Kings Get a Big Win Versus The Thunder

Going into Tuesday night's game, the Sacramento Kings were 1-8 to start the season. While many have not seen that as surprising considering the Kings are rebuilding, Kings guard Buddy Hield was concerned enough to call a team meeting and try to figure out the issues. Well, guess what? It must've worked because they got a much-needed win over an overhyped team.

The Kings managed to beat the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday night 94-86 to bring their record to 2-8. Yes, it's still bad, but you have to start somewhere.

What may be the most surprising of this game was the beginning of the game, where the Kings starters didn't score a single point for a good portion of half of the first half. It actually set a record that nobody really wants to be in.

Luckily, however, the Kings' bench provided the scoring in a big way. Buddy Hield and Justin Jackson combined for 37 points, while the rookie De'Aaron Fox, added 10 points and eight assists to go along with those numbers.

In recent games, the points have been hard to get. They're dead last in the league in scoring, averaging only 93 points a game. But the positives may been that Hield is getting into his form that we've seen a lot of last season. He is expected to be the player that this team revolves around and he's got to come up big in order for the rest of the team to get into their groove.

His recent numbers have been why the Kings have been in this terrible funk lately and it's also why he was yanked out of the starting lineup. He was averaging 17 points on 63 percent shooting while getting 7.3 rebounds a game. That's not good enough for the star player on this team, and yes, he is the star and most important player on this team. He had to come up big and coach Dave Joerger told him that he will sit on the bench for the first part of that game.

The story of this game is probably not the Kings, though. It's the Oklahoma City Thunder, who I said in the intro that they are probably the most over-hyped team so far this season. Yes, it's an 82-game season and so it does take a bit to actually get into form and get into their winning ways. But losing to Sacramento, one of the worst teams in recent memory, shouldn't sit well for this team, and when you got guys like Paul George and Carmelo Anthony not coming up big for this team, it shouldn't sit well for the star of this team Russell Westbrook. He needed help to get over the hump with Golden State and so far, he's not getting that, and he's still had to carry the bulk of this team so far this season.

Westbrook had indicated he's not worried about it. But many did not expect the Thunder to be this way coming into this season. They're so far 4-6 and they've now lost three in a row. Worried? I should think so, if I'm Westbrook. The Kings took advantage of the Thunder's bad play recently, both on the boards and on the offensive side of the ball, and they stole a win that the Thunder needed.

Sacramento did what it had to do. It had its back against the wall and they kicked the Thunder's butt. It's a morale win. It's not an important win for them, since they're still so far back in the standings, but it's definitely a morale booster and one they needed going into the next game, as well as their next road trip.