Sacramento Kings: Biggest takeaways from win over Washington
The Sacramento Kings topped the Washington Wizards 116-112 to move to .500 on the season. What did we learn?
The Sacramento Kings were able to top the Washington Wizards on the strength of some clutch free-throw shooting late and a Wizards turnover on their final possession.
They did this, despite turning the ball over 18 times (Washington had 21), shooting 61 percent from the line and without Iman Shumpert making a FG. So what can we takeaway from tonight’s big win? Well, quite a bit.
Takeaways
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Nemanja Bjelica might be the best singing Vlade Divac has made as the GM of the Sacramento Kings. Coming to the Kings after signing a three-year $20 million deal in the offseason, Belly has put up averages of 11 points, 5.4 rebounds and three assists on .629/.545/.833 shooting.
Bjelica has been phenomenal so far and he kept it up with a stellar performance tonight to lead the Kings to a win. Against the Wiz, Bjelica put up 26 points, 12 rebounds, three assists, a block and a steal for his second-straight double-double. If he keeps it up, he will certainly be up there as one of Vlade’s better signings.
The only downside to Belly’s strong play, is that he blocks Marvin Bagley III from joining the starting lineup, but if the Kings are winning games and Bagley is still playing 20-plus minutes a game, what’s the problem? Speaking of Bagley…
Bagley struggled tonight, while he put up 11 points and eight rebounds, he also turned the ball over five times. There’s certainly an adjustment for rookies and it’s natural for them to struggle but Harry Giles came into tonight after turning it over four times against the Grizzlies and only played four minutes tonight.
After a five turnover night, you have wonder if Bagley will see a reduced role on Monday night like Giles did after his four-turnover game against the Grizzlies.
While we’re talking about Giles, it sure seems like he might’ve found his way into Head Coach Dave Joerger’s doghouse. He only played seven minutes against the Grizzlies and four tonight. Recently signed King Troy Williams played three times as many minutes as Giles did in this one, despite Giles grabbing two rebounds and scoring three points early.
It wouldn’t be a well-rounded discussion of the game if we didn’t talk about Buddy Hield and De’Aaron Fox. Hield went for 22/5/2 on 8-17 shooting and some clutch free-throw shooting at the end to help seal the game for Sacramento.
Fox, meanwhile, flirted with a double-double while going for 18 points and nine assists on 7-15 shooting. Fox’s shooting efficiency has dropped since a hot start to the season but he’s remained incredibly impactful and has been the Kings best player thus far.
Related Story. Where does Marvin Bagley belong on the depth chart?. light
Finally, there’s an interesting trend starting to develop with this Kings roster. For the second straight game, every starter finished with a positive +/-, while every reserve finished on the negative side. While it’s not particularly concerning at this point, this is something to keep an eye on as the season progresses.