{"id":827250,"date":"2015-10-09T16:51:04","date_gmt":"2015-10-09T23:51:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cowbellkingdom.com\/?p=41067"},"modified":"2015-10-09T16:51:04","modified_gmt":"2015-10-09T23:51:04","slug":"4-takeaways-from-sacramentos-preseason-home-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/4-takeaways-from-sacramentos-preseason-home-opener\/","title":{"rendered":"4 takeaways from Sacramento’s preseason home opener"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a><\/p>\n The Sacramento Kings faced off against a San Antonio Spurs with no Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobli, or Boris Diaw. Can’t forget to mention that their head coach Greg Popovich also was not in attendance Thursday night.<\/p>\n With none of these quality players on the sidelines, the Spurs still had a very formidable starting five, anchored by LaMarcus Aldridge and Kawhi Leonard.<\/p>\n The Kings would come out victorious (95-93) in front of their beloved fans that were anxious to see this new roster play in front of their eyes.<\/p>\n This was the first game in which there were more positives than negatives to look back on. Here are the biggest takeaways from game three of the preseason.<\/p>\n Rudy Gay is finding a rhythm!<\/strong><\/p>\n After a terrible game against the Portland Trailblazers earlier in the week, Gay has really put his game back on track against the Suns and now the Spurs.<\/p>\n We got to see a glimpse of Gay flourishing in coach Karl’s system last season, and it looks as if Gay is starting right where he left off.<\/p>\n The 3-pointers have been falling at a high rate for Gay over these past two exhibition games.<\/p>\n Shooting over 57 percent from the perimeter is a dream for Kings fans and coach Karl.<\/p>\n \u201cI think he just has the freedom where we want to shoot the ball from the 3-point line and he has it,\u201d Karl said. \u201cHe’s always shot a good percentage. He’s big and I just think he needs to take advantage of just shooting over the defense.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n If Gay can carry this confident shooting into the regular season, look for number eight to have a huge year.<\/p>\n Anderson over McLemore?<\/strong><\/p>\n In what caught many by surprise, neither Ben McLemore nor Marco Belinelli came out as the Kings\u2019 starting two guard.<\/p>\n It was actually James Anderson.<\/p>\n McLemore has been playing poor through the preseason, which is an understatement.<\/p>\n The athletic shooting guard had seen most of his minutes split between both himself and veteran Belinelli through the previous two games.<\/p>\n Now adding Anderson into the mix will only raise questions and skepticism.<\/p>\n No one is expecting Anderson to take over the starting job during the regular season. However, getting the start over McLemore in the preseason may be a bigger deal than many may think.<\/p>\n The Kings are in tunnel vision and are only focused on one thing – winning games.<\/p>\n With the continued struggle for consistency from McLemore, the Kings will begin to face themselves with the question of how to fix it, while also not losing games.<\/p>\n Coach Karl is going to need options when McLemore is struggling. Yes, Belinelli is going to be the one gathering the majority of the minutes in those situations. But he may need to breathe.<\/p>\n