Prior to the Sacramento Kings’ afternoon game in Memphis, interim head coach Alvin Gentry explained to the media why he felt that his team needed to be ready for the Grizzlies to bring substantial energy from the jump.
Ja Morant being unavailable due to a left knee sprain was beside the point and Gentry referenced two of Sacramento’s recent injury-riddled games to emphasize that.
“We played the 76ers, they didn’t have a single starter. They won that game,” Gentry continued, “we played [the Lakers] with two of our starters out and another who only played eight minutes because he was injured. We won that game… in this league you better be ready to play, it doesn’t matter what the situatuon is.”
Sam Merrill joined Ja Morant as the Grizzlies two inactive members heading into the night. Meanwhile, Sacramento was without Richaun Holmes (illness), Harrison Barnes (right foot), and Maurice Harkless (left knee), all of whom Alvin Gentry described as day-to-day.
As seems to be a growing trend in Sacramento’s recent games, key contributors would be absent from both sides. After losing their first game with Gentry at the helm, the Kings came into Memphis having won their last two showings against the Portland Trail Blazers and Los Angeles Lakers.
Meanwhile, the Grizzlies were on a two-game losing skid. Their most recent outing came against the Atlanta Hawks and ended with an embarrassing score of 100-132. With nearly 35 years of experience under his belt, Gentry understood what taking that sort of beatdown does to teams.
“These guys had an embarrassing loss at home against Atlanta, there’s gonna be a reaction,” Gentry explained pre-game, “with Ja or without Ja, you better be ready to play because I think we’re gonna get a tremendous shot from them so we have to be prepared to counter that.”
Just as Sacramento’s interim head coach predicted, Memphis came out the gates with stellar focus and effort. The issue was that his Kings evidently were not prepared to counter. You’d have to imagine that Gentry gave the same “be prepared” talk to his players pre-game, but the starter’s play looked anything but that.
The Grizzlies knocked down a three right after securing the opening tip, while Sacramento’s first possession ended with an illegal screen from Alex Len. Dillion Brooks then proceeded to draw a charge on Terence Davis’ transition drive. Two turnovers in two possessions for Sacramento – not a great start.
Brooks easily gained separation from Davis on the very next play before drawing contact at the rim. Davis, whose name was in the starting lineup for just the second time all season, was now headed to the bench with two fouls after a mere 58 seconds of play.
Chimezie Metu missed a bold layup attempt. Brooks made his way to the paint for a mid-range jumper with minimal resistance from Fox. Buddy Hield missed a contested, un-assisted three off the back rim.
Again, Brooks casually made his way past the Kings’ perimeter defense before being awarded another trip to the charity stripe. Tyrese Haliburton missed a floater, which Desmond Bane followed up with a transition layup.
It was a dim two minutes and three seconds of opening action for Sacramento. Davis recorded two fouls, Fox and Len each had one, and the Kings were already facing an 11-0 deficit.
Timeout. Alvin Gentry had seen enough.
Clearly, Gentry’s expectation of the Grizzlies being ready to play from early on, after suffering a significant loss in the game prior, proved accurate. Yet, this minute sample size encapsulated Sacramento’s continued subpar effort as the game went on. The players blatantly disregarded their coach’s pre-game sentiment.
“The first 11 points [Memphis] scored were just very easy. Almost shootaround type shots…” Alvin Gentry said post-game, “…and that was pretty much how it was throughout the whole game.”
To Gentry’s point, the Memphis Grizzlies were able to navigate freely on offense. In 48 minutes, the Grizzlies managed 72 points in the paint, a season-high for any Sacramento opponent, while converting 48.1 percent of their 104 field-goal attempts en route to an intimidating total of 128.
Sacramento’s perimeter containment, aside from Davion Mitchell, was appalling. Fox, Haliburton, Hield, and Davis all can and should be better moving forward.
The Kings struggling to defend, while missing three regular starters, who also happen to be their best defenders, should come as no surprise. The issue is that Sacramento didn’t even put up a fight. Even worse, this isn’t the first game of the season where the previous statement has been used.
The two prior comparable games came when Luke Walton still held the title of head coach. Five games earlier, the Kings jumped out to an early lead against the Toronto Raptors before ending the first quarter hardly trailing, 27-30. Sacramento proceeded to be outscored by 15 in the second quarter and 12 in the third. At that point, the fourth was nothing more than a technicality.
Looking back even further, most fans will remember Sacramento’s nightmare road trip that started with a blowout loss in San Antonio. The Spurs jumped out to an early 7-0 lead and the Kings never came back within true striking distance.
Poor shooting luck for the Kings and exceptional conversion rates for the opposition played a part in some of those games, San Antonio in particular, but that’s just a part of basketball. For example, the Kings only converting 34 percent from the field and 21.4 percent of their 42 three-point attempts against Memphis obviously played a factor.
Gentry even mentioned after the game that he didn’t mind his team’s shot profile and acknowledged that the impact of some shots simply not falling. However, the focal point was clear: the defensive effort that his team displayed was unacceptable and unexplainable.
The starting five of Fox, Haliburton, Davis, Metu, and Len came out in Memphis after halftime trailing 52 to 76. Throughout the opening two minutes and 45 seconds of the second half, there was no apparent increase in effort levels and Gentry decided to pull the entire five-man lineup.
Fox did not see the floor again after that point, partially due to his effort levels and overall play, but Gentry said his 50 minutes logged against the Lakers was factored into that decision as well.
The players know that they have to be better than what they showed in Memphis. “We gotta do a better job of being prepared and staying locked in,” Buddy Hield expressed post-game, “we can’t let that happen to us again.”
Terence Davis was just as flustered by the performance. “The way we competed just two days ago (against the Lakers), and then came in here today and just dropped the ball,” Davis shared when asked what was the most frustrating part of the game in Memphis, “we talk about stacking days, and that’s not what we’re doing right now.”
For those who hoped that the inconsistent effort would depart with the previous head coach, think again. The decision to move on from Walton can easily be justified, but the Sacramento Kings’ issues with finding consistency clearly run deeper.
Regaining Holmes, Barnes, and Harkless in the near future will make a significant difference in the defensive talent that Alvin Gentry can put on the floor. Yet, they don’t fix the complete lack of fight this team has displayed on multiple occasions under multiple head coaches has to stop sooner rather than later if the Kings want to seriously compete for the postseason.
“The great thing about the NBA is that it’s just one game,” interim head coach Alvin Gentry preached postgame, “you gotta flush it down the toilet and regroup. We got a tough game coming up in a few days against the Lakers again. Obviously, there’s gonna be a reaction there.”
Hopefully, all of Sacramento’s roster will bounce back and provide consistent energy for 48 minutes. They should be ready to endure a fight against a Lakers team that will be seeking revenge as they enter Golden 1 Center on Tuesday.
Every Kings coach that gets fired but still gets paid the remaining years of their contract:
Looking forward to seeing what Alvin and the chipmunks can do against the AARP LeBrons. Anything less than Joerger-pace would be silly. Why wouldn’t you run those dusty femurs into the ground…
Please stop claiming it’s the effort! This is an undertalented team, a small team, a team without a strong leader (I’m talking about you Fox) and a mismatched team. All these results were predictable in September, hell, in July. Everybody has to stop getting deluded when the Sacramento Blind Squirrels stumble upon a nut…Tear…It…Down!
I mostly agree with you, especially that fox is not a leader also, but I do think the players can absolutely exert more effort than what we saw
You do watch Fox play defense, right?
the margin between good and bad in NBA is small. That said, the Kings are down in coaching, talent, desire and leadership. Some of this can be overcome but not all 4.
Houston, OKC and Orlando have a head start on tanking and many more assets to play with. That’s an option I suppose but teams need a high draft pick and to get lucky. The high draft picks have been gobbled up and the tankers are hanging on tightly. The “just below elite teams” would take Kings assets but their picks are terrible.
Agreed I have never once thought a team’s problems have anything to do with effort. Let’s use actual words that matter like: talent (ours is mediocre), preparation and execution (being well-coached and having smart professional players, once again we’re mediocre). We have not established anyone: owner, GM/FO, or players that have proved to be elite at anything. Stop paying people and not firing them until AFTER they have proven such.
Pictured: Gentry’s coaching technique from now until summer.
I honestly don’t know the difference between turnips and beets. I’ve never had either, and I don’t have a cousin Mose.
“Did I hear someone say ‘turn up the beats’?”
2 Gone, 1 remain
And the one that remains is, by far, the biggest problem.
Can someone please make a gif of Buddy saying, “We can’t let that happen to us again.” – so we can use it 40 more times this year.
or Gentry talking about flushing bad games down the toilet. That would get some use.
Superteam, just dumb.
Can I get one of those shirts made
How about “Superdumb Team”?
I want one that says “Superfans, just numb.”
If you want energy get rid of all the entitled, talentless players (90% of the roster) and field a team of hungry gleague players like the Thunder. The result won’t be much different.
This, but 2 years ago…
I know I’m stating the obvious but Monte needs to blow it up. I have no idea about who to trade or who the Kings could trade for/with. As a devoted fan it frustrating, the same oh, same oh for the last 15 years. When are they finally going to get the right mix of players?
Nobody roots for player transformations like we do. Nobody.
You’d think we’d learn………………..But Noooo!
The visible lack of intensity from Fox is really confusing. He apparently works out like a beast during the summer to bulk up in preparation for the season, then drifts around the court like a Prozac-addled butterfly once the games begin? Something’s up. It takes a lot of hard work for a naturally skinny guy like Fox to put on so much visible mass in just a few months; where did that work ethic suddenly disappear to?
Maybe he’s lost his mojo dragging all that extra weight up and down the court
Rotate 20 more coaches through and the same thing will happen.
Walton sucked ass but he was only a piece of the actual problem. Vivek is not going away. All we can do is hope that he has learned to not do what he has done up to this point. Time to let a GM hire a coach and build a roster around a system of play.
This team has been stacked full of mediocre players that are hard to root for since Webber was traded to Philadelphia. Heild is a self absorbed one-trick ignoramous. Fox is just totally overrated, inconsistent and has shown no improvement in 5 years. His inconsistency and erratic effort are wrecking this team. He’s supposed to be the leader and the star? What a joke. He is also smug and uninterested even in post game interviews. Barnes is good but a role player on any good team, and he’s also basically a mid-level veteran at this point. Holmes is good, would be a great piece to a young talented team. I find myself STILL living off the excitement of the Jason Williams-Webber Kings and that feeling of excitement that the fun team to watch and root for could someday contend for a title. That was 23 years ago. Whoopy. Tear it down.
Why would anyone be surprised at the lack of perimeter defense? It is a hallmark of the players on this team. Why would anyone expect it to change? It is a plausible as Stephen Curry suddenly becoming a brick layer. If we expect something different, there’s only one way to get it: bring in new players.
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