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Two valuable rookies made their NBA debut in the first part of the Kings' season on Wednesday night at the Golden 1 Center, but Willie Cauley-Stein proved he was still the best player in the lineup.
The 7-foot center featured all of his repertoire against one of the league's most elite defensemen, scoring in various ways in a 123-117 loss to the Utah Jazz. Cauley-Stein scored 23 points on 10 out of 15 shots with seven rebounds, four assists and two blocked shots, allowing the Kings to remain tied with a team that beat them by 39 points on a day. preparatory game last week.
"When the lights come on, if you do not come play, you'll be beaten by 40," said Cauley-Stein. "We needed that for you to have that feeling, like, 'Good God, we got beaten by 40? "We can not get beaten by 40. The way we went out today was like," We're never going to get beat at 40. "Not if we play like this."
Cauley – Stein is well defended from Utah 's center, Rudy Gobert, the reigning defensive player of the year in the NBA. Gobert finished with 19 points, 15 rebounds and three blocked shots, but Cauley-Stein was equally impressive, scoring lobsters, layups, putback dunks and a nice recovery shot.
"Willie was great. … guys do not like to get hit in the body and that 's what Willie did today.Said the Kings leader De'Aaron Fox, who had 21 points and seven assists. "He did not fear contact. He went straight to them and this is a testament to what he did this summer. People saw him working. He had an excellent training camp.
Cauley-Stein had two early tones to help the Kings take a 25-9 lead in the first eight minutes of the game. The Jazz scored 16-2 to reduce the deficit to two and took a 35-34 lead over a 3-pointer from Alec Burks early in the second quarter.
The Kings briefly took the advantage a few times when Cauley-Stein scored on a suspended layup and a turnaround, but the Jazz quickly opened a 10-point lead and had a 68-55 advantage in mid-term. time.
Utah was led by 14 people in the third quarter, but Sacramento fought back. Cauley-Stein scored on a jump hook and blocked shots on the following two defensive possessions, leading to a Fox Rider and a 3-pointer from Yogi Ferrell.
A layup of Cauley-Stein reduced Utah's lead to three. A Ferrell 3-pointer gave the Kings a 75-73 lead with 6:53 to play in the third period.
Jazz restored a 10-point lead mid-way through the fourth quarter. The Kings reduced the deficit to five with less than a minute, but they could not get closer.
"It was a good effort," said Kings coach Dave Joerger. "The guys competed (and) attacked. We had 34 points in the first quarter. We started quickly. Last week (against Utah), we had 34 points in the first period. … I can not blame our efforts. We just scored 117 points on League No. 1 defense. "
Donovan Mitchell scored the highest point of the match with 24 points for Utah. Joe Ingles had 22 points.
Buddy Hield scored 19 points for the Kings. Nemanja Bjelica scored 18 points and eight rebounds.
Rookies Marvin Bagley III and Harry Giles III played less than 22 minutes in their NBA debut. Bagley finished with six points and five rebounds. Giles had two points, a rebound and an assist, scoring four personal fouls in less than 10 minutes.
"There were a few moments when we stagnated and that's when they did their home runs, which will happen if you have a young team like this, especially when we are our second group," said Cauley-Stein. . "We have two recruits who need to get decisive minutes to really learn this role.
"We have to get those minutes for them to learn. The only way to learn is to play these minutes and they will get them. "
Jason Anderson: 916-321-1363, @JandersonSacBee
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