
SACRAMENTO -- 81 down, one to go. The Sacramento Kings finished their 2018-19 home schedule Sunday evening at Golden 1 Center with a very disappointing 133-129 loss to a shorthanded New Orleans Pelicans squad.
The Kings received huge performances across the board, but they couldn't stop the Pelicans from posting another huge offensive showing.
Ian Clark hit Sacramento for 31 points. Elfrid Payton added 26 points and 14 assists, while Jahlil Okafor added 23 points and 14 rebounds in the win.
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Here are three takeaways as the Kings dreams of finishing .500 on the season fell by the wayside.
Record tied, but...
Buddy Hield, welcome to the NBA record books.
The Kings’ leading scorer hit two 3-pointers on the night to give him 599 makes over the first three years in the league to tie Damian Lillard’s NBA record.
NBA
The sharpshooting wing struggled to find his shot throughout the evening. He finished the game with 12 points on 2-of-10 shooting from long range.
Fantastic Mr. Fox
In his second NBA season, De’Aaron Fox has become the driving force behind the Kings’ high-powered offense. The 6-foot-3 speedster didn’t disappoint in the home finale.
Fox was a disruptive force on both ends of the court for the Kings. He got in the passing lanes to come away with three steals and plenty of deflections.
On the offensive end, Fox ran the show, finishing with 24 points on 10-for-18 shooting to go with six rebounds and 11 assists.
Bjelica, Barnes and Bagley
The killer Bees came to play.
Bjelica started it early, bombing away from the outside and out hustling the Pelicans down the court. He scored 12 of his 15 points in the first quarter.
With Bjelica hitting from the outside, Barnes attacked the rim. He has a nice back to the basket game and he’s quick and strong enough to take plenty of opposing wings off the dribble. Barnes scored 29 points on the night and four rebounds.
Lastly, Marvin Bagley came in off the bench with what appeared to be a single objective - crash the glass. The 20-year-old rookie went to work, scoring 19 points to go with a team-high 14 rebounds.