Kings Disappoint Against the Bulls

Kings 116, Bulls 128

It was a game of familiar foes on both sides tonight as the Sacramento Kings and Chicago Bulls squared off in a battle of two play-in squads looking to further cement themselves and their seeding in the respective conference standings. Kevin Huerter made his first return to Sacramento since the trade while Zach LaVine played against Chicago for the first time since getting traded to the Kings.

Malik Monk led the charge for Sacramento as he came out scorching hot from beyond the arc. He started off 5/6 from deep, totaling 15 of the team’s first 22 points. Trey Lyles carried the torch afterwards by knocking down three of his own triples in the same quarter. The two led the Kings to a 11/17 (64.7%) shooting quarter from three for the team, putting the Kings up 39-28 after one.

Sacramento cooled off from three in the second quarter but they were still able to hold on to their lead anyways. The Kings shot just 2/10 from three in the quarter. They opted to change up the shot diet after they opened the quarter with a few misses from long range, turning their first quarter three point efficiency into two point efficiency for the duration of the second quarter. They led by 19 at one point but Chicago cut the lead back down to 9 by half after the Kings let their foot off the gas. Malik Monk admitted in the post-game press conference that, “We thought we had it and just relaxed.”

The hot three point shooting from the first quarter was not repeated later and therefore was not able to cover up the usual defensive deficiencies of the Monk/LaVine/DeRozan lineup at the start of the third quarter. Sacramento saw that lineup quickly fumble the 9 points halftime lead in just four minutes. The Kings struggled against Nikola Vucevic all night long, who got whatever he wanted against a Kings team who played Lyles at center for a lot of minutes. Vucevic led the Bulls in their comeback in then early portion of their comeback, as Chicago took the lead at the 3:01 mark of the third quarter. The Kings failed to get stops, and their shooting woes from deep continued in the third quarter. Things looked bleak for Sacramento as they trailed going into the final quarter 92-89.

Coby White and Monk traded buckets to start the final quarter. It seemed like an uphill battle for the Kings to climb back and retake the lead as White was getting a lot calls on his drives while the officials didn’t seem to reciprocate the whistle for Monk’s drives to the rim. The Kings were able to retake the lead, however, after putting together some scrappy defensive possessions. The two teams traded the lead back and forth one possession after another.

While Monk finished the game with 34 points, he failed to hit a three pointer after the first quarter and his frustrations with the lack of whistles earned him a technical foul and seemed to hinder his scoring later in the final period.

Huerter made his presence felt in his return, having 25 points on 10/16 shooting and 5/9 from deep. He added 7 assists, 5 rebounds and 4 steals to his statline. I think he hit more threes in in his “revenge” game than he did all season with Sacramento! LaVine, on the other hand, had more of a quiet night against former team, ending up with just 8 points on 2/9 shooting. Tonight was another game with high stakes where LaVine fails to show up – a pattern that has become a trend and is becoming slightly concerning. It is tough to just having a $45M+ player on your roster who continues to have passive nights in crucial games down the stretch run of the season.

The Kings inability to get stops cost them this one. Chicago got whatever they wanted – at the rim or on the perimeter. Not going back to Valanciunas while the Kings were getting shredded inside the paint was an interesting choice from Doug Christie. He went small and the Kings suffered as a result. The Kings could not defend without fouling, even if the referees seemed to be one-sided with the types of fouls they called. All in all, this was a hard fought win for Chicago and a disappointing, unacceptable loss from Sacramento.

Tonight’s loss and yesterday’s win are perfectly representative of the Kings’ season as a whole. One night you beat the best team in the NBA and the next night you blow a 19 point lead and lose to a team 10 games under .500. Extremely disappointing to say the least. The Kings have been consistently inconsistent all year long, and that isn’t going to change 69 games into the season.

The homestand continues Saturday night as the Kings face Milwaukee. It will be tough against Giannis Antetokounnmpo and Damian Lillard, but the Bucks aren’t a gleaming model of consistency either. It will be a winnable game at home, and the Kings will look to maintain their status in the 9th spot in the West.