Since the start of the season, the Kings' five has been a model of stability. With the exception of injury cases, like De'Aaron Fox or Keegan Murray earlier in the season, Mike Brown continues to rely on the five he trusted last year until the playoffs.
Until last week. The Kings coach therefore decided to replace Kevin Huerter by Chris Duarte. The shift took place three games ago, against the Hawks. The first, still a starter, had been hit in the hand during the game, and the second had replaced him and stood out in defense against Trae Young.
The former Pacers player regained the starting place two days later, against the Grizzlies, and there again, had signed a notable performance in defense, in front of Ja Morant. Last night against the Hornets, at the heart of a complicated evening for the Kings in terms of lost balls, he had less impact against Terry Rozier.
Mike Brown could be wrong
Still, this adjustment could last. Before the meeting, Mike Brown explained that his decision was not limited to this match. “ We have a lot of unselfish guys on this team. These guys are connected. They all want to win and, ultimately, I have to make the decisions that I think are best for the team at that time, and I'll be the first to admit that I could be wrong “, defended the Kings technician.
This was probably motivated by the small form of his usual shooter and holder. After a month of November (14 points at 47% on shots) at the height of his good past season, Kevin Huerter had a very average month of December. In his last five outings, he only averaged 5 points (32% on shots including 20% on 3-pointers). Less focused on shooting than him, Chris Duarte (8 points on average over three games) undoubtedly brings more physical toughness.
“ I don't have all the right answers. I've been wrong many times before, and I could be wrong on this, but I'll take my chances. It's one of those things you try, to see how it goes, but it wasn't a choice limited to this match. We will continue to examine in the future », assured the coach.
| Shots | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | L.F. | Off | Def | Early | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Party | Pts |
| De'aaron Fox | 25 | 35.3 | 48.3 | 40.3 | 72.0 | 1.0 | 3.6 | 4.6 | 6.1 | 2.6 | 1.6 | 0.4 | 2.7 | 30.0 |
| Domantas Sabonis | 31 | 34.7 | 59.3 | 35.1 | 66.1 | 3.2 | 9.1 | 12.3 | 7.5 | 2.9 | 0.8 | 0.6 | 3.2 | 19.4 |
| Keegan Murray | 27 | 32.4 | 44.3 | 36.2 | 85.1 | 1.3 | 4.0 | 5.3 | 1.6 | 0.9 | 1.2 | 0.4 | 2.8 | 15.3 |
| Malik Monk | 30 | 24.9 | 44.2 | 41.2 | 89.2 | 0.4 | 2.2 | 2.6 | 5.2 | 2.2 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 1.8 | 14.5 |
| Harrison Barnes | 31 | 30.0 | 48.0 | 38.5 | 84.0 | 0.8 | 2.2 | 3.1 | 1.3 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 1.2 | 11.4 |
| Kevin Huerter | 30 | 24.2 | 42.8 | 35.2 | 78.3 | 0.6 | 3.1 | 3.7 | 2.6 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 2.2 | 10.4 |
| Trey Lyles | 18 | 19.9 | 45.8 | 35.7 | 62.5 | 0.9 | 4.3 | 5.2 | 1.4 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 1.7 | 7.1 |
| Sasha Vezenkov | 27 | 12.9 | 42.7 | 36.7 | 75.0 | 0.7 | 1.9 | 2.6 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 1.0 | 5.2 |
| Javale McGee | 27 | 8.5 | 66.7 | 0.0 | 55.6 | 1.0 | 1.9 | 2.9 | 0.4 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 1.3 | 4.6 |
| Keon Ellis | 23 | 13.2 | 40.8 | 35.0 | 64.7 | 0.3 | 1.1 | 1.4 | 1.4 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 1.5 | 3.9 |
| Chris Duarte | 28 | 13.0 | 36.7 | 30.4 | 80.0 | 0.3 | 1.6 | 1.9 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 1.9 | 3.8 |
| Davion Mitchell | 24 | 13.1 | 37.0 | 25.0 | 76.9 | 0.1 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 1.3 | 3.8 |
| Colby Jones | 12 | 6.4 | 45.2 | 12.5 | 66.7 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 1.3 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.9 | 2.6 |
| Jordan Ford | 6 | 3.6 | 57.1 | 66.7 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 |
| Alex Len | 9 | 7.6 | 63.6 | 0.0 | 42.9 | 1.3 | 1.9 | 3.2 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 1.9 |
| Philip Petrusev | 2 | 3.3 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 1.5 |
| Kessler Edwards | 25 | 4.9 | 38.2 | 31.8 | 50.0 | 0.1 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 1.4 |
| Jalen Slawson | 5 | 3.7 | 66.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 0.8 |
| Juan Toscano-anderson | 6 | 3.1 | 33.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.7 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 0.3 |
