It was an unconventional defeat for the Kings as they fell to the Bucks 143-142. Despite a strong performance from behind the arc and a standout comeback game from Kevin Huerter, who returned from an ankle injury, the Kings couldn’t clinch the victory. Two main factors emerged as pivotal in this game – the friendly home court whistle and “the others” of the Bucks.
The game started strong for the Kings with De’Aaron Fox lighting it up from the three-point line, exploiting mismatches against Malik Beasley and Andre Jackson Jr. Domantas Sabonis also had a nearly flawless game with 21 points, 13 rebounds, and 15 assists on 9-10 shooting, overpowering Brook Lopez in the post. The eye test to this point told me that the Kings were mostly firing on all cylinders. However, the first half ended much closer than expected with a score of 68-66, thanks to the Bucks’ free throw advantage, plus 12 in attempts.
In the second half, Sabonis continued guarding Giannis Antetokounmpo and did an impressive job at that. Alex Len didn’t fair nearly as well against the Greek Freak as Giannis’ speed proved to be too much for the big man. Despite that, the Kings managed to gain momentum, following an incident that led to coach Mike Brown’s dismissal from the game due to a missed call on Cam Payne while he was defending Fox.
Despite an impressive performance from Kevin Huerter, who concluded the game with 26 points and 10 rebounds, the Bucks’ supporting cast, featuring Bobby Portis, Malik Beasley, and Cam Payne, proved to be too much. Just when it seemed the Kings were gaining momentum, Portis would either dominate in the post or sink another essential deep shot. Heck, Cam Payne had a stretch of about 2-3 minutes where he simply couldn’t miss. Notably, Payne didn’t even play in the Bucks’ previous game.
Regrettably, a tale as old as time, the Kings turned back into a pumpkin at the free throw line when it mattered most. The Bucks, on the other hand, had a successful run, with 27 out of 32 attempts from the line, while the Kings only managed to score on 15 of their 20 attempts. This difference became glaringly apparent during overtime, where Monk and Fox missed crucial free throws that could have clinched the victory. Fox and Malik Monk for the most part balled out with their respective 32 and 28 points, but Damian Lillard’s buzzer-beating three-pointer delivered the final hit, leaving the Kings to exit the court defeated.
In the end, though the Kings demonstrated potential with their revived three-point shooting prowess and Sabonis’s solid performance, their downfall was ultimately due to missed free throws and lost opportunities
Well, at least we got a Mike Brown meme out of tonight’s game.
He was NOT happy. Loved the post-game rant.
That wasn’t even a rant! It was a super-logical explanation of systematic inconsistency.
About damn time coaches are speaking up about fouls. The refs have been terrible all season, league-wide.
Reffing has been bad as far as I can remember. It will never change. Nothing can really be done about it. If something could be done, it would have already been done. Same problem in the NFL and it’s not fixable. Bad reffing is latent in sports.
Coach brought the receipts and dropped the mic. Or whatever the kids say nowadays.
Something about it being “fire”?
Just as I thought it was dumb for the Bucks to keep giving Giannis the ball to shoot free throws at the end of regulation, I thought it was equally as foolish to even in-bounds the ball to Fox with the foul coming. He is just too damn unreliable at the free throw line.
Monk shoots 87% and he missed both.
An uncharacteristic 6/10 tonight from the line.
I would have felt more comfortable with Monk sinking two after missing two than I would sending Fox to the line.
Jordi’s fault – need to draw up better plays
But seriously..
Something I’ve been thinking about lately was whatever happened to T.J. Warren after his injuries, he had some great breakaway games in the bubble and was on his way to becoming one of the best two way players in the league at the time.
I looked into it a little bit and currently he’s not signed to anyone and just needs a chance to show himself, honestly I think we should take a chance on him as he’s only going to cost of a min vet that’s probably not even guaranteed.
Personally think he could be a cheap valuable experiment to run between now and the deadline that could improve the kings bench and can possibly even take barnes or heurter’s place as a starter depending on how productive he is.
Missed free throws and Brown’s post game presser aside, the Kings still gave up 128 points in regulation. Until the defense is fixed, everything else is secondary.
I don’t care how good the Kings offense is, you just can’t let our opponent shoot 52% from the field 46% from three.
I know folks are going to point to a good game by many Kings, including Huerter finding his stroke, but none of that matters if you can’t stop your opponent from scoring. Poor shooting nights and offensive slumps are not the problem…IT’S THE DEFENSE.
Way too many layups. I also don’t get why both Fox and Monk choose to fly by their 3pt shooters instead of staying in front of them. They leave their interior teammate out to dry when they just allow the opponent to waltz into the lane.
Monk is the worst with fly by closeouts and matador POA defense. I get that he’s Fox’s friend, great locker room guy, and spark off the bench, but his offensive capabilities are not really what the Kings need.
This team needs a Doug Christie over a Jamal Crawford type of player.
Compounding out of position defense with worse out of position defense!
Yup. Like I always say:
live by the 3, die by the D and missed FT’s.
Brown is supposed to be a very good DC, but I don’t see it. All these players have been stars in college, and if not guarded the can get the hot hand , and your team is in trouble. That’s what happening to us right now. I would like to know why Fox was playing such nonchalance Defense. Arguably a top 2 or 3 shooter, and you’re not looking for D, as everybody in that building knew who was taking that last shot, and not blanketing him was a total screw up. I don’t blame Fox for the missed FT, like you said that was all on the D.
This loss was better than a lot of our wins. Kings played inspired basketball, just came up short. Super fun game and an awesome finish.
Does it really matter? What Heurter, Monk, Sabonis, Fox did on Offense. At the end of the day. The Kings allowed The Bucks to shoot 52-46.
Talk about all the fine offensive performances ad nauseum. It’s still a loss. At the end the King of Clutch does what he always does.
Team defense is atrocious. Bucks are not any better on D by the way. And they may be worse defensively.
Unfortunately, barring a complete roster overhaul, defensive improvement is out of the question.
Aside from Keegan, who is good as far as the team goes, but still pretty mediocre in the grand scheme of things, we have nobody who fits in the average or above range. They’re also not about to magically improve at this point in their careers.
Complete overhaul might be a little much. Adding 2 good defenders would make a drastic difference. Thybulle, Caruso, Okoro, etc.
Fox has gotten better, but not great. Monk is still bad, Domas does what he can, and Keegan is pretty good and getting better.
The Kings don’t need a complete roster change they only need to get 2 players to play defense. One at SG and one at the 3 or 4 spot. The rest is good.
IMO unless a lot happens to change things Foz isn’t going to win Clutch Player of the Year. Not like he was last year.
Let us all come together, bow our heads and pray that Kevin Huerter has busted his slump.
If not, I would like to refer him to these wise words from Mookie Wilson:
I always preferred punk/grunge legend Mookie Blaylock
Pearl Jelly
Sad that a once in the history of the NBA performance by Sabonis ends in a loss . He is the only player to have a 20+ point, 15 assist , 10+ rebound. Game on 90% shooting since league started keeping assists in 1955 .
Not to take away from his game, but we get those random “historical” stats every week.
”Only player to average 23 points, 16.5 rebs with a fg% of over 58.3 over a span of four games on the road!!!” Etc.
…In the cold, above the Mason-Dixon line.
No it was a one of in History . I am impressed clearly your not . I enjoy NBA basketball especially the Kings and individual achievements are a big part of it .
That’s actually an impressive stat and not a randomly plucked one using classifiers.
Kings are mostly winning and in this game, they were competitive, which is my driving hope every season.
But man, oh man – big time airway alert! Choke city on those free throws – especially from Malik Monk. Very uncharacteristic as we’ve seen him make those pressure filled shots many a time.
Glad to see Red Velvet back, worried about Keegan’s injury. Domas is amazeballs. Fox as well.
Love that Coach Brown cares so much, but I don’t want to see him become unhealthy over it. We’ll get’em next time, Coach.
I have to remind myself this is still house money, the Kings are winning. A pint of ice cream was my comfort tonight. (Acme Valley Fudge Brownie – whoo weee!)
Really really love to see the team being so focus………
few unforced turnover, they took care of the ball, with only 9 turnovers….
Good ball movement….
HUSTLE…..(both Barnes and Sabonis)…..
Was looking for a win after we led by 6 in OT….but we just lost on the line is disapointting…
Hoping to see the same intensity for the rest of the remainder of the games…
Hopefully they learn from this loss. Play hard, protect the ball, and good things will happen.
Coach finally made a decision that the guard depth is wildly inconsistent and went big with a shortened rotation.
Forgot to say, I like Jordi Fernández opted to let Monk to handle the ball, which then he hit a mid ranger jumper, instead of letting Fox to key the ball…..
As Jordi may notice Monk is more reliable in that situation (he can score by himself or pass to Sabonis)
I think we need an asinine trade thread.
That would be great!
If only that helped get the asinine trade suggestions out of every other post.
Le Sigh…
.
Excellent point, coach.
Tough loss but good effort, the West got a lot better and the Kings didn’t by much. Team looks like a 5-8 seed. It’s really just the same Big 4 we had last year: Monk, Fox, Domas, and Keeg. Not much on this team besides that, need to add 2 or 3 more impact players that can be consistently good at their role.
Tough loss. If there’s such a thing as moral victories there must be such a thing as a demoralizing loss. Let’s hope this isn’t one of them, this team doesn’t need any confidence setbacks.
If we’re looking for lessons, free throws and defensive effort / execution were the difference makers, just like in the playoffs. Gotta dial those in still.
On a positive note, Huerter showed showed out and really helped keep us in a game where we needed some scoring punch. Some consistency with that would make this team an absolute nightmare for defenses. Also, Len made another solid impact off the bench and the team showed some resiliency against a very tough opponent.
Cannot believe Monk missed 2 straight at clutch time. It marred a brilliant game for him.
Hell, he missed 4 fts, now that’s unbelievable!
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