Daniel Powter’s “Bad Day” tops the Billboard Hot 100, Owen Wilson just made his debut with Lightning McQueen in “Cars” and Sacramento Kings forward Keegan Murray is counting down the days until his sixth birthday.
May 2006 was a long time ago, and for anyone involved with the Kings, it must have seemed a long time ago.
Sacramento hasn’t made the NBA playoffs in nearly 17 years, but after a turnaround this season, Golden 1 Center fans can finally cheer after 82 regular season games.
The Kings clinched a playoff berth with a 120-80 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday. They are now 46-30 and become the third team to reach the Western Conference playoffs after the Denver Nuggets and Memphis Grizzlies.
With De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis ushering in a new era in Sackton, hopes of an NBA playoff return are not just a blip, but a sign of things to come in the years to come.
Trading places
Many questions were raised when the Kings decided to trade talented young point guard Tyrese Haliburton to the Indiana Pacers in early 2022.
Haliburton was selected by the Kings with the 12th overall pick and is considered by many to be the team’s point guard of the future. The 6-foot-5 point guard was named to the 2021 NBA All-Rookie First Team and finished third in Rookie of the Year voting following his first season in the league.
After averaging 13 points, 5.3 assists and 3 rebounds as a freshman, Haliburton continued his pace in his second season with a career-high 38 points and 17 assists entering his second year.
However, the Kings grew concerned about his long-term cooperation with Fox in the backcourt, and the ensuing blockbuster trade sent Haliburton to the Pacers.
Buddy Hield and Tristan Thompson follow the linebackers to Indiana, along with Justin Holiday, Jeremy Lamb, a 2023 second-round pick and, more importantly, Sabonis to California.
Like Fox and Haliburton, Sabonis is the team’s star player, but he’s not particularly gifted.
The Lithuanian has excelled since joining Sacramento and is enjoying one of his best seasons in the NBA in 2022/23. Sabonis – the son of Hall of Fame center Arvidas Sabonis – is posting career highs in rebounds and assists per game as of this writing and returns to the All-Star team for the third time in his young career.
In an interview with The Athletic shortly after the trade, the 7-foot-1 star seemed to know the future was bright for the Kings.
Sabonis said, “They brought me here, we want to change everything, you know?”
“It’s gonna be fun.
It’s just little by little, I think we’re doing good things and moving in the right direction. We’re going to have a great summer – we talked about it. And then we have a good training camp to bring everyone together, you know? “
Everything changed during the offseason
Luke Walton has been sacked as Kings manager after a dismal start to the 2021/22 season. Walton was temporarily replaced by veteran coach Alvin Gentry, and the 68-year-old was also let go after the season.
The Kings then hired Golden State Warriors associate Mike Brown as their new head coach ahead of the start of the 2022/23 season.
Brown, who had just won an NBA title with the Warriors after a Finals win over the Boston Celtics, was tasked with bringing some of his winning power to Sacktown.
The 53-year-old has revolutionized the way the Kings play and transformed the team into one of the league’s most exciting offenses.
With Brown, guard/forward Kevin Huerter and shooter Malik Monk became key players for the Kings, unlike Murray. 4 picks in total, also joined the team.
Unsurprisingly, the arrival of these pieces coincided with an overhaul of the Kings offense.
Since Huerter and Murray moved to the West Coast, he’s taken more than six shots per game and shot better than 40 percent from 3-point range.
Monk is only slightly behind both in 3-point attempts (3PA) and 3-point percentage (3P%), but helps demonstrate how far the Kings offense has come and how well the team was built.
This term, Brown’s team moved up to seventh in the 3PA rankings, shooting 37.4% from the field on 36.9 attempts per game — eighth in the NBA — proving yet another change on the offensive side.
Another factor in the Beam’s success was Fox’s performance in critical times.
The talented 25-year-old is at the top of the NBA ladder of clutch players and has been instrumental in helping his team to big wins at critical times this season.
Attack is the best defense
So far this season, the Kings lead the league with an impressive 120.9 points. Last season, the Kings ranked 16th in that standings, averaging just 110.3 points per game. The team change and roster additions were necessary to increase their attacking numbers.
To wrap up this team, the Kings rank high in offensive efficiency but rank 26th in defensive efficiency – a sign of their total mentality.
That summed up their game against the Los Angeles Clippers.
In the second-highest scoring game in NBA history, the Kings won 176-175 with an incredible offensive performance. Fox scored 42 points and had 12 assists, and Monk led the team with an impressive 45 points and six 3-pointers.
‘Light the beam!’
Fans at the Golden 1 Center fully support the program and have contributed to the success of the Kings this season.
After every home win, the Kings shoot a giant purple beam into the air and it’s become a big part of team culture.
As victory looms, the entire arena erupts in chants of “LIGHT THE BEAM! LIGHT THE BEAM!” It caused a stir on social media.
While some opposing teams and fans used it to taunt the Kings when they were losing games, the bar helped create a special bond between the fans and the team.
Whatever happened to Sacramento in the playoffs turned things around this year, winning the hearts of fans with fearless, fearless basketball.
Everyone in Sactown is hoping they keep lighting the beams throughout the playoffs.
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