The Kings needed a win Wednesday night, and they got it.
They almost let is slip away on multiple occasions, but George Karl and his band of misfits walked onto the team plane with huge smiles on their face. A 108-106 victory against the Indiana Pacers gave the team a 2-2 record on their difficult four-game swing. Sacramento jumps into a three-day holiday break tied with Denver Nuggets for the 9th best record in the West at 12-17, only a game behind the Utah Jazz for the eight spot.
[HAM: Instant Replay: Kings fumble big lead, but edge out Pacers]
DeMarcus Cousins was a bear in the post. Rudy Gay and Omri Casspi combined to slow down All-Star forward Paul George and both had an impact on the offensive end as well. Rajon Rondo chipped in 13 points, 16 assists and eight rebounds.
It was a team effort, but no one was more important than reserve guard Darren Collison.
“Darren had a great presence on the court the whole game,” Karl told reporters following the game. “First half I thought our pushing the ball and tempo of the game was created a lot by him. I thought the first five minutes of the first quarter were crucial for us. We had great shots offensively. This is Darren’s game.”
Collison finished the night with 24 points, five assists and four rebounds while posting a +12 in the plus/minus category. He sparked the Kings offense each time he stepped on the floor against his former team.
“I love playing with DC,” Rajon Rondo told reporters following the game. “When he comes off the bench he brings so much energy and we needed that tonight.”
Karl envisioned using a combination of Collison and Rondo for long stretches together before the season began. The veteran coach has tried desperately to get these two players to click on the floor and it finally looks like chemistry is building.
Collison has plenty of experience playing alongside ball dominant point guards. He spent the 2013-14 season playing with Chris Paul and the Los Angeles Clippers, but the transition to playing with Rondo has been more difficult.
To both players credit, you can see that they want to make it work. Their contrasting styles of play should make for a dynamic passing/scoring combination. The fact that they each played more than 35 minutes against the Pacers shows that Karl hasn’t given up on the duo just yet.
[HAM: The Kings Insider podcast: Episode 9 with Zach Harper]
THE GOOD
The Kings were embarrassed on the glass Friday night in Minnesota. A young, athletic, inexperienced Timberwolves team outhustled and outworked them all night. In a four-point contest, the Kings were outrebounded by a staggering 49-31 margin.
Rarely can you look at a box score and point to a singular stat as the reason a team won or lost a game. But there is very little question that the Kings’ inability to match the T'Wolves' intensity on the boards cost them the game. Even when they got defensive stops down the stretch, they couldn’t finish the play with a rebound. Giving extra possessions to a young team can only lead to bad thing.
Sacramento lost the battle on the boards their next time out in Toronto, but the disparity was not nearly as dramatic. An undersized Raptors team outrebounded the Kings 49-42, but Sacramento came away with the 104-94 win.
On Monday, we saw a newfound energy on the glass by Sacramento. While they lost to the Wizards 113-99, they trounced Washington in the rebound battle, finishing the game with a 46-38 advantage.
They continued the upward trend on Wednesday night, pounding the Pacers off the miss on their way to a 49-38 rebound advantage.
“We’ve been playing small a lot,” Karl said. “I thought Casspi was great and Cuz came up with a big rebounding night too.”
Cousins dropped the hammer on Indiana, finishing the night with 25 points and 16 rebounds. The rebounding total was his highest of the season, besting his previous high of 13, which he had accomplished twice.
Casspi wasn’t too far behind. The 27-year-old forward grabbed 11 boards while playing tough defense George. Casspi added 15 points to notch his fourth double-double of the season.
Since joining the starting lineup nine games ago, Casspi has added a new dimension to the Kings' top unit. The Israeli-born wing is posting 13.9 points and seven rebounds per game during the stretch. More importantly, the Kings are 5-4 with Casspi starting alongside Gay and Cousins on the frontline.
“The end of defense is rebounding and the beginning of offense is rebounding -- it’s a pretty simple formula,” Karl said following the game.
With control of the glass, the Kings are able to push the tempo and quickly initiate their offensive schemes. Casspi is playing a big part in the team’s ability to get out in transition and score easy baskets at the rim. His speed and quickness on the break, as well as his versatility has helped open the team’s offense and tighten the Kings’ defense.
Since the insertion of Casspi into the starting lineup, Sacramento is averaging 104.3 points per game and =have held their opponent under 100 points five times. They are allowing 103.3 points per game over the stretch, which is a huge improvement over the 108.8 points per game they game up over the team’s first 20 games.
THE BAD
Sacramento went into halftime with a 64-49 advantage. They were rolling, but once again, they came out flat in the third and let a big lead slip away. By the time the fourth quarter had rolled around, the Pacers were within two points and momentum was fully tilted towards the home team.
Indiana eventually took the lead in the fourth, but the Kings rallied back and snuck out a big win. The Kings are still trying to fit all of the puzzle pieces together, but they need to hurry. They nearly gave away a huge win against one of the best the Eastern Conference has to offer.
