Kings Take Down the Jazz on Opening Night

October 26, 2023

The Kings picked up right where they left off last season with a scorching 130-114 win against the Jazz. The scoring looked effortless, with Barnes leading the way with 33 Points on 11-of-16 (68.8%) shooting from the field and 5-of-7 (71.4%) from beyond the arc.

All of the talk coming into this one after Preseason was about defense, but this game seemed like a reminder that the Kings offense is still really freaking good.

I know Mike Brown wants the Kings to be near the top 10 on defense, but the Kings superpower is their scoring. And the way they did it tonight was so fun to watch.

Barnes led the way with his big effort, but after that Sabonis had 22, Fox had 18, Keegan 15, and Monk 10. What stands out to me more than the scoring is the passing. 9 of the 10 players (not counting garbage time at the end) recorded an Assist. Sasha was the only player to not have one, but he hasn’t handled the ball much early on in his NBA career.

The other big topic of the offseason was around the Kings rebounding issues that came up during the playoffs. They were outrebounded by the Jazz 64-52, but each of the Kings rotational players grabbed at least one board, and most encouragingly, Keegan had 8 and Barnes had 4.

Sacramento will need both of their forwards to be better on the boards this season, so to get that right out the gate against a big Utah team is a step in the right direction.

In terms of the defense, a lot of people may point out that the Jazz scored 64 Points in the Paint, but some context is needed in my opinion for that one. The Jazz were 10th in the league last year scoring in the paint and even better (2nd) in the preseason.

I thought the defensive intensity looked promising for the first game. They played hard, they played physical, and they didn’t back down when the game got chippy. They might not have the defensive skills to be a top defensive team in the league, but if they can bring that level of defensive effort and pair it with this offense? I think we could be in for another fun season.