DiVincenzo, Kings show growth in comeback win over Rockets originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea
After the first 12 minutes of the game at Toyota Center in Houston on Friday, it looked like it was going to be a long, long night for the Kings.
With Kings rookie Davion Mitchell struggling for the first time in a few weeks, the Rockets got off to a hot start, building a 19-point lead less than 10 minutes into the game and taking a 15-point lead into the second quarter. With star guard De’Aaron Fox and All-Star forward Domantis Sabonis out and center Richaun Holmes away from the team, Sacramento could have folded and gone through the motions over the final three quarters.
But Donte DiVincenzo, Harrison Barnes, Damian Jones and Chimezie Metu wouldn’t let that happen. Despite trailing by as many as six points early in the fourth quarter, the Kings dug deep and pulled out a 122-117 win over the Rockets to improve to 29-49 this season.
The Kings swept the two-game set in Houston and won three of the four meetings with the Rockets this season.
“I said this a couple games ago,” DiVincenzo told NBC Sports California’s Mark Jones after the win. “It’s growth for us. Anytime we can step out on the court and play as hard as we can and get a couple wins, that’s growth for us. Make the right decisions going into the offseason.”
DiVincenzo didn’t start the game, but he finished the game and sealed the win with a jumper with 13.8 seconds remaining.
After the game, interim coach Alvin Gentry spoke to the media about how well-prepared DiVincenzo is because of where he played at college. Gentry credited Villanova coach Jay Wright for developing players like DiVincenzo, who finished with 19 points, nine assists and nine rebounds in 30 minutes of action Friday.
“You look at Donte, the toughness that he has,” Gentry said. “He likes big moments. Obviously the shot that he made tonight was real big shot for us. It’s just that he has a calmness about him and not only that, he has toughness about him. He wants to guard the toughest guys. You can see that when we needed, he was the guy that went in there and then [Metu] got a big rebound for us also.”
Not only did DiVincenzo make an impact on the stat sheet, but he also played the role of mentor for Mitchell, who came into the game averaging 22 points over his last six games. Against the Rockets, the Baylor product scored just 11 points on 3-of-13 shooting, though he did have 10 assists.
DiVincenzo made sure to get in Mitchell’s ear throughout the game.
“I said he’s playing a hell of a game,” DiVincenzo told Jones. “He is. He was out there. People get so caught up in the scoring aspect of the game but he can affect the game is so many different ways. And I saw him going into halftime a little frustrated and I told him, I said ‘Just keep playing your game.’ And he came out in the second half and made the right reads, made the right decisions and he was huge for us.
“But the thing about him is, I’m still learning with him. He sees things on the court that I don’t see and I see things that he doesn’t see. We’re just learning together and that communication is huge for us.”
Before the game, Gentry spoke to the media about how much Mitchell is in the gym, saying the rookie is the “hardest worker that I have ever coached.” At that time, Gentry, who noted that sometimes the Kings have to protect Mitchell from himself, saw signs of fatigue in the 23-year-old.
“The thing that I’ve got to talk to him about is I think he’s doing too much before the game or the day before the game,” Gentry said after the game. “I love the fact that he loves to work out but I also think that he’s got to be smart and understand where his body is right now. Some of the things he’s doing right now, we’re going to cut out this week so that he’s not going through the fatigue thing.”
Mitchell was picked up by his veterans in the win. Barnes finished with a team-high 25 points. Jones had 17 points, grabbed 17 rebounds and had six blocks. Metu had 18 points and 13 rebounds off the bench. Trey Lyles chipped in 14 points.
“It was a good team win,” Gentry said. “I thought everybody contributed and when we needed a stop or a basket, different guys did it for us. This was the first game in a while where Davion struggled a little bit, had more turnovers than he’s usually having, didn’t shoot the ball like he has but we had other guys who stepped up.”
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The Rockets are tied with the Orlando Magic for the worst record in the NBA (20-58), but that shouldn’t diminish what the Kings were able to do on the final night of a five-game, eight-day road trip. Sacramento heads home after going 4-1 on the trip.
To do all this without Fox, Sabonis and Holmes shows a lot of growth.