It was on July 4th last year that a three-man group of Sacramento Kings fans marched with pride upon the team’s Summer League team winning two straight games. With confidence flowing through their purple blood, they went on to deliver a bold prediction.
“We’re getting 40 wins this year!”
Who would have thought that fast forward in March, the Kings finally made it?
Prophecy fulfilled, but job’s not done yet.
That’s what head coach Mike Brown declared when his Kings team overwhelmed the Phoenix Suns at their territory, 128-119, to secure their 40th win of the season.
The vibes are purely immaculate for Sacramento. They haven’t reached a 40-win mark in a season since the 2005-06 campaign. As such, that was also the last year that the club made it to the postseason arena.
It is considerably a small thing to celebrate as they are eyeing to fully revive their reputation as a contending team once and for all, but Brown remains keen on their primary goal with 16 regular games left.
“I hope I don’t offend anybody, but we don’t just want to win 40,” Brown said, per Jason Anderson of Sacramento Bee. “Forty doesn’t … I don’t know — I don’t feel anything. I just want to win the next game.”
Casting their firepower, the Kings were powered by its supporting cast, outscoring the Suns on a dominant 65-34 points off the bench led by Kessler Edwards.
Edwards, the team’s midseason acquisition from the Brooklyn Nets, shined as he was given an opportunity to perform after only playing three games for Kings prior to Saturday’s game. Churning 12 points and seven boards in 26 minutes of play, Edwards came up huge on Sac-town’s another signature win of the season over fellow contender in Phoenix.
“I’ve just learned a lot since I’ve been here, whether it’s playing or not playing,” Edwards said. “I just see how this team works, how much of a winning culture they have, so I was able to pick up on that, and I think when I got out there, it rubs off on me, so I’m glad my playing time finally came in a (win) this time.”
Both Kings and the Suns were in a 115-deadlock as the match entered the final three minutes of regulation. And as the final buzzer horned, the road team capped off a 13-4 blitz to ace the victory behind the heroics of Edwards and De’Aaron Fox.
“Yeah, it was for Kessler,” Brown said. “His teammates celebrated him like they should have, and that’s why this group is special, because they’re connected and they celebrate everybody’s individual performance. You can have individualism within a team environment and our guys have shown that time after time after time after time.”
Seven total Kings players have reached double-digits in scoring which includes Fox and Edwards.
Sacramento will now go home to continue their winning ways as they are set to clash a daunting opponent in league-leading Milwaukee Bucks this Monday.
