The Sacramento Kings are still searching for their first win, and Sunday night only added another rough chapter to the start. New Orleans, also sitting at 0-4 before tip, left with a 132-120 victory and pushed Sacramento to 0-5.
For a brief stretch, though, the Kings actually looked like the sharper team. They came out with pace, got into transition, and grabbed a 30-24 lead after the first quarter while facing a Pelicans team on the second night of a back-to-back. That edge didn’t last long.
New Orleans took control coming out of halftime, ripping off a 26-7 run to open the third quarter and turning the game into another uphill climb for Sacramento. From there, the Kings were chasing again, trying to play the part of the stubborn underdog against a team that was also winless but far less flustered.
That has become a familiar pattern for Sacramento: decent starts, then a collapse when games reset. It showed again here, and it’s the kind of trend that will keep Doug Christie’s seat from getting any cooler if it keeps happening.
The rotation also told the story. Sacramento leaned hard on its top guys, with the bench logging 42 minutes overall.
No starter played fewer than 37 minutes, and three players - Sabonis, Acuff, and Achiuwa - all topped 40. The second unit was thin to the point of being improvised, with Emanuel Sharp, Nique Clifford, Alex Karaban, and Malik Monk making up most of the group.
None of them played more than 18 minutes, and the Kings’ bench was held to 8 points.
That shortage matters even more without Maxime Raynaud or Dylan Cardwell. Without that kind of backup size, Precious Achiuwa has to fill in at the five, and Sacramento simply didn’t have much behind its starters.
New Orleans had the opposite problem. Its reserves played 88 minutes, no starter went over 32 minutes except Herb Jones, who was dealing with early foul trouble, and the Pelicans’ bench produced 39 points.
Still, the night belonged to Darius Acuff Jr. offensively. Against the Pelicans’ backcourt - and especially in the matchup with Jeremiah Fears - he delivered one of the loudest stat lines the league has seen from a teenager: 34 points, 6 rebounds, and 14 assists.
“34 PTS, 6 REB, 14 AST for Darius Acuff Jr.He becomes the youngest player in NBA history to reach or exceed those numbers The 19-year-old shot 13/26 from the field, 5/5 at the line, had 2 steals, and was a +3 in the loss Franchise player.”
Acuff scored 21 in the first half alone and kept flashing the three-level scoring that made Sacramento take him 7th overall. He finished 13-for-26 from the field, including 3-for-11 from 3-point range, and added two steals in the loss.
The schedule doesn’t give the Kings much breathing room. They head to Memphis for a Halloween night meeting with the Grizzlies, then face Cooper Flagg and the Dallas Mavericks before returning home.
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