LIGHT THE GODDAMN BEAM: The Sacramento Kings Didn't Just Win The Game Of The Year, They Won One Of The Greatest Games Ever Played In The History Of The NBA
Adam Pantozzi. Getty Images.HOLY SHIT
Game of the year? Try one of the best basketball games you could possibly ever watch. As I've tried to explain all season, the reason you need to be watching every single night is because there's a great chance you're going to see some cool shit that you've probably never seen before. I'm not kidding. Whether it's Klay Thompson making another 12 3PM in a single game
or you know, one of the greatest regular season games the NBA has ever seen
Do people believe in the power of the Beam yet? I tried telling you way back in October, this thing is no joke. It completely changed the Sacramento Kings as a franchise and we're past the point of debating it. I'm going to ask you to simply take a step back and understand what the Kings just did. This game was on the road, on the second night of a back to back, in 2OT. You shouldn't have the legs to withstand that, even while coming back from the All Star break. That's insane. That's the power of the Beam. It gives you a level of energy that non-Beam team simply can't understand. One would think that if you find a way to score 175 points in a game that you'd have a pretty good shot of winning it, but not against the Beam. The Beam is going to throw up 176 right in your face via a De'Aaron Fox pullup.
What a season for Fox too. One of if not the best fourth quarter players in the entire league, the man has turned himself into one of the best clutch players we have. That's not hyperbole either. Fox leads the NBA in clutch time points by a wide margin with 148 entering this game, and you obviously saw what he was able to do on the way to his 42.
Add in Monk's 45 off the bench and that was one of the most ridiculous performances we've had all season. There's just something about this Kings team where I can't shake this team of destiny vibe. Maybe it's because I desperately want them to end their drought and make the playoffs, and I mean the top 6 not the Play In, but this feels like the year it happens. I believe in the Beam. I know their schedule is brutal down the stretch and things are tight in the West, which yet another reason why this was such a massive win for the Kings. To take both the POR game and this on a B2B coming off the break is big time stuff for a team currently in the race of their lives.
On the Clippers side, good news is Kawhi looks like healthy Kawhi again and that changes everything not just in terms of the Clippers ceiling, but how the rest of the West could shake out
When Kawhi goes full basketball killer robot mode and has 44 on 16-22 (6-9) shooting, something tells me he's going to be ready for the playoffs and we all know what Playoff Kawhi is capable of as long as he's healthy enough to be on the floor. It's why the Clippers are such a weird team to gauge, because they have the talent to win the whole thing. It's just impossible to know how often that talent is going to be available, but if you're telling me everyone is fully healthy and ready to go, well then the Clippers are in business.
Especially if the Russell Westbrook experience works out, and in terms of a debut it was pretty much your typical Westbrook performance. Some good scoring, good playmaking, a shit ton of TOs (7), and some decent efficiency
but that's a version of Russ that I can see working with this group. Remember with Westbrook it's all about it. Well, the Clippers put up 175 and made 26 3PM. That is nothing like the team Westbrook is coming from. As long as they cut down on the 25 TOs, they'll be just fine.
But really this game was more about appreciating how insane NBA basketball can get sometimes. A casual Friday night at the end of February can magically turn into one of the greatest NBA games ever played. That's pretty awesome. Not only was this the game of the year, it's one of the best games we're probably ever going to see again.