. TONY RAY’s PUBLIC RECORD – 30 –
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.T. Ray Harvey | Public Information Officer
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.SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Wendy Lou Who of Whoville – the heroine in the classic children’s story, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” – couldn’t save the Sacramento Kings from the Washington Wizards. 🎙
The losers of 11 of their last 12 games, the Wizards shocked the Kings (17-14) and their spirited fans with a ‘Grinch-like” behavior and a favorable 125-111 outcome at Golden 1 Center. 🎙
“We just let them do whatever they wanted to do,” Malik Monk said of his team after the loss. Monk had 16 points, five rebounds, four assists, and two steals. The Kings are at the halfway point of a six-game homestand and have produced one victory. 🎙
The Wizards did everything the Dr. Suess’ character could do and did it without interruptions from the Kings. A triple-double of 20 points, 15 rebounds, and 10 assists by Domantas Sabonis was stolen by Washington. Sabonis also made all 10 of his free throws.
“We have to understand no matter who is in front of us, how hard we have to play, how unselfishly we have to play in order to get a win,” Kings head coach Mike Brown said. “If we think we’re just going to just show up and go through the motions because of our record is what it is, we’re going to be in for a rude awakening.”
De’Aaron Fox’s night was wasted, too. He had 26 points, seven rebounds, three assists, one steal, and one block in 34 minutes. Trey Lyles and Kevin Huerter had 14 points each for Sacramento. 🎙
Kyle Kuzma had 32 points, nine rebounds, and five assist for the Wizards (13-21). Bradley Beal contributed 24 points and four assists while Rui Hachimura emerged off the bench to score 21 points, grab five rebounds and dished out five assists in nearly 27 minutes. 🎙
Hachimura had 14 points and four rebounds in the first quarter, which set the tone for the Wizards. Washington deployed a frontcourt of 6-foot-10 Kuzma, 6-10 Daniel Gafford, and 7-3 Kristaps Porzingis that gave the Kings fits all night.🎙
The Wizards scored 70 points in the paint and converted 24 fastbreak buckets. They made 49 of 88 shots (55.7) from the floor. Monte Morris had 16 points, five assists, and three steals for Washington.🎙
The Wizards built up an 87-57 lead on a nine-foot shot by Beal with 7:54 left in the third quarter. The Kings got no closer than 15 points of the Wizards until the game was completely out of reach in the fourth quarter.🎙
“We knew we could affect them with our size,” Kuzman said. “We impose our will on them all night for 48 minutes.”
Brown concurred with Kuzma by saying, “They’re a big team. It’s a big physical team and they did not feel us at all. I would just say the four and the five. In terms of us sitting down and being a physical presence and not letting them get to the paint for easys, whether it be a transition or in the half-court. It was tough on us. Their size showed itself tonight.”
The Kings made 37 of 84 shots from the field and 10 of 32 from beyond the arc. The most glaring drawback was the assist total of 19. Sabonis was the administrator of 10 assists. The Kings are averaging 27 dimes through 31 games.🎙
“I think tonight we just didn’t share the ball. Like I said earlier, the ball was not moving,” Lyles said. “We were settling for mid-range shots, one pass shots, no pass shots. We weren’t playing how we’ve been accustomed to all year.”
The Kings take on the Denver Nuggets on Dec. 27 and Dec. 28 at Golden 1 Center.🎙
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