Sacramento Kings: The Roller Coaster That Was December

December 18th-December 23rd 

Coming off an impressive three game winning streak, the Kings were riding high. The season, which got off to a rocky start, then got better, then slumped again, had finally came back up to a spot where people felt confident in the Kings and they looked confident in themselves. Rondo posted a triple-double nearly every day, Cousins looked dominant in the paint, and Gay had found his stroke.

They took their high flying confidence on the road for one of the more seemingly random assortment of road games of the year. They traveled well over 1500 miles in less than a week, hitting Minnesota, Toronto, Washington DC, and Indiana before winding their way back to the River City.

On their first stop, the Timberwolves were waiting for them. The Wolves pounced early, scoring 31 in the first quarter. Full of young talent, the Wolves are much like the Portland Trailblazers in the sense that they likely won’t make the playoffs this year, but are poised to be dangerous relatively soon.

Between Ricky Rubio, Andrew Wiggins, and Karl-Anthony Towns, Minnesota is just a few years and a few pieces away from being something special.

They certainly showed that in their matchup with the Kings, out-rebounding Sacramento 49-31. They held the Kings off for most of the game, and took a sizable lead into the fourth quarter, before opening the door for Sacramento by missing quite a few shots early in the fourth. Unable to make key shots late though, the Kings saw their win streak come to an end even with Rondo’s 11 points and 13 assists, as well as Cousins putting up 24 points, 12 rebounds, and four steals.

With a game in Toronto just one travel day away, the Kings were forced to regroup quickly. The Kings came out on an absolute tear, plastering the Raptors for 37 points in the first quarter. Cousins was held in check with only 15 points, but contributed nine rebounds and four blocks in the relatively comfortable win for the Kings.

The Raptors were just outplayed, and didn’t ever get too close to taking the lead from the Kings. Rondo added his fourth consecutive double-double, and Casspi netted an impressive 15 point, 11 rebound night. Once again, the Kings proved the obvious — good things happen when all of your starters score in double digits.

Toronto guard DeMar DeRozan didn’t shoot efficiently (10-28) but still posted 28 points in the losing effort. The Kings played decent defense, even though they had enough of a lead that defense wasn’t a pressing need in this contest.

The Kings couldn’t rest on their laurels though, as they had to come back to America for a red, white, and blue battle in our nation’s capital. The Wizards, led by guard John Wall, came out matching Sacramento blow for blow in the first. Both teams scored over 30 points in the first quarter, but Washington held a slim lead for most of the game.

With only eight healthy players, the Wizards had to play a lot of minutes, yet the Kings seemed to be the team struggling to keep up down the stretch.

This was all the more apparent when what had been a close game was put further and further out of reach in the final period, as the Kings scored just 15 points compared to the Wizards’ 29 in the fourth. Cousins and Gay were just 14-49 combined, and Rondo and Casspi combined for 4-14 shooting.

It was a game that the Kings didn’t deserve to win, but needed to for playoff standing and ultimately team spirit. Come April, games where a team is competitive and then suddenly quits (like in an OT loss in Charlotte) can come back to haunt.

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After the game in Washington, the Kings then traveled to Indiana for their third game in four nights, looking to even their road trip at 2-2. The Indiana Pacers are a team that is caught between being competitive and rebuilding. It obviously didn’t help that they lost over a year of Paul George‘s career thanks to that gruesome leg injury that we will most certainly not be linking to.

The Kings got off to a blazing start, putting up 64 in the first half. Rondo and Cousins already had double-doubles and Gay was shooting well. Up 15, the Kings couldn’t fend off a late push by the Pacers, who took a lead with two minutes to go. Gay and Cousins made some big shots though, George missed a potential tying shot at the buzzer and the Kings held on to a 108-106 lead for the victory.

Darren Collison, a former Pacer himself, scored 24 off the bench for Sacramento — more than any Pacer, and more than the entire Indiana bench combined. Rondo finished a few rebounds shy of another triple-double, and Cousins had a season high 16 rebounds as he had his way with a smaller Pacer lineup.

The Kings then made their way home to Sacramento, looking to close 2015 out on a high note.

Next: Off The Rails