Sacramento was thinner than the preview expected. Domantas Sabonis landed on the injury report on game day with a knee problem and was ruled out for the Heat, so a frontcourt that was already missing Maxime Raynaud lost its best big too. Ben Simmons is still out after Achilles surgery. With Sabonis and Raynaud both out, Giannis had a mismatch every time down the floor, and the Kings' 59 first-half points weren't close to enough against Miami's 68.
The 3rd quarter was the part Miami needed to clean up. The Heat fell apart after halftime at Golden State, losing that 3rd quarter 38-23 to Steph Curry. This time they won it 23-22. It wasn't pretty, but the 10-point lead held at 91-81 going into the 4th, and on this trip that counts as progress.
Then the Kings made a game of it. Sacramento won the 4th 27-23, the second straight game it has outscored its opponent late after the Spurs game ended the same way. The preview's lone hopeful note for the Kings was that they keep competing, and that held up. They still never got the lead back. Miami had enough cushion that a 4-point 4th quarter loss only shaved the margin to 6.
The two names the preview built around were Giannis and Darius Acuff Jr., and their individual lines weren't available when this went up. What the team totals do show: Miami scored 114 against a defense missing its 2 best bigs and finished 3 points ahead of its season-opening pace against this kind of roster. Acuff and the Kings' guards had to carry the scoring without a post presence, and Sacramento's 108 is about what it scored in its other recent losses. The Kings can put up points. They just can't stop anyone.
Miami goes home 4-6 after splitting 2 games against the Los Angeles teams, losing at Golden State and finishing with this win. That's not a good record, but it's a better trip than the 138-117 loss to the Lakers made it look. Sacramento is 1-9, has lost 4 straight, and now has a Sabonis knee to worry about on top of everything else.
