Image courtesy of Sacramento Kings/Facebook.
It was a tough Saturday night for the Sacramento Kings (2-5) before the opening tip was even tossed as they entered Milwaukee to take on the Bucks (4-2) without their number two scoring option in Rudy Gay.
The Kings, who have been struggling mightily on this now 0-4 road trip, put forth their weakest offensive performance of the season, shooting just 39% in their 117-91 loss to the promising young Bucks.
DeMarcus Cousins was going to have to play even more out of his mind than usual if they wanted to even have a chance to stay in this one but was limited to a quiet 15 points and four rebounds. The only other King to reach double figures was Garrett Temple who score 19 off of the bench. Temple was just about the only bright spot for Sacramento aside from Dave Joerger emptying his bench so his rookies could get their first taste of regular season action.
The Bucks showed that they are a legitimate playoff team with a well-balanced attack full of youth, size, athleticism and some streaky long range shooting. Milwaukee shot 50% from the field and 42% from beyond the arc led by Mirza Teletovic who stroked seven of his nine threes off of the bench and finished with 22 points in 21 minutes.
Six Bucks reached double figures headed by the trio of Matthew Dellavedova, Jabari Parker and Giannis Antetokounmpo and they showed why they can not only be a playoff team this year but an honest threat to upset a top seed. Antetokounmpo finished with 17 points, eight rebounds, eight assists, four steals and a block. At 6-11, the still just 21-year-old can already do it all on both ends of the floor and is blossoming into one of the premier players in the Association.
Points off of turnovers, transition baskets and fast break points all killed Sacramento from the get go. In fact, the Bucks outscored the Kings 26-1 in fast break points. No, that’s not a typo.
Fortunately for the Kings their putrid road trip is nearly over. Unfortunately, it ends quicker than even they could have wished for tomorrow afternoon in Toronto. That’s a quick turnaround for a team that’s trying to salvage a five-game road trip against easily the best team they have faced on the trip.
Regardless of what happens tomorrow in Canada, it’s safe to say that the Kings will be thankful to be back home in their shiny new arena on Tuesday night to host the still winless Pelicans.
On a brighter note, starting point guard Darren Collison will also be returning from his eight game suspension on Tuesday night. Collison has desperately been missed so far this season and should bring some spark to an offense that is seemingly Resting In Peace.
Follow Rich Peters on Twitter and Instagram.
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