Playing for the second time in three days, the Sacramento Kings lost 109-94 to the Los Angeles Clippers in a game that was close through three quarters, but became a highlight reel late.
Blake Griffin shook off DeMarcus Cousins’ postgame comments from Thursday night and punished the Kings with a 27 point, 14 rebound performance. Randy Foye broke loose for Los Angeles, scoring 25 points on 7-for-9 shooting from 3-point land. Starting just 1-for-8 from the field, Chris Paul struggled early against the defense of Isaiah Thomas. But the All-Star point guard managed to finish strong, ending the game with 19 points, 15 assists and seven steals.
Cousins paced the Kings with 15 points, but it wasn’t pretty. The budding star went 5-for-19 from the field, with many of his misses coming from the perimeter. Francisco Garcia scored 13 points starting in place of the injured Marcus Thornton, but left the game in the third quarter with a concussion. The Kings interior defense missed veteran Chuck Hayes, who sat out with food poisoning.
Notes and Analysis
- Griffin let his play do the talking tonight for the Clippers. The Clippers star forward finished with 27 points on an efficient 12-for-15 from the field and added 14 rebounds.
- Cousins scored 15 points and grabbed 20 rebounds, but that tells a very small part of the story. Cousins came out shooting…and missing. The second-year big man out of Kentucky finished just 5-for-19 from the floor and 5-for-9 from the line in the loss.
- The Kings really need Tyreke Evans to find some consistency as a scorer, especially with Thornton out with a calf injury. The third-year wing scored 14 points on a solid 5-for-10 shooting, but turned the ball over six times in 30 minutes.
- Terrence Williams looked like an elite point guard in the first half, dishing out eight assists before intermission. He finished with only nine total assists as the Kings went cold in the second half. Williams got a little loose with his ball handling late, which resulted in a five turnover game.
- Francisco Garcia started his second game in a row and actually found his shooting touch. The veteran wing scored 13 points on 5-for-10 shooting and hit three long balls before leaving with a concussion.
- T-Will has found himself a favorite target in Jimmer Fredette. The rookie guard hit each of his four shot attempts in the first half and scored all ten of his points before the break.
- A Travis Outlaw sighting tonight. He showed flashes of the scoring touch that made him a bench weapon in Portland a few seasons ago. Outlaw finished with 14 points in 22 minutes of action and might get the starting nod in Sunday’s matchup against Houston because of injuries to Salmons, Thornton and Garcia.
- Stat of the Night: After fouling out in just 18 minutes of action Thursday against the Clippers, Cousins played 41 minutes Saturday. Cousins kept his composure for most of the evening and finished with only three personal fouls.
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