• The Sacramento Kings played a tight game Saturday against the Washington Wizards, ultimately winning 124-119.  Rudy Gay and Aaron Afflalo were both rested, leaving the team shorter than usual on the perimeter.  According to Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee, Ty Lawson was held out for personal reasons.

    Dave Joerger decided to open with his biggest starting lineup of the preseason, featuring Willie Cauley-Stein, DeMarcus Cousins and Skal Labissiere. There has been talk throughout the offseason regarding the use of a lineup showcasing all three together, so it makes sense that the team would want to test it out at some point during the preseason.

    Because of the absences, players like Malachi Richardson, Jordan Farmar, Omri Casspi and Ben McLemore got fairly extended looks, all of which had varying degrees of success.  There will be quite a bit of competition on the wing this season, so it will be worth watching how this group plays going forward.  Here were some of the more interesting notes from the matchup:

    • DeMarcus Cousins filled up the stat sheet toinght, scoring 22 points, five rebounds and six assists, although he also managed seven turnovers.  Given that it’s both the preseason and a completely new system for him, some rust is expected, but it’s good to see that he found a way to be productive despite the turnover issues.
    • While Labissiere did go out with the starting lineup, he wasn’t used much, failing to play even four minutes in the first quarter.  This starting lineup may have been used to see if the big lineup could operate well together, although it may have just been a courtesy to the three of them because of their ties to Kentucky, so it isn’t too shocking to see him taken out so early.
    • Darren Collison had a great game, managing 22 points and eight assists against just two turnovers.  He will be a key component of the roster this season, so it’s great to see him putting up lines like this in Joerger’s system.

    While the Kings did end up winning, it will be important to have a better presence on defense moving forward.  The Wizards got to the line 18 times and shot over 60 percent inside the arc.  On the bright side, the Wizards only managed to shoot 25.8 percent from three.

    The Kings are now down to their final matchup of the preseason Tuesday night against the Los Angeles Clippers, with that game being televised by ESPN.  The team has put together some strong performances to this point, so hopefully they can head into the regular season on a good note.

     

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