The beam is lit! It’s been too long, and yet it also feels like yesterday that we were lighting the purple beam that shoots up from the top of what was recently voted the number one arena in the league, the Golden 1 Center, signaling a Sacramento Kings win. The NBA season is underway, and after starting out with two losses, the Kings finish up their first week with back-to-back wins, putting them at 2-2 on the season. I know it’s early, but I like what I’m seeing so far, even in the two losses.

They could have very well won those two games, the first of the season against the Minnesota Timberwolves, which they lost 115-117, and against the Los Angeles Lakers, 127-132. I’m most happy to report that they did not lose the next two games of the season against the Portland Trailblazers and the Utah Jazz, two teams who were at the bottom of the standings last season and who the Kings were expected to beat handily. You may remember that last year, the Kings sometimes struggled against the bottom-tier teams and had several very embarrassing losses against teams they should have beaten. Maybe it was the desperation to not start the season out 0-3, but the Kings brought the energy, which they should be doing for every game, even against a subpar team.

The Kings’ main identity is as an offensive team, and their offense looked great. Our new acquisition, DeMar DeRozan, has started the season with four straight games of at least 20 points, in fact we have three players averaging over 20 points per game, DeRozan, De’Aaron Fox, and Domantas Sabonis, and we are the only team in the league with three players averaging over 20 points per game and three players averaging 10. Remember, they’ve only played four games with DeRozan so far, and I look forward to seeing our team start to gel with each other even more.

This week, the Kings continue their road trip by heading down to Atlanta to play the first night of their second back-to-back in two weeks against the Hawks on Friday, November 1st, before heading all the way up to Canada to take on the Toronto Raptors the next day, Saturday, November 2nd. Next, the Kings will be headed back down south again to play the Miami Heat on Monday, November 4th. That’s a lot of traveling. Did they mix up the Toronto and Miami games? Because traveling all the way to Toronto from Atlanta on a back-to-back and then down to Miami two days later seems crazy; that’s almost 2,500 miles in three days. Anyway, they will be back at home on Wednesday, November 6th to play the Toronto Raptors again. The plan for the beam I have at my house is to keep it lit as long as the Kings are winning, so if you are in Downieville and see the purple light on the south side of town, you’ll know the Kings won their last game. Let’s keep the beam lit!