Barracuda ground the Eagles 3-1

Photo credit: @sjbarracuda

By Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Once the San Jose Barracuda were able to get their legs underneath them in the second period, they took full advantage, scoring three unanswered goals in a 3-1 victory over the Colorado Eagles on Thursday afternoon at SAP Center.

Colorado (15-10-3-1) drew first blood just past the halfway mark of the first period. Micheal Joly pick pocketed the puck off of Calvan Fitzgerald. He raced down the right-wing and centered a pass over to Dominic Toninato who buried the puck off the crossbar past Cuda goaltender Josef Korenar (12-1-1) for his fourth goal of the season at the 10:57 mark. It was the first ever goal by Colorado on San Jose ice.

San Jose (18-5-1-3) put pressure on Eagles goaltender Pavel Francouz (13-6-2) late in the period when Truchon-Viel had a point-blank chance that he shot wide with under three minutes left. Then, while on the power play, captain John McCarthy’s attempt was stoned away by Francouz off a nice give and go with Francis Perron. San Jose outshot Colorado 9-8 in the opening frame.

Nick DeSimone had a breakaway chance early in the second period seconds after he stepped out of the penalty box, but the puck slid off his stick on his shooting attempt on Francouz.

Perron evened the game at 1-1 on the power play for San Jose. His wrist shot had some english on it that was too much for Francouz to handle at the 9:16 mark. Perron leads the Cuda in overall goals with 13 and power play goals with six. He is on a three-game goal streak.

San Jose received their first lead of the game half way through the middle frame.  Maxim Letunov picked up the puck in the neutral zone and moved in to the Eagles zone away from the defense. He found a wide-open Kyle Wood, who snapped home a perfectly timed wrist shot past Francouz on the short side for his second goal of the season at the 11:26 mark.

The Cuda managed only five shots in the second period, but two of them were in the back of the net. The Eagles had even less shots with just three.

Letunov gave the Cuda an insurance goal to take a 3-1 lead on the power play half way through the third period. Letunov’s attempted pass to Alex True was broken up, but he quickly pounced back on the puck and snapped it past Francouz for his sixth goal of the season at the 11:27 mark. Letunov was finally rewarded for all his hard work as that was his first goal in his last 17 games. Wood and Jeremy Roy received assists.

Korenar made 14 saves on 15 shots to earn his 12th victory and sixth in a row. Francouz made 29 saves on 32 shots in suffering the defeat. He is now currently 2-1 against San Jose.

GAME NOTES: San Jose was 2/5 on the power play. Colorado was 0/2. San Jose is second in the AHL on the penalty kill with a percentage of 86.8%.

Colorado is now 9-2-2 over their last 12 games. San Jose is now 2-0 against the Eagles at SAP Center and have earned at least a point in all four games this season.

The victory clinched the best record for the first half for San Jose and means head coach Roy Sommer will be the head coach of the Pacific Division at the AHL All-Star Game, held on January 28th, 2019 in Springfield, Mass. This will be the third time for Sommer coaching in an All-Star Game.

Congrats Roy! You’re headed to Springfield! #AHLAllStar #SJBarracuda pic.twitter.com/t3zxLA8n1C

— San Jose Barracuda (@sjbarracuda) December 27, 2018

The announced attendance was 2,525.

UP NEXT: The Barracuda host the San Diego Gulls on Sunday, Dec. 30 at 5:00 pm at SAP Center.

Kings: “A little wedgie let them down!” Warriors win 117-116 on Saturday night

By Charlie O. Mallonee

Last season–if this reporter were to tell you that the Sacramento Kings had a chance to beat the Golden State Warriors on the road with 0.03 seconds to go in the game–you would call that reporter a delusional liar. Yet, on Saturday night in Oakland, that was exactly the situation that existed for the Kings.

Buddy Hield drove to the bucket and attempted a layup that did not drop. Marvin Bagley III attempted to tip the ball back into the basket but it wedged between the hoop and the backboard setting up a jump ball scenario.

The Kings controlled the jump ball and immediately called a timeout with 0.03 remaining on the clock. Sacramento inbounded the ball but it was tipped by a Warriors defender and the game ended with the ball loose on the floor. The Warriors won the game 117-116.

The critics will be quick to point out that Steph Curry was not available to play for the Warriors, and that is true. But in seasons past, Curry, Durant, and Thompson could have been on the bench and the Kings would have had no chance to win the game.

On Saturday night, the Warriors were missing Curry but had all of their other stars and the Kings gave the NBA Champs a run for their money. The outcome of this contest was still unknown with just 0.03 seconds to go in the game.

Hield was the man for SAC on Saturday night

Buddy Hield was the star of the game for the Kings versus the Kings on Saturday night. Hield led the Kings in scoring with 28 points. He shot 12-for-21 from the field and 4-for-6 from behind the arc. Hield also grabbed seven rebounds, posted three assists and had a blocked shot in the game.

MBIII Double-Double
Marvin Bagley III came off the bench to score 20 points and pull down 17 rebounds in just under 34-minutes of playing time. MBIII hit 7-of-15 shots from the field. He also converted 6-of-8 opportunities from the charity stripe. Bagley also had two assists in the contest.

Swipa the Fox
De’Aaron Fox struggled in this game and yet contributed at the same time. Fox played almost 34-minutes but scored just nine points. Fox also had nine assists in the game.

Fox shot just 3-for-14 in the game. He did not sink a 3-point shot in the game.

The Kings cannot win with Fox having just nine points and nine rebounds in a game.

Bogi struggled as well

Bogdan Bogdanovic put up 10 points and added two rebounds versus the top team in the NBA, “Bogi” saw his toughest minutes on the floor since coming off the disabled list to start the season.

Two important bench performances
Justin Jackson came off the bench to have a very productive game for the Kings. Jackson scored 12 points in just 20 minutes on the floor. He went 4-for-8 from the field and hit 3-of-3 from the charity stripe in his time in the game.

Harry Giles III posted 10 points in just 11 minutes of playing time. He hit 4-of-5 shots from the field. GIII also went 2-for-3 from free throw line. GSW broadcasters Bob Fitzgerald and Jim Barnett were very impressed by Giles performance.

Up Next
The Kings will be back in action on Sunday afternoon as they will host the Utah Jazz. The Kings beat the Jazz in Salt Lake City last Wednesday night 119-110.  The Jazz lost to the Lakers on Friday night 90-83.

Giants starting to play out the string in upcoming series against the Brewers

Photo credit: @SFGiants

By Jeremy Harness

It’s quite evident that the Giants are not going to make the playoffs – Buster Posey having season-ending surgery and the team trading Andrew McCutchen after a little more than half a season more than showed they have waved the right flag – so they might as well mess things up for teams that are still contending.

They can start with this weekend’s three-game series in Milwaukee against the Brewers, which starts Friday night at Miller Park. The Giants just got finished getting their heads handed to them by the Rockies in Colorado (what else is new?) in getting swept in a three-game series at Coors Field.

So if they are going to play spoiler–or if they think they actually have a chance in grabbing a wild-card spot in the National League–they will need to get things back on track very quickly.

The Giants’ Derek Holland (7-8, 3.56 ERA) will take the ball Friday night against the Brewers’ Chase Anderson (9-7, 3.96 ERA).

Anderson has won each of his last three decisions, and in his last outing, he went five innings and gave up only a run on four hits in a loss to Washington, although he got a no-decision. Holland, meanwhile, has won each of his last two decisions, while he has spent some time in the bullpen this season.

The left-hander went six innings in a loss to the Mets at home–he got a no-decision–and he also gave up only a run and surrendered only four hits in the process.

Chris Stratton (9-8, 4.90 ERA), who has spent some time in Triple-A Sacramento this year, will go Saturday afternoon, and he will face Milwaukee lefty–and former Nationals and A’s standout–Gio Gonzalez.

Stratton has been stellar in his past two starts, although he lost his last outing in a 4-1 loss to the Mets four days ago, when he gave up only a pair of runs on three hits over six innings. The outing before, he shut out the Diamondbacks over eight innings, giving up only five hits and striking out six in a 2-0 win.

On Sunday, Madison Bumgarner (5-5, 3.07 ERA) will take the hill for the Giants and opposite the Brewers’ Zach Davies (2-5, 4.88 ERA).

Moronta blows lead in Giants’ 6-2 loss to Rockies

Photo credit: mlb.com

By Jeremy Kahn

It seems that Dereck Rodriguez can never get a break after he pitches yet another great game in his rookie season.

Ryan McMahon hit a pinch-hit home run and Carlos Gonzalez hit a bases clearing triple, as the Colorado Rockies scored five runs in the bottom of the seventh inning on their way to a 6-2 victory over the San Francisco Giants at Coors Field on Monday night.

The Giants are 1-7 at Coors Field this season, and an abysmal 2-16 since the 2017 season, where the Giants went 64-98 and ended up 40 games behind the eventual National League Champion Los Angeles Dodgers.

Gorkys Hernandez hit a solo home run in the top of the seventh inning that gave the Giants a short-lived 2-1 lead, as he hit his second home run of the series and it looked like Rodriguez was going to get the win, but that did not happen.

Reyes Moronta came on to replace Rodriguez got the first out, but McMahon hit a 0-1 pitch over the center field wall to tie up the game. It was the second home run of the season for McMahon.

Then things got even worse, as Charlie Blackmon reached on an infield single, for his third hit of the game, and Moronta walked D.J. LeMahieu and Nolan Arenado to load the bases and then Gonzalez hit a triple to give the Rockies 5-2 lead. Gerardo Parra drove in the final run of the inning, as he walked with the bases loaded to give the Rockies the final margin of victory.

Rodriguez went six innings, allowing one run on six hits, walking one and striking out six, as he did not fare in the decision, despite the quality start.

The Giants took the lead in the top of the first inning, as Joe Panik singled to left field to score Gregor Blanco to give the Giants a short-lived 1-0 lead; however, David Dahl tied up the game in the bottom of the second inning with his ninth home run of the season.

German Marquez shut the Giants down after that, as he went 6.2 innings, as he struck out 11 and was in line for the loss after the Hernandez home run; however, McMahon changed all that with his solo home run. Chris Rusin retired the final batter of the seventh inning to get his second win of the season.

NOTES: Rookie Steven Duggar underwent season-ending shoulder surgery on Tuesday to repair a torn labrum in his left labrum that he suffered on August 28 against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Jeff Samardzija was transferred to the 60-day disabled list with inflammation in his right shoulder, and rookie Abiatal Avelino got his contract purchased from Sacramento. Avelino was acquired from the New York Yankees in the Andrew McCutchen trade on Thursday.

UP NEXT: The Giants and Rockies conclude their series on Wednesday night at 5:40 pm PDT.

The Giants’ Andrew Suarez will be looking for his seventh win of the season, as he takes the mound on Wednesday. Suarez is also going for his third straight win, as he is coming off an outstanding game where he pitched seven innings of two-hit ball in a 7-0 victory over the New York Mets on Friday night.

The Rockies will send Antonio Senzatela to the mound, as he attempts to even his record at 5-5 on the season.

A’s beat the Twins 6-2 on Saturday night as Fiers and Lucroy star

Graphic: @Athletics

by Charlie O. Mallonee

The Oakland Athletics took a 2-1 lead in their four-game series with Minnesota by downing the Twins 6-2 in game three on Saturday night in the Twin Cities. The A’s won the game using their typical formula of strong starting pitching, consistent bullpen relief  and power production at the plate.

The Athletics have found themselves in a must win situation in each of the games in Minnesota. The first place Houston Astros have been on a tear winning four consecutive games forcing Oakland to win just to stay 1.5 games back in second place in the American League West.

The Seattle Mariners have also been applying pressure on the A’s as they have won two games in a row to stay just 4.0 games behind Oakland in third place. Many have tried to write the Mariners out of the playoff hunt but someone forgot to tell Seattle they’re done for the season. With six games left to play against the A’s and three versus the Astros, the M’s can erase a four game deficit very quickly.

Fiers comes through again

Photo: @Athletics

Mike Fiers (10-6) started the game for the A’s and once again showed why the team had focused on adding him to the roster. Fiers worked 5.2 innings giving up just one run (earned) on five hits. He struck out seven Twins and walked just two. Fiers threw 100 pitches (63 strikes).

The one run Fiers gave up was spectacular. In the bottom of the fourth inning, he tried to throw a 3-2 fastball past Miguel Sano but was unsuccessful. Sano crushed the ball 455 feet into the third deck in left center field for his 12th home run of the season.

Fiers did get credit for the win.

A’s bullpen does its job again

Lou Trivino was brought in to relieve Fiers and ended the bottom of the sixth inning. “Sweet Lou” ran into some trouble in the seventh when he gave up a home run to Tyler Austin and then hit Willians Astudillo with a pitch. Ryan Buchter entered the game but was unable to get an out, so the call went to Jeurys Familia who shut the Twins down.

Familia worked the eighth inning to set it up Blake Treinen in a non-save situation. Treinen needed the work so that is why he was used in the game. He pitched a perfect ninth and the A’s won their 78th game of 2018.

Lucroy had an amazing night with the bat

Lucroy get high fives after hitting the 13,000th home run in Athletics history Photo: @Athletics

The A’s backstop went 2-for-4 in the game with a home run and recorded four RBI. Lucroy drove in the A’s first run of the contest in the top of the second inning when he singled to left driving home Chad Pinder. It was the 500th RBI of his career.

Lucroy was just getting started. In the top of the fourth inning, he clubbed a home run to left center field that plated Mark Canha and Ramon Laureano ahead of him. It was the third home run of the season for Lucroy, but more importantly, it was 13,000th in Athletics’ (Philadelphia, Kansas City, Oakland) history. Lucroy will now be in the A’s milestone record book forever more.

Chad Pinder had a good night with the bat. He went 3-for-4 and scored two runs. In the meantime, Matt Chapman had an odd night. He also went 3-for-4 at the plate but scored no runs and produced no RBI. It is very unusual for a hitter have a .750 night with the bat and walk away with no run production.

Up Next

The Athletics will play the final game of the series on Sunday at 11:10 AM PDT. Chris Bassitt (2-3, 3.38) will start for Oakland while the Twins will counter with All-Star Jose Berrios (11-6, 3.69).

 

 

 

Kings surprise Grizzlies with a 94-93 win at the buzzer on the road in Memphis

by Charlie O. Mallonee

Just 6.4-seconds remained on the clock in the fourth quarter in Memphis when the Kings called timeout. Dillon Brooks had just buried a 25-foot 3-point jump shot to give the Memphis Grizzlies a 93-92 lead. The Kings were in need of a quick miracle if they were going to leave the home of Graceland with a victory.

Sacramento inbounded the ball and it ended up in the hands of Bogdan Bogdanovic – who had suffered a horrible shooting night – with 1.5-seconds to go in the game. “Bogie” drove on the bucket and pulled up from 16-feet out to sink a two-point basket that gave the Kings a 94-93 advantage. Memphis called an immediate timeout.

With 1.1-seconds to go in the game, the Grizzlies attempted to inbound the ball at midcourt but – yes, you guessed it – Bogdanovic was there to make the steal and the Kings would win the game 94-93.

The King’s record improved to 26-54 on the year while the Grizzlies dropped to 21-58 for the season.

It really wasn’t a very exciting game

Bogdanovic – Kings star of the game Photo: @SacramentoKings

As exciting as the ending was, the rest of the game was not that thrilling. In fact, the game was really very boring much of the time. The Kings did not hit a 3-pointer (0-for-6) in the first half. They went just 2-for-6 from the free throw line.

The Grizzlies most notable starter was Ben McLemore to go with the Brooks brothers (no not the suit guys) and two other players you have probably never heard of or have seen in an NBA box score before.

Memphis is in full “tankathon” mode. They currently have the second-worst record in the NBA and could be in contention for the number one draft pick if the ping pong balls would fall the right way. The Grizzlies have lost four games in a row and are 2-8 in their last 10 games. Still, they appeared to want to beat their old coach Dave Joerger on Friday night on their home court.

The Kings certainly started slow and really should be in “tankathon” mode. Sacramento has no first-round draft pick in 2019, so their 2018 selection has to a great one – a home run if you will. Their only goal should be to move up in the lottery standings, but on Friday night winning for their coach versus his former team seemed to take over other goals. But until the fourth quarter, it was really a boring contest.

Coach Joerger looked happy after the game

Dave Joerger did have a look of satisfaction on his face after his team delivered a win to him in Memphis on Friday night. Joerger was the Grizzlies head coach for four seasons and the win appeared to be a bit of sweet revenge for the Kings head coach who would no doubt deny its importance.

The win also had to please Zach Randolph – who was given the night off – and Vince Carter who both played for Memphis before joining the Kings.

Top Performances

Kings

• Willie Cauley-Stein was the Kings leading scorer with 18 points in the game. He also grabbed eight rebounds, made three assists, made two steals and blocked two shots.
• Buddy Hield scored 14 points coming off the bench to go with a team-high six assists and five rebounds.
• Justin Jackson had another solid game scoring 13 points in almost 30-minutes on the floor. Jackson shot 5-for-10 overall and 3-for-6 from behind the 3-point line. His 3-pointer with 17.2-seconds to go in the game gave the Kings the lead and the momentum to keep them in the game.
• De’Aaron Fox put 13 points in the book shooting 5-for-13 from the field. He also hauled in six rebounds and dished out four assists.
• Two-way player JaKarr Sampson also had a very nice night as a starter posting 11 points and pulling down six rebounds in just over 24-minutes of playing time.

Grizzlies

• It was a huge night for the “Brooks Brothers” in Memphis on Friday. MarShon scored a game-high 23 points to go along with eight rebounds. Dillon put up 16 points and distributed six assists in the Grizzlies losing effort.
• Ivan Rabb recorded a double-double by scoring 12 points and grabbing 11 rebounds.
• Kobi Simmons and Omari Johnson scored 11 points each in the game.

Up Next

Sacramento

The Kings play their final road game of the season on Monday night in San Antonio.

Memphis

The Grizzlies host the Pistons in their home finale on Sunday.

 

 

Shooting woes continue for Stanford as they lose to Colorado 64-56

Photo credit: gostanford.com

By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Sunday, February 11, 2018

The Colorado Buffaloes won its third consecutive Pac-12 men’s basketball game Sunday at Coors Events Center in Boulder, Colo., as they defeated the Stanford Cardinal 64-56.

Lucas Siewert led Colorado (15-10 overall, 7-6 Pac-12) with 17 points, which included two key 3-pointers in the closing minutes. George King and McKinley Wright scored 11 and 10 points, respectively, for the Buffs, who defeated the Cardinal for the ninth consecutive time.

Dorian Pickens topped the Stanford scoring column with 18 points, followed by Reid Travis with 10. The Cardinal evened their overall record at 13-13, 7-6 in league play.

Stanford trailed by 11 at halftime and gradually cut its deficit to 45-42 when Isaac White and Pickens hit consecutive 3s at 9:01 of the second half. Pickens connected on another 3-pointer to pull the Cardinal within one point at the 6:35 mark.

At that point, the Buffaloes forged a 12-3 run, punctuated by two Siewert 3-pointers and two baskets by Tyler Bey, allowing Colorado to build a 10-point lead with 1:07 to play.

Colorado built a 31-20 lead at the break with the help of four 3-pointers in the last 3:55 of the half.

It was a tough afternoon of shooting for the Cardinal, which made 35.7 percent of its field goal attempts. Three days earlier, Stanford made 35.8 percent of its shots at Utah. The Cardinal was 7-of-21 from 3-point range and 9-of-15 on free throws.

The Buffaloes outrebounded Stanford 42-38. King was the top rebounder for Colorado with nine, while Travis led the Cardinal with six.

Next Sunday, the Cardinal travels to Berkeley to face the Golden Bears.

Stanford Cardinal Men’s Basketball Podcast with Jerry Feitelberg: Cardinal got game against Oregon schools; Can they do the same against in Utah and Colorado this week?

Photo credit: @StanfordMBB

On the Stanford Men’s Basketball Podcast with Jerry:

1 The Stanford Cardinal in their last contest got back at the Oregon Ducks for last year’s loss with a crushing 96-61 win at Maples Pavilion last Saturday.

2 The Cardinal were only behind once in the game down 11-10 in the first four minutes until the Cardinal’s Dorian Pickens sank a three-pointer and Stanford never looked back.

3 After the Cardinal started the season with a 5-1 record they had three straight loses to Arizona, UCLA, and USC. The Cardinal turned things around in their last homestand with two wins over Oregon State and Oregon and improved their record to 13-11.

4 The Cardinal and Ducks were matching each other on the scoreboard but the Cardinal in the second half had a breakout half at one point outscoring the Ducks by 35 points.

5 Stanford opens a three-game road trip beginning tonight in Utah, and then moving onto Colorado on Sunday, and concluding the road trip the following Sunday, February 18th at Cal.

Jerry does the Stanford Cardinal Podcasts each Thursday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

New Year’s Eve Nightmare as Kings lose to the Grizzlies 114-96

Skal Labissiere takes it to the hoop against the Grizzlies Photo: Jordan Chapin SportsRadioService.com

by Charlie O. Mallonee with Jordan Chapin

On New Year’s Eve at the Golden 1 Center, something happened that has not really been heard in the new building. In the third quarter, fans began booing their hometown Kings. They were frustrated with their play and the fact that the Kings were trailing the Grizzlies 90-63.

When the third quarter ended, a large number of fans headed for their cars in order to beat crowds coming into downtown and to get to their New Year’s parties early. Those who left had no hope that their Kings would mount a comeback in the final period. They were right.

Sacramento held the lead only twice in the contest. They took the first lead of the game on a Bogdan Bogdanovic 26-foot three-point basket for the first score of the game. After the Grizzlies tied the game on a Tyreke Evans 3-pointer – the Kings took a 5-3 lead when George Hill scored on a fast break. That would be the last time the home team would hold the lead in the game.

The Grizzlies lead was 14-points at the end of the first quarter and 18 at the half. Memphis built their lead to as many as 32-points in the third period and to a game-high 33-points in the fourth quarter.

After losing to the Warriors 141-128 on Saturday night, the Grizzlies should have been tired and ripe for the pickings in the second game of a back-to-back set on the road. Instead, they seemed pumped up by their performance and used that energy against the Kings for the entire 48-minutes on Sunday afternoon.

Kings Head Coach Dave Joerger Postgame Comment

#Kings Head Coach Dave Joerger talks about breaking down a game like the 114-96 loss to Memphis in order to get better as a team. He also talked about how Tyreke Evans played versus his #SacKings. ##NBA #KFBK #KAHISports #USATodaySports #FSR #Hoops #memgrizz pic.twitter.com/196PpsQqkz

— Sports Radio Service (@SportsRadioSrvc) January 1, 2018

Top Performers

Grizzlies

Tyreke Evans scored a game-high 26 points versus the Kings Photo: Jordan Chapin SportsRadioService.com

• Star of the Game: Former King Tyreke Evans came back to Sacramento and showed off his skills in front of the fans who once cheered for him when he wore purple and white. Evans – who has stepped up to really help a team that has been beset by injury and the loss of free agents – scored a game-high 26 points. He hit 10-of-16 shots from the field and 5-of-7 from beyond the 3-point line. Evans also grabbed seven rebounds and five assists. His +/- rating was an impressive plus-23.
• Co-Star: Jarell Martin -third-year player out of LSU. The 6-10 forward put up 11-points in 24-minutes off the bench. He went 5-for-8 from the field and 1-for-1 from 3-point land.
• Co-Star: Deyonta Davis came off the bench to score 10-points and pull down nine rebounds in just over 23-minutes of playing time. The Grizzlies bench scored 64-points in the game.
• Supporting Player Kings fans know: Ben McLemore is now a member of the Grizzlies and he played the entire fourth quarter. Ben Mac scored eight-points making two 3-point baskets and sinking two free throws.

Kings

Willie Cauley-Stein was the Kings leading scorer with 21-points Photo: Jordan Chapin SportsRadioService.com

• Star of the Game: Willie Cauley-Stein takes the honors for the Kings on Sunday night. He posted 21-points shooting 8-for-14 from the floor and going 5-for-9 from the free throw line. Cauley-Stein also grabbed eight rebounds and made to two steals in his almost 29-minutes on the court.
• Co-Star: Buddy Hield worked hard in his 30-minutes of playing time off the bench. Hield scored 15-points shooting 5-for-14 for the game and hit 3-of-7 from downtown. He also dished out two assists as well.

Team Stats

Memphis (12-25)

• The Grizzlies shot an impressive 53.9-percent (41-for-76) for the game. They hit 14-of-30 (46.7-percent) tries from behind the 3-point line.
• Memphis took advantage of the free throw line converting 18-of-24 opportunities (75-percent).
• The Grizzlies recorded 11 steals in the contest – five more than the Kings
• Blocked shots: Memphis posted eight in the game. Veteran Marc Gasol had four of those blocks in the first quarter of the game.

Sacramento (12-24)

• The Kings shot 43-percent for the game but only because the shot almost 58-percent in “garbage time” in the fourth quarter when the outcome of the game had already been decided.
• Sacramento did not help themselves at the free throw line. The Kings went to the line 25 times but hit only 13 of those shots (52-percent). They are called free throws for a reason. A team must take advantage of those opportunities.
• The Kings did do a better job working the boards on Sunday. They grabbed 42 rebounds while Memphis recorded 44 rebounds. That was a real improvement over the Phoenix game.

Up Next

Kings

The Kings first game of the new year will be versus the Charlotte Hornets at the Golden 1 Center on Tuesday, January 2. The Hornets are coming in off a 106-98 New Year’s Eve loss to the Clippers. This will be the first meeting of the season between the two teams.

Grizzlies

The Grizzlies will wrap up their West Coast swing with a game in Los Angeles versus the Clippers on Tuesday at Staples Center.

 

The Kings shoot poorly and lose to the Knicks 106-98

by Charlie O. Mallonee

Cousins drives on Noah at the Garden photo: NBAE

“48” – that is the most import number the Sacramento Kings have to drill into their minds right now. They need to learn that a NBA basketball last for 48 minutes and that means as a team the Kings need to play hard for 48 minutes.

The Kings did not play hard for all 48 minutes in the game at Madison Square Garden in New York on Sunday night and Sacramento lost to the Knicks 106-98. This was an unusual game in the sense it was lost in the first half and almost redeemed in the second half, but that is exactly how so many games in the NBA are lost.

Shots would not fall for the Kings in the first half

The Kings shot just 28.6-percent (14-49) in the first half. The term is often used that “the basket had a lid on it”. Well in the first of the game on Sunday for Sacramento, the basket had a lid on it. The Kings were not taking bad shots . The Knicks were not playing great defense. Literally, the ball would not fall through the hoop. The Kings went 9-for-26 in the paint.

The Knicks did not shoot the lights out of the Garden. They shot 42.3-percent (22-for-52) in the first half of the game. New York shot just 36.7-percent in the first quarter.

As the teams headed to the locker rooms at the half, the Kings were lucky to trailing by just 14 points, 55-41.

The Kings came alive in the third quarter

Carmelo Anthony and Rudy Gay photo: NBAE

The third quarter began like the second quarter ended. The Knicks kept pouring it on behind the scoring of Porzingis and Anthony and opened up a 20-point lead with 7:59 left to play in the period. At that point, the Kings began to turn the game around.

Starting with a  Rudy Gay 25-foot 3-point basket at the 7:02 mark, the Kings began to cut into the Knicks lead. Led by Cousins’ 11 points and Gay’s 10 points the Kings cut the New York lead to one point with 48-seconds remaining in the quarter. At the end of three quarters, New York led the game 81-77.

The Kings came close in the fourth quarter but could not close the deal

The Knicks behind the play of Prozingis opened the lead back up to eight points. Cousins kept the Kings close and Sacramento cut the New York lead down to two points with help of strong play from Gay, Collison and Cauley-Stein.

Carmelo Anthony and Brandon Jennings took over from there adding to the Knicks lead and the Kings were unable to respond. Sacramento had spent so much energy working their way back into the game – they did not have enough left in the tank to fight back overcome the Knicks lead.

The Knicks won the game 106-98.

Cousins was the star of the game again for Sacramento (7-13)

• The big center recorded his 10th double-double with 36 points and 12 rebounds. He also had four assists and three blocked shots. Cousins was 9-for-30 shooting from the field
• Rudy Gay scored 22 points shooting 7-for-18 and grabbing nine rebounds
• Darren Collison put up 13 points and dished out six assists
• Kosta Koufos scored only two points but he pulled down 11 rebounds that included five offensive rebounds
• Willie Cauley-Stein played 23 minutes scoring nine points and hauling in four rebounds. Coach Dave Joerger said Cauley-Stein’s length on defense matched up well against Prozingis
• The Kings shot just 32.3-percent (31-96) as team for the game

Willie Cauley-Stein at the Garden photo: NBAE

The usual suspects came through for the Knicks (11-9)

• The Knicks had four players score in double figures while shooting 44.3-percent (39-for-88) from the floor. NYK also shot 37.9-percent (11-for-29) from 3-point range
• Carmelo Anthony and Derrick Rose each scored 20 points in the game. Rose continues to look more like the Rose of old all the time
• Brandon Jennings put up 19 points with 4-of-5 his scores being 3-point baskets. He was also a perfect  7-for-7 from the free throw line
• Kristaps Porzingis started the game slowly but finished with 15 points and 11 rebounds

Up next on the schedule

The Kings wrap up their five game road trip on Wednesday night in Dallas with what has become a must win game over the terrible Mavericks. A win would let the Kings finish the road trip 2-3.

The Knicks also hit the road and visit South Beach to take on the Heat on Tuesday night.