Dec 8, 2024; Sacramento, California, USA; Sacramento Kings guard Kevin Huerter (left) shoots against Utah Jazz guard Keyonte George (3) during the second quarter at Golden 1 Center. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images
For weeks now we’ve discussed the Sacramento Kings’ woes around the three point line, both in their inability to make threes and their inability to defend opponents around the arc. For at least one night we got to see how potent the Kings can be when they do both, as they routed the Utah Jazz to a final score of 141-97. Sure, the Jazz are now 5-18 on the season and this type of win is what you should expect from a team with real playoff aspirations, but far too often the last few years we’ve seen the Kings not taking their “weaker” opponents seriously and paying the price for their hubris. It was great to see the Kings put together a start-to-finish great game and handle an opponent without any unnecessary drama or lapses.
A few thoughts and observations from this one.
#### **The Defense looked a LOT better**
I’ll keep adding the caveat that the Jazz are not a winning basketball team, but nonetheless the Kings defense looked really good in this game. Keegan Murray was limited in the first half due to foul troubles, but was playing some really great defense on Lauri Markkanen. The Kings as a team, as a cohesive unit, were playing really solid defense. The team was making good rotations, recovering well onto shooters, and limited the number of open looks the Jazz got. The Kings held the Jazz to 35.7% from 3 and 38.8% overall for the game. The Kings also had 8 blocks and 10 steals in this one, and the flustered Jazz had 20 total turnovers.
Regression to the mean works both ways, and tonight was a major step towards the Kings ending their slumps from beyond the arc. Kevin Huerter had a fantastic game off the bench, finishing with a team-high 26 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal and 1 block. He shot 6 of 9 from three, and 10 of 14 overall. You could see the shift in Kevin’s game after his first couple threes fell, and he played with a rediscovered confidence that reminded us just how good Huerter is for this team when he’s on.
Doug McDermott got in on the action last in the game. With the game out of reach early in the fourth, Doug McDermott entered the game and had an insane heater. In just 8 minutes of playing time Dougie had 18 points on 7 shots. 0 other stats across the board. Just went out there and made 6 of 7 threes. It was an incredibly fun run to cap off a very fun game for the G1C crowd.
The team as a whole was 22 of 44 from deep.
#### **Resting UP**
One number really stands out to me from this game: 31
That’s the number of minutes De’Aaron Fox played in this one, the most of anyone on the team. With 4 Kings averaging over 35 minutes per game, it was great to have a game where the starters could take most of the fourth quarter off. Keegan Murray, due to some early foul trouble and the game being secured so early in the fourth, played just 25 minutes. DeMar DeRozan played 29, Domantas Sabonis played 28, and Malik Monk played 27.
The Kings now get three days off as well. Great news for the surely tired legs of our starters.
#### **Individual Accolades**
**De’Aaron Fox:** 21 points, 9 assists, 4 rebounds, 1 block. A solid outing, but Fox was just 1 of 5 from three and 2 of 4 from the free throw line.
**Domantas Sabonis:** 19 points, 12 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 2 of 3 from 3. Really good game from the big guy.
**DeMar DeRozan:** 18 points, 4 assists, 1 rebound, 1 steal, 1 block. The key for me is that it felt like DeRozan was scoring (mostly) within the flow of the offense in this game.
**Malik Monk:** 16 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, 1 steal. Monk went just 2 for 7 from 3 in this one.
**Keon Ellis:** 5 points, 5 assists, 3 rebounds, 3 steals. Keon only took three shots, and only played 16 minutes, but had solid contributions across the board while he was in.
#### **Picking Nits**
I’m still annoyed by Mike Brown’s rotations, even in such a convincing win.
* Colby Jones played 20 minutes in this game. While that was padded by garbage time, it still involved plenty of early game action. I don’t understand Brown’s insistence on playing him regular rotation minutes right now.
* Orlando Robinson is just too much of an unfinished project. His minutes made more sense in this one as Isaac Jones was out with an illness, and maybe that explains why Robinson played more than Jones in the prior game too, but I view Robinson as little more than [a trade chip](https://kingsherald.com/articles/5-kings-players-who-may-be-surprisingly-valuable-in-the-trade-market/) at this point.
* Jae Crowder, who you may recall was made a starter off the street 7 games ago, received his second straight DNP.
#### **Up Next**
The Kings have three days off before visiting the New Orleans Pelicans on Thursday, December 12th at 5 PM PT.