Fourth Quarter Collapse Proves Costly In Kings’ Third Straight Loss
Nov 20, 2021, 9:30 PM | Updated: Nov 22, 2021, 9:32 am
(Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)
(Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)
Sacramento has lost seven of their previous eight contests
While Saturday night’s effort from the Sacramento Kings was much better than what fans saw on Friday night against the Toronto Raptors, the end result was still the same.
Sacramento entered the fourth quarter trailing a talented Utah Jazz team by just four points, but Utah pressed their foot down on the gas in the fourth to defeat the Kings by a final of 123-105 at Golden 1 Center.
With the loss, the Kings (6-11) have lost three games in-a-row and seven of their last eight overall.
Utah now holds a 23-6 record against the Kings since the beginning of the 2013-14 season and extended its current win-streak against Sacramento to seven games dating back to the 2019-20 season.
Utah and the Kings both got off to red-hot starts in the first quarter, as each team shot ast least 50-percent from the field and 45-percent from three-point range. Sacramento was able to pour water on some early Utah runs to keep the Jazz lead at 29-28 heading into the second period.
Harrison Barnes found his game early on Saturday, stuffing the shat-sheet early with nine points (three-of-four from the field), three rebounds, two assists and one block in the first quarter.
The Jazz used a 19-8 run to build a 48-36 lead with 5:10 remaining in the half before a De’Aaron Fox scored five-straight points to stop the bleeding. Thanks to Richaun Holmes’ 12 first-half points and some solid defense during the closing minutes of the period, the Kings were able to cut the deficit to 54-49 at the break.
Utah went on a series of runs to build its lead into the seven-to-nine-point range, but the Kings would counter with some timely scores of their own to limit the damage during a chippy third quarter. The Jazz took an 84-80 lead into the fourth as they looked to add extend Sacramento’s losing-streak to three games.
Utah quickly built a double-digit lead after starting the fourth quarter on a 9-2 run and the never looked back as last season’s number-one seed in the Western Conference proved to be too much to handle for a struggling Kings team. After a 15-minute vomit delay concluded (a court-side fan literally threw up on the Golden 1 Center court), Utah put the finishing touches on what was overall another disappointing night.
The effort was much more notable on Saturday night, and while that shouldn’t go unnoticed, the fact is that this team is still in desperate need of change.
Whether or not that change will happen in the form of a coaching change or roster makeover remains to be seen, but with each passing loss the pressure mounts more and more for general manager Monte McNair and the Kings front office.
———————————————————————————————–
Update: The Kings fired head coach Luke Walton on Sunday morning. Associate head coach Alvin Gentry will take over as interim head coach for the remainder of the season. For more, click here.
Coming Up
Sacramento’s home-stand will continue on Monday night when they face the Philadelphia 76ers.
The 76ers swept last season’s two-game set, with the most recent matchup taking place on March 20th–a 129-105 blowout win at Wells Fargo Center.
Philadelphia is currently on a five-game winning-streak against the Kings, as Sacramento is looking for its first win against the Sixers since February 2, 2019.
Be sure to get all of your Kings vs 76ers coverage right here on Sports 1140 KHTK starting with pregame coverage at 3:00pm PST on The Jason Ross Show prior to a 7:00pm PST tip-off from Golden 1 Center.
Upcoming Sacramento Kings Schedule
- November 22nd vs Philadelphia 76ers
- November 24th vs Portland Trail Blazers
- November 26th @ Los Angeles Lakers
- November 28th @ Memphis Grizzlies
- November 30th vs Los Angeles Lakers
