Kings gameday live: Mitchell scores 36 in Jazz victory; Fox’s shooting struggles continue
Sacramento Kings at Utah Jazz
When: 6 p.m.
Where: Vivint Arena
TV: NBC Sports California
Radio: Sports 1140 KHTK
Odds: Jazz -9
Over/under: 219
Morning injury report
Kings: OUT — Louis King (G League); Neemias Queta (G League); Jahmi’us Ramsey (G League); Robert Woodrd II (G League).
Jazz: OUT — Udoka Azubuike (G League); Rudy Gay (heel).
Rudy’s rebounding
The NBA hasn’t seen anyone rebound the ball like Rudy Gobert in almost 20 years. Unfortunately for the Kings, they’ve already seen it once this season and they have to go up against Gobert again when they face the Utah Jazz for a second time Tuesday night at Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City.
Gobert is leading the league with 17.2 rebounds per game, the highest total in the NBA since Dennis Rodman averaged 17.3 for the San Antonio Spurs in 1993-94. Gobert, who was named Western Conference Player of the Week on Monday, has hauled in 103 rebounds over the first six games. He is also averaging 16.3 points on 72.1% shooting.
Gobert grabbed 21 rebounds in the season opener against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Oct. 20 and pulled down 20 more in a 110-101 victory over the Kings two nights later at Golden 1 Center. That game was tied with four minutes remaining, but Gobert had a steal, two rebounds, two dunks and three free throws down the stretch to help Utah outscore Sacramento 15-6 over the final 3:54.
Despite Gobert’s performance, the Kings actually managed to outrebound the Jazz 52-51. Harrison Barnes had a career-high 15 rebounds, Richaun Holmes had 10 and Buddy Hield came off the bench to grab seven. The Kings (3-3) will need that kind of collective effort again this time against the Jazz (5-1), which is 2-0 at home this season.
Davion vs. Donovan
Kings rookie Davion Mitchell made one of the most spectacular defensive plays in the NBA this season in Sacramento’s loss to Utah on Oct. 22. The first-year guard from Baylor stopped the two-time All-Star from getting to the basket, ripped the ball out of his hands and raced up court to throw a lob to Terence Davis.
“He is as advertised,” Donovan Mitchell said of Davion Mitchell after the game. “He’s physical. He’s quick. He does a lot of solid things defensively that disrupted not only myself, but a lot of us. He set the tone defensively. He got the crowd involved. Everybody calls him ‘Off Night’ and they feed off that.”
Bagley update
During his pregame news conference, Kings coach Luke Walton was asked about Marvin Bagley III and his chances of getting into the rotation at some point this season.
“The chances are great,” Walton said. “Everyone on our team is going to get opportunities this year. We’re going to need everybody. Every practice we’ve had, including the one yesterday, is high energy. Everyone is bought in and working hard, and when opportunities come, players need to be ready. It’s my job to put groups out there that I think are going to allow us to play the way we want to play and allow us to win, but our entire team is going to help us win those games throughout the year.”
Last time vs. Utah
Walton was pretty pleased with the way his team played against Utah last week, but he pointed to poor 3-point shooting and turnovers. The Kings went 8 of 36 from beyond the arc and turned the ball over 15 times.
“We played maybe our best all-around game that first time against them and we put ourselves in a great position to win that game,” Walton said. “Where we really lost it was, we missed a lot of open 3s and we had way too many unforced turnovers.”
Halftime
De’Aaron Fox’s shooting struggles continued in the first half, but he impacted the game in other ways.
The Kings carried a 59-58 lead into the halftime break after Fox went to the floor for a steal and passed ahead to Barnes, who made a tough and-1 layup for a three-point play. Barnes led the team in scoring with 13 points at the half.
Fox was held scoreless on 0-of-8 shooting, but he dished out five assists to get some of his teammates going. He went into the game shooting career lows of 37.7% from the field and 17.1% from 3-point range.
Holmes briefly left the game and went back to the locker room after hurting his left knee on a scary fall, but he returned a short time later.
The Kings shot 46% from the field and knocked down 6 of 14 from 3-point range. The Jazz shot 42.3%, making just 4 of 25 (.167) from 3-point range.
Kings lose
The Kings staged a big run in the fourth quarter to take the lead with five minutes remaining, but Mike Conley, Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert made big plays down the stretch to help the Jazz prevail 119-113.
Mitchell finished with 36 points, eight rebounds and six assists for Utah, which remained unbeaten at home. Conley scored 30 points on 11-of-19 shooting, carving up Sacramento’s defense in the pick-and-roll. Gobert had 12 points, 20 rebounds and four blocked shots.
Barnes had 23 points and six rebounds for the Kings, who will open a four-game homestand against the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday at Golden 1 Center. Hield came off the bench to score 19 points on 6-of-10 shooting, including 5 of 7 from 3-point range. Davion Mitchell also had a strong game off the bench, posting 18 points, four rebounds and two assists.
Fox finished with 13 points, nine assists and three steals. He made 4 of 15 from the field and 0 of 4 from 3-point range.
“De’Aaron’s a very, very talented player,” Walton said. “He knows how important he is to us, and when you’re struggling, the best way out of it is to work harder, grind more, fight through it, believe in what you’re doing and believe in your teammates, and I have all the faith in the world that De’Aaron will do that.”
The Kings took a 102-101 lead on a putback by Richaun Holmes with 5:02 to play, but Conley and Bojan Bogdanovic hit a couple of big 3-pointers and Donovan Mitchell got to the basket to help Utah reclaim the lead.
The Kings cut the deficit to two on a 3-pointer by Barnes with 23.4 seconds remaining, but they couldn’t get any closer.
Walton pointed to the huge rebounding disparity in the game. Utah had a 59-38 rebounding advantage with 15 offensive rebounds, leaning to numerous second-chance scoring opportunities.
“I love the fight of our team,” Walton said. “It’s really fun coaching these guys and we’re learning these hard lessons. I hope we figure it out soon, but the details of the game are what is costing us right now. Tonight, it was defensive rebounding … not boxing out. The fight of our group is great and I love coaching these guys, but we’re going to keep taking tough losses until we can clean up some of the details, what people call the little things of the game.”
Note: Check back for updates with the latest news, notes, quotes and injury updates before, during and after tonight’s game between the Kings and Jazz.
This story was originally published November 2, 2021 at 4:00 AM.
