Detroit Pistons guard Cory Joseph (18) dribbles past Sacramento Kings guard Terence Davis (3) at the Golden One Center in Sacramento on Wed Jan 19, 2022 (AP News photo)
Kings Unable to Finish Off Pistons Losing 133-131
By Barbara Mason
Wednesday night the Sacramento Kings (19-28) took on the Detroit Pistons (10-34) at Golden 1 Center. The Pistons have one of the worst offenses in the league and a loss to Detroit would be a huge disappointment for the Kings.
Sacramento is favored in this game but they would be missing Tyrese Haliburton who is on Covid 19 protocol as of two days ago. Haliburton is now the 12th King player to enter the protocol and he will be missed.
After one quarter the Pistons had grabbed the lead 33-26. Despite fouling all over the place Detroit had managed to outplay the Kings in the quarter.
The Pistons led by as many as nine points in the second quarter. Mid-way through the quarter the Pistons already had 14 fouls giving the Kings 23 free throws scoring on 17 of them. Neither team had played all that well through the first quarter and into the second quarter. Midway through the quarter, the Kings were able to take the lead 43-41. At the half, the Kings held a slim lead 71-66, winning the second quarter convincingly 45-33.
De’Aaron Fox was the high score leader in the half for the Kings with 18 points closely followed by Terence Davis with 17. Saddiq Bey was the only Piston in double digits with 17. In the later minutes of the half, the Kings finally got something going offensively to catch the Pistons and take the lead.
In the third quarter the Kings extended their half time five point lead to a ten point advantage. The Pistons would not go away and they chipped away in the later minutes of the quarter trailing by a single point 95-94 with 2:54 left on the clock. As the third quarter came to an end the Pistons had taken the lead 105-103.
The Kings took back the lead in the fourth quarter after trailing by a couple of points to end the third quarter. Detroit just kept on threatening and the Kings would have to pull out all the stops to win this one. Harrison Barnes and Marvin Bagley III started hitting shots giving Sacramento a 130-120 lead with 2:47 left in the game. This game was going down to the wire.
With a minute and a half left in the game the Kings had a nine point lead that they just could not maintain. Missed shots, turnovers and fouls lost this game for Sacramento in a sloppy finish. The final was 133-131 in favor of the Pistons.
The high score for the Pistons was Saddiq Bey with 30 points. The Kings had six players with double digits, the high from Terence Davis with 35 points.
The Kings will have a major challenge coming up when they play the Milwaukee Bucks Saturday night. Tipoff is scheduled for 4:00 PM.
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