No flow, no go. The Sacramento Kings started out hot and then fizzled on the road in Charlotte. The Hornets found a way to muck up the Kings’ offensive flow and ground the scoring to a halt.
Kemba Walker led the way for Charlotte, but the Hornets received contributions up and down the lineup to come away with the 114-95 win.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Bay Area and California sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
Here are three takeaways as the Kings dropped their first game of their season-long six game road trip to fall to 23-22 on the season.
Second Quarter Collapse
In the first quarter, the Kings were active defensively and moved the ball all over the court. They started out playing the same in quarter number two, but then they lost their way.
They stopped deflections and started over dribbling. After leading 25-20 after the first 12 minutes, Sacramento was outscored 43-25 in the second quarter to trail 63-50 at the half.
NBA
The Kings turned the ball over and were a step slow in their rotations and the Hornets made them pay.
Charlotte set the tone of the game in the second quarter and never looked back. The Kings made a few runs, but the Hornets seemed to have an answer every time.
Bench Battle
Sacramento’s bench has impressed of late, but they couldn’t keep up against the Hornets.
Bogdan Bogdanovic started out a perfect 5-of-5 and finished with 17 points. Marvin Bagley added 15 points and eight rebounds, but it wasn’t close to enough.
Miles Bridges and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist scored 15 each to pace the Hornets second unit. Veteran Tony Parker, who sat out the last matchup between these two teams, added 14 points as Charlotte’s bench outscored Sacramento’s 60-44 on the night.
Bombing Buddy
Buddy Hield continues to put up big numbers for Sacramento. The third-year guard shot 6-of-11 from behind the arc and 9-for-18 from the field to finish the night with a team-high 24 points.