Update: 9:45 pm

Don’t look now, but the Sacramento Kings have won three in a row. Sacramento defeated New York 112-101 Wednesday night at Golden 1 Center. Mike Brown got a nice applause at the beginning of the game from Kings fans. Jalen Brunson injured his ankle early and left the game. The Kings won the first quarter 32-17 and really never looked back. At halftime, the Knicks were shooting just 5% from three. The Knicks never really climbed back into the game and the Kings cruised for the rest of the way.

It was a Precious Achiuwa revenge game as he finished with 20 points and 14 rebounds in 39 minutes. He was aggressive and clearly wanted to show out. DeMar DeRozan again led the Kings in scoring with 27 points. Zach LaVine added 25 points. Russell Westbrook contributed 19 points and 11 assists. The Knicks ended up shooting just 20% from three and 39% from the field.

Vivek Ranadive and Brown seemed to have a friendly exchange before the game. Brown had some nice things to say about Sacramento before the game.

From Earlier Preview: 

The Knicks are in Sacramento tonight, marking the first time Mike Brown will return to G1C since he was unceremoniously fired last season. Let’s get into it.

Who: Sacramento Kings (10-30) vs. New York Knicks (25-14)
When: 7:00 PM PT / 10:00 PM ET
Where: Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, CA
Watch: NBCSCA / League Pass

Mike Brown is back in Sac, and while I also thought the team was ready for a new voice at the time of his removal, you cannot support how the organization did it. The embarrassing lack of accountability and leadership from Vivek Ranadive, Monte McNair, Wes Wilcox, and the entire organization following his firing still hangs over the team like a dark cloud. To this day, I don’t think the Kings have recovered from the perception hit they took when the Mike Brown situational all fell apart.

The asinine De’Aaron Fox trade materialized shortly after, triggered to some extent by the fact that Fox took a lot of the heat for Brown’s firing, and then the entire regime was let go at the end of the season. Well, aside from Doug Christie, who Scott Perry totally wanted to retain the entire time, and had nothing to do with the fact that he was one of Vivek’s favorites.

Maybe Fox would have asked out regardless, but firing Brown was the first significant public domino that ended the Beam Team era for good. The brilliant minds in charge not only fumbled whatever success the Kings had, but that wasn’t enough. They also had to set the rebuild back by failing to land any significant prospects from the Spurs, and pursued Zach LaVine’s contract everyone else in the league was terrified of. On purpose.

I hope Mike Brown receives a standing ovation tonight. I hope the fans chant for him all game. Not because I think he deserves that level of praise, maybe he does, maybe he doesn’t, I don’t really care – I just want the organization to feel uncomfortable.

Prediction: Kings 117, Knicks 109