Well, the Sacramento Kings lost to the Los Angeles Lakers last night, dropping their record to one and seven. That's the Kings, not the Lakers. LA is doing way better than that. Keeping that in mind, the game could have gone way worse for Sacramento as they were taking on a legit contender.
No one expected the Kings to do well this season, but this start might be worse than even the most cynical expectations. So far, Sacramento has only managed to pull off one win in their first eight games. To be fair, it was a rather unlikely victory against the Cooper Flagg-led Mavericks.
Hopefully, this team has some similar surprises in store through the rest of November. They have 12 more games this month, most of which are against some of the best teams in the league. The only teams the Kings might have a chance against are the Heat, Magic, Warriors, and Pelicans.
All of that being said, things could be going even worse. Sacramento only lost to the Lakers by 13 points. Considering how well Luka Doncic and company have been playing, that probably should have been a much bigger blowout. Walker Kessler's defense alone could have shut them down.
What went right for the Kings against LA
It would be easy to focus on the bad parts of Sacramento's game, mainly because it was all obvious and the same issues as always. But there were some good points to consider. A big one had to be the return of Dylan Cardwell. He looked good for someone returning from an injury absence.
Five players scored in double digits, including both Domantas Sabonis and Darius Acuff Jr. Each of them finished with a double-double, Sabonis in points and rebounds while Acuff had points and assists. They honestly looked good together on the court, which has been consistent all season.
Zach LaVine actually played solid defense, which was nice to see. He finished the game with 21 points, four rebounds, one assist, one steal, and two blocks. On top of that, his +/- was only -5, a number that's surprisingly good for him. LaVine put out a respectable defensive performance.
Again, there were a lot of problems on the court for the Kings. At the same time, it's nice to see some positives taking center stage, even in a loss. There are building blocks there for Sacramento to work with, assuming they finally get a bench boss capable of putting them together.
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