Kings 130, Hornets 88
NEW ORLEANS, LA – FEBRUARY 13: Zach LaVine #8 of the Sacramento Kings three point basket during the game against the New Orleans Pelicans on February 13, 2025 at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Louisiana. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2025 NBAE(Photo by Layne Murdoch Jr./NBAE via Getty Images)
For the last time this season, the Sacramento Kings hosted an opponent on their retro court, this time facing a woeful and injury-riddled Charlotte Hornets squad. And they actually won in the awesome jerseys for once! Things looked a lot more promising tonight than they have in a long time.
After another slightly rocky start, we saw Keon Ellis check in early (just like he did against Golden State), as Doug Christie substituted him in for Malik Monk. It appears Christie is determining who Ellis replaces on a game-by-game basis – Ellis came in for Zach LaVine first on Friday night. The Kings jumped from a three point deficit to seven point lead with that group of five guys on the floor together. The offensive flow looked really good with Ellis playing alongside the starters and guys were moving well and fighting on defense.
Markelle Fultz made an early appearance tonight, having seemingly earned Christie’s trust with a good performance in Sacramento’s blowout loss to Golden State. Coach Christie tested Fultz out in a new lineup, partnering him with Monk, Jake Laravia and Jonas Valanciunas off the bench with LaVine staying in to lead the scoring charge. The lineup produced surprisingly good defense, protecting the rim well and forcing several turnovers in their minutes together.
Whether it was the two days of practice leading up to gameday or if it was Christie’s new rotations, Sacramento’s offense seemed to have gelled well and good things were finally happening again. It wasn’t perfect, but guys were valuing possession and moving well off the ball. The team seemed to be moving like a string on defense, covering for each other and rotating better. Things finally seemed to be clicking. Christie found a mix of several lineups that were well-balanced. In certain combinations, he played LaVine/Monk, DeRozan/Monk, and Sabonis/DeRozan/LaVine. He paired those offensive combinations with at least one of Ellis or Fultz in different lineups. One of the two aforementioned guards were on the floor all times until Ellis exited the game with an apparent foot injury. Having a defensive guard paired with Keegan Murray to challenge forwards will be really helpful for Sacramento going forward.
The starting five saw the floor for the first time again to start the second half. The results wereee….. bad. The 20 point lead Sacramento built up over the first 24 minutes dwindled to just 12 in just over three minutes of action. Christie immediately went to Fultz to get away from that lineup, as Ellis was still ailing from the injury he suffered earlier in the game. Sloppiness from a multitude of guys hurt the Kings in the third quarter with several bad turnovers killing the flow the offense had established earlier on. The Kings scored just nine points in the first nine minutes of the third quarter, but they corrected things and put up 23 points in total for the quarter. Although Charlotte teased a comeback in the third quarter, they were never able to get closer than a nine point difference.
The Kings handled business in the fourth quarter and got back to a comfortable lead again. LaVine was shooting like he was playing on Rookie difficulty on 2k25. Everything was dropping for him as he lead the Kings to a 37 point lead (!!!) with six minutes to go. He had 42 points on an unbelievable 16/19 from the field and 8/9 from beyond the arc. He could have gone for 50 if the game was not already decided and he did not sit the last half of the quarter.
LaVine’s hot shooting gave the other starters a chance to rest for the fourth quarter and gave some young guys some run. Devin Carter finally got NBA minutes again after a short stint in the G-League with the Stockton Kings. It was refreshing to see the rookie get a solid stretch of minutes to find a rhythm of sorts. He played well and put up nine points and produced solid defense.
There are certainly still wrinkles that need to be ironed out, but tonight’s performance was a promising shift from what we have seen from the Kings recently. Charlotte is bad team missing a lot of players, and their star point guard LaMelo Ball did not play his best game (13 points on 23.1% from the field). But things just looked a lot more comfortable for Sacramento. The starting five is still iffy, as their defense tends to put the Kings in holes early, but maybe Christie can get away with fielding that unit to placate egos and rely on quicks subs to get the real lineups he and his coaching staff want out there. Let’s see if the Kings can take this momentum in Utah Wednesday night and convert that into another win.
Kings Scribe 
Leave a comment