Sacramento Kings blow 19-point lead, fall to Suns in embarrassing fashion

Well, this should’ve been an easy win, right? A 9-32 team without their best player? Easy, unless it’s the Sacramento Kings.

After snapping a season-high four-game losing streak against the Orlando Magic on Monday night, the Sacramento Kings traveled to Phoenix to take on the lowly Suns, sans-Devin Booker. What should’ve been an easy win for the Kings tonight, was anything but.

Per usual over the last several weeks, the Sacramento Kings got off to a slow start, missing shots and free throws at a higher clip than normal and displaying an inability to stop the other team defensively. Still, the Kings were down just three at the end of the first, behind a strong quarter from Willie Cauley-Stein and Buddy Hield.

Things got better in the second, with the Kings bench playing well, Sacramento built up a massive 19-point lead heading into the halftime locker room, with Hield and Ben McLemore (?) leading the way with 11 points apiece.

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Then, the third quarter came along. The Suns just kept chipping away at the Kings lead, eventually withering it down to zero—with both teams heading into the fourth knotted up at 86. From there, it’d be a back and forth slug fest—with each team taking and ceding the lead after nearly every possession. Then, a B-Mac score and a De’Aaron Fox three had the Sacramento Kings up 109-104 with two minutes to play, but Sacramento couldn’t close the deal.

The Suns went on a 6-0 run to take a 110-109 lead, but one basket later and the Kings were back on top, until they weren’t. With under one minute to play, the Sacramento Kings committed a foul that gave the Suns a lead they wouldn’t give up, didn’t convert any shots of free throws (0-3) and allowed two offensive rebounds that went for four Phoenix points, which was the difference as the Kings fell 115-111.

That was gross to write, but there’s plenty more to cover in today’s takeaways.

Takeaways

De’Aaron Fox had a rough go handling the ball tonight. Despite going for 24 points on 7-12 shooting, Fox coughed up the ball eight times tonight, which set a new career-high for him in a category nobody wants to set a personal “best” in. It’s one bad game and doesn’t erase the stellar body of work Fox has put together thus far, but it doesn’t make this loss easier to swallow. Fox had four fourth quarter turnovers that led to four Suns points, again, proving to be the difference in a close game.

Willie Cauley-Stein Player well tonight, but also had a fourth quarter sequence to forget. With 43 seconds left, Cauley-Stein fouled Kelly Oubre Jr., who subsequently put the Suns on top for good and missed two free throws with under 10 seconds to play that would’ve put the Kings within one. Willie had an otherwise strong game though, posting 15 points, seven rebounds, three assists, three blocks and three steals on 6-11 shooting. If Willie plays this hard the rest of the way, he very well might get that big contract he wants.

Bogdan Bogdanovic just hasn’t had it from the field lately. While he’s posted solid numbers, his efficiency has slipped of late, shooting just 36.6 percent from the floor in the new year, culminating with an abysmal 3-11 shooting performance tonight. Every player goes through cold streaks, but the Kings are just 1-4 in 2019 and Bogdan’s struggles are certainly a big factor, but it isn’t solely on him.

Buddy Hield just disappeared in the second-half tonight. After scoring 11 points in the first-half, Buddy only had five points and two rebounds after the break. It’s almost certainly an aberration, but it’s not the first time Buddy has been frozen out of the offense in the second-half of games this season and it’ll certainly be something to monitor going forward.

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Next Game: Sacramento Kings (20-21) vs. Detroit Pistons (17-21) on Thursday, Jan. 10

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