There was a lot of attention on the Pacific Division this past weekend.
People were wondering when the Golden State Warriors would finally lose and when the Los Angeles Lakers would finally win. Both happened Sunday, with the Warriors – playing without Klay Thompson and David Lee – finally falling at Phoenix and the Lakers – getting production from someone other than Kobe Bryant – knocking off the Charlotte Hornets.
But if you ask me, the attention was misplaced. With consecutive playoff appearances and a deep roster, the Warriors were supposed to be good. With an awful defense, a slew of injuries and no reliable second option, the Lakers were supposed to be bad. (Although perhaps not so bad that adult film stars are offering obviously NSFW bonuses in exchange for wins.)
Now that we have your undivided attention, the Pacific Division team everyone should be watching is the Sacramento Kings, who matched the best start in franchise history at 5-1 before falling at Oklahoma City on Sunday. And you have to wonder how they are doing it.
The Kings are getting subpar production from two of their starters. They are 27th in 3-point attempts and dead last in 3-point shooting. They are in the bottom third in both assists and turnovers. And as the numbers folks like to point out, inefficient ball movement and perimeter shooting are not the way to win in today’s NBA.
But the Kings appear to be an analytic anomaly. They are first in free throws attempted and third in percentage, which offsets their pedestrian shooting. They are fourth in opponents’ overall shooting and 3-point shooting percentages. And they are first by wide margins in rebound percentage (.549) and rebound differential (8.4).
Like Golden State, Sacramento also has two prominent players who spent their summer playing for Team USA, learning the importance of teamwork, temperament and intensity. DeMarcus Cousins and Rudy Gay are the league’s second-best scoring duo, trailing only Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, another Team USA tandem. Behind them are players who seem more willing to fill roles than get theirs.
Last season, the Kings were the only team with three 20-point scorers. They broke up the trio by refusing to re-sign point guard Isaiah Thomas, then appeared to overpay for his replacement in Darren Collison, who has had trouble proving he can be a starter. Even the Kings seemed to feel that way when they added Ramon Sessions late in the offseason.
But Collison is a pass-first player, which the Kings desperately needed. He is fifth among starting point men in assist-to-turnover ratio while still contributing nearly 15 points per game.
Sacramento also is getting a huge boost from bench forwards Carl Landry, who is averaging 10.0 points on 63 percent shooting with a PER near 20 after missing much of last season with an injury, and Reggie Evans, a spare part in the Marcus Thornton trade who is inhaling a frightening 14.7 rebounds per 36 minutes.
With roles more clearly established, the Kings already have road wins over the Clippers and Suns and a home win over the Blazers. In a home-and-home sweep of the Nuggets, they shot 97 free throws. It all added up to a five-game winning streak, 
none of which came against weak Eastern Conference teams making early treks West.
It’s been a while since the Kings were this good, even for just two weeks. The last time Sacramento won five in a row was 2007. For a little perspective, one of the wins was at Seattle.
The best win this season may have been Friday at Phoenix. The ball movement was stagnant, Cousins fouled out late in regulation and a flu-ridden Gay was 4-of-20 from the field when he drained a go-ahead jumper that gave Sacramento the lead for good in a 114-112 double-overtime victory.
“It shows you how our team is coming together,” Cousins said afterward. “Even through the tough times and adversity, even when things aren’t going our way, we found a way.”
It hasn’t been like this all season. The Kings began with a 77-point home stinker vs. the Warriors after which Mike Malone – who calls out his team in the media as much as any coach in the league – labeled his group “the Keystone Kops.”
Malone isn’t waiting for guys to come around, either. When second-year man Ben McLemore and rookie Nik Stauskas proved ineffective early on, he inserted third-string point guard Ray McCallum at shooting guard in the fourth quarter of the win at Denver. And while Jason Thompson starts at power forward, that hasn’t been a guarantee that he finishes.
Only the Minnesota Timberwolves have a longer current playoff drought than the Kings, who haven’t been to the postseason since 2007, burning through five coaches along the way. If Sacramento is serious about pushing for a playoff berth in the West, it is going to need more than a combined 12 points per game from consecutive lottery picks McLemore and Stauskas and more than 3.1 points on 32 percent shooting from Thompson. McLemore is working on three straight double-digit games, but Stauskas and Thompson have yet to crack double figures.
Sunday’s loss at Loud City certainly looked like a regression to the mean for the Kings, who had the two best players on the floor but were flummoxed by the Thunder’s zone – Malone called it “panic” – and gave away a winnable game. That wasn’t the best way to start what could be a very telling week.
A three-game trip continues with stops in Dallas on Tuesday and Memphis on Thursday before the Kings return home to face the defending champion San Antonio Spurs. If Sacramento loses all three games, it will be back to .500 and starting its annual descent to the bottom of the conference.
But if the Kings can knock off a couple of those teams, who knows? Maybe even adult film stars will take notice.
TRIVIA: San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich has been to eight conference finals, the most of any active coach. Which two active coaches have the next most conference finals trips? Answer below.
Erik Spolestra and Rick Carlise