In case you have been living under a rock, the Sacramento Kings handed the New York Knicks a rather humbling loss a couple of days ago. While the Kings were on point in virtually every way, the difference maker was free throws. The Kings utterly annihilated the Knicks from the charity stripe.
For the first time this season, the Kings have won three games in a row, which is fantastic. Even better, they've done it at home in front of a crowd full of Sactown faithful who are absolutely ravenous for a legitimate winning streak. There's potential to pick up a couple more wins during this home stand.
Even better than picking up three consecutive wins are the teams the Kings beat. First, they took down Kevin Durant and the Rockets. Next up was Luka Doncic and the Lakers. Finally, it was Karl-Anthony Towns and the Knicks. Jalen Brunson was injured a few minutes into that game.
Showing up and showing out against three of the top teams in the league is no joke. Respect is given when it is earned, and the Kings have definitely done that. What was particularly interesting about the win over the Knicks was the free throw disparity, both in the number of shots taken and sunk.
The Kings completely owned the charity stripe
If you look at the box score, there are a few differences that pop out. The Knicks took 41 three-point shots but only sunk eight of them. Conversely, the Kings only took 27 threes yet sunk ten of them. It's only a difference of six points, but that's a lot of wasted offensive possessions for New York.
The biggest disparity by far was on free throws. If you look at the Knicks, they only had 23 attempts for 15 points with an shooting percentage of 65.2. That's not great. Then, look at the Kings. They took 38 free throws, collected 32 points from them, and walked away with 84.2%.
DeMar DeRozan alone went 12 for 13 from the charity stripe, which is 92.3%. There were three other Kings who shot fewer free throws, but didn't miss a single one of them. This is why the fundamentals are so incredibly important in basketball, and it doesn't get more fundamental than free throws.
The Kings got 17 more points from free throws than the Knicks did. Keep in mind that Sacramento won by 11 points, so those free throws were a huge difference maker. Without them, it would have been a much tighter game, and might have even allowed the Knicks to get the win.