A week in review: Kings find offense against young Hornets squad

Breaking down the week that was in Kingsland

Author

James Ham
November 06, 2021

Kings record: 5-4

Kings record on the week: 2-2

After dropping their first two games to start the week, the Kings rallied to finish 2-2, including their first two wins of the season at Golden 1 Center.

Both losses for Sacramento came on the road against tough Western Conference playoff teams in the Dallas Mavericks (105-99) and Utah Jazz (119-113). The Kings held second half leads in each of the two losses, but struggled to close out the games late, which is an early season trend for Sacramento.

The team's first home win came against a depleted Pelicans team missing Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram and Herb Jones. Coach Luke Walton went to a tight eight-man rotation on the second night of a back-to-back. His team pulled away late for a 112-99 win, despite playing without Richaun Holmes in the second half after the Kings' center was ejected from the game for tossing his head band into the stands.

Sacramento capped off the week with a fun, uptempo game against the Charlotte Hornets. Seven players scored in double figures as the Kings earned their first blowout of the season, finishing off Charlotte by a final of 140-110.

Both wins were tremendous team victories, but De'Aaron Fox put in solid work after some substantial struggles to start the season. Fox averaged 20 points and seven assists in the two wins, while shooting 51.7 percent from the field, 33.3 percent from 3-point range and 88.9 percent from the free throw line. 

Player of the Week

Harrison Barnes was a runaway winner of player of the week honors to open the 2021-22 season, but week two is a little more difficult to judge. After a slow start to the season, Tyrese Haliburton settled into his role as the Kings' starting shooting guard. The second-year guard posted 15.4 points, 4.8 assists, 4.0 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 1.5 blocks while averaging just .8 turnovers per game to win the nod this week. 

Stats of the Week

  • 20/20: Richaun Holmes posted a career-high 20 rebounds against the Hornets on Friday Night. He added 23 points for his first 20-20 game of his career.

  • 22: Led by Buddy Hield's eight makes from long range, the Kings hit a franchise record 22 3-pointers against Charlotte. Seven different Kings dropped in triples, including a 4-for-5 night from Davion Mitchell. It's hard to lose when you hit 22-for-44 from behind the arc.

  • Small Sample Size: With their 140 point outburst on Friday, the Kings are now second in the league in points per game (113.2), fourth in offensive rating (111.7), 24th in defensive rating (109.4) and 10th in net rating (+2.3). This early in the season, one game can dramatically impact a team's stats across the board.

Quotes of the Week

"We've got to do a better job of keep playing 48 minutes and not 40." -Mitchell 

"I told him to shoot the f***en ball." -Fox on what he's been telling Haliburton 

Videos of the Week

Fox sounds off after finding his game against the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday. Apologies in advance for the profanity.

Holmes is all smiles after blowout win over the Hornets.

Weekly Reading

Weekly Podcasts

What's next?

Kings vs. Indiana Pacers, Golden 1 Center, Sunday 3PM

Kings vs. Phoenix Suns, Golden 1 Center, Monday 7PM

Kings vs. San Antonio Spurs, AT&T Center, Wednesday 5:30PM

Kings vs. Oklahoma City Thunder, Chesapeake Energy Arena, Friday 5PM

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