Sacramento Kings: 3 takeaways from Week 1

1. Quality performances against quality teams

It’s only been three games. The season is still extremely young and teams are still figuring things out and whatnot, but these are games to feel good about despite the outcome.

Losing sucks, but if you’re going to lose, at least give the opposing team all you have and go out on a positive note. That’s what the Kings did in games one and two.

They pushed an elite defensive team in Utah to the limit and made them sweat a little late in the crunch time. Putting up 117 points and shooting 51.6 percent from the floor against what we can expect to be a top-three team defensive team again could’ve gone much worse.

Likewise, going on the road against the Pelicans and hanging with them for majority of the game and putting up 129 points in the process is not a total loss. These are the teams the Kings are supposed to lose to. They can learn and build from these competitive experiences.

And they did. The Kings won their third game in impressive fashion with key players having noteworthy performances and running up the score yet again, as they stole a win from the Thunder, a team that thrives in its own arena.

Games like these are encouraging. They inspire hope and provide a teaser of what could be in store for the future. They’re confidence-builders. These could be the type of games that wake this team up and build their confidence, which this franchise could really use.