Cauley-Stein leads team effort against 76ers’ Embiid as Kings climb in playoff race
Kings center Willie Cauley-Stein walked out of Golden 1 Center late Saturday night wearing aviator sunglasses and a brown bomber jacket, but only after Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid got a good look at his jumpsuit.
Cauley-Stein rose up to dunk in Embiid’s face and Buddy Hield poured in a game-high 34 points to help the Kings climb higher in the conference standings with an impressive 115-108 victory over the 76ers, their sixth in a row at home. Sacramento moved ahead of the Los Angeles Lakers for ninth place in the Western Conference.
“Every win is a big win, especially for that (reason),” Cauley-Stein said. “But, personally, it’s our morale. When we’re winning, there’s no better energy in this locker room and that’s what we’re trying to keep going.”
The Kings (27-25) have won the first two games of a season-long, six-game home stand that could be critical to their playoff hopes. They host the San Antonio Spurs on Monday, the Houston Rockets on Wednesday and the Miami Heat on Friday before concluding the home stand against the Phoenix Suns on Feb. 10.
The 76ers (34-19) were missing JJ Redick and Wilson Chandler, but they still had an All-Star cast featuring Embiid, Ben Simmons and Jimmy Butler. Embiid, a 7-foot center, and Simmons, a 6-10 point guard, were recently named Eastern Conference All-Stars. Butler is a four-time All-Star.
The Kings were particularly concerned about the matchup with Embiid, who had 26 points and 20 rebounds in a 113-104 victory over the Golden State Warriors on Thursday. Embiid is regarded as one of the most physically imposing big men in the game, but Cauley-Stein delivered an inspired effort at both ends of the floor, posting 19 points on 8-of-9 shooting with nine rebounds and two steals.
“Willie Cauley-Stein had another terrific game,” Kings coach Dave Joerger said. “I’m really happy for him because that’s a tough matchup. All you can try to do is just keep working hard against a great player like (Embiid) and he did.”
Embiid still put up big numbers, finishing with 29 points and 17 rebounds, but he made just 9 of 24 field-goal attempts. The Kings harassed him almost every time he touched the ball, bumping him, bodying him and collapsing around him with double and triple teams.
“No one guy in this league is just going to stop him,” said Kings point guard De’Aaron Fox, who had 19 points, eight assists and three steals. “He’s just too good.”
Cauley-Stein deserves most of the credit, but it was a collective effort involving rookies Marvin Bagley III and Harry Giles III. Joerger said Kosta Koufos even played a role, even though he didn’t play a single minute.
“It’s a total group effort and I would include Kosta Koufos in that group,” Joerger said. “He’s a guy who ... has made a living on putting his body on guys like that, and to put his arm around young Harry and say, ‘Look, he’s going to get you sometimes, but keep battling, get underneath him, run him, do whatever you can,’ because he’s the toughest center in the league. There’s no question.”
As good as he is, Embiid was held to two points in the fourth quarter while Cauley-Stein finished strong, scoring seven points and corralling three rebounds in the final period. Joerger noted that Cauley-Stein might have been even better on the boards, but he focused on boxing out Embiid so his teammates could secure rebounds.
“He probably could have got more rebounds, but he’s always staying on Embiid’s body, so our big key tonight was everybody else has to go down and get those rebounds, and if we do that we can get out and run,” Joerger said.
The biggest beneficiary of that strategy was Bagley, who had 14 points and 13 rebounds.
“I was telling Marv, ‘I don’t even need to get rebounds. I’ll just box out and you go get them all,’” Cauley-Stein said.
The 76ers went into the game ranked fifth in the NBA in rebounding and the Kings were 19th, but Sacramento outrebounded Philadelphia 50-46.
The Kings, who have not made the playoffs since 2005-06, trail the eighth-place Los Angeles Clippers by 1 1/2 games in the Western Conference with 30 games remaining in the regular season.
“The franchise put us here to produce,” Hield said. “They want to get to the playoffs. The city wants to get to the playoffs. They haven’t been in a long time, so that’s our goal, to get to the playoffs. Every team in the NBA is trying to get there and everybody’s still doubting us, but we believe in ourselves and we’re going to keep on believing and keep having the faith.”
This story was originally published February 3, 2019 at 8:26 AM.