Ouch: Kings Open Road Trip With Blowout Loss To Spurs
Nov 10, 2021, 9:06 PM | Updated: Nov 11, 2021, 9:08 am
(USA Today)
(USA Today)
It was all San Antonio from the tip on Wednesday night
Like you would with a dysfunctional computer, someone needs to unplug the Sacramento Kings and plug them back in.
Since routing the Charlotte Hornets last Friday night, the Kings have lost three-straight games, the most recent being a 136-117 drubbing at the hands of the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday.
San Antonio continues to pose as a thorn in Sacramento’s side as the Spurs improved to 51-12 against the Kings since the beginning of the 2002-03 season
Slow starts have been a trend for the Kings as of late, as the Spurs set the tone early by jumping out to a commanding 30-11 lead with 3:30 remaining in the first quarter.
The Kings would chip some points off of the deficit, but ended the period trailing 34-20 heading into the second after shooting 31-percent from the field and 16-percent from three-point range over the first 12 minutes of play.
After trailing 55-34 with 6:08 remaining in the half, the Kings went on a 11-1 run to cut the deficit Spurs lead to 57-45 with just over four minutes remaining. San Antonio outscored Sacramento 14-9 over the final minutes of the period to take a 71-54 lead into the break.
The Spurs lead would never fall below 10 points in the second half as the Kings fell two games below the .500 mark in one of the ugliest ways imaginable.
“Maybe there’s some fatigue kicking in, but we’ve got to be able to fight through that,” Kings coach Luke Walton said following the 136-117 loss. “We can’t give in to that this early in the season, so whatever the reason was, it’s not a good excuse. We’ve got to get back and start playing some better basketball again.”
Sacramento turned the ball over 14 times and allowed 20 points off of those turnovers, a sloppy trend that has taken shape over the past three games–all losses.
Three-point shooting has been sporadic for this team, as the Kings have shot 27, 41 and 29-percent from three-point land over their past three contests. When the long-ball is falling, this team, as we saw during Friday night’s rout of Charlotte, is dangerous.
Even with De’Aaron Fox finally erupting for a Herculean effort of 37 points, the Kings were outmatched by a Spurs team that, quite frankly, they should not be outmatched by.
Three games remain on this road trip and a lot remains to be seen about the overall prospect of this 5-7 team.
Injury Updates
Tyrese Haliburton (back tightness) missed Monday night’s game against Phoenix after waking up with back tightness.
According to head coach Luke Walton, Haliburton’s injury is not one of concern, but added that he is unsure if it would just be a one-game absence for the Kings guard. Shortly before tip-off, the sophomore guard was ruled out for Wednesday night’s action in San Antonio.
Terence Davis (ankle soreness) exited Monday night’s game during early minutes of the fourth quarter after rolling his ankle. Davis hobbled off of the floor and limped straight into the locker room.
Davis was ruled out prior to facing the Spurs.
Both Haliburton and Davis are considered day-to-day going forward.
Coming Up
Sacramento’s four-game road trip will continue on Friday night when they face Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Last season, the Kings swept a three-game season series against OKC with the most recent victory coming on may 11th–a 122-106 triumph at Golden 1 Center. Terence Davis scored 27 points off of the bench and finished the night nine-of-15 from the field and five-of-seven from the three-point line.
Be sure to get all of your Kings vs Thunder action right here on Sports 1140 KHTK starting with pregame coverage at 3:00pm PST on The Jason Ross Show prior to a 5:00pm PST tip-off from Oklahoma City.
Upcoming Sacramento Kings Schedule
- November 12th @ Oklahoma City Thunder
- November 15th @ Detroit Pistons
- November 17th @ Minnesota Timberwolves
- November 19th vs Toronto Raptors
- November 20th vs Utah Jazz
