Spurs 142, Kings 134: Day Game Nightmare

With just five games left in the regular season, your playoff-bound Beam Team looked to get their 48th victory against the San Antonio Spurs. (I still can't believe all the words in that sentence are real.) The Kings came in with their shiny 3rd seed and having won their last two, while the Spurs came in at the 14th seed and having lost their last seven. Who said trap game?! Silence that person immediately! We're in the Beam era now. Let's see how they did:

Quick Stats

Outcome: Kings lose, 134-142

Sacramento Kings: 134 pts, 47.6% fg, 25.0% 3 pt, 78.1% ft, 24 ast, 43 reb, 15 to

San Antonio Spurs: 142 pts, 53.1% fg, 38.2% 3 pt, 86.2% ft, 31 ast, 52 reb, 18 to

Trap game, indeed. My apologies to all silenced parties. In a very underwhelming four quarters against a very depleted Spurs team, the Kings managed to climb back to send this one into overtime. But names like Doug McDermott, Julian Champagnie, and Tre Jones were too much for the Kings to handle.

The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly

The Good

1. 4th Quarter Fox: The Kings trailed for most of the game and desperately needed some 4th quarter heroics from De'Aaron Fox. As the most clutch player in the game does, Fox showed up for his team and scored 16 of his 28 points in the 4th quarter to push his team into overtime and give them a chance at winning a very underwhelming game. With the help of some very solid screens from Alex Len, Fox got to his spots with ease and knocked down midrange jumpers or found easy layups at the rim. No matter what, I never want to take for granted the incredible clutch shotmaking of De'Aaron Fox.

the Bad

1. Defense: What the Spurs lack in big name talent, you can be sure Gregg Popovich's team will make up for in fundamentals and effort. This is what led to Doug McDermott's 30-point performance and a new career-high of 26 points for Julian Champagnie. Early on, the Kings got caught sleeping on the defensive end and paid for it in embarrassing wide open back door cuts by the Spurs. The Kings also gave up 14 offensive boards to the Spurs, showing their lack of focus on finishing out defensive possessions.
2. Conversion Trouble: When the Kings were locked in on defense, they were able to disrupt the Spurs and ultimately forced them into 18 turnovers. However, the Kings failed to convert on these opportunities a handful of times, only scoring 20 points from all of those chances.

The Ugly

1. 1st Half: The 1st half was not only ugly, but also weird. The Kings looked disjointed and disconnected on both sides of the floor. They committed 11 turnovers from sloppy passes and miscommunicated executions on offense. The defense was exposed for its worst habits. Although he ultimately finished with 26 points and eight rebounds, Domantas Sabonis finished the 1st half with just four points and four rebounds, a rare and weird stat for the dominant center. De'Aaron Fox finished the half with just seven points. Meanwhile, Julian Champagnie had far surpassed his previous career-high of 12 points by scoring 22 points in the 1st half. The Kings showed their bad habit of coming out slow and letting their opponent dominate for a major portion of the game.

The King of Kings

Alex Len gave the Kings 13 great minutes tonight. Len took advantage of every second he got on the floor by being active on both sides, getting offensive boards and causing deflections and turnovers on defense. Len finished with six points, seven rebounds, and two blocks.

Operation: MCNAIR - Season 2 Watch

Today's chosen charity is the Wildlife Care Association. Donate if you are able to and be sure to notify Will via Twitter (@WillofThaPeople) or e-mail (donations@kingsherald.com) so he can continue to track donation totals.

Up Next

Tuesday, April 4th @ New Orleans Pelicans - 5:00 P.M. (PT)