{"id":624052,"date":"2026-02-25T13:58:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T13:58:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/624052\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T13:58:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T13:58:14","slug":"espns-mark-jones-also-the-kings-tv-voice-calls-sacramento-win-an-historic-exhale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/624052\/","title":{"rendered":"ESPN\u2019s Mark Jones, also the Kings\u2019 TV voice, calls Sacramento win an \u2018historic exhale\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It did not warrant front page headlines, but the nature of the victory spoke volumes.<\/p>\n<p>How would the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/us\/nba\/houston-rockets\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Houston Rockets<\/a> respond in the aftermath of a gut wrenching defeat at Madison Square Garden? Would they get up for the lowly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/us\/nba\/utah-jazz\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Utah Jazz<\/a> in the dog days of February?<\/p>\n<p>There was no lull.<\/p>\n<p>Houston stormed to a 21 point halftime lead, carried the momentum into the second half and, just as importantly, kept its starters under 36 minutes. It was efficient. Professional. Necessary.<\/p>\n<p>That is the blueprint they will attempt to carry over against the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/us\/nba\/sacramento-kings\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sacramento Kings<\/a>, whose wins lately have been scarce.<\/p>\n<p>More:\u00a0<a target=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/us\/ncaa-basketball\/news\/why-mcneese-states-viral-manager-amir-khan-back-after-short-stint-nc-state\/c6cfb4c85ec9a7a108525f60\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Why McNeese State\u2019s viral manager is back after short stint at NC State<\/a><\/p>\n<p>When The Sporting News reached Mark Jones, who calls national games for ESPN while also serving as the television voice of the Kings, the relief in his voice was unmistakable after Sacramento snapped a 16 game losing streak.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat was an historic exhale,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople from the outside looking in are not going to see the meticulous precision and professionalism of DeMar DeRozan. The impact it is having on our young Kings like Murray, Clifford, Raynaud and Cardwell. How it has impacted their improvement.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Though he will be handling ESPN duties and not on the Kings call for this one, Jones said there is one matchup he will be keeping a close eye on.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am looking forward to watching Raynaud go against Houston\u2019s bigs. Sengun and the rest. Raynaud had his career high the last time. He is leading all rookies in double doubles. He is the steal of the second round.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>More:\u00a0<a target=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/us\/culture\/trending\/news\/jordan-loves-wife-announces-surprise-retirement\/202eb32c95f6a43ef5295aaf\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Packers quarterback Jordan Love\u2019s wife announces surprise retirement<\/a><\/p>\n<p>From there, Houston heads to Orlando, a city that still invokes memories of the 1995 Finals and the franchise\u2019s last NBA title, before closing the stretch at Miami and then a homecoming for Kevin Durant, the Seat Pleasant, Maryland native, returning to face Washington.<\/p>\n<p>These are the games that shape playoff seeding.<\/p>\n<p>The hidden victories.<\/p>\n<p>The ones that separate good teams from disciplined ones.<\/p>\n<p>And they are the games that quietly strengthen Ime Udoka\u2019s Coach of the Year case.<\/p>\n<p>How many teams would sit third in the Western Conference without their starting point guard for the season?<\/p>\n<p>Not many.<\/p>\n<p>More NBA news:\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It did not warrant front page headlines, but the nature of the victory spoke volumes. How would the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":624053,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3792],"tags":[7,4056,6,986,477,4055],"class_list":{"0":"post-624052","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sacramento-kings","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-kings","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-sacramento","12":"tag-sacramento-kings","13":"tag-sacramentokings"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116131627718189540","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=624052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/624053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=624052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=624052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=624052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}