After the Sacramento Kings lost their season opener by falling 116-120 to the Phoenix Suns, star guard Zach LaVine characterized the team’s effort – and the final result – quite accurately as “a tale of two halves.” That description can be applied to virtually every aspect of the Kings’ performance on Wednesday night.

In his postgame press conference, LaVine pointed to adjustments that Phoenix made at halftime, as well as Sacramento’s lack of transition offense in the third quarter, as major contributing factors for the Suns’ comeback win.

“They started switching one through five and around the perimeter. In transition, if you’re not getting any stops – which we weren’t doing in the third – you’re not gonna get easy baskets,” LaVine said. “You’re taking the ball out of the net and letting them set their defense. I think in the first half, we did a good job of running on them and getting easy baskets in transition to open up the floor. It’s a tale of two halves.”

The Kings got out to an excellent start, putting up 71 points in the first half on their way to opening up a 17-point lead by halftime. For his part, LaVine was lights-out from the field. In the first half, LaVine connected on nine of his 13 shot attempts and scored 22 points. 

Unfortunately, neither Sacramento nor LaVine could find the same rhythm and shooting touch in the second half. The Kings scored just 45 points as a team, and LaVine made only four of his 11 shot attempts to finish the night with 30 points. 

The duality of man when man is defined as specifically Sacramento Kings guard Zach LaVine

1st half:
16 mins, 22 points, 1 board, 1 assist, 9-13 FG, 2-4 3P, 2-2 FT

2nd half:
18 mins, 8 points, 1 board, 4-11 FG, 0-6 3P, 0-1 FT

— Kyle, a Madson (@KyleAMadson) October 23, 2025

Beyond cold shooting, there were several other problems for Sacramento in the final two quarters. For one thing, the Suns were able to slow the pace of the game down. After getting out in transition with regularity in the first half, the Kings were unable to match that pace in the second half. 

Other areas of concern for the Kings were interior defense and offensive rebounding. The Suns scored 64 points in the paint, 24 of which came in the third quarter alone. When asked about that specific aspect of the game, LaVine answered, “They came out strong in the third quarter…and we just didn’t even respond to it. We gotta be able to do a better job with that, especially when you have a team down by that much at halftime.” 

Zach LaVine tonight

30 PTS
2 REB
1 AST
13-24 FG pic.twitter.com/wbHY4ZnCkW

— KingsMuse (@kings_muse) October 23, 2025

LaVine continued, “Those first five minutes (of the third quarter) are crucial. That’s where you can either let them back into the game or put it away, and obviously, we gifted them that.” Instead of putting their collective foot on the gas and putting the game out of reach, the Kings let up and allowed the Suns to get right back in the game.

Getting outrebounded is something that the Kings are going to have to live with, at least in the short term. It’s one thing to be without the three-time league leader in rebounding (center Domantas Sabonis) for the first few games, but losing forward Keegan Murray for several weeks to a thumb injury has also dealt a major blow to Sacramento’s ability to control the boards. 

The Kings are back in action on Friday night, playing host to the Utah Jazz in the team’s home opener. The Jazz will be coming into Sacramento with momentum after defeating the Los Angeles Clippers in their first game.