Brooklyn Nets vs. Sacramento Kings 11/27/16 ScoreThe Brooklyn Nets lost their seventh game in a row last night at home to the Sacramento Kings 122-105 to fall to 4-12 on the season. Without Jeremy Lin, Brooklyn is slowly falling apart and falling in power rankings where they sit dead last. Losing this badly to a team like the Kings, at home, is not a good sign. Brooklyn was never really in this game once the half hit. Yes, the third quarter woes struck again, and hard.
Brooklyn was up by one point at the half. In the third quarter though, the Kings outscored Brooklyn 34-18 and never looked back. Sacramento won in pretty much every statistical category there is. The most notable one, though, is points in the paint. The Kings scored 50 points in the paint compared to Brooklyn’s 36. This differential could have been predicted with DeMarcus Cousins being the beast he is down low.
The Nets shot 43.7% form the field and made 16-39 three-pointers for a 41.0 percentage. While that percentage is respectable, shooting 39 threes in a night will not win you games. I have said it before and I will keep saying it until something changes. The Kings, meanwhile, could not miss a shot. They, as a team, shot 53.5% form the field. It is hard to lose when you shoot that well.
The game’s leading scorer was none other than DeMarcus Cousins with 37 points on 13-24 shooting and 4-5 from long range. Adding to his points, Boogie brought down 11 rebounds and stole four balls. Needless to say, he was unstoppable. For Brooklyn, Sean Kilpatrick led the way with 23 points on 8-13 shooting. It is fair to say that Skilpatrick has found his mojo yet again.
This was a game Brooklyn could have won. Unfortunately for them, the Kings played at the top of their game and dominated the Nets. Brooklyn does not have answers for point guards or skilled big men. Sean Marks is probably searching for bodies to fill these voids. Chris McCullough is someone that can help this team, but only playing four minutes last night, is not promising. He is skilled and needs experience and Coach Atkinson should give it to him.
Grading the Players
The only Net that gets an A tonight is Sean Kilpatrick. Inserted into the starting lineup yet again due to Rondae Hollis-Jefferson‘s injury, Skilpatrick had himself a game. As mentioned, Kilpatrick scored 23 points on 8-13 shooting. He also had five rebounds, three assists, and two steals. On top of that, he was one of two Nets players in the positive for plus/minus at +1. Justin Hamilton was the other positive player at +3.
Getting a B tonight is aforementioned Justin Hamilton. Hamilton only scored six points but he was in the positive. On top of that, Hamilton learned how to rebound. Hamilton, in 24 minutes, snagged 10 rebounds. It is nice to see our big men actually do big men things and grab boards. Isaiah Whitehead will also receive a B as he did not have a terrible game. Whitehead scored 11 points on 4-6 shooting. Whitehead also grabbed four rebounds and dished out two assists. While the assists should be higher, his shooting is coming back to him. If he can produce more and more, he will keep fending off Yogi Ferrell for Jeremy Lin’s starting replacement.
Getting a D tonight is Randy Foye. Foye has only been back from injury for a few games, but he still is not producing the way Brooklyn intended him to when they signed him. He had a team low -25 in the plus/minus category and only scored nine points on 3-8 shooting. Foye has potential to be a quality asset to this team, but, for now, he is not very good.
Coming up next for Brooklyn is the 14-4 Los Angeles Clippers. These teams met a couple of weeks ago in Los Angeles, and, needless to say, it was pretty ugly. Brook Lopez sat out that game due to a back-to-back which only made matters worse. Brooklyn will have a really tough time with this Clippers team whom has been on a roll this entire season. Please come back Jeremy Lin, Brook-Lin needs you.