Sacramento Kings: The Good and Bad Against The Nuggets

Bad #1: Iman Shumpert

There are not a lot of games this season where Iman Shumpert is a liability for the Kings, but unfortunately, that was the case tonight. For the game, Shumpert recorded zero points for the game as he shot 0-7 from the court. He also was not very productive in rebounding the ball and defending his opponents.

Usually, Shumpert is a veteran presence in the starting lineup who gives his team solid perimeter shooting and defense on the court. But in tonight’s game, it would have been better if he was a healthy scratch.

Bad #2: Rebounding

This is the biggest reason why Sacramento lost. For the game, Denver was able to outrebound the purple and white by a score of 54-33. This obviously led to the Nuggets getting more opportunities to score and getting more second-chance points as well.

It is no surprise that the Nuggets outrebounded the Kings tonight because of both squad’s personnel, but Sacramento completely got dominated in this aspect of the game. They need to find a solution to this problem going forward in their rebuild. It is essential if they want to take that next step to become a winning program.

Bad #3: Second-Half Blunders

The Kings had a “comfortable” lead going into the second half but just could not hang on as the Nuggets found a way to storm back. I know that the Nuggets are a great team, but with the way the Kings have been handling leads for the last couple of games, it has been unsettling.

The Kings have had great chances to make serious ground in the standings, but late-game blunders have prevented them to be successful. For the Kings to prove they are a team that is legit, they need to do a better job at closing games. Hopefully, tonight’s match is a good learning lesson that the young guys can benefit from when playing future games.