Richaun Holmes (B) - 29 minutes, 21 points, 11 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks, 1 steals, 1 turnovers
A typically efficient night from Richaun Holmes (with the addition of another buzzer beating three). The only reason I'm giving him a B is because he continued to struggle on defense on Nurkic and, and this may be a schematic thing more than a Richaun thing, his constant need to press into the guy he was switching onto in pick and rolls on defense kept leading to open buckets for the Blazers. Aside from that, the man earned his new contract money tonight.
Maurice Harkless (C) - 22 minutes, 7 points, 2 rebounds, 0 assists, 1 blocks, 1 steals, 1 turnovers
Much has been made of Moe's offensive limitations causing potential woe for the starting unit but tonight that didn't seem to be too much of an issue, as his defensive intensity largely helped the Kings get off to a solid start on the night. Spent far more time guarding Dame man-to-man than I thought he would and did help limit him to a pretty bad night by Dame Lillard terms. Not an impressive performance by Moe but also going to make Bagley's agent any happier.
Harrison Barnes (A+) - 37 minutes, 36 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 0 blocks, 2 steals, 0 turnovers
Quite simply, the Kings probably lose by double digits without Harrison Barnes tonight. In the second half, Barnes put together quite simply one of the most exquisitely efficient scoring performances this side of Klay dropping 37 points on us in a single quarter. The dude simply was incapable of missing a shot. More notably, he contributed 9 boards and zero turnovers and was typically solid for us on defense. He was 8-of-11 from downtown! What else were we to expect from the greatest prep prospect in Iowa history?
Tyrese Haliburton (F) - 29 minutes, 2 points, 2 rebounds, 4 assists, 0 blocks, 1 steals, 1 turnovers
This was easily the worst game of Tyrese's time as a pro. Don't want to dwell on it too much but the man came out of the gates incredibly passive and pretty much stayed that way all night save for a single transition bucket in the third quarter. Obviously that turnover in the closing seconds of the game looms large but (a) it looks like he got fouled there, (b) forcing ridiculous turnovers to help his team win is sort of part of the Dame Time experience, and (c) at least the came down with the rebound in the first place. The offensive passivity is more concerning to me in that he needs to be looking for his own shot in order for that starting lineup to work. But it's only the first game fo the year and there's no way to go but up.
De'Aaron Fox (C+) - 36 minutes, 27 points, 5 rebounds, 8 assists, 1 block, 0 steals, 5 turnovers
Tie your shoes, young man. De'Aaron's shoe randomly flying off of his foot while he tried to make something out of another terrible possession may be the perfect encapsulation of his night in general. The dude still put up a 27/5/8 night but didn't look particularly great doing it, which is to say that he's reached the tier in which a dude putting up nearly 30 points can still be considered a bad night. In the first half, De'Aaron largely had his way with the Blazers saggy perimeter defense, his increased bulk absolutely making him unstoppable against smaller/weaker defenders in the paint. In the second half as the Blazers defense started to tighten up and guys started helping off their man in the the Tyrese and TT lineups, De'Aaron really struggled to both get calls and finish in traffic as he mostly did last year. Then his shoe fell off while still tied and we almost lost the game.
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Buddy Hield (B) - 31 minutes, 17 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 0 blocks, 0 steals, 0 turnovers
I guess all those "Buddy's got no place on this team" comments were premature, huh? In the first game of the new 6th man Buddy era, Chavano delivered an incredibly efficient shooting performance, notching 17 points on nine shots (really should have been 20 points considering the refs randomly waved off an and-1 bucket even though they still called the foul), pulling down six boards, and not picking up a single turnover in 31 minutes of action. Buddy got the most minutes of any non-Fox/Barnes player and did what he does best. He also tied Peja for most threes in franchise history. If this is the Buddy we're getting every night, not only should the Kings keep him, he's going to get talk for sixth man of the year.
Tristan Thompson (C) - 19 minutes, 6 points, 5 rebounds, 0 assists, 0 blocks, 0 steals, 1 turnovers
Not the greatest of debuts for TT. I thought his first stint was ultimately more effective than the second but the refs were calling the game weird all night and Tristan was certainly on the wrong end of a lot of those calls. My biggest gripe with Thompson's night is more about how long Luke Walton stuck with him in the fourth quarter rather than any concern with Tristan's contributions to the game in general.
Davion Mitchell (B) - 24 minutes, 2 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 0 blocks, 0 steals, 0 turnovers
This would probably have to be the most impressive two point debut performance I have ever seen. Davion's shot was absolutely gone tonight but in true Davion fashion, he still found a way to help the team with his absolutely stifling defense. Watching him clamp up CJ McCollum, who otherwise was having his way against the Kings, and Dame whenever the Blazers weren't annihilating him with moving screens was a sight to behold. Davion had no steals of his own but it feels like he generated turnovers and negative Blazer plays pretty much every single time the ball came his way. On offense, Davion did a solid job of facilitating the second unit and, to his credit, didn't force the issue on offense to try to boost his scoring numbers. All-in-all, an encouraging start from the best defensive rookie I may have ever seen.
Terence Davis (C) - 13 minutes, 6 points, 0 rebounds, 3 assists, 0 blocks, 1 steals, 1 turnovers
This was an all-time great "Shooters gonna shoot" performance as Terence put up 10 shots in 13 minutes, only connecting on two of them. He did somehow pick up three assists which I'm sure must be a typo because it seemed like he was shooting the ball the second he felt leather. Terence generally tried on defense but didn't see much action late as the Kings went to other variations of the three guard lineup to stay afloat against the surging Blazers.
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