This was supposed to be another easy game for the Los Angeles Clippers at their home floor Staples Center. The Sacramento Kings have not been going particularly well; with a losing record and coming off a back-to-back home 20-point blow-out defeat against the Oklahoma City Thunder. But no-one told them that.
It started off well enough for the Clippers; who looked sharp at the outset and surged into a 10-point lead in the first quarter. From the second quarter though; it was practically all Kings as they went unconscious from the three-point line; draining a franchise-record 21 treys (out of 41) for a remarkable 51.2% clip. Behind Cory Joseph; Buddy Hield & Bogdan Bogdanovic; the Kings rained in threes from all directions as the Clippers didn't seem to know what hit them.
This was probably the worst Clippers display I have seen all season. I guess the signs weren't good when Kawhi Leonard had to pull out just prior to tip-off for a lower back strain. We saw what happened when Paul George was still out-of-sync after coming back from injury; and Lou Williams was strangely off-form; leading to a shortage of offensive firepower for the Clippers. Only Montrezl Harrell & Landry Shamet had good games; but they had little support from everyone else.
Full marks also to young Kings point-guard De'Aaron Fox who had a superb outing with 34 points & 8 assists in 35 minutes. The Clippers tried multiple defenders at him but just couldn't slow him down; with the 6'3" point-guard able to penetrate almost at will; make tough shots and find his team-mates as well.
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