After 35 minutes of play in the Wolves' reception, the Kings posted a terrible 3/23 at 3-pts, or only 13% success… In the last thirteen minutes, they will regain skill, with a 5/10 in the exercise, and pass a 17-2 in the last act to offer a suspenseful end to the match.
But this 8/33 behind the arc killed the Sacramento team, which logically bowed to Minnesota's defense, the best in the league. Because it is the latter who is responsible for this clumsiness.
The Californians certainly had some very open shots, but overall, they often had a defender in front of them, with players coming out to contest the shots as much as possible.
“I think we took some pretty good shots, which didn't go in, during this game”notes Mike Brown for NBC Sports. “But we must highlight Minnesota’s performance. They have quite a scale. They have size, they are athletic and they fly. »
Arms everywhere and all the time
Seeing players like Anthony Edwards, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Jaden McDaniels, Kyle Anderson or Naz Reid rushing at you with their long arms is disruptive when it comes time to shoot.
“We feel a little more pressure to shoot faster,” continues the Sacramento coach. “Even if they're not going to block 3-point shots, they make life more difficult. It's a match that we have to approach with mental strength because we don't know what to expect in the face of such scale and the way they defend. Plus the way they protect the circle. »
Because we must not forget Rudy Gobert, who grabbed 17 rebounds and blocked two shots. Not to mention those that the Kings did not take in front of his presence.
“They have size, plus Gobert under the circle”explains De'Aaron Fox, author of a 3/11 behind the 3-point line. “They force you to take difficult shots. With Gobert, we think twice before going to the basket. They contest a lot and are very active. »
| Shots | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | L.F. | Off | Def | Early | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Party | Pts |
| De'aaron Fox | 21 | 34.8 | 48.2 | 39.8 | 73.2 | 0.9 | 3.6 | 4.4 | 6.2 | 2.5 | 1.6 | 0.4 | 2.8 | 29.7 |
| Domantas Sabonis | 27 | 34.6 | 58.4 | 37.1 | 66.7 | 3.4 | 8.8 | 12.2 | 7.4 | 3.0 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 3.1 | 19.0 |
| Keegan Murray | 23 | 32.1 | 45.5 | 37.3 | 86.7 | 1.4 | 4.0 | 5.4 | 1.8 | 1.0 | 1.1 | 0.3 | 2.8 | 16.0 |
| Malik Monk | 27 | 25.1 | 42.9 | 41.2 | 88.6 | 0.4 | 2.1 | 2.6 | 5.2 | 2.2 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 1.7 | 14.3 |
| Harrison Barnes | 27 | 30.8 | 48.7 | 40.7 | 81.0 | 0.9 | 2.3 | 3.1 | 1.4 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 1.1 | 11.8 |
| Kevin Huerter | 26 | 25.5 | 43.9 | 36.2 | 78.3 | 0.6 | 3.4 | 4.0 | 2.8 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 2.3 | 11.1 |
| Trey Lyles | 14 | 19.4 | 40.3 | 31.5 | 63.2 | 0.9 | 4.4 | 5.4 | 1.4 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 1.8 | 6.2 |
| Sasha Vezenkov | 24 | 13.7 | 44.1 | 38.7 | 75.0 | 0.8 | 2.0 | 2.8 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 1.1 | 5.8 |
| Javale McGee | 24 | 8.8 | 67.1 | 0.0 | 53.8 | 1.1 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 0.4 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 1.3 | 4.7 |
| Keon Ellis | 20 | 14.0 | 42.6 | 36.2 | 64.7 | 0.4 | 1.3 | 1.6 | 1.5 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 1.6 | 4.5 |
| Davion Mitchell | 21 | 13.5 | 34.1 | 26.7 | 76.9 | 0.1 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 2.0 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 1.3 | 3.7 |
| Chris Duarte | 24 | 12.0 | 35.4 | 29.2 | 77.8 | 0.2 | 1.4 | 1.6 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 2.0 | 3.6 |
| Colby Jones | 11 | 6.8 | 45.2 | 12.5 | 66.7 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 1.4 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 1.0 | 2.8 |
| Alex Len | 6 | 6.8 | 75.0 | 0.0 | 42.9 | 1.2 | 1.5 | 2.7 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 2.5 |
| 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 |
| Kessler Edwards | 22 | 5.3 | 40.6 | 35.0 | 50.0 | 0.1 | 0.7 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 1.5 |
| 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 |
| 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 | 4 | 3.3 | 33.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 0.5 |
