Before we get into the Sacramento Kings’ week, I want to acknowledge the Philadelphia 76ers’ Joel Embiid dropping 70 points on Monday, January 22nd, against the San Antonio Spurs. Before the game, everyone was talking about the matchup between Embiid and Spurs rookie, Victor Wembanyama. Don’t get me wrong, Wembanyama is a phenom and definitely someone to talk about, but Embiid shut up that conversation real quick. Wembanyama is, after all, a rookie. Embiid is the first 76er to score 70 and the ninth player in NBA history to do it. For history’s sake, the other players who have scored 70 in a game are Damian Lillard, Donavan Mitchell, Devin Booker, Kobe Bryant, David Robinson, David Thompson, Wilt Chamberlain, and Elgin Baylor.

Now, to talk about the Kings, they’ve had a rough January, which saw them move out of a playoff spot and into the play-in tournament spot. The Kings lost four straight games before their win against the Atlanta Hawks on Monday, January 22nd, something they haven’t done since they started last season 0-4 before becoming the team we know today. I already wrote about the heartbreaking losses from last week, in which the Kings were killed by their free throw shooting and inability to close out games. The game against the Indiana Pacers on Thursday, January 18th, felt like old school Kings problems, however; the Pacers were owning the Kings almost the whole game, winning by 16 at one point, and the Kings managed to battle back in the fourth quarter and make it a three point game with 30 seconds left; but it was too little too late and the Kings lost, 121-126. The good news was that Kevin Huerter was back in form, scoring 31 points. Luckily, the Kings had a three-day break after that; I think they needed it because the next game on Monday against the Hawks felt like the Kings we’ve been missing.

What seemed to work so well for the Kings last year was when one of their stars was having an off night, the role players would step up and pick up the slack, something that hasn’t been happening this year. Well, after rumors that 11-year veteran Harrison Barnes is on the trading block, he finally showed up to a game. Barnes scored 32 points and we absolutely would not have won that game without him. The other great news is that the Kings hit 24 of 27 free throws. If the Kings would have missed 14 free throws like they did in the last game, this game could have had a different outcome. The Kings really felt like they were back, and the crowd was into it. The Kings beat the Hawks 122-107.

Because I don’t have room to write about how good our star center, Domantas Sabonis, is every week, let’s show the big man some love this week. Sabonis is a double-double machine, recording his 25th double-double in a row on Monday, which included 14 points and 20 rebounds. He has 12 triple-doubles, which is second only to the Nugget’s Nikola Jokic, who has 13. Sabonis leads the league in rebounds. That’s right, Sabonis has 538 rebounds, and Jokic only has a measly 526. I guess all we need to do right now is start winning some games again… The Kings will have an opportunity to do just that as they embark on a seven-game road trip, during which they will play the Golden State Warriors on Thursday, January 25th, the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday, January 27th, the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday, January 29th, and the Miami Heat on Wednesday, January 31st. Let’s go Kings!