With two and a half minutes left in the game, the Los Angeles Clippers led the Sacramento Kings by a score of 99-90. It was a hard fought game, but it seemed like it just wasn’t in the cards. But the Kings kept fighting. Zach LaVine hit a three to cut the lead to six. The Clippers missed on the other end, and LaVine hit another three. Suddenly, the game was within reach. A Harden free throw, a DeMar DeRozan middie, and the Kings were within two with under a minute left. The Golden 1 Center was rocking. The Clippers inbounded out of a timeout, and the Kings got a stop, but couldn’t secure the rebound, or the next rebound, or the next, or the next. After four missed opportunities to grab a defensive rebound, the Kings fouled Harden. The Beard made his first free throw, but missed his second. A quick Harden foul sent LaVine to the line, where he made both, cutting the lead to 1, but just 3.2 seconds were remaining and it was Clippers ball. In one of the most exciting defensive plays I can ever remember, Keegan Murray used his length to jump in front of Bogan Bogdanovic and steal James Harden’s inbound pass. Keegan immediately called a timeout, and the Kings had a sideline out of bounds with 2 second remaining. Golden 1 Center was ready to explode. Trey Lyles inbounded to DeMar DeRozan, who split his defended in a way we’ve seen him win games earlier this season, but he was hip-checked by Ivica Zubac and missed the would-be game winner. No whistle. Game over.
It was a heartbreaking way to end the game. The Kings had fought and clawed and had all these little things work out in storybook fashion, and the game ends on a moving defender hitting a shooter and the refs swallowing their whistle. Who knows if DeMar would have made his free throws. Who knows how it may have been different if a dozen other things had gone differently in that game. But it was hard not to leave that game with a real sour taste in your mouth.
A few thoughts and notes on individual players:
- James Harden finished with a triple double with 23 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists. It would have been a quadruple-double if “Uncalled Push-Offs” was a stat.
- Zach LaVine led the Kings with 26 points, 13 of which came in the 4th quarter.
- DeMar DeRozan passed Reggie Miller on the all-time NBA scoring list in this game. But DeMar continued his trend of forcing shots and chasing whistles that wouldn’t come. I have no issues with the final shot, he didn’t have time to do anything else, but his shooting and throwing his arms in the air begging for a call was annoying me throughout the game. He finished with 16 points on 20 shots.
- Domantas Sabonis had 19 points, 16 rebounds, and 5 assists. Jonas Valanciunas had 9 points and 7 rebounds. The duo battled hard. Zubac is a really tough matchup, and although he finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds, it felt like Sacramento’s tandem of Lithuanian big men were great.
- It was good to have Keegan Murray back for this one after he missed several games with back soreness. He finished with 9 points and 8 rebounds. His incredible steal at the end was his second steal of the game.
- Props to Devin Carter. He played his ass off defensively on James Harden. Those uncalled push-offs by Harden? Carter was the victim of several. But you could tell Harden was still annoyed by Carter’s pressure. Carter ended up with 7 points, 2 steals, 2 assists, and 1 rebound in 16 minutes, and I felt like he had an even bigger impact than the box score. Keon Ellis also had a bigger impact than his box score, and in similar ways. Having Ellis and Carter to trade off as defensive pests is a nice combo.
- Trey Lyles was really solid in this one too. 9 points and 7 rebounds off the bench.
While the final outcome of this was a letdown, I enjoyed this game a lot more than I was enjoying Kings games a week or two ago. The team has some fight to them, and I enjoyed watching them refuse to quietly give up. This loss means the Kings will not finish this season with a winning record this season, but they’ll have one more chance to get their 40th win of the season.
Up Next
The Sacramento Kings will finish their regular season against the Phoenix Suns on Sunday, April 13th.
