The Beam is BACK! Three quick thoughts on the Sacramento Kings' 130-114 win over the Utah Jazz

Kings start the season on a high note

The Sacramento Kings played their first game of the new season tonight against the Utah Jazz and to the surprise of few, Sacramento looked great. They were able to light the refurbished beam with a 130-114 win on the road after handling a Jazz team they finished 3-1 against the previous season.

The usual suspects played well tonight for the Kings. De’Aaron Fox looked very comfortable and finished with 18 pts, 5 reb, 6 ast, 1 stl and 1 blk. However, he only went 1-7 from 3PT after missing a few that he should have easily made. Domantas Sabonis in, typical Domas fashion, earned his first double-double of many this season and ended with 22 pts, 12 reb, 5 ast, 1 stl and 2 blk.

While the highlight of the night came on this Malik Monk assassination attempt of Kris Dunn, the true star of the game was Harrison Barnes.

HB started the game shooting 8-8 from the field and ended the night with 33 pts, 4 reb, 2 ast and 1 stl while shooting 11-16 FG and 5-7 3PT. His night would end just three points shy of tying his career high. HB played as though he was trying to make up for his lackluster playoff performance against the Golden State Warriors, their home opener opponent this Friday.

There were many rumors this past offseason that the Kings were looking to part ways with the veteran forward. Maybe this game was his way of saying thank you to the organization for giving him another chance and a reminder to us fans of what he’s capable of.

Here are three takeaways from tonight’s win.

The Kings’ offense looks just as potent as last year

Last season the Sacramento Kings set the record for the highest offensive rating in NBA history at 119.4. Their ORTG tonight was 127.4. Yes it’s just been one game, but the point here is that their offense still looks great and their high-octane style of play isn’t changing anytime soon.

They were able to accumulate 29 total assists tonight en route to setting the franchise record for most threes in a season opener (19). They looked fast, efficient and selfless. Three things that will bring them continued success all season long.

Despite errors, the defensive effort was much improved

There were glaring errors made by the Kings’ defense all game. Including a missed switch from Kevin Huerter at the perimeter to Sabonis in the paint that ended with a Lauri Markkanen lob finish. Mistakes like this are ones that finals contenders do not make more than once. And in typical Mike Brown fashion, every error was quickly addressed.

But even with some issues, the defense actually looked like it had a lot of potential. The Kings finished with 8 blocks and 6 steals thanks to high effort and active hands. They were also able to capitalize on a few loose balls thanks to some great hustle. There was a play that looked to be an easy turnover caused by Utah, but thanks to newly acquired Forward Sasha Vezenkov not giving up on the play Sacramento was able to regain possession.

Little plays like this can make all the difference in a close game. The fact that it happened while the Kings were comfortably winning shows the type of mentality this team is looking to establish.

The new guys looked pretty good

There are three new players on Sacramento’s roster that Mike Brown and the staff are hoping will make an impact early on this season. Shooting Guard Chris Duarte, Center Javale McGee and Vezenkov. Here are there stats from tonight:

Duarte - 9 pts, 2 reb, 1 ast, 3-4 3PT, +5

McGee - 8 pts, 1 reb, 1 ast, 1 blk, 4-4 FG, +13

Vezenkov - 8 pts, 2 reb, 2 stl, +9

With only an average of about 14 and a half minutes played tonight, I think they played pretty damn well on both sides of the ball. As the season goes on, and they start to feel more comfortable in the Kings’ scheme, I would like to see two things happen.

First, McGee’s rebounds need to go way up. His height, wingspan and strength are to impossing to only finish with one board. The Kings lost 45-54 on the glass tonight. Against a better team, that would likely be the difference between lighting the beam, or a loss. McGee needs to make his presence felt every minute he’s on the court.

Secondly, I’m hoping to see Duarte get more minutes with Sabonis. They were teammates in Indiana and are known to have a great relationship on and off the court. During Duarte’s rookie season on the Pacers, he scored off 26 dho’s (dribble handoffs) from Sabonis. After Sabonis was traded to the Kings, Duarte had none the rest of the season and only eight the following year. Despite only playing half a season together, no player has recorded more assists (43) to Duarte than Sabonis. Hopefully they can revive the magic they were making from a couple years ago.

Let me know what you thought about the game. Check out the full game highlights below.