Contrary to popular belief, there was more to this game than a thousand trips to the charity stripe.
Stacking a loss with a slow burn, the Sacramento Kings ended their home stand falling to the Detroit Pistons 133-131. Watching this game felt like watching two large bulls in a very small china shop. A slow pace of play and an extensive amount of whistles led this game to feeling drawn out and tiresome on both ends of the floor until the fire ignited and the barn began to burn in the final frame.
Without Tyrese Haliburton – who remains in the league’s Health and Safety Protocols – Terence Davis started alongside Fox in the backcourt. Davis had his best outing of the season, logging a quarter-high 15 points in the second frame. He ended the contest with a career-high 35 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and one steal, with 7 3-pointers made. Sactown would need every one of those points down the stretch, and was one of the largest catalysts giving these team ample opportunity to win.
It was a rough night beyond the arc for Sacramento, stroking their first three in the second quarter. Despite it only being a three-point deficit, the margin seemed much wider on account on the absence of rain. In contrast, the Kings were able to feast in the midrange, inside the paint and from the free throw line, garnering a season-high 42 attempts at the charity stripe.
As easily as Sacramento was able to put this one away, they ripped it right back out and had to earn the victory. The Kings went up by as many as 12 points with even contributions in the paint from Bagley, Holmes and Fox before shifting back to their nightmarish third quarter ways. A 14-2 run by Detroit put Sacramento in as many as a five-point deficit heading into the final frame.
It was a back-and-forth affair in the final 12 minutes of play, with a spark off the bench from Davion Mitchell and Davis’ continued efforts giving Sacramento the push they desperately needed on both ends of the floor.
The concerted production from Davis and Fox garnered a double-digit lead with two minutes remaining in the contest, and just as before gave it back to Detroit in what was the second blown double-digit lead of the night.
Knotted at 131-131, former King Cory Joseph extended a jumper with 25.9 seconds to give Detroit the two-point lead 133-131. Out of a jump ball, Fox came up just short on a foul-line jumper, falling to Pistons in the final seconds of the contest.
A lot to unpack on a night where defeating the worst team in the association feels like a Game 7 pressure cooker. It’s been a busy day in the Kingdom both on and off the court, and should this loss come back to bite the team in the coming days will be remembered as one of the worst losses of the season.