SACRAMENTO – Coming into Sunday’s regular season finale, Sacramento was fighting for their seeding lives. Though the Kings didn’t completely control their own destiny, a win over the injury-depleted (11 guys not dressed out!) Trailblazers would go a long way to ensuring Sacramento was not one and done in the play-in tournament.
Despite the fact that fans were furiously googling the names on the back of Portland players’ jerseys and wondering aloud “who are these guys”, the Kings’ starters started slow and did not match the energy of the moment early in the first quarter.
Portland, owner of the West’s worst record and having lost four straight, truly had nothing to play for. But any player who puts on a professional uniform is a professional basketball player, and some of these guys were absolutely looking to get on the radar of NBA scouts for their future benefit.
Though the Blazers were scrappy early, the Kings’ talent was certainly better, and once De’Aaron Fox decided to show up and be the best player on the floor, he was.
Fox went on a personal 6-0 run to put Sacramento up eight ahead of the game’s first timeout, and started a Kings’ run of 20-10 to close the quarter. The Kings’ defense played a significant role in their early success – Fox had three steals and the Kings forced six turnovers – as did the Blazers’ commitment to firing away from deep despite the fact they were just 1-19 in the first 12 minutes.
The second quarter started much like the first ended: with the Kings in control. Sacramento begun to heat up from deep while keeping the pressure on defensively, and Fox continued to hunt his shot aggressively. The lead ballooned as the Kings got hot from behind the arc (7-11) and the Kings cruised to a 65-37 halftime advantage.
More entertaining than the product on the floor was the scoreboard watching in the stands, as fans fretted while the Lakers jumped out to a 20+ lead in New Orleans. A result that, if it were to hold, would relegate the Kings to the ninth seed and a home showdown with the Warriors.
The third quarter was more of the same, with the most exciting moment coming when the Blazers managed to commit both a Flagrant 1 and Transition Take foul on the same possession, leading to a five point Harrison Barnes possession (two free throws for the flagrant and a three pointer on the possession) and a 33 point Sacramento lead. The points came as part of a 16-3 run over three minutes of play that turned…
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