Kings 90, Pistons 106: Nobody Could Stop Blake

Both teams didn’t play so well in the first half, which explains a pretty low scoring affair. Each team scored 44 in the first half, with the possibility of another close finish.

But then, Blake Griffin in the third and hot three point shooting in the fourth from the rest of the Detroit team would seal the deal. Sacramento made mini runs but were down too much to make any real comeback.

Observations by Quarter

First Quarter:

• Justin Jackson led the way with six points for Sacramento. He looked confident taking his shots.
• The main man of late, Buddy Hield started with five points on 2/5 shooting, including a wide open three. Wide open
• The Kings opened their three point shooting going 1/6 following a great shooting day behind the arc against Utah.
• Detroit already had four free throws to Sacramento’s zero.
• Blake Griffin led the way for Detroit with nine points.
• Reggie Bullock had seven followed by Anthony Tolliver’s five. Hey, I remember him.
• Detroit led 25-21 to end the quarter.

Second Quarter:

• Kings opened the quarter going 0/5 from the field.
• Vinsanity returns on a fast break dunk!
• Sacramento went on a 9-0 run to retake a 30-29 lead after a Frank Mason III three.
• Buddy Hield had a beautiful step-back jumper over Andre Drummond.
• Griffin took his point total to 15. Hield led the way for Sacramento with 10.
• Sacramento was still struggling from deep, going 2/12. Thanks to bad basketball by Detroit also, the game was tied at 44 a piece.

Third Quarter:

• Andre Drummond was 0/4 prior to finally getting his first two points. He also missed two free throws earlier.
• Blake Griffin missed a point blank dunk after a foul. That was hilarious.
• You have to make that lay-up Willie.
• So much for laughing at Blake. He caught fire in the quarter.
• De’Aaron Fox surely wasn’t happy after missing three free throws, but came right back with the lay-up speeding by everyone.
• Vince Carter nails a toilet three to become 22nd on the all-time scoring list!
• The quarter ends 73-66 with Blake Griffin having 26 points and nine rebounds. Hield led the way again with 15 for the Kings.

Fourth Quarter:

• Mason III couldn’t convert the and-1. The Kings were really struggling from the line.
• Garrett Temple missed two straight threes that should’ve went in. He was 0/6 from deep at this point.
• After so many misses, Detroit came back to hit a three and increased the lead by over 15.
• Cauley-Stein had a beautiful pass to find an open Skal Labissiere for a dunk to bring the lead back down to 13. That was his fourth assist, which was the most at the time.
• The lead went over 20 as the threes kept falling for the Pistons.
• HOW WAS THAT A FOUL ON BUDDY?
• Darn you Ish Smith
• 106-90 final score.

Best Performers

Buddy Hield got a start in place of injured Bogdan Bogdanovic and had another solid performance. He led the team in scoring with 20, he had four assists and he led the team in rebounding with six. He shot 8/15 overall, 3/6 from deep in 32 minutes.

De’Aaron Fox shot the ball very well tonight as he scored 16 points to go with four assists and three rebounds. He was 8/11 from the field in 31 minutes.

Justin Jackson also shot the ball very well en route to a solid 15 point game on 7/9 shooting. It was a good game for Jackson to build on.

Notable Performers

Skal Labissiere had ten points and five rebounds on 4/10 shooting in 25 minutes.

Willie Cauley-Stein had nine points, five assists and six rebounds.

Garrett Temple was surprisingly non-existent today. He was 1/10 from the field, 0/6 from the field for two points.

Notable Stats

Shooting: Detroit shot 47%, Sacramento shot 46%. However, Detroit scored 14 threes compared to six for Sacramento. Detroit also converted 18 free throws to Sacramento’s four.

Non-shooting: Detroit led in rebounds with 44-39. Sacramento led in assists with 23-17. Sacramento led in steals 7-6 and Detroit led in blocks with 5-3.

The Nasty Stats: The Kings had more turnovers (13-9) and more fouls (21-11) than the Pistons.

Quick Takeaways

Hooray for Vince Carter! Really the only positive thing from today that wasn’t a performance from one of the youngsters.

Where was Bruno Caboclo?

Blake Griffin went off with 26-7-9. Drummond only had four points but had 16 rebounds.

Next Game

The Kings host the Atlanta Hawks on Thursday at 7:00 PM PST.

The Game in One Sentence

I’m disappointed with how this turned out. You can take this one.