Kings Report

And the roll continues! My job is so much more enjoyable when the Kings are winning, so thank you, Sacramento.

First, the Kings absolutely killed it on Thursday, January 16th, against the Houston Rockets. The Kings don’t play a ton ofnationally televised games, so it was awesome to see them dominating the second-place team in the Western Conference on TNT. Don’t get me wrong, the Rockets put up a fight, and after trailing in the first half, they battled back to take the lead from the Kings early in the fourth quarter. But the Kings matched their energy and were able to pull out the win, 132-127. It wasn’t a De’Aaron Fox night; if you remember, the last time the Kings played the Rockets, they managed to get Fox angry, and he went off on them. It must have been their game plan to take him out of the game, and while they did that to a certain extent, lucky for us, we have a team leader who doesn’t mind passing the reins when it’s not his night. It’s an important skill to have, to know who has the hot hand and feed them the ball, and it takes an unselfish player to do that.

Fox passed the reins to DeMar DeRozan, who had 33 points; Malik Monk scored 26, and third-year player Keegan Murray had possibly his best game of the season, with 18 points, 11 rebounds, and two assists. It was a very physical game and very fun to watch. The Rockets aren’t going to want to see the Kings in the playoffs, and I’m hoping we are becoming that team to them.

Next came an easy win against the Washington Wizards on Sunday, January 19th, 123-100. But I’m not taking any wins for granted, especially after all those losses last year to bottom-tier teams.

I only have two games to report on this week, as the third game of this homestand is on Wednesday, after deadline day. But, I hope by the time you are reading this, the Kings are another win up. Las Vegas certainly believes the Kings can win, with the spread as of this writing being Kings -6.5; that’s not bad!

After playing the Warriors at home, the Kings will head off on a six-game road trip, starting with the Denver Nuggets on Thursday, January 23rd; the New York Knicks on Saturday, 25th; the Brooklyn Nets on Monday, January 27th; and the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday, January 29th. As of this writing, the Kings are up to 8th place in the Western Conference, and it’s still a super tight race with the 5th through 11th place teams all being within three games of each other. Let’s keep it up! Go Kings!