The Sacramento Kings were blown out by the Los Angeles Lakers, 101-86, in a sloppy, sloppy game.
It was ugly from the start and didn’t get better as the game progressed for the Sacramento Kings. Despite keeping it close for much of the contest, the Kings struggled to hit shots and turned it over a season-high 19 times en route to an ugly loss that saw the Kings score a season-low 86 points.
The Kings opened the game 3-11, and quickly fell behind 19-10 in the first quarter which was a sign of things to come. The Sacramento Kings shot just 7-23 in the first, as Buddy Hield, Willie Cauley-Stein and Iman Shumpert combined to shoot just 3-17 in the opening frame. Despite this, Sacramento kept it close and went into the second quarter down just six.
The second quarter wasn’t much better for the Kings. A slow start saw the Lakers lead balloon to 11, before the Kings used a solid run to end the quarter back down six. De’Aaron Fox did all he could for the Kings in the first-half, as he had 17 points, three rebounds and two assists while the rest of the team shot just 36.4 percent from the field and 27.3 percent from three.
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The Kings got as close as one in the third, but poor shooting and turnovers proved too much to overcome in this one. Sacramento was down 7 at the end of three and the Lakers flat-out dominated the final quarter. Nobody could hit shots down the stretch for Sacramento and the fell in this one 101-86 in a game that never really felt close to begin with.
Fox close with 21 points, seven rebounds and two assists on 8-17 shooting and was the only bright spot in an otherwise dreadful outing for the Sacramento Kings. Marvin Bagley III had a solid game going for 12 points on 5-13 shooting while Cauley-Stein went for 12 points and 12 rebounds on 6-14 shooting. That, however, is where the positives stop.
Iman Shumpert (3-8), Buddy Hield (3-17) and Nemanja Bjelica (1-6) combined to shoot just 7-31, while Bogdan Bogdanovic shot 1-6 in his second game back from injury. The Kings as a whole shot just 34.1 percent on the night and a paltry 24 percent from three.
There’s not much to takeaway here, positive or negative. The whole team had a letdown game on the second night of a back to back and nobody played particularly well.
The only major takeaways from tonight are that: Harry Giles remains in Dave Joerger’s doghouse, playing just 3 minutes at the end of regulation tonight and that Bogdanovic should be be the starting small forward.
That run at the beginning of the half came while Bogi was playing the three and it’s how the Kings should continue to utilize him once he’s back up to game speed. Other than that, this is a game the Kings will want to forget and move on from fast and luckily for them, they have one day of rest before taking on the *checks notes* San Antonio Spurs…oh man, this will be a brutal stretch for the Sacramento Kings.
Up Next: San Antonio Spurs (7-4) vs. Sacramento Kings (7-6) on Monday Nov. 12.