The Pelicans double-star bombarded 62 points, Fox slashed 33+8, the Lakers reaped the benefits, and the three teams in the West tied their records!
Text: Lao Kan Kanqiu
Editor|Lao Kan Kanqiu
On April 12, Beijing time, the NBA regular season ushered in the focus of the Western Conference, and the Sacramento Kings sat at home to face the New Orleans Pelicans. Prior to this game, the Kings were in 8th place in the West with a 45-34 record, while the Pelicans were 47-32 and 2 straight wins and 6th in the West. This will be the fourth meeting between the two sides this season, and the first three meetings have been defeated by the Kings, which can be said to be overcome. Therefore, the winning rate prediction given by the American media ESPN before the game: 54.3% for the Pelicans and 45.7% for the Kings.
If the Kings lose, they will drop to the play-in tournament and tie with the Lakers again, while the Pelicans, who are currently in sixth place, will have 48 wins, and the difference with the Suns will be stretched to one win. So, for the Kings, it's almost a game you can't lose.
In fact, both teams have suffered injury difficulties recently, on the Kings side, the best sixth man Monk sprained his right knee for at least 4-6 weeks, and the sharpshooter Kevin Huerter dislocated his left shoulder and torn labrum, which was reimbursed for the season, these two have too much impact on the overall strength of the Kings team, and the team's recent record has declined seriously. The same is true for the Pelicans, who have lacked forward intensity and have been up and down since Ingram went out injured.
In terms of injuries, Huerter and Monk are absent on the Kings' side, and Murray is doubtful for the game, and the starting lineup is Fox, Keane Ellis, Harrison Barnes, Keegan Murray, and Sabonis. Pelicans' Ingram is out, Marshall is doubtful, and the starting five are: McCollum, Jones, Mo Fei III, Zain, Valanciunas.
At the beginning of the first quarter, Valanciunas scored a two-pointer basket to give the Pelicans the lead, Zion also scored a layup, and Murphy III also stepped back to make a three-pointer, and the Pelicans started the game with a 9-0 offensive run. Murray scored two key points to stop the bleeding in time, Barnes also continued with three points, Zion faced Xiao Sa's defense, and forced a small toss to return to the middle and stop the Kings directly. After the timeout, the Kings' offense still didn't improve, but Murphy III was bursting, scoring nine points in a row, and with three and a half minutes left in the game, the Kings had fallen behind by as many as 20 points. Fox misses again, and Zion steals a dunk. Fox then rebounded strongly to lead a 12-0 spurt that ended the first quarter with the Kings trailing by 11 points, 23-34.
The Kings started a little slowly and missed their shots. Returning in the second quarter, Zion's assault was knocked to the ground, suspected to have injured his wrist, and he has returned to the locker room for examination. Ellis and Lyles hit three points in a row, Fox also had two points, the Kings chased the score to 9 points, and at the critical moment, McCollum hit two three-pointers in a row to stop the bleeding in time, Murphy III also scored three points, Sabonis scored four points in a row to respond, and at halftime, the Kings were 58-64 and had chased six points. It is worth mentioning that the maximum difference between the two sides in the first half reached 23 points. Murphy III had a good hand today, scoring 20 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists on 5-of-10 shooting in the first half, with Fox contributing 17 points.
After the rematch, Zion's fingers were only bandaged and returned to the field. Mitchell was on a fast break, Zion caught up with the racket flying, and then grabbed Barnes for an extreme layup, and scored 15 points in the third quarter. Sabonis made two free throws and one shot, Barnes scored four points in a row with free throws, Alvarado responded with a three-point shot, Barnes also scored three points, the King once chased to 2 points, Zion hit a basket and hit a board, Alvarado hit a three-point shot, and then launched a three-point bombardment, and at the end of the third quarter, the Pelicans re-established a 9-point advantage at 98-89.
In the fourth quarter, Murphy received an assist from Alvarado, and the Pelicans widened the gap to 14 points and directly stopped the Kings. After the timeout, the Kings' offense still didn't improve, McCollum hit two three-pointers in a row, and the Pelicans easily blocked Zeller's dunk to finish, and they already led the Kings by 20 points. Then the Kings went on a 13-2 run to score 12 points, Zion scored four points in a row on the inside, and the team stabilized the 13-point deficit, and finally the Pelicans swept the Kings 135-123.
After this game, the Pelicans locked the top seven in the West and competed with the Suns for sixth in the West, while the Kings, Warriors and Lakers have the same record of 45 wins and 35 losses, ranking eighth for the Kings, ninth for the Warriors, and tenth for the Lakers.
In terms of statistics, on the Kings' side, Fox had 33 points, 5 rebounds, 8 assists and 2 steals, Sabonis had 18 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals, Keegan Murray had 20 points, 5 rebounds and 2 steals, Davion Mitchell had 13 points and 5 assists, and Barnes had 22 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists. On the Pelicans' side, CJ McCollum had 31 points, 4 rebounds and 7 assists, Trey Murphy 27 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists, Zayn Williamson 31 points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals, Valanciunas 13 points and 10 rebounds, Alvarado 14 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists, and Dyson Daniels 10 points and 4 rebounds.