What we learned as Kings’ turnovers spark preseason blowout loss originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
BOX SCORE
SACRAMENTO – The Kings have had their share of ups and downs this preseason, and Sunday’s game against the Portland Trail Blazers at Golden 1 Center definitely ranks in the latter category.
Although there were a few signs of things going in the right direction, there wasn’t much consistent cohesiveness on either end of the floor and the end result was a 105-85 loss that dropped the Kings to 0-3 in the preseason with less than two weeks before the regular season gets going.
De’Aaron Fox paced the Kings with 11 points, seven rebounds, three assists and three steals but he had five fouls in the first half and finished minus-19. Keon Ellis also scored 11, Keegan Murray had 10 points, Domantas Sabonis added nine points, eight rebounds and seven assists while DeMar DeRozan had eight points, four assists sand was a minus-33.
Alex Len added 13 points while Jordan McLaughlin scored 10.
Scores in the preseason don’t matter that much in the big picture so there isn’t too much of a reason to get overly worried or pessimistic. But head coach Mike Brown has to be concerned about the problems his team had against a Trail Blazers team missing two of its best players and will almost certainly be one of the bottom feeders in the Western Conference.
Portland was particularly effective getting inside and scoring almost at will in the paint. Even when they failed to score down low, the Blazers repeatedly grabbed the offensive board and got a quick put-back score.
Sabonis and Monk had a good rhythm going early, and Murray gave the Golden 1 crowd some energy late in the second quarter when he dunked off a lob pass from Sabonis, then made a steal on the Blazers’ ensuing possession and drove down the lane for a one-handed jam.
Sacramento couldn’t sustain the momentum very long and gave up 35 points to Portland in the second quarter when the Blazers went on a 9-0 run then closed out the first half with three consecutive driving scores by Scoot Henderson.
Things didn’t get much better in the second half
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