Fox had 28 points and 7 assists, but was stymied – especially late – by Daniels and the Hawks swarming, lengthy defense. It was a frustrating, physical contest with seemingly two sets of whistles from the reffing crew that was capped off by a play with 3:30 left in the game where Fox, after getting tripped and flipped to the ground by De’Andre Hunter with no call, made his feelings on the matter very clear to the zebras and earned a technical foul. 17,000 Kings fans raged in agreement with their embattled star, who got to the line just 4 times (and none in the second half) despite Atlanta’s physicality. When asked about the last play of the game, Fox told the media “hands a part of the ball… when it’s convenient.”
Hunter led the Hawks in scoring with 24 points, Trae Young overcame Sacramento’s own defensive focus to notch 19 assists to go with his 7 points (on 1 of 7 shooting), and Daniels had 14 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, and 4 blocks in the victory.
Keon Ellis caught fire early and stayed smoking hot, scoring 6 threes in the first half and finishing with a team high and career high 33 points on 9 of 15 shooting from deep. He sank his shots both off and on the ball, and quieted multiple Hawks runs with an efficiency that Sacramento desperately needed with DeMar DeRozan (back), Domantas Sabonis (back) and Malik Monk (ankle) all sitting sideline with injuries.
But Ellis and Fox combined for 61 of Sacramento’s 108 points as the rest of the team shot just 17 of 45 from the field and 8 of 25 from deep. Trey Lyles had 12 points, 10 rebounds, and 4 assists as the only other King to top double-digits in the contest. Kevin Huerter was ice cold, shooting 4 of 15 from the field and 1 of 10 from deep despite some excellent looks across the game. And Keegan Murray had an unforgettably frustrating evening, fouling out of the contest with 8:51 to go in the 4th. In just 22 minutes of action, Murray had 7 points, 7 boards, and 4 turnovers, and had a team low -20 plus/minus stat. Any rhythm Keegan found in the game – and he had his moments, especially on defense while guarding Young – was quickly followed up by a whistle.
The Kings started the game ice cold, struggling to cap off good looks with made shots as they fell to 22-6 deficit in the middle of the 1st period. But then Sacramento’s offense found it’s rhythm, hitting 9 of their next 10 shots including 6 of 6 from deep to spark a 25-8 run of their own to cap off the quarter. It was a true game of runs across the first three quarters, but when the offenses slowed down in the fourth quarter (the Hawks outscored the Kings 20 to 15 in the last period), Atlanta came up with the late game rebounds and stops.
Sacramento falls to 8 wins and 7 losses on the year, and will get three days off before their next contest on Friday in Los Angeles against the Clippers. DeRozan, Monk, and Sabonis are all day-to-day with their injuries moving forward, so fingers crossed the Kings will be back to fuller strength soon.
Keegan needs to find himself a slump buster.
Or perhaps a competent backup?
It has been a season long slump, even with fresh legs the first week or two in the season. Something ain’t right with him, and he needs to figure it out for this team to get the playoffs.
I might get crucified, but is it time to trade Keegan for the PF and “consistent” wing help we need soooooooo bad?
No crucifixion but I wouldn’t trade him. He is still young and improving his all around game and we have seen him shoot better for long stretches. I think giving up on him now might be a mistake.
Likes:
Dislikes:
We were one Keon Ellis career night away from losing this game by 20.
That’s been a trend of Mike Brown’s the irks me. It happens more often than not that the Kings are in a game ending situation and lets the team play with ample time on the clock when he could instead call a timeout and set a play. Maybe he’s just hoping for Fox speed it down the court and catch the opponent in transition?
I think so. Given how the last 4-5 minutes went last night, and the players available, seems like a poor choice.
I think if DDR is available he probably calls the TO in that situation.
With who was available maybe thought attacking quickly and not letting the defense get set with their length is a better option.
It’s not working. Brown needs to figure this out because it will happen again.
Browns bullshit O without sets gets them at end of games and is a big part of why Keegan struggles. Not an O fir him-amd a couple others.
why draft guy at 4 and not use him correctly?
Got to be there in person. It was really fun, don’t get to go to games much anymore.
Keon was great. The calls were very, very inconsistent.
Fox lost some of his aggression from the previous two games. He had two chances to attack the basket 1v1 in transition with about 1:30 left and down three, he chose to pass to the spray three to Huerter on the first and pull up for a quick three on the second. IMO, he needs to attack the basket aggressively in those cases.
I don’t see much of an offensive scheme from MB and the players execution. Looks very stagnant and predictable.
Spray threes and ISO Fox.
Kings should get at least a little credit for keeping it close despite playing 5 versus 8.
Frustrating that nothing can be done about poor (or dare I say, corrupt) officiating. We get mad about it but then it fades, and then it happens again and again…and again. It makes me wonder why I even bother watching when the odds seem so crookedly placed in another team’s favor, particularly when they are playing the Kings.
Atlanta is saying the same thing you said.
I’d honestly prefer Rec league refs to the whistles last night. It was BAD. Loudest I’ve heard “Ref you suck” chants at G1C. I almost thought they were going to lose control of the game at one point it was that bad. No consolation calls either. Nothing. Just stonewalled every time Fox got hacked to pieces. 1 point loss. How many FTs did we get in the 4th? BOGUS
I agree. The refs were not consistent at all. Hunter taking Fox down with a judo throw literally right in front of the ref for a no call was insane. And Trae Young pushes off every time he dribbles, every time and not one call.
Its like Fox is blessed with the best getting-to-the-line skillset ever but cursed with the most un-friendly whistle ever. Catch-22 for sure
This has been a problem for the last year. Sabonis routinely looks like he went 10 rounds in a boxing ring by the end of games. It’s like the zebras have blinders on when it comes to making calls that are pro-Kings. And the commish’s office has blinders on when it comes to dealing with inconsistent reffing.
Seriously. Sabonis taking more hits per game than Tyson or Paul did their whole fight.
As bad a game Keegan had on offense, he was solid on defense. Keegan was on Young most of the night and held him to 1-7. That’s impressive. I’m beginning to wonder if Keegan is just tired. The Kings have played a ton of games without much rest, including 4 back to backs, and he’s the guy who gets to mark the other team’s best player 1-4. I honestly can’t blame him if his shot is off at the moment.
Dyson Daniels is the real deal. ATL got something special in the trade with the Pels. That kid is leading the league in steals in deflections by a country mile. He’s playing and All-NBA Defensive team level right now. If he could hit the 3 ball, he’d be the best player on that team in a year or two. If only Keon could rise to the levels Dyson is playing at. Or if you are reading this Monte, go poach Anthony Black.
I’m not upset about the loss. It’s very hard to win in this league when you are missing 3 of your top 5 players. Much needed rest for the team now to lick their wounds and regain their footing. This will be just their 2nd multi-day rest of the season so far.
Very aligned with this take. Kings have 4 of the top 12 players in minutes per game (De’Aaron #3, Keegan #8, Demar #11, Domas #12), all over 36mpg. Paging Monte McNair!
It’s unsustainable since as the season goes on nagging injuries continue to mount.
I mentioned the other day that the Warriors don’t have a single player averaging over 30 minutes per game. Steph is at 29.1. That is how you sustain for the long drudge of the season and go into the playoffs (hopefully) healthy. You have to have depth.
Yeah, I’m afraid that the heavy minutes for our starters is going to catch up with them down the line.
What do you think it would take to get Anthony Black?
If he’s even available, a first round pick and change at the minimum.
This is simply not true!
Go to nba.com, go to the box score of the game, and click on Young’s 7 shot attempts and 19 assists. Keon is guarding him on most plays, with a few plays each by Huerter, Keegan and Mclaughlin.
I’ve been saying/arguing that Keegan focusing on D is a complete waste of his talent.
Figure this shit out Brown. And Keegs
That’s because he isn’t even getting to take shots when Keegan is on him. That said, he did have a million assists.
Booker had the same problem even getting space for a shot. I remember a game last year with Keegan on Doncic where it looked like he was ready to punch Keegan in the face.
Keegan does need a break on D though, especially when he’s getting put in foul jail. He’s also playing 37 min a game right up there with Fox. He needs some games to get his shot right. At least he’s getting quite a few 2’s this year when he isn’t hitting his 3’s.
Thing about Keegs is I don’t care that he’s a good defender because the Kings have sacrificed his 3 ball for D- I’d argue him being a lights out shooter is waaaaay more important for this team and why they drafted him at 4.
it’s a waste of talent right now. You can get a good defender who can’t shoot almost anywhere.
It’s irritating and a bad move by Brown. They need to focus on Keegs 3 ball and running more plays for him or have him play like Lyles on O.
There has to be a balance somewhere between D-gan and Three-gan.
Fox has had three amazing games and the Kings are 1 – 2 in his run. Get a bench. Play team basketball. Win games.
To be fair, if you remove 3 of the 5 best players from any NBA roster, teams would lose the vast majority of their games, regardless of the bench. Without Fox’s other worldly heroics and a career night from Keon the Kings would have been blown out the last 3 games.
That is a fair point. Heroics and close games are not wins. “Close Game” is not a column in the standings.
I love how well Fox scores. Even when we have our full line up ISO Fox loses games. Teams win games. We need to get this team functioning as a whole. Either Fox struggles with it or the players around him struggle with it.
We also need a bench.
Haha. We both posted pretty much the same thing at the same time. I’m kind of excited to see if we can keep the same aggressive Fox when the other three come back. If Lyles can keep playing like this and Ellis keeps his shot, we just need Keegan to get right and we’ll be dangerous.
We are already dangerous. Most of the time we are five points away from beating anyone in the NBA.
True. But we have to win more of those five point games.
Dangerous is meaningless. Winning has meaning.
But we aren’t winning those games, When it comes down to it winning is the most important part of basketball.
Yes. Being dangerous is meaningless.
Moral victories don’t mean shit.
Close game.
Very good point. Ask PHI how that is working out…
We do need more bench depth. But we also have to remember that when everyone is healthy, Lyles, Ellis, and Monk are all bench players. If Murray starts playing like Murray and Monk shakes off the rust, we only need like two other guys to step up a little.
But it shouldn’t be this hard to round out a bench.
Two or three more solid bench players changes this team completely. Not sure why the Jones crew still exists here. We should be holding open tryouts for the bottom of the bench.
Completely agree
the last couple games will be good for developing the team’s bench this season. another big wing or forward would be nice, but until then, they have to get the most from the guys they have.
How did our bench develop in the last two games?
eh, well, for starters, Keon went off and Lyles has been impressive. Other players, such as McLaughlin, made an impact. Back up bigs Orlando Robinson and Isaac Jones saw their first action. McDermott hit some shots. Not perfect but mistakes are part of the learning process.
I agree. Given how unplayable the bench guys were early in the season, I think it was beneficial for them to get some extra minutes early in the season. Lyles had some solid outings, Keon overcame some rough outings to have a great game yesterday, McLaughlin played solid minutes, and McDermott contributed too. The game minutes for Robinson are especially useful since he missed so much of camp and preseason. Now we just have to hope that all carries over as guys move back into smaller roles.
I guess I see develop as improve. They finally got to play and Keon had his career game. Hoping Robinson and Keon can continue what they did. As far as the rest I would prefer to not see them play.
Keon went off one time. Hopefully that is consistent. The rest of the guys finally got to play.
So how did the bench improve?
Same guys.
I would say Fox had two AMAZING games and a decent one. Last night he was not nearly as aggressive.
Last night was close to his average but still carried the load. Either way Fox isn’t winning games by himself.
He was, it’s just that Atlanta’s length and swarming really affected him. That’s why Ellis got so open. The fact that he did what he did for the last three games with teams triple teaming him is amazing.
Nope. Watch the first few series of MINN and UT vs this game. Right off the jump he was full speed, attacking in the first two games. Last night he played it slower and seemed to be trying to get teammates involved.
And last night he had two chances in the last two mins to attack in transition 1v1, he chose a spray 3 to Huerter and he took a quick pull up 3.
Not saying he played bad, he had a strong game, but he was definitely less aggressive.
Lyles seems to be back playing well.
Keon, Huerter and Keegan are all very inconsistent offensively.
I am critical of MB often but it has to be very tough to coach when you have no idea what you are going to get game to game from 3 of your top 8 players.
harder still when 3 of your top 5 are injured.
I hate complaining about the officiating but that was sooooooo bad. In a one point game, it was just tough. Watching Fox get thrown to the ground in the 4th quarter as the ref stared at him the whole time was weird.
All that said, great Keon game and hopefully that gets him going a bit. This loss doesn’t bother me all that much given how many guys we were down.
Dyson Daniels is awesome. I can’t believe the Pels traded that guy plus a bunch of firsts for Murray. That is ROUGH.
Get some rest, get healthy and beat the Clippers on Friday please.
100% on all.
I thought Fox might get tossed after the judo throw, no call. That was insane. I would be very curious to have that ref explain that one to me.
The refs aren’t going to explain anything to anybody. That’e the way it is.
Maybe that is the biggest issue.
Is it incompetence or crooked or both? On that specific play there is no other answer.
Crooked for sure. Someone is handing them brief cases full of cash every time the Kings walk in the arena.
Horrible reffing against Kings in this game and many so far this year, I truly believe it’s intentional. Good to see Len, JMac, and Keon getting extended minutes. I can’t stand Huerter this whole year he’s been pretty bad and last year too but MB sticks with him. Sit him down and play anyone else, guy thinks he’s clutch and chucks relentlessly.
The next step for Keegan is finding an inside mid-range or drive to the basket game because sometimes that 3 ball will be cold for stretches. He needs to learn how to put up points no matter what, even on bad nights draw some fouls and get to the line. His moves are soft and fading away, go to the rim hard.
He was darn good in the mid-range both in college and his rookie year. That fade-away was pretty much the only shot he took as a rookie aside from 3’s and he hit a good clip. His range is off. When he starts hitting 3’s again, mid-range won’t be an issue.
Inside the paint/driving has been much better. Still needs to use his strength more consistently though. He’s showing it on his rebounding. Now show it at the rim.
Ouch.
That is all.
We are all wrong! The refs got everything right last night. Check the 2 minute report. No missed calls at all ????
The ???? was supposed to be an “eye-roll”
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