BIG SIGH. I'm tired. I'm tired of losing. I'm tired of the disappointment. I'm tired of this cycle. I'm once again dizzy and stumbling after being whipped around in the 180 spin cycle that is the Sacramento Kings. Just one week ago, we were celebrating a four-game winning streak that surprised us all and dared us to believe in this team. And just as quickly we are now back to where we started, barely able to sit through an entire game of lazy defense and struggling offense.
The Backdrop
The Sacramento Kings entered this game 12-14 and seeded at the 11th spot in the Western Conference.
The Brooklyn Nets entered this game 16-12 and seeded at the 3rd spot in the Eastern Conference.
The Brooklyn Nets have been in the center of the spotlight for much of this season after acquiring James Harden in a trade with the Houston Rockets on January 14th. The addition of James Harden alongside Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant completes the three-headed beast that Steve Nash gets to wield in his debut season as head coach. Leading up to the trade, there was much speculation about how these three ball-dominant scorers would coalesce. Especially since Durant seems just as dominant as he was pre-achilles injury, it wasn't clear who would be the one to ultimately sacrifice some touches and scoring proficiency and if it would even work. But to the rest of the league's dismay, the Brooklyn Nets seem to have figured it all out already, with Durant, Irving, and Harden averaging 29.0, 27.6, and 23.0 points, respectively.
A small blessing from the basketball gods has Kevin Durant nursing hamstring soreness tonight, so the Kings will be spared the slim reaper's sharp scythe. But unfortunately they will have to play actual defense to stop the rest of the rolling Nets. On top of that, they will have to figure out how to play defense without their anchor in Richaun Holmes, as he is resting a leg injury from Sunday night. I see tonight going one of two ways: either the Kings further their home stand horror show and get run off their own floor by the Nets, or the Kings have one of their best performances against one of the most formidable teams in this league and once again leave us to wonder what the fuck to believe. Just like us here at King's Landing, the Sacramento Kings leave little room between the awful and the amazing.
Quick Stats
Because numbers make things make sense.
Outcome: Kings lose, 125-136
Sacramento Kings: 125 PTS, 53.1% FG, 36.4% 3 PT, 24 AST, 13 TO
Brooklyn Nets: 136 PTS, 57.3% FG, 57.4% 3 PT, 31 AST, 15 TO
Hassan Whiteside (SAC): 26 PTS, 16 REB, 5 BLK
Cory Joseph (SAC): 22 PTS, 5 AST, 10-13 FG
Kyrie Irving (BKN): 40 PTS, 9-11 3 PT
James Harden (BKN): 29 PTS, 14 AST, 13 REB
Well, it looks like the Kings are choosing to be awful over amazing. Despite a promising start, where the Kings thrived off the fast pace set by the Nets, they eventually just couldn't keep up with the prolific scoring of Kyrie Irving and James Harden. Somehow, James Harden's triple-double felt relatively quiet next to Kyrie Irving's unbelievable scoring performance. Brooklyn came out with the one-two combo punch we were expecting from them and ultimately put the Kings to bed.
The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly
Because all three are consistent parts of Kings basketball.
The Good:
GR3 & DQJ Minutes: Glenn Robinson III and DaQuan Jeffries got some simultaneous tick together in the 2nd and 4th quarters and provided the defensive spark the Kings needed. With their athleticism and defensive effort, Glenn & DaQuan led the Kings in getting big stops so they could close the gap to six points to end the half. After spending 24 minutes watching Kyrie Irving cook a whole damn meal and James Harden just do James Harden things, it was refreshing to see Glenn & DaQuan each have big defensive stops to break up the constant scoring.
CoJo Redemption: After taking an absolute beating on Kings Twitter these past few weeks, Cory Joseph has been on his redemption tour in the last few games. Tonight was his best case for arguing his value on this team, as he finished with 22 points on 10-13 from the field. Part of his high percentage success was due to him staying securely in his lane - he didn't try to produce out of his range and let the game come to him. He also had only one turnover in 30 minutes, demonstrating he was able to take care of the ball and make smart decisions with it.
The Bad:
Kyrie is a Murderer: Kyrie Irving demonstrated his penchant for murder when he dropped an easy 16 points in the 1st quarter. As usual, the Kings made no noticeable adjustments out of the halftime break and continued to give Kyrie the room to develop into a serial killer. It's been awhile since I've seen Kyrie play an entire game and GOOD LORD, that man can HOOP HOOP. He killed the Kings behind the arc, hitting nine 3-pointers, and showed off his midrange specials with smooth turnarounds and slippery pull ups. I wonder exactly what else Kyrie had to do to get the Kings to start doubling him. Once they did in the last few minutes of the 4th quarter, it was all too little too late.
The Ugly:
Record Breakers: The Brooklyn Nets set a franchise record tonight with 27 made 3-pointers. We must give credit to Brooklyn - they shot extremely well, both when given open looks and when heavily contested. Kyrie Irving alone made 1/3 of these and James Harden (6-10), Joe Harris (2-2), and Tyler Johnson (2-4) all shot 50% and above from behind the arc. But while we can give credit where credit is due, I do not think it is a coincidence that this happened against the Kings. Ranking 28th in the league in defending the 3-point line, the Kings often beat themselves by simply allowing their opponent to score so frequently from distance. Can I just say... I AM SO TIRED of being the team that every other team sets records against.
Royal Court Jester
Because someone is always actin' a fool.
While we were all basking in the glory of the winning streak of one week's past, there were the beginnings of chatter about giving Luke Walton some credit. But I think it's safe to say now that he's not ready for that. Tonight's Royal Court Jester goes to Coach Luke Walton for being confusing as hell. My first question came in the 1st quarter when he sent Nemanja Bjelica out to be slaughtered for a torturous four minutes. In all the ways Nemanja is great, tonight's matchup included zero room for him to utilize any of it. The game was too fast for Nemanja and asking him to guard just about anyone on that Nets team is baffling.
I did like his new experiment of Glenn Robinson III and DaQuan Jeffries and as mentioned previously, this was one of the more noticeably good things that we saw tonight. Yet, when the Nets began to make big strides in the 3rd quarter, Luke decided to wear out the same unit as they continued to get splashed on by Kyrie Irving & James Harden left and right. Why not use what worked in the 1st half??? Luke, I have so many questions, but I will condense them into one: what the fuck?
The King of Kings
Because at least one person does at least one good thing, usually.
In the absence of their reliable center in Richaun Holmes, the Kings needed someone to fill Richaun's shoes with tough defensive play and offensive activity. Tonight's King of Kings goes to Hassan Whiteside for doing just that. I'll admit, I didn't expect much from Hassan in this fast-paced environment. But Hassan used his size advantage over this smaller Brooklyn Nets team and remained active on the offensive glass to clean up the Kings' trash. His pressure on the glass earned him 26 points and 16 rebounds for the night. On the defensive end, he added reliable weak side support for his team and ended with 5 blocks. My favorite play of his tonight was his emphatic rejection of Deandre Jordan in the 1st quarter.
Up Next
Thursday, February 18th vs. Miami Heat @ 7:00 P.M. (PT)
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