The Kings had their moments to step on the Blazers throats. New shooting guard Kevin Huerter had a sequence in which he nailed a 26-foot 3-pointer, then stole the ball midcourt and went the other way for a layup. And with 5:37 to go, Domantas Sabonis got a bucket before dishing an assist to De’Aaron Fox for a corner 3 on the next possession.
That made it a 104-99 Kings lead inside of five minutes left. Fox had 33 points and looked like the star of the game. Throughout the Kings’ season opener it appeared Fox was having an early-season signature performance. A tone-setter for a potential All-Star season — one the Kings will need from him if they’re going to snap their 16-year playoff drought.
But that 3 was also Fox’s final basket in a dejecting 113-108 loss. He missed a 15-footer, had a turnover out of bounds, charged over a Portland defender while driving to the basket, and missed an open 3 from the corner on a step-back that would have been his best move of the night, had he sunk the shot.
The Blazers closed the game out better than the home team, and the rowdy crowd inside Golden 1 Center left the arena waiting for their new-look team’s first win of the season.
“I had a charge call and I think I missed a 3 in the corner that went in and out,” Fox said. “I don’t think they (the Blazers) did anything spectacular. At the end of the day, I have to be able to put the ball in the basket.”
Fox finished with 33 points on an efficient 12-of-21 shooting performance, including making 5-of-9 from distance, but had eight turnovers to seven assists. New shooting guard Kevin Huerter went 6-of-9 from 3 and had 23 points in his Sacramento debut. It was an impressive outing for the new backcourt, particularly the efficiency (Huerter was plus-16 in 29 minutes coming off a recent ankle tweak).
But the Kings fouled too much early, had three quarters where they allowed more than 30 points to Portland, and were outscored in the paint 56-38. Sabonis had 13 points with just four rebounds. The Kings’ center, hub of their offense from the elbow and running pick-and-rolls, struggled when Portland collapsed in the paint and defended him with length. Too often Sabonis would drive to the basket without an obvious outlet and the space-and-pace attack would lose both.
“We definitely should have won that game,” Sabonis said. “I feel like in the first half, we went away from our basketball and moving the ball. I don’t know if it was them pressuring us or the first game of the season excitement. Definitely have to be better, including myself.”
It certainly won’t get any easier with the L.A. Clippers coming to town Saturday, but the Kings could have rookie Keegan Murray in the lineup for his NBA debut. He missed time this week due to the league’s health and safety protocols, but he worked out at shootaround and the court before Wednesday’s game.
Adding Murray to the mix will be one of the many wrinkles the new-look Kings will have to adjust to. They had four new players who were getting incorporated into the rotation Wednesday, including shooting guard Malik Monk, who shot went 2-of-7 from the floor and was minus-18 in 16 minutes.
The other adjustment is more obvious. The Kings have to learn to deal with adversity. The promise of training camp and the undefeated preseason is long gone. These are the games count. Sacramento will have some stirring wins throughout the year and discomforting losses too. That’s all part of the process. And after losing to Portland in their home opener, they’ll have their first opportunity at bouncing back.
“I think watching film’s going to help a lot. Film never lies,” Sabonis said. “People might see it and then everyone’s going to realize, damn, even myself, there’s probably a lot of things that we wish we hadn’t done. It’s good. Sucks that it’s at home in the home opener, but it’s good to see. And we have two days of practice to really focus on that so it won’t happen again.”
There are positives to take away. The Kings went on a 16-1 run in the second quarter after sputtering in the first. Huerter could give the Kings a viable shooting guard after struggling to find a 3-point marksman in that spot in recent seasons not named Buddy Hield. Terence Davis played in crunch time and contributed 14 points, five rebounds and two steals. Davis turning into a valuable player would be found money.
Davis nearly had the highlight of the night, had the Kings won the game. His putback dunk over Damian Lillard, which put the All-Star on his back, was softened by a technical foul when Davis momentarily screamed over him.
“Just gotta learn how to control your emotions,” Davis said afterwards. “It’s just a moment, man. Ref kinda took it away. I think that changed the momentum of the game.”
That dunk broke a tie at 104 with 2:18 remaining, but Lillard went the other way and sunk the technical free-throw while the crowd booed the call. Portland outscored the Kings 10-2 the rest of the way.
“I think we gave it away,” Fox said.
