The Sacramento Kings lost again. Can probably just copy and paste from now on, right? This one was a 120–107 to the Portland Trail Blazers. It felt like pretty much every other game. The Kings trailed 64–53 at halftime and then never got enough momentum to pose any threat to the Blazers in the second half. The Blazers hit 17 threes and shot 94% from the free-throw line, while the Kings continued to show they have no chance at stopping anything.
Individually, there were some good performances. De’Andre Hunter led the team with 24 points. Domantas Sabonis had 21 points, 12 rebounds and 5 assists. Keegan Murray totaled 16 points and 7 rebounds and Zach LaVine added 12 points and 6 assists. Darius Acuff Jr. had a difficult shooting night as Portland put a lot of pressure on him. He was still able to finish with 17 points and 6 assists, but went 6-of-19 from the floor, including 3-10 from three. He had 4 turnovers. That high-powered jazz band of an offense went 32% from three and 72% from the free throw line.
To be fair, the Kings did record 29 assists, and outscored Portland 46–38 in the paint. But that wasn’t enough to overcome the bad perimeter shooting and defensive shortcomings. Despite very brief stretches of competitive basketball, the Kings could not, and never really can, string together consistent stops to change the momentum in their favor.
The Kings are now 1-11 and 0-7 on the home floor. They are 27th in offensive rating (it is for offensive), and 27th in defensive rating. They have a net rating of 28th.
Sacramento reportedly does not want to let Doug Christie go and deal with Acuff having three coaches in his first season. Sigh. I don’t have the energy to analyze that. It’s just a dilemma the Kings put themselves into, as usual. All that matters right now is that this franchise does not screw up what they lucked into with Acuff. The kid hates losing and is losing, has vets around him who clearly don’t want to be here, and a coaching staff that is getting absolutely worked on a nightly basis. Whether it is now, soon, or at the end of this season: Figure it out and fix it.
For once, act as if we can have nice things. Because the fans do in fact deserve nice things.
After the game, Christie said, “I think this seat is hot always.”
I don’t think the Kings played all the bad last night. Sure their defense was shit, but we’ve known and expected that. On the offensive end the starters did quite well. They shot at a decent clip, shared the ball very well, and limited their turnovers, yet still lost by 13.
That’s who this team is. Just a bad team even when they play well.
One a negative note, Acuff looked visibly upset last night. Near the end of the game he plopped down on the bench and no one sat next to him. Other players were communicating with each other, but Acuff just stared off in the distance in disgust, almost like he was blocking everyone out. Not good.
It wasn’t just any day. It was Friday the 13th!
This team is horrorble.
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