Sacramento Kings: Grading Each Player After Win Against Oklahoma City Thunder

In their lone national television performance of the season, the Sacramento Kings pulled off a 106-101 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Western Conference's best squad.

In a high octane, down-to-the-wire matchup in front of a blisteringly loud sold-out crowd at Power Balance Pavilion in Sacramento, the Kings pulled out the upset and improved to 10-16 on the season.

Despite shooting just 40.8 percent from the field and allowing the Thunder to shoot at a 48.1 percent clip, the Kings overcame a Championship caliber squad thanks to ball movement and ball control, both of which had been areas of extreme concern earlier this season for Sacramento.

It was a total team effort that handed Sacramento the victory.  Let's take a look at the grades for each of the Kings in last night's huge victory.

Tyreke Evans

Evans didn't have a fantastic shooting night, finishing just 8-21 from the floor, but he hit some big layups that kept the Kings within striking distance throughout the game. In the final minutes, he also managed to sink four of his six free throws, icing the game for Sacramento.

He finished with strong numbers (22 PTS, 5 REB, 5 AST, 4 STL) and would have had twice as many assists if a few of his teammates could have hit their open shots—I'm looking at you J.J. Hickson and John Salmons.

He did finish with four turnovers, but a majority of them came in the first quarter.

The Kings, led by Evans as the point guard, cut down their turnovers in the last three quarters. After finishing with six turnovers in the first, they had just six the rest of the game.

Sacramento showed great poise down the stretch and pulled out a clutch victory over one of the leagues more clutch squads, and a good deal of the credit belongs to Evans.

Grade: A-

Marcus Thornton

After a fairly quiet performance in the first three quarters, Thornton was huge in the final period for the Kings on both ends of the court. With 4:56 to play and the Kings down 95-87, he managed to block a Russell Westrbook layup that sparked the Kings' final run.

He made a driving layup past multiple Thunder defenders that cut Oklahoma City's lead to 95-91, then hit back-to-back threes that tied the game at 97-97 with 2:06 to play.

He wasn't so efficient through the whole game, finishing just 6-16 from the field. He took multiple bad shots and had quite a few of them blocked at the rim by Serge Ibaka. But he also had two steals and played decent defense all game long, coming up big in the final minutes when the Kings needed him most.

Grade: B+

John Salmons

After seemingly resurrecting his career over the past few games, John Salmons reverted to his 2011-2012 seasonal norm in Thursday's contest and was invisible for much of the game. When he wasn't invisible, he was taking horribly ill-advised shots, so it's almost better for the Kings when he vanishes.

He played slightly above-average defense on Kevin Durant all night long, making Durant try a little bit for his 27 points, but he got abused when he tried to guard the much, much faster Westbrook.

And he took some bad shots. Was that mentioned already?

He finished poorly (5 PTS, 7 REB, 2 AST), shooting only two of 10 from the field.

Grade: D

Jason Thompson

Jason Thompson played on Thursday as he always does—you'll only occasionally realize he's there, but he makes a huge impact on the game and often finishes with a surprisingly nice stat line (11 PTS, 10 REB).

Not to mention, he held his own against Serge Ibaka. He was one of the few Kings that didn't get posterized by Ibaka's blocking prowess.

Sacramento will regret not having signed Thompson to an extension. He'll never be a All-Star, but he has no big weakness in his game and he's one of the most consistent Kings players.

Grade: B+

DeMarcus Cousins

DeMarcus Cousins used the opportunity Thursday night to broadcast to a national audience that yes, he really is that good.

His effort levels were off the charts against the Thunder, and he held his temper in check— for most of the game, anyway.

Keith Smart wisely pulled Cousins off the court late in the third when Cousins grew upset with the refs' lack of calls.

His shooting percentage wasn't great, as he finished just 7-17 from the field, but he played excellent inside against an exceptional physical Thunder big man crew. He finished with 19 points, nine rebounds and just two turnovers.

Grade: A-

Chuck Hayes

Much like Oklahoma City's Nick Collison, Hayes will always be a player who makes a great impact off the stat sheet. He played some great defense down low against the Thunder big men and managed to mop up quite a few second chance points. He finished with eight points and two boards.

Grade: B

J.J. Hickson

Hickson continued to underwhelm on Thursday. If he hadn't managed to fumble an excellent pass for DeMarcus Cousins in the closing minutes of Tuesday's 86-84 loss in Minnesota, the Kings may have been on a five-game winning streak.

He finished with four points and three boards in just nine minutes of playing time. His chances on the court are shrinking as Coach Smart starts tightening his rotations.

Grade: C

Jimmer Fredette

After two games earlier in the week where he didn't play, Jimmer Fredette seems to have found his confidence. You can see it in his play over these last two games (at Minnesota and at home against Oklahoma City). He's far more confident and that's leading to far better play.

He had five points and four assists in 16 minutes on Thursday, and while he shot just 2-6 from the field, he had some very strong defensive plays late in the first half.

Considering "very strong" and "defense" have been absent in Jimmer's dictionary, it was a refreshing performance.

Grade: B

Isaiah Thomas

Isaiah Thomas only had 16 minutes of playing time against the Thunder, but he was a strong spark plug as usual and finished with seven points, making three of his seven shots. He didn't have an assist in the game, but anyone who watches the Kings regularly knows that Thomas is a very good floor general.

It wasn't his best game, but he had one excellent play where he sliced up the Thunder defense for a beautiful finger roll. He also played some strong defense against Westbrook, who isn't used to playing against guys as fast as he is.

Grade: B

Donte Greene

After sitting on the bench for much of the season, Greene has been key in the last few games for Sacramento.

Twice now he's played in crunch time over the struggling John Salmons. He finished with 10 points, four rebounds and two steals in 16 minutes of playing time last night, and was a big part of the Kings' fourth quarter run.

While Greene's decision-making and basketball IQ aren't always the best, he's beloved in Sacramento because of his passion and dedication. He showed it again last night.

Grade: A-

Head Coach Keith Smart

Smart did an excellent job of getting his guys properly motivated for the contest and also managed to reel them in when their play got sloppy.

Over the past few games, he's tightened his rotations and it has produced far more consistency out of his players. The Kings are 4-1 over the past five contests and you can really see this team blossoming under Smart.

He is quickly learning how to deal with his players. He benched the struggling Jimmer Fredette for two games, and that seemed to have completely restored the rookie's lack of confidence and in last night's game, he pulled DeMarcus Cousins late in the third quarter and managed to calm Cousins down.

Smart is proving quickly that he really knows how to lead this team.

The team was 2-5 when Smart took over, and going 8-11 up to this point is pretty dang impressive for a Coach dealing with the youngest team in the league.