Bigger, faster, stronger: How the Thunder rolled despite big games from Kings guards
This could have been another one of those nights when everyone walked away marveling over fun stuff like De’Aaron Fox’s playmaking ability, Buddy Hield’s hot hand and how the Kings have assembled one of the best young backcourts in the NBA.
Instead, all anyone could talk about were unpleasant and recurring themes like the team’s inability to rebound and defend against more physically mature opponents.
Hield scored a career-high 37 points and Fox turned in another sensational performance, but it wasn’t nearly enough in a 132-113 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night at Golden 1 Center.
Paul George poured in 43 points, Russell Westbrook recorded another triple-double and Steven Adams looked like a man among boys, posting 20 points and 23 rebounds for Oklahoma City. The Kings have lost three of their last four and allowed at least 130 points in four of their last five.
“It’s not exciting for me watching guys just tee it up and go right down the lane over and over and over,” Kings coach Dave Joerger said. “So we’ve got to get better individually guarding the basketball and we’ve got to get a little bit more active in our help, and we’ve got to make more efforts to close out and get to guys.”
The Kings (16-15) beat Oklahoma City (20-10) the first two times they played this season, but they were no match for the Thunder with Iman Shumpert (hip), Bogdan Bogdanovic (foot) and Marvin Bagley III (knee) out of the lineup.
The Kings hope to have Shumpert and Bogdanovic back Friday night when they play host to the Memphis Grizzlies (16-15), who have lost six of seven. Sacramento beat Memphis 97-92 on Oct. 24 before suffering a 112-104 loss in Memphis on Nov. 16.
The Kings know it will be another difficult matchup against a physical opponent. They also know they will have to be better than they were against the Thunder.
Oklahoma City shot 50 percent from the field, made 13 of 32 from 3-point range and amassed a 66-43 rebounding advantage. The Kings had not allowed an opponent to grab that many rebounds since the Portland Trail Blazers did April 23, 1993.
“They were very serious and locked in tonight, very physical, beat us to spots on the floor, beat us to basketballs, beat us to rebounds,” Joerger said. “They were more physical. They’re built a lot bigger than we are at this point, and so it just takes a while for our guys to fill out and get bigger and stronger as time goes on.”
Oklahoma City was missing Dennis Schroder and Raymond Felton, who were suspended for leaving the bench during an altercation with the Chicago Bulls on Monday night, but Westbrook, George and Adams made sure that didn’t matter.
“We just defended and rebounded,” said Westbrook, who had 19 points, 17 assists, 11 rebounds and six steals. “That’s what we do.”
Fox is well aware of what Westbrook does.
“He just keeps coming at you,” Fox said. “He attacks you one way, 100 miles per hour, and it’s extremely forceful going to the rim.”
Fox had 28 points and 12 assists for the Kings, who made 13 3-pointers but shot just 41.9 percent overall and missed 11 of 33 free throws. Hield made 11 of 25 from the field, 7 of 14 from 3-point range and all eight of his free-throw attempts to surpass his previous career high of 30 points against the Phoenix Suns on April 11, 2017.
“I just knew I needed to be aggressive for my team tonight, being down three of our major guys in Marvin, Bogi and Shump,” Hield said.
The Kings stormed back to get within eight late in the third quarter after trailing by 23 early in the second half, but Westbrook, Adams and George helped Oklahoma City withstand the charge.
Fox and Hield might be All-Stars someday, but this was one of those nights when their efforts were overshadowed by two players who have already achieved that status.
“It’s tough, man, but as a young team, (like) I was telling Fox, we’ve got to come back at them. We’ve got to look at ourselves as future All-Stars, too,” Hield said. “You can’t look at them and say it’s Paul George out there or it’s Russell Westbrook. You’ve got to challenge them. They challenged other guys in the league to take their thrones, so you’ve got to make it happen. We just keep going, and I like the challenge. That’s how we can get better ... going back out there and showing them that we aren’t going to back down no matter what.”
This story was originally published December 20, 2018 at 12:45 AM.