The Kings complete their feast on the East, have sights set on a winning record

The Kings have their highest win total since last reaching the postseason in 2006. They can credit their strong play against Eastern Conference competition as part of the reason.

With a 117-104 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday night, Sacramento went 18-12 against teams outside of the West. It’s the first time since 2007-08 they’ve had a winning record against the East, when they went 17-13.

“The road trip we had early in the season, we were able to get a lot of wins,” Kings guard De’Aaron Fox said in reference to an early eastern trip in which the Kings went 3-1, including a second consecutive Florida sweep and only the sixth win in Atlanta in the Sacramento era.

The second-year guard, who had 16 points and 10 assists Thursday, explained further.

“I think it’s our playing style. There’s not too many teams that play as fast as we do. ... I don’t know if they expected it, but we were able to execute a little more against the East teams.”

The Hawks lead the NBA in pace, but six of the top 10 teams in that category are in the West, including the Kings at No. 3.

Buddy Hield had 23 points to lead the Kings (39-40), who can finish with their first winning record since that last playoff team. They need to win their remaining three games, including the second of their last back-to-back set Friday night at Utah, to finish 42-40.

“That’s a good win for us,” Kings coach Dave Joerger said. “What we were talking about in there is that you get one more, you’re at 40 – that’s a big deal. You get two more, you’re at 41 – that’s a big deal. ... It’s a credit to our guys and the jump that they are making in learning and improving on a nightly basis.”

Being this close to that mark was not expected by most when the season began, but the Kings have shown they don’t lack confidence.

“I feel like we can win every game that we step out there on the court,” Fox said. “If we can go .500, no one saw that coming, no one saw us winning this many games. We just want to be able to go out there and get better every game.”

The Kings on Friday will face a Jazz team they’ve exchanged road victories with this season, with Utah winning two at Golden 1 Center and Sacramento winning Nov. 21 at Vivint Smart Home Arena. A win there would put the Kings at 40 and keep them in the hunt for a winning record, but the team isn’t satisfied with that.

“We’re still disappointed because games we tricked off, games we should have won, they still haunt you,” Hield said. “Hopefully, we can be like Denver, come in next year and really put it together.”

The Nuggets just missed the playoffs by losing the last game last season, but are now the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference.

As for the Cavaliers (19-60), they’ve lost 60 games for just the fifth time in franchise history, starting with the 1970-71 season. Jordan Clarkson came off the bench to lead the team with 22 points.

This story was originally published April 4, 2019 at 9:10 PM.