Kings second half comeback falls short against Clippers

Kings failed to comeback from being down 26 points at one point in the game, after an impressive second half by this Sacramento Kings team. The final score was 121-115 Clippers. Sacramento falls to 4-9 on the season.

The first half was all Clippers. JJ Redick was hitting on all cylinders especially from beyond the arc. He went a while without missing a shot and it seemed as if he would continue this in the second half but the Kings managed to keep him contained. JJ Redick finished with 26 points on 8/12 shooting. Blake Griffin was dominating in the paint and finished the game with 29 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, and 2 steals. DeAndre Jordan chipped in 16 and 12 of his own. The Clippers in the first half scored an outrageous 73 points in the first half and it wasn't looking promising for the Kings. Cousins was the only real bright spot in the second quarter, scoring 15 points and having 21 points for the first half.

As the second half got underway, Dave Joerger made some adjustments that gave the Kings hope. But ultimately the hard fought comeback fell just short after some rough calls by the refs put the game out of reach and the Clippers finished off the Kings. You have to appreciate the Kings continuous effort night in and night out.

There were a lot of positives in this game. One positive was the way DeMarcus Cousins was able to get going after struggling early. Cousins finished the game with 38 points, 13 rebounds, and 7 assists, showing he can do it all. He was dominating the paint all game and couldn't be stopped. Ty Lawson in 36 minutes of play had 18 points, 6 rebounds, and 8 assists and played particularly well when Dave Joerger went small and played alongside Darren Collison. When the Kings went small ball you didn't have the issues of the bigs getting in the way and clogging the paint. This is where Lawson flourishes. Collison off the bench added in his really good defensive play and chipped in 16 points, 2 rebounds, and dished out 2 assists. It's very impressing how Matt Barnes is able to play at his older age. The oldest player on the team still plays at a high level. In this game, Barnes had 15 points, 7 rebounds, and 1 assist while shooting a very impressive 4/6 from beyond the arc. His physicality and great defense was huge down the stretch in the Kings come back attempt. Finally the Kings continuous effort and heart to not give up in games was good to see. This Sacramento Kings team will keep competitive in every game if this effort is shown for all 48 minutes.

There were some negatives to go over as well. Kosta Koufos was unable to get going in this game at all and this will probably be the last time you'll see Koufos in the starting line up due to his poor play and inability to hold his own on both sides of the floor, especially on the defensive end. Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan, and the rest of the Clippers team took advantage of this and dominated in the paint. Koufos also found himself unable to keep his feet on the ground and would fall for pump fakes and would breakdown, resulting in him not playing more than 8 minutes. Rudy Gay's woes from his previous time out vs the Spurs carried over to this game as well. He went 3/11 from the field and failed to score in double digits while only having 9 points. The Kings need consistency. They can't go missing in the first or second half and try to come back. They have to play with effort for all 48 minutes and this will translate to W's, bottom line. This is very concerning but it's still early on. This is no time to panic yet.

To wrap up some final thoughts I saw in the post game interview that Dave Joerger said that due to the success with the small ball line up he will no longer go with a starting line up with two bigs. This will likely result in Koufos moving to the bench and Cousins sliding to the 5. That will open up the flexibility to possibly start Matt Barnes due to his continuous success. He has proven that he is worthy of starting. Also, the Kings need to play with this effort for all 48 minutes, I can not stress this enough. The Kings have options while going small. We will just have to wait and see what the Kings coaching staff decides to do next time out as the Raptors come to Sacramento on Sunday.