Kings rookie Davion Mitchell’s ‘confidence growing’ after career night in loss to Warriors
Rookie guard Davion Mitchell continued his recent emergence with a career night against the Golden State Warriors, but the Kings didn’t have the firepower to contend with one of the top teams in the NBA.
Klay Thompson scored 23 points to lead the Warriors to a 126-114 victory over the Kings on Thursday night at Chase Center in San Francisco. Thompson made 8 of 11 from the field and 7 of 9 from 3-point range for the Warriors, who went 20 of 42 from beyond the arc.
Stephen Curry had 20 points and seven assists for the Warriors (40-13), who have won eight in a row. Rookie Jonathan Kuminga came off the bench to post 18 points and seven rebounds.
Mitchell had a career-high 26 points and eight assists for the Kings (19-34), who were on the second night of a back-to-back after beating the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday in Sacramento. Mitchell went 11 of 17 from the field and 3 of 5 from 3-point range.
Mitchell credited his teammates for finding him for open shots.
“I’m getting open looks, and when I start getting open looks, I think that gives me a better rhythm throughout the game,” he said.
Mitchell averaged 19.4 points over the past five games while starting in place of De’Aaron Fox, who has missed seven games due to left ankle soreness. Mitchell made 41 of 78 (.526) from the field and 14 of 36 (.389) from 3-point range over that stretch, well above his season marks of 39.7% from the field and 30.7% from beyond the arc.
“I think the one thing that was questionable about him was: Is he going to be able to make NBA shots against NBA defenses?” interim Kings coach Alvin Gentry said. “I think what you’ve seen is that he’s gotten a lot better in that area because he puts in the work. You talk to Rico (Hines), our player development guy, and he’ll tell you he’s in there in the morning. He’s in there after practice. He comes back at night. Those are the kinds of things you do when you want to be a great player and you want to improve in a certain area, so it doesn’t surprise any of us that he’s gotten better as a shooter because all you have to do is tell him what to do and he’s going to do it.”
Harrison Barnes scored 25 points on 8-of-11 shooting for the Kings. Maurice Harkless had 18 points and a career-high-tying six steals. Damian Jones came off the bench to contribute 17 points, four rebounds, five assists and two blocked shots.
The Kings shot 53.2% from the field, but they were outdone by the Warriors, who shot 56% from the field and 47.6% from long distance. Golden State also had a huge 40-25 rebounding advantage.
Mitchell helped the Kings rally from a 26-point first-half deficit to get within seven early in the fourth quarter, but the Warriors responded with a 16-3 run to put the game away. Harkless said Mitchell has earned the trust of his teammates and the opportunity to show what he can do.
“His confidence level is growing day by day,” Harkless said. “We all believe in him. He believes in himself, most importantly. He goes out there and plays hard on both ends of the floor. Nobody’s telling him not to shoot that shot or anything like that, so he’s playing free. His confidence level is growing higher and higher every game and it shows.”
This story was originally published February 3, 2022 at 11:02 PM.
