Kings Drop Crucial Game In D.C.

The Sacramento Kings chase for a playoff spot took a hit on Monday as they fell 121-116 to the Washington Wizards at Capital One Arena in Washington D.C.

It is a costly loss for Sacramento, as they now fall to 4.5 games back of the eighth and final playoff seed with 16 games left to play. With the loss, the Kings are now 33-33 on the season and 13-19 away from Golden 1 Center.

Fast AF

(as 🦊) pic.twitter.com/AtrRfEm6Ia

— Sacramento Kings (@SacramentoKings) March 12, 2019

The Kings played well in only two quarters, the second and fourth quarters respectively. In those quarters, they outscored the Wizards 74-61. What killed Sacramento on Monday was the way they played in the first and third quarters, where they were outscored 59-41. Another brutal aspect of the game was the fact that the Kings gave up 25 points off of turnovers, turning the ball over 16 times.

All-star guard Bradley Beal had his way with Sacramento, scoring 27 points to go along with 9 rebounds, 9 assists, and 4 steals. Newly acquired bigmen Bobby Portis and Jabari Parker combined for 35 points and 17 rebounds, while Tomas Satoransky had 17 points, 6 rebounds, and 7 assists. The Wizards, who started the day four games back of the eighth seed in the Easern Conference, kept their playoff hopes alive while improving to 20-12 on their home floor.

De’Aaron Fox had 23 points and 8 assists, but had a rough night handling the basketball as he turned the ball over six times.  Buddy Hield’s shooting struggles continued, as the went 6-of-21 from the field including 1-of-9 from three en route to a 15 point performance.

Hield is in his roughest shooting stretch of the season, shooting 36% from the field and 31% from three over his past five games.

Harrison Barnes added 15 points for Sacramento, while Nemanja Bjelica provided the Kings with a spark off of the bench once again with 15 points and 12 rebounds. It was the seventh double-double of the season for Bjelica, more than doubling his career-high for double-doubles in a season (3). Harry Giles III had 12 points and 6 rebounds, while Bogdan Bogdanovic added 13 points to round out the top scorers for Sacramento.

The Kings will have to wait until next season to break their cold spell in Washington, where they have not won a game since January of 2013.

Coming Up

The Kings will get a few days off to rest before they head to Boston for the first night of a back-to-back, starting with the Celtics on Thursday night.

Sacramento lost a 111-109 heartbreaker to the Celtics last Wednesday at Golden 1 Center, a game that saw Boston play without star guard Kyrie Irving. Sacramento will play in Boston on Thursday before rounding out the road trip on Friday in Philadelphia when they take on the 76ers.

Catch Thursday’s contest against the Celtics right here on Sports 1140 KHTK, starting with pregame coverage at 4:00pm followed by tipoff at 4:30pm.

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