Sacramento Kings fall to Golden State as teams combine for NBA three-point record

Another game against the Warriors and another heart-wrenching loss for the Sacramento Kings.

When the Sacramento Kings took the floor tonight, they did so without Marvin Bagley III and Iman Shumpert, but still gave the Golden State Warriors all they could handle for the third time this season. All this, with De’Aaron Fox missing a majority of the first quarter due to injury before returning. Still, a loss is a loss and the close ones to division rivals tend to hurt the worst.

From the jump, the Warriors just blitzed the Kings. While it remained close, albeit high-scoring, Golden State eventually broke through with a 15-0 run in the first to end the quarter up 43-29. That wouldn’t be the only 15-0 run of the game either.

The second quarter was almost an entire 180 from the first, with the Sacramento Kings using a 15-0 run of their own to outscored GSW 40-27 and head into the half down just 70-69.

The third quarter was also owned by the Kings, at least after the Warriors went on an 11-2 run to open the period. Following that, the Kings outscored the Warriors 32-15 and led 103-96, before failing to close out yet another game.

Per usual with the Sacramento Kings having a lead in the fourth, they eventually ceded their advantage and had to try to play catch-up as the clock ran out. Not only that, but their leading score tonight, Buddy Hield, who had 32 points on 12-20 shooting took just one (!!!) shot in the fourth—a desperation three with the Kings down four and just seven seconds to play.

This, has become a painful norm for the Kings lately—crumbling when faced with protecting a late-fourth quarter lead. It’s happened against the Los Angeles Lakers (led 110-103 with 4:30 left), Portland Trailblazers (led 103-97 with 2:03 left) and now the Warriors (led 119-117 with 3:18 left), all in the span of a week. Some of this can be contributed to De’Aaron Fox playing hurt (more on that later) and the Kings missing Bagley, but much of the blame can just be attributed growing pains of a young team not used to playing with a lead.

Still, this was an entertaining game that featured some records and personal bests, with both teams combined for an

“>NBA-record 41 three-pointers made, Buddy Hield set a career-high for the same statistic and Justin Jackson scored a career-high 28 points. Anyway, we’ve got some awards and takeaways to get through, so let’s not waste anymore time.

Player of the Game: Buddy Hield. Stats – 32 points, five rebounds, four assists, 12-21 shooting (8-13 3PT)

I was half-tempted to give this one to Justin Jackson as a result of Hield not doing anything offensively in the fourth, but much of that blame lies with Head Coach Dave Joerger and not Hield.

Instead of being a blemish on his game tonight, it’s even more impressive that he compiled 32 points in just three-quarters, along with a slew of rebounds and assists, cementing an all-around good performance by the Kings young sharpshooter.

It’s just unfortunate Joerger decided to rest Hield from the start of the fourth, all the way until the 7:14 mark in the quarter before Hield saw any action in the final frame. Had Hield come in sooner, this game could have gone much differently, but there’s no point in dwelling on it now, just have to hope Joerger doesn’t make the mistake again.

Play of the Game: Harry Giles’ Dunk

Not only was this unassisted dunk a thing of beauty, but it might just be the best highlight of the Harry Giles’ young career. It doesn’t get better than that and hopefully we’ll see more of it going forward as Giles seems to have officially supplanted Kosta Koufos in the rotation.

Takeaways

The Sacramento Kings would be wise to rest De’Aaron Fox for the next few games as they play the Orlando Magic (17-21) at home, Phoenix Suns (9-31) on the road and the Detroit Pistons (17-20) at home. That’s a relatively easy slate of games and it makes no sense to keep Fox out there while he’s struggling from the field after his shoulder injury (42 percent from the field and 28 percent from three). Not only that but Fox had a scary moment in today’s game after heading to the locker room with a hip injury before later returning to the game. It would behoove Sacramento to give Fox a reprieve.

Can Willie Cauley-Stein always play like this? While playing plus-defense, Cauley-Stein had one of the best games of his career going for 14 points, 13 rebounds, six assists and two steals on 6-13 shooting. I wouldn’t hold my breath, but if this is how Cauley-Stein is gonna play every game, the Sacramento Kings just might make the playoffs.

Is it actually time to show Justin Jackson some love? In 34 minutes off the bench, Jackson scored more than double his benchmates did combined, going for 28 points and five rebounds on 10-14 shooting. His 28 points are a new career-high for the second-year forward out of North Carolina. While he played great, it just further reinforced the idea that Bogdan Bogdanovic needs to be coming off the bench for Sacramento.

With Iman Shumpert out for tonight’s game, Bogi was pressed into the starting lineup and while he played well (17 points, six rebounds and seven assists), the Kings bench is just in disarray without him. The rest of Sacramento’s bench (Harry Giles, Ben McLemore and Yogi Ferrell) combined for 12 points, five rebounds and six assists on 5-11 shooting. That’s just not going to get it done, the Kings would be best served with Bogi as their sixth-man and trading for a small forward (Nicolas Batum anyone?).

Next Up: Sacramento Kings (19-20) vs. Orlando Magic (17-21) on Monday, Jan. 7