The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly From Kings' Close Loss to Thunder

The Good:

The first thing that’s worth calling out is defense. Sacramento was much better on that end compared to the loss in Los Angeles. A solid amount of the praise should go on Doug Christie and his staff who went to a 2-3 Zone repeatedly during this game and took advantage of OKC’s secondary creators, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren, being sidelined.

On the player end, both Keon Ellis and Russell Westbrook made things hard on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, which is no small feat. Malik Monk has also been as good as he’s been in his career on defense to begin the year. Special shoutout to Devin Carter, who was also very good on that end in the nine minutes of action he saw. 

Westbrook and Ellis deserve their own call-outs because they brought a lot more than just good defense. The former MVP with Oklahoma City felt right at home all night and made his presence known on both ends. Westbrook kicked off the game 3 for 3 from deep, taking advantage of the space that OKC was giving him on the perimeter.

Russ was also aggressive, attacking the rim, which was much needed after three games of Sacramento struggling to get penetration. Westbrook would finish with 16 points, 9 rebounds, and 4 assists. Ellis was truly incredible all game on the defensive end and deserved the 27 minutes Christie gave him. He didn’t shoot the ball as well as he has, but Ellis was still able to add 12 points off the bench.

The Bad:

It’s hard to say that they were bad, with both putting up solid numbers; however, the Kings do need more from DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine. LaVine shot the ball well, but he turned the ball over four times and still hasn’t been able to be a consistent creator for Sacramento. For DeRozan, it’s much of the same. He shot 50% from the field, didn’t turn the ball over, but wasn’t as impactful as he could have been, especially late in the game.

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In Sacramento’s first two games, DeRozan had 9 and 6 assists, respectively, which led the team. Against Utah, he wasn’t as effective as a scorer, but he has the ability to be an excellent playmaker and leaned into that side of his game. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the Kings won a game where he took under 10 shots. 

Dennis Schröder didn’t have an awful game, but he wasn’t nearly as impactful as Westbrook, Ellis, or Malik Monk. Schröder is a true point guard, but much like DeRozan and LaVine, he looks for his own offense more often than not.

He doesn’t need to be Tyrese Haliburton, but he needs to find ways to create offense when his shot isn’t falling. He and Domantas Sabonis have yet to look comfortable as a lead guard and big pairing this season, which will have to change with Sacramento needing to win games with offense. 

Another “Bad” piece of the game was Sacramento’s finishing. The Thunder won the points in the paint battle 52-34, but that could have been a lot closer had Sacramento not missed so many easy looks. Pretty much everyone on the Kings missed an easy layup tonight and you just can’t do that against the Thunder while they’re missing their best shot blocker in Chet Holmgren. With the triple not falling, it would have been a big boost to knock down the easy ones in a 6 point game. 

The Ugly

We’re four games into the season now and Domantas Sabonis still hasn’t looked like himself. As usual, he’s been solid on the glass, but he isn’t providing much else. Sabonis has led the Kings in assists each of the last three seasons and is only averaging two and a half to start the year. Contrary to years prior, Sabonis has really struggled to finish at the rim and shot 5-15 tonight.

That really isn’t acceptable for your center, considering just two of those shots were from outside the paint. He also turned the ball over five times in this one, which is extra painful given he dished out just three assists and put up only 10 points. 

The positive is that the Kings didn’t get blown out and were in this game the entire time. They didn’t let the Thunder get hot from three, Shai only went to the line once, and the Kings really did look pretty solid on both ends. Some of this loss was depth-related, as the Thunder have a huge rotation even with multiple guys injured. The other side of it is just not getting enough out of your best players. Sacramento will have a chance to get back in the win column against the undefeated Bulls in Chicago tomorrow.