Timberwolves 117, Kings 115: A heartbreaking start to the season

It's easy to get caught up in results. This is a results-oriented business. Win or go home. And at the end of that game, the Sacramento Kings lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves by a score of 117-115. This is the result, and it sucks. In the season opener and home opener, it would have been really nice if the Kings had gotten the win in that game. They had many opportunities to do so, and they missed those opportunities. I'm not here to sugarcoat any of this. But it's also worth mentioning that there were a lot of positive things to take away from this film.

The game came down to the last second. Anthony Edwards, being the superstar that he is, drew a foul at the rim with two seconds left and sank both. The Kings came up with a last-second play to give Keegan Murray a game-winning try three minutes into the game, but the attempt was well saved. Keegan double punched the air and fired a shot that almost went into the goal but bounced out to end the game.

The good

The Big 5 – DeMar DeRozan led the Kings with 26 points, 8 rebounds and 2 assists. He also made 12 of 14 free throws. Domantas Sabonis had 26 points, 8 rebounds and 1 assist while shooting 3-4 from distance. Keegan Murray had 23 points, 11 rebounds and 2 assists. De'Aaron Fox had 15 points and 11 assists. Malik Monk had 17 points and 4 assists. The Kings Big 5 were great. They showed up across the board and played great team basketball. These are legitimate concerns about DeRozan? Forget it. There was a lot of fun basketball to be seen on offense tonight.

Free throws – The Kings shot 80% from the charity stripe. Not the best, but solid. More importantly, the Kings shot 35 free throws compared to just 17 for the Wolves. Welcome, DeMar. We needed you.

The evil

The others – Kevin Huerter had 2 points on 4 shots in 20 minutes. Keon Ellis had 2 points on 1 shot in 11 minutes. Trey Lyles had 3 points in 11 minutes. That's not to say that these guys didn't contribute in other ways, as they contributed with some rebounds, assists and steals, but the lack of scoring was noticeable.

gearing – The Kings are a team with a number of players, including the aforementioned Huerter and Lyles, who have just returned from injuries. As a team, this group hasn't had much time to really connect and it showed. There are growing pains. The good thing is that I believe these people can figure it out.

The ugly

Three-point defense – Minnesota had so many open looks. They had a 40% hit rate from three-pointers and attempted 50(!) three-pointers. That was really the whole difference in this game.

Nobody can stop Julius Randle – Randle has been a Kings killer for years, and he celebrated tonight after a terrible opening night against the Lakers. Randle finished the game with 33 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists.

End of the third quarter – Trouble arose again in the third quarter as the Kings used sloppy play to turn a 9-point lead into a 1-point deficit.

Execution in the 4th quarter – Unfortunately, we saw the return of the Kings fourth offense turn into ineffective isolation basketball. I was hoping Mike Brown would have learned from last season.

***

Despite all the additions in the “Ugly” section, I don’t want to be too negative. The Kings are clearly a team still finding themselves. But the parts are really good and the prospects for this season are good. I'm looking forward to the next game so the Kings can get back on track. Remember that Wolves looked completely lost in their first game and looked much more composed tonight. Patience sucks, but I'm told it's a virtue. I guess I'm willing to give this team more than one game to figure it all out.

Next: Kings @ Lakers, October 26 at 8:30 p.m