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Week in review: Another rollercoaster ride of a week in Sacramento

Week in review: Another rollercoaster ride of a week in Sacramento

Kings blow big game, show resiliency in the span of 24 hours

James Ham
March 05, 2022

The Kings Beat Notes

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Kings record: 24-41

Kings record on the week: 2-2

Hanging on by a thread.

The Kings opened the week with a second straight battle against the Denver Nuggets. They went toe-to-toe against the league's MVP, but came up just short in the fourth quarter.

De'Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis each posted double-doubles and Harrison Barnes chipped in 24 points, but Sacramento fell by a final of 115-110 to kick off the week.

Needing a win in a bad way, the Kings traveled to OKC to face the Thunder on Monday. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander torched Sacramento for 37 points and 10 assists, but with half of OKC's squad sitting out for one reason or another, the Kings had no problem picking up a 131-110 win.

Trey Lyles had a breakout 24 points in his first start with the Kings and De'Aaron Fox put up a big 29-point, 10-assist double-double in the victory.

In what may have been the biggest game of the season, the Kings made their way to New Orleans to play the Pelicans on Wednesday. Sacramento competed for 24 minutes and then got ran over in the second half.

Brandon Ingram couldn't miss and the Pelicans were the more physical team. It was an unexpected 125-95 blowout loss for a Kings team that desperately needed a win.

Following the loss in New Orleans, the Kings had travel troubles trying to get to San Antonio for a back-to-back. They were sent back to their hotel in the middle of the night and had to get league approval to travel on the day of a game.

Despite the rough night, the Kings built a 19 point third quarter lead only to fade in the fourth. Fox made some big buckets, Donte DiVincenzo came up with the play of the season and Barnes finished off the game at the free throw line for a 115-112 win.

Injuries

Richaun Holmes has missed five straight games heading into Saturday with a sore back. He's come into every game as questionable and a game-time decision, but hasn't seen the floor since the All-Star break.

Terence Davis is out for the season after undergoing surgery to repair tendon damage in his right wrist.

Player of the Week: Harrison Barnes

Fox was in the running for the weekly award as well, but Barnes is settling in as the third option in the Kings' newly formed rotation. On the week, he posted 23.3 points, 4.8 rebounds and two assists while shooting 52.1 percent from the field and 52.9 percent from 3-point range. His 27-point performance on just nine shots in the win over the Spurs was stunning.

Previous winner: Domantas Sabonis

Stats of the Week

2-1: The loss to the Pelicans may have been the nail in the coffin when it comes to the Kings' play-in chances, but Sacramento still has a 2-1 season-series advantage against New Orleans. If they can somehow stay in the chase, they'll get one more shot at the Pelicans on April 5 at Golden 1 Center.
2-1: While the Kings stumbled against the Pelicans, the win over the Spurs gave the Kings a season-series win over San Antonio. The Kings currently trail Gregg Popovich's squad by a game in the standings.
42: Sabonis now has 42 double-doubles on the season, which is second only to Nikola Jokic. He has a double-double in all but one of his nine games since joining the Kings.

Tweets of the Week

A Kings player steps up:

A Sacramento Kings player will cover the funeral expenses for the four victims from Monday's shooting inside a church in Sacramento, according to multiple sources.
That player wants to remain anonymous out of the respect for the privacy of those families.
— Sean Cunningham (@SeanCunningham)
6:03 AM • Mar 3, 2022

Time to say goodbye to an old friend:

Sacramento Kings Invite Fans to Say Final Farewell to ARCO Arena
📝⏩ spr.ly/6012KjQDm
— Sacramento Kings (@SacramentoKings)
6:00 PM • Mar 2, 2022

Quotes of the Week

"I'm just playing the game. Before the trade, Ty (Tyrese Haliburton) was the vocal one, and obviously HB as well, but coming back, that's just something I've had to do and really just trying to embrace that role. Other than that, I'm just playing basketball." -Fox on his leadership and strong play

"It's good to have moments like these that build character. We can say that we want to be resilient, we can say that we want to bounce back, we want to get stops, we want to do what it takes to win, but at some point, you have to do it. Talking only goes so far." -Barnes after win over Spurs

"We want to have something that we're building and something that's going to be consistency. It's got to be the fact that we're going to be resilient, we're going to play until the final buzzer goes off." -Alvin Gentry on what can be learned and taken forward from final 17 games

"I just wanted to be aggressive on the offensive end, go out there and make plays and show them that this opportunity wasn't going to be a whiff in the air and go out there and produce for the team. And that's what I did." -Trey Lyles after a 24 point performance against OKC