Kings End Road Trip With Loss To Clippers

by Franklin Cartoscelli – Sports 1140 KHTK

This Kings team seems to have found their kryptonite.

The Clippers jumped out to a hot start and Sacramento never recovered on Sunday as they fell 122-108 at the STAPLES Center in Los Angeles. The Clippers improved to 3-0 against the Kings this season, and have won 29 of their past 34 contests against Sacramento since the 2010-11 season.

With the loss, the Kings end their six-game roadtrip with a 2-4 record.

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⚡️ pic.twitter.com/7xIFx16v4g

— Sacramento Kings (@SacramentoKings) January 27, 2019

At the start of play on Sunday, the Clippers sat in the eighth-seed spot of the Western Conference with Sacramento trailing by just two games. With the loss, the Kings now sit at 25-25 on then season and three games behind the Clippers for the eighth and final playoff spot.

Los Angeles came out firing in the first half, quickly jumping out to a 16-6 lead halfway through the first. That trend continued, as the Clippers took a 67-51 lead into the half. The Kings, who trailed by as many as 25 points, fought back to make it a game when they cut the deficit to 93-88 with 8:38 remaining in the fourth. Los Angeles would respond with a quick 7-2 run to put the lead back into the double digits and place the game out of reach for good.

The Kings struggled shooting the ball on Sunday, shooting only 39% from the field and an awful 22% from downtown. The Clippers nearly doubled Sacramento’s assists total, finishing with 35 assists to the Kings’ 18.

Sacramento had a tough time with Clippers forward Montrezl Harrell, who continued terrorizing the Kings big-men with 25 points and 7 rebounds on 11-of-13 shooting from the field. Rookie Shai Giligeous-Alexander had 17 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists in the Clipper victory, while Patrick Beverly added 16 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists.

De’Aaron Fox led the way for Sacramento with 21 points on 8-of-16 from the field. The Clippers defense did a great job of taking Buddy Hield out of the game, as Buddy had 16 points on 6-of-17 shooting. Bogdan Bogdanovic had a good game off of the bench with 19 points, while Marvin Bagley III had 14 points and 5 rebounds over 20 minutes of action.

Coming Up

The Kings return home from a brutal six-game, two-week roadtrip to face the lowly Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday night at Golden 1 Center.

In their only meeting this season, Sacramento pummeled the Hawks 146-115 back on November 1st in a game that saw De’Aaron Fox claim his first career triple-double. Fox scored 31 points to go along with 10 rebounds and 15 assists in the victory.

The Kings will be seeking their 26th victory of the season with a win on Wednesday. Last season, win number 26 came on April 1st.

Catch all the action right here on Sports 1140 KHTK, starting with pregame coverage at 6:30 and tip-off at 7:00pm.

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