Kings Star Shines in 117-114 Preseason Loss to Jazz

The Sacramento Kings take another loss, starting their preseason winless through four games.

Oct 15, 2024; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Sacramento Kings forward Domantas Sabonis (11) reacts to a shot against the Utah Jazz during the second quarter at Delta Center. Mandatory Credit: Rob Gray-Imagn Images / Rob Gray-Imagn Images

The Sacramento Kings continue their rough preseason stretch, losing 117-114 on the road to the Utah Jazz on Tuesday night to drop to 0-4 in exhibition matches.

For the first time this preseason, Sacramento's starters were not on a minute restriction, finishing the game until the final buzzer. Star point guard De'Aaron Fox came just inches short of hitting the game-tying shot as time expired, which would have shockingly been his second long-range buzzer-beater of the night.

De'Aaron Fox with the casual (almost) three-quarter heave at the buzzer.

Utah leads 87-83 heading into the fourth.

Setting up for our first look at the DeRozan Kings in a close finish. pic.twitter.com/gLU1VAcuKQ

— Brenden Nunes (@BrendenNunesNBA) October 16, 2024

The Kings cleaned up some of their past preseason mistakes, like winning the turnover battle 11 to 24, but continued to struggle in certain areas. Sacramento has had a hard time taking the lid off the basket when shooting from deep, knocking down just 10 of their 38 attempts.

Sacramento lost by three points but attempted 105 shots compared to Utah's 71. This type of shot discrepancy rarely leads to a loss, but when the Kings make just 42.9 percent of those attempts, that is what happens.

Third-year forward Keegan Murray seemed to be the only King who could shoot from beyond the arc, shooting 5-11 and dropping 21 points in a valiant effort.

The star of the show on Tuesday night was undoubtedly Kings center Domantas Sabonis. The three-time All-Star seems to be in mid-season shape, as he came out scorching with 16 first-quarter points. Sabonis finished the contest with 29 points, 16 rebounds (11 offensive), and 8 assists, absolutely dominating Utah in the interior.

Sacramento's 0-4 preseason record is fairly misleading, but Tuesday's matchup in Utah was their best opportunity to build some confidence with a win led by the starters. The results of these games do not matter, but the glaring holes in Sacramento's system have become apparent.

With just one preseason game left, the Kings need to clean up their sloppiness ahead of their opening night matchup on October 24th.

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