Rough Second Half Dooms Kings In Brooklyn

by Franklin Cartoscelli – Sports 1140 KHTK

Facing another young, up-and-coming team, the Sacramento Kings ran out of steam in the second half on Monday in Brooklyn as they fell 123-94 to the Nets.

After Sacramento took a five point lead into the half, Brooklyn stormed out of the gate with a 22-6 run to start the third quarter, largely in thanks to D’Angelo Russell who scored 14 of his game-high 31 points in the third quarter. Sacramento struggled to answer Russell and the Nets, being outscored 68-34 in the second half.

DOUBLE. ZERO. pic.twitter.com/X0K4g4ww74

— Sacramento Kings (@SacramentoKings) January 21, 2019

Russell shot 7-for-14 from the three point line as he led the Brooklyn over the sluggish Sacramento offense.

The starting five struggled for the Kings, shooting a combined 16-for-45 from the field, including a 4-for-14 performance by De’Aaron Fox. The sophomore guard is shooting 33 percent from the field over his past five games.

Bogdan Bogdanovic was a bright spot for Sacramento as he scored 22 points and dished 11 assists, claiming his first career double-double. Justin Jackson had a nice game off of the Kings bench, scoring 14 points and grabbing 6 rebounds.

The free-throw woes continued for the Kings, as they shot 6-for-11 from the charity stripe. Sacramento sits at 28th in the league in team free-show percentage.

Brooklyn, a team very much like the Kings in how they’ve rebuilt for several years, improve to 25-23 on the season as they won their fourth straight contest. Joe Harris had 19 points to go along with 7 boards as the Nets improved to 8-3 in their last 11 games.

Coming Up

The road-trip doesn’t get any easier for Sacramento as they will play the second night of a back-to-back on Tuesday night against the Toronto Raptors.

Led by MVP candidate Kawhi Leonard, Toronto sits in a tie with the Milwaukee Bucks atop the Eastern Conference with a 35-13 record that includes a 114-105 win against the Kings in December at Golden 1 Center.

The Kings struggle in back-to-backs, as they are 3-6 in the second game of a back-to-back this season.

Catch all the action right here on Sports 1140 KHTK, starting with pregame coverage at 3:30pm followed by tip-off at 4:00pm.

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