What we learned as Kings’ defensive effort fuels win over Wizards

What we learned as Kings’ defensive effort fuels win over Wizards originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

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SACRAMENTO – Domantas Sabonis had 29 points and 18 rebounds for his NBA-leading 37^th double-double of the season, and the Kings beat the Washington Wizards 123-100 on Sunday to remain perfect at home under interim coach Doug Christie.

De’Aaron Fox also had a double-double with 12 points and 13 assists. Malik Monk scored 23 points and had fans cheering loudly following a windmill dunk in the fourth quarter. DeMar DeRozan scored 24 points and Keon Ellis added 18.

The Kings (22-20) improved to 9-2 overall since Christie was elevated to replace Mike Brown. They’re an unblemished 6-0 at Golden 1 Center.

Since the coaching change, the overall outlook for Sacramento’s season has changed dramatically.

The Kings have been playing so well that there was some brief chatter that Sunday’s clash with the Wizards (6-35 and riding a 16-game losing streak in road games) was setting up to be a perfect trap game.

Instead, it wound up being another lopsided victory that ended with Sabonis lighting the beam at the conclusion of the game.

The Kings were in control of this one from the start.

Sabonis nearly had a double-double before halftime, dropping 14 points and grabbing seven rebounds as Sacramento built a 14-point lead at the break. The Wizards played from behind the rest of the night.

Sacramento faces a more significant test Wednesday when the Kings host their Northern California rivals, the Golden State Warriors, at Golden 1 Center.

Here are the takeaways from Sunday’s game:

DeRozan More Aggressive

Whether by design or circumstance, DeRozan has been a lot more active and aggressive on offense since the coaching change was made.

It hasn’t resulted in a big difference on the stat sheet but that attack-type attitude is exactly what the Kings need from DeRozan. That also forces teams to defend Sacramento differently and not double-team Fox or Sabonis as much as they normally would.

DeRozan had one of his worst shooting nights of the season, going 9 of 21 against the Wizards, but he did slip past Allen Iverson for 29^th place on the NBA’s career-scoring chart.

Sabonis’ Sizzling Stretch

The Kings began to pull away when they went on an 8-0 run early in the second quarter. All eight points were scored by Sabonis.

Sacramento’s big man, who entered the night leading the NBA in 3-point percentage, drained a pair of shots behind the arc then made a steal followed by a thunderous one-handed dunk that had fans roaring.

That brought Sabonis’ scoring total to 14 points for the game. By comparison, the Wizards had only 15 points as a team.

On The Defense

One of the issues that’s been getting very little attention since the coaching change is how well the Kings have been playing on defense.

A middle-of-the-pack defensive unit through the first two months of the season, Sacramento has ratcheted things up lately on that side of things.

On Sunday the Kings were extremely active and prevented the Wizards from ever getting on much of a run. Washington shot 32 of 90 overall (10 of 42 behind the arc) and committed 15 turnovers.

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