The Sacramento Kings showed up to play the Memphis Grizzlies about two hours too late. The first 40 minutes of game time simply wasn’t what this season has taught us to expect from Kings basketball. The pace was slow, the mistakes were plentiful, and the Kings dug too deep a hole. When the team finally started playing fast with about 8 minutes left in the fourth quarter, it was too little too late and the Grizzlies prevailed 112-104.

The Kings spent the majority of the game failing to push the pace and settling into a half court offense that simply wasn’t equipped to handle Memphis’ excellent defense. Willie Cauley-Stein was nearly invisible, finishing with just 11 points and 8 rebounds.

De’Aaron Fox seemed to make positive things happen every time he attacked, finishing with a team-high 23 points and 10 assists. But there were still too many plays where he casually brought the ball up and let Memphis establish their defense.

Nemanja Bjelica had a really bad game. He finished with 8 points on 7 shots. He missed a ton of good looks and couldn’t contain Jaren Jackson Jr on defense.

Overall it was just an ugly, ugly game full of unforced errors. Hopefully the Kings can bounce back [checks notes] tomorrow on yet another back to back against the surging Houston Rockets. WELP.