The Sacramento Kings were able to defeat the Oklahoma City Thunder tonight by a score of 117-113. For the home team, who were the top three players that stood out the most?
After losing two straight games, the Sacramento Kings were able to pull off the upset win tonight against the sizzling hot Oklahoma City Thunder. For the Kings, this win will improve their season record to 9-8 while the Thunder drop to 10-6. This loss tonight for the Thunder is only the second one out of their last 12 games.
Game Summary
The Kings started the game in the most ideal way. They ran the floor from the start and made their shots which ignited them to a 10-0 run. The Thunder were able to gradually crawl back into the game, but the Kings’ offense kept rolling as they held a 37-24 lead after one.
During the second quarter, Sacramento’s offense continued to be efficient. Although the Thunder continued to threaten the Kings with mini-rallies, the Kings continued to fight back. The player for Sacramento who was leading the charge was Iman Shumpert. The eight-year veteran was on fire for the whole half as he scored 23 points. With that, the Kings maintained a 69-56 lead going into halftime.
Once the second half began, the Kings’ fiery offense cooled down. No one rocking “Sactown” on their chest could buy a bucket which resulted in the Thunder to get back into the game. With Oklahoma City winning the quarter 29-15, it gave them the 85-84 lead after three.
With the Thunder having the momentum entering the fourth, it seemed like another Kings loss was in the making. But remember that this year’s Kings squad is different from the rest, meaning there is no quit in them. The Kings continued to play their game as they ran the court and played with tenacity. Behind clutch plays by Marvin Bagley III, De’Aaron Fox, and Buddy Hield, the Kings found a way to beat the Thunder by a score of 117-113.
Top Performers?
Tonight’s win was a complete team effort for Sacramento. But with that said, there were some players for the Kings who excelled more than the others. With that being said, continue onto the next slide to see who I thought were the top three players for the Kings in their win against the Thunder.
Marvin Bagley III
The second overall pick continues to get better, folks! Perhaps maybe his best game, Marvin Bagley shined tonight as he played a key part in the Kings’ win. For Marvin, he played decently throughout the first three quarters, but once the fourth period came along, he caught fire.
Not only was Bagley able to score 12 points in the fourth, but he made key defensive plays as well which caused the Kings to get stops and run the ball back on offense. For the whole game, Bagley scored 15 points, grabbed 13 rebounds, and recorded three blocks.
Prior to this game, it was a rough stretch for Bagley. In his last five games, he was only averaging 9.8 points and four rebounds a game. So to see him come into tonight’s contest not only playing well but also lighting up the stat sheet should be an encouraging sight for the Kings and their fans.
Hopefully, Bagley can continue to become a consistent asset for the Kings. He may not be getting significant minutes all the time, but he is still doing a solid job being a player that is giving his team a spark off the bench.
Iman Shumpert
I mentioned in my preview for this game that Iman Shumpert would need to have a good night, and fortunately, that was the case. For the game, Shumpert had the responsibility of attempting to limit Paul George on both ends of the floor.
Offensively, Shumpert did his job as he was able to record 23 points while shooting 9-18 from the floor and 4-11 from the three-point line. To be fair, Shumpert did score all of his points in the first half of the match, but those points were huge for the Kings starting off the game hot.
Defensively, Shumpert did a solid job when guarding George. The multiple All-Star was able to record 27 points while shooting 9-24 from the floor.
Although 27 points is a lot, we are talking about Shumpert having to guard one of Oklahoma City’s top scorers. So even though he allowed George to get 27 points, he at least made George take a lot of shot attempts in order to reach that mark. Iman was also able to record four steals in the game as well.
When the Kings defeated the Thunder a few weeks back, Shumpert was one of the Kings’ best players on that night. So it is only fitting that he is one of the top players for tonight’s game as well.
Buddy Hield
Buddy Buckets strikes again! The Kings’ offense has been a thrill to watch this season, and a big reason for it has been because of Buddy Hield. With De’Aaron Fox and Willie Cauley-Stein having poor scoring performances tonight, it was left for Hield to put the team on his back.
For the game, Hield was able to record 25 points while making half of his shot attempts from the floor and from the three-point line. The three-year player also recorded four rebounds and two assists as well.
Buddy Hield may never be the main guy for the Kings, but he is the perfect two-guard for the team going forward. The guy just knows how to score, and more importantly, knows how to shoot from long range. So far this year, he has been the perfect compliment to De’Aaron Fox which has resulted in both of them making huge leaps of improvement in their games.
For the longest time, the Kings have wanted a shooting guard who could make shots at an efficient rate while showing great effort on the defensive end. Through 17 games, it looks like Sacramento finally has that type of player in Buddy Hield.