After long layoff, Kings use balanced effort to open 4-game trip with win over Magic
The joys of rest and preparation worked wonders for the Kings on Wednesday night in Florida on a four-game trip during this curious campaign.
With all five starters hitting double figures, including Buddy Hield hitting for a season-high 29 points, Sacramento handled the Orlando Magic 121-107 at Amway Center to move to 7-10 on the season and 2-4 on the road.
The Kings looked refreshed, bolting to big early leads and never trailing in winning their second consecutive game. That Sacramento did not play a two-game set Sunday and Monday in Memphis with the Grizzlies due to COVID-19 concerns proved beneficial for a club eager to piece together momentum.
They shared the ball, defended and then celebrated with high-fives on the bench, all the trappings of a good time.
Before beating the Knicks on Friday at Golden 1 Center, the Kings had lost six of seven, sometimes veering hard into the ditch with lethargic defensive efforts in allowing 144 points to Toronto, 132 to Portland, 138 to the Clippers and 128 to New Orleans.
“I believe our guys are getting better,” Kings coach Luke Walton said after the game. “It was a nice way to start the trip. Our defense looks a lot better.”
The Kings had their run of eight consecutive quarters holding an opponent under 30 points ended in the fourth, but the message lingers. Effort counts. Don’t make it a lay-up line down the lane all the time.
“It’s big,” Walton said. “When you put the work in, players like to see the results. Holding teams under 30 for a quarter, then another, then another. ... The way we were playing defense (before), we weren’t going to win a lot of games.”
The Kings were at their defensive best against the Knicks in a 103-94 victory, and they held the Magic (8-11) to 41.7% shooting. The Magic looked a step slow, rarely challenging the lead.
Said Hield afterward of having a four-day stretch without games and time to rest, recover and prepare, “I think it’s practice. It really helped.”
Harrison Barnes had 21 points, Richaun Holmes 20 points and 12 rebounds, De’Aaron Fox 16 points, eight rebounds and 10 assists, and Marvin Bagley III 16 points and 12 rebounds. Center Hassan Whiteside played his first game in five outings and had nine points and six rebounds.
The Kings made 14 of 33 three-pointers and had 30 assists. They are 3-2 this season when they hit that mark. Walton said the Kings second unit worked over the starters in practice on Tuesday, leading to a good vibe of unity which carried over.
On the Kings balance, Walton said, “Honestly that’s when the game is fun and when our team is at its best.”
Road warriors
The farthest road trip for the Kings this season was this contest.
Sacramento opened at Denver, played two games in Houston, one at Golden State at one at the Clippers on Jan. 20. The Clippers game followed a seven-game home stand.
What allowed for a bit less jet lag for the Kings trek to Florida was not playing since Friday. The only COVID-pause for the Kings wasn’t even tied to them. Sacramento’s two-game set scheduled at Memphis on Sunday and Monday was postponed due to COVID-19 health and safety protocols.
“The road trips we’re used to,” Walton said before the game. “It’s the protocols that take getting used to. Guys had to have their first (COVID-19) testing at 8:30 this morning. Once we’re in the hotel and with the team, that part feels familiar.”
The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association announced Wednesday that “of the 492 players tested for COVID-19 since Jan. 20, one new player has returned a confirmed positive test.”
WALTON GANG ALL TIME
Cal-Hi Sports, which has chronicled high school sports for nearly 50 years, posted its all-time San Diego Section starting five, with two familiar names.
The power forward listed by Cal-Hi is Luke Walton, then of University High of San Diego. Walton was a 6-foot-8, 235-pound skilled, thinking-man force who set screens or passed from the high post in the late 1990s. He powered University to a CIF State Division III championship at Arco Arena in 1998.
The center on the all-time Cal-Hi list is Bill Walton, Hall of Fame player and talker and father of Luke. Bill set scoring and rebounding marks at Helix of La Mesa in 1968-70.
He entered high school at 6 feet and departed at 7 feet, and he averaged 30 points and 25 rebpinds for a 33-0 team as a senior.
Kings coach Walton scored 26 points in a 51-48 win over Enterprise of Redding to win the CIF title at Arco Arena in 1998. He once told The Sacramento Bee, “I was good in high school. It went downhill from there.”
Debatable. Walton played at Arizona and logged 10 NBA seasons and got his NBA start as an assistant coach in 2011 with Memphis. He was the Lakers head coach from 2016-19 and is in his second year with the Kings.
Cal-Hi’s second team included center Scot Pollard of Torrey Pines, later the incomparably fun and quirky big man for the Kings from 1999-2003.
Magic forward Aaron Gordon made Cal-High’s all-time first five Central Coast Section team for his time at Mitty of San Jose. He was a two-time Cal-Hi State Player of the Year.
TY TIME
Kings guard Tyrese Haliburton held steady at No. 3 on NBA.com’s weekly Kia Rookie Ladder of top first-year players, trailing James Wiseman of the Golden State Warriors and last week’s No. 1 LaMelo Ball of the Charlotte Hornets.
Haliburton’s big showing of the week was against the Knicks, when he went for 16 points and five rebounds. Poised and skilled, Haliburton has at times looked like the team’s best player. He had seven points and seven rebounds against Orlando.
UP NEXT
The Kings have a road trip with the Toronto Raptors on Friday, but don’t have to leave the state.
The Raptors, NBA champions in 2019, have called Tampa Bay home this season due to Canadian travel restrictions with those from the United States, tied to COVID-19. They last played at home at Scotiabank Arena on Feb. 28.
Sacramento has lost seven in a row to Toronto, dating to 2016.
The Raptors rolled the Kings at Golden 1 Center on Jan. 8, 144-123 behind Fred VanVleet’s 35 points to ease the dull of a 1-6 seasonal start for the team. Toronto entered Wednesday’s NBA action 7-10 and in last place of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. In six of their losses, the Raptors had double-digit leads with two one-point losses.
Injury report
Magic: OUT — Al-Farouq Amini (knee); Michael Carter-Williams (foot); Markelle Fultz (knee); Jonathan Isaac (knee); Chuma Okeke (knee).
Kings: OUT — DaQuan Jeffries (ankle); Jahmi’us Ramsey (groin).
Upcoming Kings schedule
Jan. 29 at Toronto Raptors, 4:30 p.m.
Jan. 30 at Miami Heat, 5 p.m.
Feb. 1 at New Orleans Pelicans, 5 p.m.
Feb. 3 vs. Boston Celtics, 7 p.m.
Feb. 6 vs. Denver Nuggets, 2 p.m.
This story was originally published January 27, 2021 at 6:52 PM.