Kings Report

NBA All-Star weekend is in the books, and I actually didn’t watch any of it; there weren’t any Sacramento Kings in the game or any of the other festivities. I read a lot online about how the league needs to revamp the All-Star game because no one really cares about it. Well, I’m sure the Kings players all enjoyed their week off. On the Netflix show Starting 5, I remember that Domantas Sabonis took his family on a vacation when he wasn’t selected for the team. He was with his family in a hot tub in a beautiful location while everyone else froze their butts off in Indianapolis, doesn’t sound too bad to me.

Let’s talk about the two games the Kings played before the All-Star break. Both games were in New Orleans against the Pelicans on back-to-back nights, Wednesday and Thursday, February 12th and 13th. Back-to-backs against the same team can be kind of fun; they are kind of like a mini-playoff series, and you can have two totally different games on each night. This is the perfect opportunity for me to talk to you about Keon Ellis; he was the King’s high scorer in Game 1. Coming off the bench, Ellis scored 27 points in 29 minutes. The thing I love most about Keon Ellis is that he just has so much determination. When that ball comes off the rim, it just seems like he wants the ball more than anyone else. It doesn’t matter what the score is. You can bet that Ellis is putting in 110% all the time. The Kings won Game 1, 119-111.

Now, in Game 2, the person we have to talk about is Sabonis; the man had 28 rebounds for the second time this year. That tied his career high and is also a league-high for a single game this season. Sabonis is breaking records left and right; this time, he became the first player to ever record 22 points, 28 rebounds, and 5 assists while shooting 60% or better from the field. It’s like he was showing them one more time that they shouldn’t have left him out of the All-Star game. Of course, this time, it doesn’t mean as much because the Kings lost Game 2 to the Pelicans, 133-140. It was pretty disappointing after leading a lot of the first half that the Kings ended up letting the game go to overtime, where CJ McCollum made three 3-pointers and a layup to give the Pelicans the win, while it felt like the Kings couldn’t buy a bucket.

It will have been a whole week by the time we watch Kings basketball again. They will be playing the next two games at home, first against the Golden State Warriors on Friday, February 21st, and next against the Charlotte Hornets on Monday, February 24th. The Kings will then travel to Utah to take on the Jazz on Wednesday, February 26th. We are currently sitting in 9th place in the Western Conference with 28 wins and 27 losses, and the Warriors have the same exact record, so this next game against them is going to be an important one. Go Kings!