Opening night is always an outlier. Veteran players have fresh legs, young guys are aggressive, and the home crowd is roaring pregame, postgame and during the game. Teams with low expectations, such as the Sacramento Kings, are overlooked by the league. The Kings may not be a playoff team this year, but after tonight’s outing they are sure to surprise teams every so often.

The King’s started out guns blazing. Buddy Hield, after a few too many seconds of dribbling, dumped the ball to Willie Cauley-Stein only to follow up for an easy hand off for a wide open top of the key jumpshot. During a 9-0 run to start the game, they played staunch defense with a surprisingly strong Yogi Ferrell holding his own on Donovan Mitchell. Even Cauley-Stein looked engaged on the defensive end during the first quarter, boxing out Rudy Gobert and defending the paint without being over aggressive. On the offensive end the team took smart shots. There was rarely a forced shot and moved the ball fluidly, rarely sticking to anyones hands. Occasionally there were careless turnovers, at one point De’Aaron Fox passed the ball to Hield only for him to lose control of the ball and spin around only to knock it up the court for an easy Joe Ingles dunk. Newcomer Nemanja Bjelica was confident on the offensive side of the ball hitting a contested three and running the floor for a tough layup. The quick start did not last the entire half unfortunately.

Utah regained their footing after the tough start and took the lead for most of the second quarter and into the half. Once the starting lineup started coming off the floor the offense became stagnant. Iman Shumpert came into the game and took a few quick shots that did not go in. After sitting out for a long period of time and being traded last season, he was looking to prove himself on the court rather than motion through the offense and take what came to him. Marvin Bagley III looked as expected, working the offensive glass and low post but was paired with either Cauley-Stein or Harry Giles to cover his shortcomings on the other side of the ball. Harry Giles was overshadowed on the court and made little impact on either side of the ball for Sacramento ending the half with 2 points, no rebounds, no assists and 3 fouls. The Kings were able to stay competitive throughout the first half but were unable to maintain their early lead, ending the half down thirteen.

Picking up on the fast start, the Sacramento starters were able to play the team back into the game. The Sacramento starters consisted of Fox, Ferrell, Hield, Bjelica, and Cauley-Stein. Coach Dave Joerger allowed this lineup to stay on the floor for a majority of the third quarter and they rewarded him with energy and solid ball movement. Once again the Kings punched the Jazz in the mouth and ran the Jazz into a corner. Sacramento started a run by giving the ball to Cauley-Stein and letting him finish in the paint and energizing the crowd with high flying alley-oops. This run culminated with a pull up three by Ferrell stopping at the top of the arc and firing a quick shot on the fast break. This three gave the Kings there first lead since early in the second quarter. Things started to get chippy on the court and halfway through the quarter Jae Crowder shoved the ball into the chest of Bjelica after an aggressive reach in and whistle. Crowder and Bjelica exchanged words and Crowder was given a technical. The quarter ended with a fizzle as the referees had a long delay in play after a technical on Cauley-Stein arguing a call on Shumpert.

In typical Fox fashion, De’Aaron turned on the jets in the fourth quarter. Hitting a couple shots early on to bring the Kings within a few points. Waning between falling too far behind and holding their own, Sacramento was unable to recreate their early runs at the start of the first and second half. The team was unable to take advantage of the careless turnovers made by Utah and without capitalizing on those plays kept the Kings just out of striking distance. Missing some key shots at the end of the game punished Sacramento as they were able to make the needed stops but not bring the game to a close. As time expired the Kings fell by six, the final score 123-117 a Utah win. Sacramento is tired of hearing the words moral victory but tonight was once again just that. Their is much to be proud of and more to look back on on smooth out through the season.

Expected as the on-court leaders were Fox and Cauley-Stein. Fox pushed the pace throughout the game finding our bigs for easy baskets down low. Fox also pressured Utah all night holding Ricky Rubio to 1 point. Cauley-Stein finished arguably the highlight of the game, putting Gobert on the other side of a poster on a beautiful toss from Bjelica. Cauley-Stein was engaged throughout the game and held his own against a top five center in the NBA in Gobert. The best player on the court for Sacramento, I would argue was Bjelica. Each time Bjelica stepped on the court Sacramento pulled either ahead or to within a few points. Although the defensive prowess was not on display for Bjelica, he spaced the floor on offense and his timely threes provided much needed momentum for the team.

Sacramento looked much more confident running coach Joergers sets and it provided for a well balanced box score for the Kings. All players in the starting lineup scored in double digits with Cauley-Stein leading the way with 23 points. Sacramento’s style took a complete 180 from the 2017-18 season. Joerger allowed the team to run the floor after putting together the slowest pace of play in the NBA last season. Coach kept a tight rotation playing ten players, with only seven playing fifteen or more minutes, as well as keeping the veterans on the bench and allowing our young pieces to play meaningful minutes. With the game over and the jitters quelled, Sacramento looks to be a competitive team with a solid foundation to build on this season. The NBA has been put on notice, Sacramento is not going to be walked over nor the laughing stock they were made out to be.