The Sacramento Kings lost their first game of the season by ten points to the Golden State Warriors, but their young star proved he could play with the best of them.
Jimmer Fredette had a really impressive debut, managing to find his shot and hit on a number of occasions. While the Warriors hardly constitute a great perimeter defense, Fredette managing to go four of six from downtown and hitting seven of 11 overall is probably as good as you can get. There's a lot of tinkering he'll need to do, but all signs are encouraging that he can drive, facilitate, and do things on offense other than just shoot (four assists).
The night belonged to the guards of both teams. Tyreke Evans and Marcus Thornton had 17 and 21 each, while fellow Kings rookie Isaiah Thomas added 13 off the bench. Stephen Curry and Monta Ellis were still the best backcourt of the night though, combining to put up 40 points and dish out 14 assists.
The Kings were playing with deprived big man depth. With DeMarcus Cousins out with a foot injury and Chuck Hayes dealing with a very mysterious condition, Sacramento was left with Jason Thompson (1 for 2 shooting), J.J. Hickson (1 for 7 shooting) and Hassan Whiteside (1 for 3 shooting) trying to put points up inside, while Golden State outrebounded Sacramento by 15 and got solid production inside from David Lee (16 points, eight rebounds), Dominic McGuire (five points, eight rebounds) and Ekpe Udoh (10 points, four rebounds).
Sacramento and Golden State play one more preseason contest next Tuesday in Power Balance Pavilion.
For more on the Kings, head to Sactown Royalty. For more on the Warriors, go to Golden State of MInd.