While the Kings might have failed at playing winning basketball at the game I attended on Friday, November 8th, against the Los Angeles Clippers, they did succeed at one thing: giving a kid such a good experience that we just might have a new fan for life! It was easy to see why the Kings Golden 1 Center was voted the best arena with the best experience in the league. When I arrived at the game with my friend and our kids, a staff member asked if it was anyone’s first game, and when Euan, age 7, told her it was his, she made a very big deal about it and took him to get a certificate and a ball and take pictures with the Kings dancers. It was like she knew my mission! We discovered that the best team store was on the second floor; it was a lot less crowded and had more affordable merchandise. Foam fingers all around!
The kids still had a lot of fun watching the game, and they managed to dance their way onto the Jumbotron before it was over. The Kings were good at making us think maybe they were going to get it together—I had hope for a minute in the third quarter—but they never did. The Kings shot an abysmal 3 of 26 from 3-point range. That puts them dead last in the league in 3-point percentage. It’s not because they aren’t getting good looks; they are taking great shots. They just aren’t falling. It does give me hope that once they get in the rhythm of making shots they are going to be really hard to stop.
In addition to the shooting disaster, everyone learned why James Harden of the Clippers is my least favorite player in the league; I can’t watch that guy shoot any more free throws! The Kings lost to the Clippers, 98-107.
The Kings have been trading off; one horrible game followed by one really good one, and the Clippers game was sandwiched between two great wins. The first, on Wednesday, November 6th, was a revenge game against the Toronto Raptors, who had beaten them last week. After a 29 to 7 run in the fourth quarter, the Kings won 122-107; that’s the kind of game I want to see! The most underrated player in the league, Domantas Sabonis, posted 17 points, 11 rebounds, and 13 assists with 100% shooting on field goals and free throws and no turnovers to become the first player in history to drop a perfect triple-double. Then, on Sunday, November 10th, they beat the Phoenix Suns 127-118 in overtime. That was an exciting one, and I’m happy Euan got to watch it with me and “light the beam” at my house.
After the Suns game was the second night of a back-to-back, against the San Antonio Spurs on Monday, November 11th, and the Kings got their butts absolutely kicked 96-116. The Kings head back home to host Devin Booker and the Phoenix Suns for the first of a four game home stand on Wednesday, November 13th; the spread on this game is Kings -7.5, wow!
Next up is Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday, November 15th, Lauri Markkanen and the Utah Jazz on Saturday, November 16th, and Trae Young and the Atlanta Hawks on Monday, November 18th. Keep an eye out for those vibrant colored courts; you might be watching an NBA Cup game, the NBA’s in-season tournament, and their new way of trying to add more stakes to the beginning of the season and give us some exciting games. We’ll talk more about that next week. Until then, go Kings!