The Sacramento Kings knocked off the 7-4 San Antonio Spurs at home, beating them 104-99, but who stood out the most?
The Sacramento Kings have moved to 8-6 with a solid, 104-99 win over the DeMar DeRozan-led San Antonio Spurs.
The Kings had control of this one throughout, never falling behind by more than two points while maintaining control of the game through all four quarters. Sacramento, though, was never able to fully put the Spurs down as they kept fighting back, despite finding themselves down by for most of the contest.
The Kings started the game with a 19-11 run, before allowing the Spurs to cut the lead to just 25-24 at the end of one. The second quarter was much of the same back and forth action, as the Kings built up a 46-39 lead but only led 56-55 at halftime.
De’Aaron Fox and Buddy Heild combined for 22 first quarter points, while Giles had eight of his own in his first game back from a stint in the G-League.
The Sacramento Kings came out of the halftime locker room slow, before building a seven-point lead only to see the Spurs cut that down to one-point yet again at the end of the third. The fourth quarter, is where things fell apart for San Antonio. The Kings went on a 10-4 run when the Spurs got within two-points and San Antonio couldn’t recover as they fell to the Kings 104-99.
There were plenty of players deserving of recognition for their performances tonight, unlike Saturday night, but three stood out higher from the rest.
Willie Cauley-Stein has had an inconsistent season thus far, but he showed up in a big way against the Spurs.
Willie Cauley-Stein had himself a game. He posted a double-double tonight and had the second-best plus/minus on the team with a +7.
In 32 minutes of action, Willie scored 13 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and dished out three assists on 6-14 shooting. WCS is playing for a new contract and has shown-out over the last four games. Tonight was his second-straight double-double and is averaging 18.5 points and 9.5 rebounds in that span as well.
If Cauley-Stein can keep this up over the rest of the season, he’ll play his way right into a nice contract for himself. Whether that comes from Sacramento or another team, however, remains to be seen. While Cauley-Stein had himself a game, he was outplayed by his teammates in the backcourt, starting with De’Aaron Fox, who seems to be a regular candidate for standout player.
Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but De’Aaron Fox is having a breakout season.
There goes that man, Fox! De’Aaron Fox has been a revelation for the Sacramento Kings this season, living up to his top-five draft status and then some through one month of basketball.
Tonight wasn’t his flashiest performance, but he kept up his solid play with a 19 point, three rebound and seven assist game on 6-8 shooting. He was efficient, he was electric and he is hope for a franchise that has long lacked it.
For the season, Fox is averaging 18.7 points, 4.5 rebounds and 7.1 assists on 49.4 percent shooting from the field. Those are borderline All-Star numbers and he’s a serious candidate for this year’s Most Improved Player.
Perhaps most importantly though, Fox has given Kings fans a reason to believe this rebuild is different from the previous rebuilds that have taken up the better part of two decades. Can he keep it up? So far there’s been nothing to suggest his performance this year is a fluke.
Fortunately for Fox, though, he has one of his backcourt running mates back from injury after missing the first month of the season in Bogdan Bogdanovic. Speaking of Bogi…
In his third game back from injury, Bogdan Bogdanovic had his best game of the season. Is he back to last year’s form?
Bogdan Bogdanovic is back (it seems). In his third game back from an offseason knee surgery, Bogi posted 22 points and three assists on 9-17 shooting, in what was by far the best game of his season.
Bogdan was arguably the Sacramento Kings’ best player last season and not having him for the first few weeks of the 2018-19 season was a big loss for the Kings. As Bogi further returns to form, it’s likely he will take over the starting small forward spot from Iman Shumpert, concerns about defense be damned.
The Kings have had a Grand Canyon-sized hole at small forward since the season began and haven’t done anything to address it. The teams two small forwards, Shumpert and Justin Jackson went a combined 1-6 for two points, six rebounds and four assists.
It hasn’t been pretty for the Kings at the three spot this season and Bogdan is exactly what the doctor ordered. It’s only a matter of time before BB returns to the starting lineup.
Up Next: Sacramento Kings (8-6) vs. Memphis Grizzlies (7-4) on Nov. 16