In a great start to the Summer League season, the Sacramento Kings have picked up their second victory in a row. This time, they defeated a Golden State Warriors squad. This was a great win because a different group of Kings stepped up and got the job done, which is amazing.
First, it's important to note that the Kings faced the Warriors Blue team, which makes them sound like a sub-group of X-Men from the 1990s comics. Golden State has two squads. Blue played in Sacramento while Gold played in San Francisco. Yaxel Lendeborg was playing on the Gold team.
The other factor to keep in mind is that the Kings were without Darius Acuff Jr., Dylan Cardwell, Nique Clifford, and Alex Karaban. Acuff, Cardwell, and Clifford were not injured and were just being rested by the Kings. Karaban is still recovering from the ankle strain he sustained in a practice last week.
Warriors Blue was firmly in charge of the game until the Kings started staging a comeback in the second half. Ultimately, Sacramento won by a score of 91 to 85, which is an impressive victory being that they were down with nine minutes to go and short four key players in the first place.
The Kings' young guns stepped up in a big way
This victory was a team effort, to be sure. Several players who had limited minutes, or none at all, in the Kings' first game against the Nets got some real time on the court. That makes a lot of sense with the four aforementioned players on the bench. That creates opportunities for other talent.
A prime example is Isaiah Stevens, who is in the second year of his two-year two-way contract with the Kings. He didn't play in the first game, but got just over 27 minutes in the second. He finished it up with 18 points, 1 rebound, four assists, and one steal. That's a solid day's work.
In addition to Stevens, other players like Adam Flagler, Haowen Guo, Marquel Sutton, and Viktor Lahkin all got minutes. Some were more productive with them than others. Each one of them is hoping to make an impression on the Kings' front office to ensure a longer-term role.
Once again, Elias Ralph remained on the bench the entire game. In fact, he was the only player on the Kings' roster who didn't get on the court at all. That doesn't bode well for his future with the franchise. That being said, he still has a chance to show off his skills in Vegas during the Summer League.
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