Monk, Kings Defeat Dangerous Cavaliers In Statement Victory

Nov 9, 2022, 11:09 PM | Updated: Nov 10, 2022, 8:21 am

SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA - NOVEMBER 09: Malik Monk #0 of the Sacramento Kings reacts after making a t...

(Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

Sacramento Kings Beat Writer

On the heels of a 2-2 road trip that was dwarfed by officiating controversies, the Sacramento Kings had a tall order for their first game back at Golden 1 Center: A matchup with an 8-2 Cleveland Cavaliers team.

If it felt like the Kings were close to breaking through after most of their six defeats came by narrow margins, Wednesday night’s game was the exact kind of breakthrough performance that this team needed.

Even though Sacramento struggled to establish itself in the paint and on the glass, they were able to put together a cohesive effort on the offensive end as seven players scored 14 points or more during a 127-120 win over the Cavs at Golden 1 Center.

Things got tight late, but the ending of Wednesday night’s game might as well have been basketball justice as Kevin Huerter was the one to put the finishing touches on the win. Huerter’s triple with 1:21 remaining gave the Kings a six-point lead and sent an energized crowd into a frenzy as Sacramento made it clear that they would not be denied–not again.

Even with the bad taste of Monday’s controversial loss against Golden State still present, Huerter’s triple gave this team an emphatic push forward as they secured an impressive win over an Eastern Conference powerhouse.

Huerter with a hand in his face‼️ pic.twitter.com/c7k4yPhTCI

— Kings on NBCS (@NBCSKings) November 10, 2022

As we have seen over the first nine games of play this season, Sacramento has struggled with defending the rim. Cleveland’s talented frontline of Jarrett Allen, Evan Mobley, and Caris Levert made life difficult for the Kings as they went on to outscore Sacramento in the paint by a wide margin (64-40) and dominate the rebounding game (51-33).

Even with the Cavs controlling the paint and knocking down a high percentage of their three-point field goals (42%), Sacramento was unfazed and answered with one of their strongest offensive performances of the season.

The ball movement was active during the win as the Kings handed out 30 assists (one short of their season-high) and only turned the ball over nine times. De’Aaron Fox had a quiet night scoring-wise, but he dished out eight assists without turning the ball over. Domantas Sabonis wasn’t able to establish himself on the glass (five rebounds), but he had six assists of his own.

Finally, Malik Monk continued to prove that he is the unofficial backup floor general on this team as he finished the game with five assists–the fifth time this season he has handed out five or more assists.

Sacramento played together from the tip, and they never looked overmatched or out of sorts in what was the team’s strongest performance of the young season.

“If you look down the line, you have guys playing for each other,” Cleveland star guard Donovan Mitchell said of the Kings following his 38-point outing. “It’s one of the first times I see this group and it’s like man, you see where they want to go.”

The results haven’t fully been there in the win column as Sacramento will take a 4-6 record into Friday’s matchup against the Los Angeles Lakers, but the fact that the Kings hold a -1.2 point differential (eighth-best in the Western Conference), you can’t help but believe that this team is on the cusp of something special.

Harrison Returns To Form

Nine games into the season, Harrison Barnes looked like a shell of his 2021-22 self. The 30-year-old held averages of 9.9 points and 5.3 rebounds per game on 36 percent shooting from the field and 16 percent from beyond the arc.

In game number 10, Barnes welcomed himself to the 2022-23 season.

HB flips it up and in pic.twitter.com/BPElNDrmz4

— Kings on NBCS (@NBCSKings) November 10, 2022

Barnes turned in his strongest performance of the season on Wednesday as the forward finished the night with a season-high 20 points on six-of-eight shooting to go along with a team-high nine rebounds and two steals over 35 minutes of action.

Not only was Barnes knocking down his looks from beyond the arc (two-of-four), he continued to act as one of the team’s strongest rebounders against a formidable opponent in Cleveland. If Barnes can string together some consistent performances like Wednesday night, it makes Sacramento much more dangerous and also relieves some of the pressure that is currently on players like De’Aaron Fox (15 points) and Domantas Sabonis (21 points).

Malik Monk: Scorer and Distributor

Malik Monk continued his red-hot stretch of play during the win as the 24-year-old scored 14 points (three-of-five shooting from three-point land) and dished out five assists over 27 minutes.

For the fourth-straight game, Monk scored at least 14 points and handed out four or more assists as he upped his assists per game average to a career-best 4.4 dimes per contest.

“I feel like I need to do that, because everybody thinks that I’m going to score the ball, and I just be a decoy sometimes to get everybody else open,” Monk said of his distribution habits during the opening stretch of the season. “Especially with Fox out, me and Davion [Mitchell] take turns doing that, so I take full responsibility with [passing the ball].”

What a dish by Malik 🤌 pic.twitter.com/MtuGwDnNWp

— Kings on NBCS (@NBCSKings) November 10, 2022

No Fox Down The Closing Stretch?

One of the more head-scratching things to take place during the win was the fact that De’Aaron Fox spent most of the final stretch on the bench.

Mike Brown opted to stick with his lineup of Davion Mitchell, Malik Monk, Kevin Huerter, Harrison Barnes, and Domantas Sabonis from the 8:44 mark until there was 2:42 remaining with the Kings hanging on to a two-point lead.

When asked of the decision during his postgame media session, Brown said that he liked what he was seeing from Mitchell, Monk, and Huerter, so he chose to ride the strong play of that three-guard lineup until it was time to bring Fox in for a final push.

Fox finished the night having played 29 minutes, the least that he has played in a game this season (not counting October 31st when he exited due to injury after nine minutes).

Notes & Observations

Seven players scored 14+ points for Sacramento during the win: Sabonis (21), Barnes (20), Lyles (16), Fox (15), Monk, Huerter, and Murray (14 points each).

Keegan Murray looked like his normal self after a rough stretch of play during the recent road trip. Murray averaged 5.3 points and 4.3 rebounds on 30% FG and 23% 3PT during three games leading into Wednesday, but the rookie scored 14 points on five-of-10 shooting from the field (four-of-seven from beyond the arc) to go along with two steals and one block over 33 minutes.

Domantas Sabonis’ 21-point outing was largely due to the big man’s impressive free-throw shooting (11-of-12). Since a brutal five-of-12 showing from the line against Orlando last week, Sabonis has converted 18 of his last 20 attempts (90%) from the charity stripe.

Sacramento shot 52% from the field, 43% from three-point range and 85% from the free-throw line on Wednesday night in what was the team’s most accurate offensive performance of the season. It was the Kings’ first 50-40-80 game thus far.

Coming Up

Sacramento will make a brief trip down south for a matchup with a struggling Los Angeles Lakers team on Friday night.

Be sure to get all of your Kings vs Lakers coverage on Sactown Sports 1140 starting at 3:00 pm PST on Cattles & Ramie before action tips off at 7:30 pm PST from downtown Los Angeles.