Sacramento Kings: Cauley-Stein Leads the Way in a 113-102 Win vs. Lakers
The Sacramento Kings defeated the visiting Los Angeles Lakers by a final score of 113-102. Let’s dive into the takeaways from the game!
The Sacramento Kings earned their fifth win of the season and, man, was it a darn good one. They defeated the Los Angeles Lakers and showed how good they can be when everything is clicking. The defense started off very well, but even though they weren’t as impressive in the second half, they played better than they did most of the season. The offense was hitting on all cylinders as well, shooting 47/85 from the field (55 percent).
With the majority of the hype surrounding the Lonzo Ball and De’Aaron Fox match-up, it didn’t live up to all the hype. Let’s dig into what we learned:
Ball vs. Fox
Lonzo played 14 more minutes than his counterpart Fox and had 11 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds while shooting 4/8 from the field and making three three-pointers (two of them in garbage time).
Fox on the other-hand had 13 points, three assists and four rebounds in 23 minutes. He knocked down two three-pointers on two attempts and we also saw rookie guard Frank Mason III play 26 minutes, which leads to the next takeaway.
Frank Mason III
What a performance for Mason. The second-round pick was very, very impressive off the bench as he notched 11 points, seven assists and five rebounds. He shot 4/7 from the field and also hit both of his attempted three-pointers.
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He showed immense effort on both offense and defense and really displayed how big of a factor he can be off the bench.
The bench was immensely impressive in this game, with four players scoring in double-digit figures.
Bench Production
As mentioned earlier, the bench was key to victory today. Buddy Hield scored 10 points in 14 minutes in his first game back after missing the previous two with an ankle injury.
We talked about how much of an impact Mason made, which leaves us with the other two big time performers: Bodgan Bogdanovic and Willie Cauley-Stein.
In 26 minutes, Bogdanovic scored 14 points on 6/9 shooting and racked up seven assists. Cauley-Stein had a game-high 26 points on 10/14 shooting and 6/8 free throws in 28 minutes. These two accounted for multiple lob plays and their chemistry was absolutely on point, leaving no doubt that these two should be on the floor together numerous times for the remainder of the season.
The Veterans
The three veterans for this team that were healthy (Vince Carter was dealing with kidney stones but played) weren’t as active in this game, except for one.
Zach Randolph was huge from the beginning, finishing the game with 22 points, seven rebounds and seven assists on 10/16 shooting in 30 minutes. He was there whenever the Kings needed a big play and he showed why this team needs veterans.
However, George Hill and Kosta Koufos were quiet today.
Hill had zero points on 0/2 shooting in 22 minutes. Koufos had four points on 2/2 shooting and five rebounds in seven minutes. He has paired up well with Cauley-Stein recently but that connection didn’t play together a lot in this game.
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THE REBOUNDS
The Kings have struggled immensely grabbing boards this season, but they out-rebounded the Lakers 44 to 32. If they continue to pound the boards like this, they’ll find more wins come their way.
This was a huge win for the Kings and they quieted plenty of critics and, of course, the Laker fans.