The Kings, compared to game 1 of the preseason, looked black and white tonight. In game 1, the Kings had 27 turnovers, the same was not the case in this game. The Kings cleaned up their turnovers dramatically and played phenomenal team basketball. Omri Casspi contributed 15 points and 6 rebounds off the bench.
"We made some mistakes but I'm just happy we got the win," said Nik Stauskas.
DeMarcus Cousins and Nik Stauskas are two names you'll hear a lot this upcoming season. After 2 early fouls on Cousins, a double technical, and sitting out a lot of the first half, Cousins scored 19 points in the second half to help lead the Kings to win.
"It's tough out here. I had to guard Demar (DeRozan) most of the night. He's one of the best shooting guards in the league," said Stauskas.
The Kings looked very solid offensively and defensively tonight. It's preseason, and you cannott take too much from it, but Darren Collison looked great leading the point guard position. This writer thought getting Collison would be a weird mix into a Kings team that needs a facilitator, but Collison is doing an excellent job of facilitating. So far he fits the role better than Thomas did last season. Thomas is now with the Phoenix Suns.
The Kings have plenty work to do, areas of concern for right now rely on Rudy Gay and his inconsistency shooting. We've seen inconsistency for a long time with Gay but for the Kings to be a legitimate team going forward, Gay will need to step up.
The Kings will now travel to China for a six night adventure and will play the Nets twice there.