De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis combined for 56 points in the Kings’ In-Season Tournament loss to the New Orleans Pelicans.
The NBA In-Season Tournament has reached the quarterfinals. After ushering in the return of many injured players, the Pelicans visited Sacramento to play against the “new power in the West” Kings, who had won all 4 games in the tournament. However, what is surprising is that , despite head coach De’Aaron Fox’s 30 points and Domantas Sabonis’ 26-point triple, the Kings still lost to the Pelicans, whose six players scored in double figures. It was a pity that they failed to chase points. The dream of stopping in the quarterfinals and “winning the first championship in the tournament” was completely shattered.
After the start of the first quarter, the Kings showed their “landlord friendship”. The leading shooters Kevin Huerter and Keegan Murray made long shots and short cuts to tear apart the defense. In addition, Shabonis used his support advantage in the interior to not only quickly play A small climax of 13:4 once extended the lead to double-digit points.
However, in the latter part of the second quarter, as the Pelicans generals regained their touch, the Kings team began to fall into a state of panic. Not only did they encounter turbulence on the offensive end, but they were unable to stop the Pelicans’ wave-like offensive on the defensive end. In five minutes, the game was reversed with a 26:5 score, and it was completely passive. At 5 minutes and 30 seconds of the second quarter, Kings youngster Trey Lyles even punched the Pelicans goalkeeper against the basket. A dispute broke out on the back of Jonas Valanciunas’ head and almost led to a conflict.
After the interlude, the two sides met again. Although the Kings brought the score closer several times, they were still unable to blow the counterattack horn. The final scoreboard stopped at 127 to 117. The Kings’ “First In-Season Tournament” championship dream was shattered, and the Pelicans were confirmed to win four games. The ticket to advance to the strong game will be against the winner of the Lakers or Suns tomorrow (6th), and the semi-finals will be played the day after tomorrow.
In this game, the Kings were unable to get back on their feet after being reversed. Except for the start, they were lagging behind throughout the game. Their 44.7% team shooting rate and 34.1% outside shooting percentage were unable to turn the tide. They were defeated by the team and the three-point shooting rate was as high as 54. %, 45.2%, the Pelicans faced a head-on blow and missed the opportunity to advance to the semi-finals.
The rest of the Pelicans’ starters had efficient shooting nights, too. Herbert Jones had 23 points on 61.5-percent shooting, Jonas Valanciunas contributed 18 points on 63.6-percent shooting and CJ McCollum finished with 17 points on 50-percent shooting. Additionally, Pelicans guard Trey Murphy added 16 points on 46.1-percent shooting off the bench.
Meanwhile, the Kings struggled at times to get shots to fall. De’Aaron Fox, who’s shooting 48.6 percent from the field and 37 percent from 3-point range this season, shot 40 percent from the field and made just one of his seven attempts from deep (14.2 percent) in the loss. Still, Fox finished with a team-high 30 points, with five rebounds and four assists, but had a season-high six turnovers.
“You got to give them a lot of credit,” Kings coach Mike Brown said after the loss. “That’s three games in a row they kind of did the same thing and were the more physical team. Their length, their athleticism bothered us. Obviously, B.I. had a heck of a game, scoring 30 on 50-percent shooting. He did what he’s supposed to do.
