor.
  • For the first time in a while, Skal Labissiere received a good amount of playing time (28 minutes), and he did not let it waste as he recorded 17 points and 15 rebounds for the game.
  • The duo of Bogdan Bogdanovic and Willie Cauley-Stein continues to grow stronger. Both players are an exciting presence on the court and have made the art of passing contagious within their team.
  • De’Aaron Fox has returned after he nursed a quad injury he suffered two weeks ago. He had a little hiccup to start the game but finished strong as he recorded 17 points and four assists for the contest.

Next time the Kings will play will be on Saturday night when they go up against the Denver Nuggets.

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