At halftime Friday night, Darius Acuff Jr. was 3-of-10 from the field and 0-of-5 from three. Two nights earlier, he’d had one of the worst debuts the league has seen. By the final buzzer of the Kings’ 128-120 home-opening loss to Portland, he had a game-high 33 points, the tenth-highest total by a Kings rookie in the Sacramento era. The Darius Acuff bounce back is real. It’s just not the kind most people will assume.
Darius Acuff Bounce Back: From 5-of-24 to 33 Points in Two Games
Start with where he was. In his debut against the Clippers, Acuff scored 12 points on 5-of-24 shooting, missed all seven threes and had four turnovers in 35 minutes. Underdog NBA noted that was the second-lowest field-goal percentage ever for a rookie with at least 20 shots in his debut, behind only Sidney Wicks’ 5-of-27 in 1971. Friday he kept shooting anyway, finishing 10-of-26 with four assists and three turnovers in 36 minutes. He went into the break cold, then took over, adding 11 points in the fourth quarter as Sacramento made a late push after Portland won the third quarter 44-26.
The Real Story Was From the Free-Throw Line
Look closer and the jump came from the line, not the jump shot. Acuff went 11-of-12 at the free-throw line after going 2-of-5 in the opener, so a third of his 33 points were free throws. From three he’s 2-of-18 on the season, hitting his first two in the second half Friday. That’s a sharp drop from the preseason, when he led all rookies in scoring at 17.3 points per game and shot 42.1 percent from deep. My read: the free throws are real, because the attacking that earned them is a skill, and the threes will come back toward his preseason numbers. But nobody should confuse 11-of-12 at the line with a repeatable shooting night.
Doug Christie’s Quiet Bet
Christie kept Acuff on the floor for a team-high 35 minutes after the 5-of-24 night, and he never publicly blamed the rookie. He urged the team to “calm down” and trust the pass, then said Acuff takes the losses personally: “He’s one I don’t worry about.” The playmaking was a concern in the opener, when he rushed and had three assists in the first 14 minutes. Friday he ran what became a three-man game with Domantas Sabonis and Zach LaVine that produced 82 points between them, and he managed four assists against three turnovers.
Sacramento Is 0-2, But Acuff Is Not the Problem
The Kings are winless and have allowed at least 120 points in both games. Sabonis posted a 27-point, 19-rebound, 10-assist triple-double and the team hit 93 percent of its free throws, but Portland’s third-quarter blitz erased a 64-59 halftime lead. After an 0-5 preseason and a season that produced just 22 wins last year, Sacramento’s problem isn’t a rookie guard who keeps trying. It’s a defense that can’t hold a lead.
Most rookies would have flinched after a night like Wednesday. Acuff came out and took 26 more shots. Whether that’s a gift or a problem will depend on how many of them start falling.
Darius Acuff Bounce Back: 33 Points After Brutal NBA Debut