Kings blowout shorthanded Clippers team

Dec 4, 2022 - 12:46 AM

Sacramento Kings v LA Clippers" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/alo53ruk00vlkiDcGXPp_58jhoA=/0x203:3883x2387/1920x1080/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71706306/1245340404.0.jpg" />

On Saturday, the Sacramento Kings did what good teams are supposed to do against an injured opponent — take advantage. With the Los Angeles Clippers missing stars Kawhi Leonard and Paul George and solid role players Norman Powell and Luke Kennard, the Kings dominated from the opening tip on Saturday in LA, winning 123-96.

Sacramento’s offense continued to be elite on Saturday, but the story was their improved defense. The Kings did a great job of rotating out to shooters and overall just making things difficult for a Clippers team that was missing a ton of offensive punch. The Clippers shot 35.5% from the field and 27.3% from three on Saturday.

Domantas Sabonis was masterful, having perhaps his best game of the season, finishing with 24 points and only missing one of 11 shots, along with 5 rebounds and 6 assists. Sabonis is the ultimate connector on the court, and on Saturday, he was doing it all on both sides of the ball.

After struggling for part of the early portion of the game, Keegan Murray really got things going in garbage time, scoring a career-high 23 points on 8 of 15 shooting. Hopefully, that stretch of play can get Murray out of the funk he’s been in for about a month at this point.

The only real negative on Saturday was the Kings making just 20-30 from the free-throw line. Against a healthier team, that may have come back to bite them, but thankfully it didn’t on Saturday.

Sacramento will be back in front of the raucous Golden 1 Center crowd on Sunday afternoon to square off with the struggling Chicago Bulls.