Sacramento Kings: A Few Takeaways From The Blazers Game
The Sacramento Kings earned their fourth victory of the season as they defeated the visiting Portland Trail Blazers. Let’s dive into the takeaways!
The Sacramento Kings, who have a 3-3 record in their last six games, performed brilliantly in defeating the Portland Trailer Blazers at home by a score of 86-82.
After losing the previous game to the Atlanta Hawks on the road by 46 points, the defense finally came alive and had one of their best showings of the season.
There were plenty of things seen in today’s game, so let’s dive in!
Willie Cauley-Stein and Kosta Koufos
Both Willie Cauley-Stein and Kosta Koufos came off the bench against Portland, but that fact didn’t matter one bit in terms of their effectiveness.
Cauley-Stein led the team in points (22) and rebounds (10), which means he notched his third double-double of the season as well. He added two assists and a block to his stat line and overall had one of his best games this season.
Consistency has always been an issue for the Sacramento Kings in general, which typically seems to rub off on Cauley-Stein. However, against the Blazers, he was an animal on both sides of the ball and provided numerous highlight plays — especially throwing down a few dunks in the third and fourth quarters.
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If Cauley-Stein can put on another performance like this tomorrow against Portland — the second half of a home-and-home, back-to-back, the Kings could notch their fifth victory of the season.
Koufos also played incredibly large for this team against Portland. He scored 10 points, grabbed seven rebounds, dished four assists and had one block. He’s always been known as a defensive anchor and he showed it against the Blazers. The veteran was huge when he was needed, and boy, was he needed against Portland.
Starting Five
The starters against the Blazers were George Hill, De’Aaron Fox, Garrett Temple, Skal Labissiere and Zach Randolph.
The veterans, Hill and Temple, each played big, each of them notching 14 points and showing their defensive abilities as well. Although Hill didn’t have an assist, he showed how he can be a vital asset to this team moving forward.
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Fox was huge for the Kings again as well. He scored nine points, had four assists and had a steal that led to a fast break dunk. He also scored a big-time off-balance basket with less than a minute to go.
It’s not the first time that Fox has come up with a clutch shot in crunch time. Just ask the Philadelphia 76ers.
Labisierre only had three points on 1/7 shooting, but was great on defense. He also grabbed five rebounds and added a block. Not the best day for him, but others stepped up to help fill the void.
As for Randolph, he surprisingly did not score a single point in the game. He had zero points and four rebounds on 0/4 shooting in his 14 minutes on the floor.
The offensive absence of Randolph and Labissiere increased the pressure on the backup big men, but lucky for the Kings, they were all up for the challenge!
Buddy Hield
All the positives aside, there was one major negative. Key word negative. Buddy Hield rolled his ankle in the fourth quarter on a fast break opportunity and was unable to return to the game. It’s the second time he has rolled his ankle this season.
Keep in mind, he’s now injured the same ankle twice this season. He added eight points in a quick three minutes, but played just 16 minutes in total.
Next: 49ers: Bye Bye Aaron Lynch?
Hopefully he recovers quick, or else the Kings will need to rely on the next man up.
The Kings head to Portland tomorrow to face the Trail Blazers again. If they can duplicate their defensive performance from game one with the Blazers, they could win two straight!