Harrison Barnes Dominates as Kings Breeze Past Jazz in Season Opener
The Sacramento Kings cruised past the Utah Jazz 130-114 in their 2023-24 NBA season opener behind a dominant Harrison Barnes performance.
The Kings took the early lead in the first quarter with F Keegan Murray off to a hot start with two triples. Murray, unfortunately, picked up two quick fouls and was sent to the bench halfway through the first, making way for highly anticipated prospect F Sasha Vezenkov's debut. Vezenkov nailed his first shot from beyond the arc to put his name on the Kings' stat sheet. F Harrison Barnes had a huge first quarter, shooting a perfect 5-5 with 13 points and a pair of rebounds. G Chris Duarte and C JaVale McGee checked in at the end of the quarter to make their Sacramento debut as the Kings ended the quarter on a 12-4 run.
Duarte nailed two quick threes to open up the second quarter, but the rest was all about Harrison Barnes, who scored another 14 points to put him at 27 in the half on 10-11 shooting and 5-5 from three. Barnes also had a baseline poster over Jazz G Jordan Clarkson.
Earlier in the quarter, we saw the first G Malik Monk to JaVale McGee alley-oop for another poster.
The Kings looked electric in the first half and looked like they were planning to break their own record as the most efficient offense in NBA history as they closed out the half with a score of 72-58.
Harrison Barnes slowed down in the third quarter, scoring only 1 point as G De'Aaron Fox and Sabonis began to pick up the pace. At the end of the quarter, we had yet another poster from Malik Monk this time over Jazz G Kris Dunn as the Kings closed out the third with an 18-point lead.
The fourth quarter looked the same, as the Kings closed out a game that was never really close, losing the quarter but still winning by 16 points. Harrison Barnes ended with 33 points and joined Jack Twyman, Oscar Robertson, Tiny Archibald, and DeMarcus Cousins as the fifth player in franchise history with multiple 30-point games in the first game of the season.
The Kings continue their season at home in a highly anticipated playoff rematch against the Golden State Warriors on Friday, October 27.
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