After three defeats in a row, and still deprived of De’Aaron Fox, the Kings had to react. Mike Brown gave himself a little time to think but the coach did end up changing his rotation.
Sasha Vezenkov and JaVale McGee paid the price, glued to the bench, for the entire match. In their place, Kessler Edwards and Alex Len received playing time, 16 and 13 minutes respectively, in the overtime victory against the Blazers last night (121-118).
Likewise, it was the young Keon Ellis (23 years old) who took his place in the major five in place of Davion Mitchell, who for his part reacted with his best match of the start of the season, at 16 points and 4 passes.
“He changed the rotation in general, with a lot of guys”confirms Domantas Sabonis in the Sacramento Bee. “He shows us that everyone can have a chance to play if we are not ready to perform. We conceded two embarrassing defeats in Houston, which was clearly not in our road plan. »
“We will need everyone to be a good team”
With 30 minutes coming off the bench, Malik Monk embodied this increased desire to win despite contrary circumstances. Clumsy as hell at 4/16 on shots, De’Aaron Fox’s big friend nevertheless persevered to finish with 23 points and 10 assists, his first points/assists double-double in his seven-year career!
“If I don’t hit my shots, I always find another way to influence the match. I finally managed to total 10 passes for the first time in my career,” he savored. “I just try to do something else on the court when my shots aren’t going in. I don’t care about missed shots, I have crazy confidence. I knew I was going to cause fouls if I continued to attack. It’s always good to win without our star. We were losing and we were in a bad situation but we showed that we could win as a team. »
Despite a small evening of skill for Malik Monk, but also for Keegan Murray (4/17) and Kevin Huerter (5/13), the Kings were able to pull away to first win an improbable extension while Deandre Ayton put on the baskets like pearls at the end of the match. But also to then win in overtime against the valiant Blazers (deprived of their veteran Malcolm Brogdon, injured at the start of the match)…
“We need this. The season is long,” concludes Kevin Huerter. “We have a lot of guys in this locker room who can play. We will need everyone to be a good team in this League and return to the playoffs. You have to have a dense squad to win in the regular season and, obviously, without Fox, we need a boost from the other guys. »
| Shots | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | L.F. | Off | Def | Early | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Party | Pts |
| De’aaron Fox | 3 | 35.5 | 48.6 | 37.5 | 81.0 | 1.0 | 3.3 | 4.3 | 6.0 | 2.7 | 1.3 | 0.7 | 4.0 | 31.3 |
| Domantas Sabonis | 6 | 33.3 | 53.7 | 25.0 | 60.0 | 3.3 | 9.8 | 13.2 | 5.7 | 3.0 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 3.0 | 15.8 |
| Harrison Barnes | 6 | 31.1 | 51.0 | 46.4 | 76.2 | 0.3 | 2.0 | 2.3 | 1.2 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.7 | 13.5 |
| Malik Monk | 6 | 21.8 | 42.6 | 40.0 | 87.5 | 0.8 | 1.2 | 2.0 | 4.5 | 1.8 | 0.2 | 1.0 | 1.7 | 13.3 |
| Keegan Murray | 6 | 33.8 | 35.8 | 26.0 | 75.0 | 1.7 | 4.3 | 6.0 | 2.0 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 0.7 | 2.7 | 12.8 |
| Kevin Huerter | 6 | 24.0 | 32.7 | 24.2 | 60.0 | 1.0 | 4.0 | 5.0 | 2.5 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 2.0 | 7.8 |
| Javale McGee | 6 | 12.7 | 63.6 | 0.0 | 71.4 | 1.5 | 1.8 | 3.3 | 0.2 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 7.8 |
| Chris Duarte | 6 | 17.1 | 33.3 | 33.3 | 72.7 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 3.3 | 5.7 |
| Sasha Vezenkov | 6 | 14.3 | 38.2 | 27.3 | 100.0 | 0.2 | 2.0 | 2.2 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 5.5 |
| Davion Mitchell | 6 | 20.6 | 33.3 | 30.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 1.8 | 2.0 | 2.8 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 2.3 | 5.0 |
| Keon Ellis | 3 | 5.7 | 62.5 | 57.1 | 25.0 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 5.0 |
| Colby Jones | 5 | 10.0 | 47.1 | 25.0 | 100.0 | 1.0 | 1.4 | 2.4 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 1.0 | 3.8 |
| Jordan Ford | 3 | 3.7 | 50.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.3 |
| Kessler Edwards | 4 | 3.8 | 20.0 | 33.3 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 1.0 |
| Alex Len | 3 | 4.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
