The 2018-19 Kings season so far is about snapping streaks and breaking norms. The Kings beat the Utah Jazz to pick up their 10th win of the season Wednesday evening, and snapped a six-game losing streak against the Jazz in the process.
Riding a young core, coach Dave Joerger has his team playing high quality basketball and defying the odds-makers at almost every turn.
There is no break in the schedule though. After Thanksgiving, the Kings face the Golden State Warriors in Oakland on Saturday, followed then the same Jazz team on the second night of a back-to-back Sunday at Golden 1 Center.
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SIGN UP HERE The Kings currently stand at 10-8 on the season after the 119-110 win in Utah. Here are two positives and two negative from the game:
POSITIVES
Team win
Seven players scored in double-figures for Sacramento, including a team-high 23 from Willie Cauley-Stein. Nemanja Bjelica and Bogdan Bogdanovic each scored 18 points, while De’Aaron Fox added 17 with 13 assists and seven rebounds.
NBA
[RELATED: De'Aaron Fox's dunk over Jazz is highlight reel-worthy]
When the Kings needed a big play, it seemed like a different player stepped up and found a way to score or make a stop.
Sacramento has one of the highest-octane offenses in the league, and the Kings continue to share the ball at a high clip. Against Utah, the Kings shot 52.8 percent from the field, 44 percent from 3-point range and they posted a 27-to-11 assist-to-turnover ratio.
Those are all winning numbers.
Attack Gobert
It wasn’t one or two, or even three players. The Kings went right at the teeth of a defense anchored by the league’s best shot-blocker in Rudy Gobert.
While Sacramento has yet to earn the respect of the officials, as seen by the 31-19 Jazz advantage at the line, the Kings were the aggressors. They finished the night with a 58-42 advantage in points in the paint over a Jazz team that is known for finishing at the rim.
Fox ran at the 7-footer for a huge dunk. Cauley-Stein went over him with a variety of moves and rookie Marvin Bagley III even got in the action. The Kings neutralized one of the best defensive players in the league by getting into his body and scoring over the top.
NEGATIVES
Killer Instinct
The Kings have it. They are winning games that very few would have predicted. But that doesn’t mean that they can’t improve.
Sacramento led by 17 points at the 4:56 mark of the fourth quarter, and let Utah back in the game. The veteran Jazz cut the Kings’ lead to four on three separate occasions.
Bogdanovic and Bjelica were huge down the stretch. They hit big shots and saved the day, but this game should have been over when the lead hit double-digits.
Playing fast doesn’t mean playing out of control. There are moments when the Kings are out of control. They’ll learn, but in the meantime, they are givng their coach a few gray hairs.
Mitchell
In a battle of two of the premier players from the 2018 NBA Draft, both Fox and Donovan Mitchell put on a show. Mitchell scored 14 of his 35 points in the fourth quarter, as the Jazz fought to claw their way back into the game.
The Kings have plenty of offense at the shooting-guard spot, but there are moments when they let elite scorers get loose. Mitchell is a tough cover, but Sacramento has to do better defending players like him as a team.
Luckily, the Kings have a Fox. He may not have posted 35 points, but his near triple-double performance was enough to help pick up the win and even the season series with Utah.