Go Kings!
Dec 4, 2023; Sacramento, California, USA; Sacramento Kings forward Keegan Murray (13) dribbles against New Orleans Pelicans forward Brandon Ingram (14) during the first quarter at Golden 1 Center. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports
The Kings Herald Newsletter
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Here We Go………!!!!!!!!!
Let’s grab this WIN
Keegan needs to low key score 30 and it will all work out.
I agree!😲
We agree on almost everything.
That’s cuz Jman is so easy to agree with because more times than not he’s right
It’s a contest about being right?
ANYTHING IS POSSIBLLLEEEEEE
Go Kings!
If the Kings enter the fourth quarter up 20, I will need to practice my surprised face.
Shaq just called Kings by double digits
Play hard and play smart. Let’s go Kings!
👏👏👏👏👏
Good night TKHers!
Go Kings!
Good afternoon from California
Dunkin Domas!
Barnes so far a liability on both ends. Not a great sign.
Need to get JV in foul trouble.
He’s getting easy looks at the basket because Keegan and HB aren’t stopping penetration at the POA. Need to adapt quickly.
Fox needs to go to the rim and these guys in foul trouble.
With the way the officials have been swallowing their whistles lately, that would be hard.
Shit foul call on Sabonis.
Fox !!!!!!
Nobody on the Pelicans can defend Fox.
Fox and Sabonis playing like superstars. Need the supporting cast to show up.
Defense leads to offense
Domas with 3 steals!
Let’s go kings! Looking good! 👏👏👏👏👏👏
NO looks a little lost on offense
Need to see Keegan drain a couple threes.
Sabonis’s well-rounded game is out-shining Jonas’s limited power-based game.
Kings D is so much better than the last time we played them.
Pelicans are full of notorious playoff chokers.
They’re about the get handed the beating of their lives.
Trey Murphy seems to guard Keegan well. then Fox cooked him for 5 points.
Bad shot Davion
the walk-up three is not his high percentage three. I think I agree that it’s bad shot selection for him.
It absolutely is.
I like that they make Barnes the go-to guy with the second unit.
Lot of Kings fans there tonight.
Kings hunting mismatches much more than usual.
Is Fox going to put up 40?
Let’s take a moment and appreciate Grant Hill making great points in only half a possession.
Rules for Davion…
He passed, but ended up a turnover
Needs another rule
just play how he played in the 2nd half of the season.
Yes. Team basketball moving the all.
Bad minutes from Mitchell so far
really bad
Looks like he is trying to shit diamonds.
he can shit those on the bench.
Getting a little sloppy.
That last couple minutes was pretty shaky – really since Domas went out. Need him to stay out of further foul trouble.
Need the bench to be better than that
Ahhhh….come on Fox! Go slow down the floor with 7 seconds and passes it? WTF was that?
It was Fox. What makes him good also kills him.
FAST
what’s going on with Davion? bad decisions. bad shot selection. the Kings need him to be the player he was in the 2nd half of the season.
Trying to do too much. Needs to settle down and stay within himself.
Keegan really does struggle with handling ball pressure.
This lineup scares me offensively. Sabonis needs to touch it every time down. Get Mitchell out of the game. Offering nothing right now.
McCullom looks like he wants to cry.
The offense needs to go through Sabonis to win,
Davion doing his best Klay impression from the last game
He needs to be sub out NOW
he should have been subbed out a while ago to collect himself. the walk-up three was not in his shot diet during the 2nd half of the season.
We’re gonna need him though. So stay aggressive.
Domas and Fox can’t do it by themselves. Everyone else has been absolutely putrid.
Luckily the Pelicans haven’t taken advantage of that.
I don’t think they can afford to keep Fox out much longer. Surprised they’ve given him this much rest.
Davion is cold as ice…sit his ass down.
Gonna be a battle! Alvarado always seems to ball out against us
Aside from Fox and Domas, the Kings are playing like garbage.
And the best the Pelicans can manage is a tie.
We need Ellis get a shot or two up.
just bad luck that he blocked Marshall, and ended up with a Murphy’s 3
It feels like they’re shooting 3’s for the sake of shooting 3’s, not in the flow of the offense.
Problem is they don’t half a half court offense outside of the dribble handoff and Fox iso. And they absolutely live and die by the three. Pels are not allowing a lot of open looks and the they aren’t taking advantage of the ones they do get.
Well, that escalated quickly
That’s not good
Fox and Domas
NO has a fucking voodoo spell on the Kings.
body language is terrible
We will know which way the game is headed within the next 3 possessions. They going to respond or fold like every other time they’ve played the Pelicans?
Feels like a big possession coming up here.
4 assists for the Kings.
No one on Kings can score 1 on 1 except Fox. They are all scared of the ball pressure and length
Die by the 3
2 for 12 on 3s isn’t going to cut it.
Lol
attack the basket Keegan
JFC. Obvious push by Nance. WTF are the refs looking at?
The refs are blind ….again
Their bank accounts.
Missing FTs, missing 3s, turning the ball over, not preventing dribble penetration – entering fully cooked territory.
FUCK, come on Keegan!
What the hell are they doing
Kangz mode activated.
So far looking like the team is determined to keep bricking 3 ptrs, win or lose.
Game is over
Un fucking believable.
Game over. That’s it. We’ve seen this dog and pony show all season. Kings are done. Fox is sleeping. Defense fell apart. No ball movement. Kangz. Bipolar BBIQ.
It’s always about Fox with you isn’t it?
FOX, FOX, FOX, FOX, FOOOOOOX!!😄
Keegan is getting cooked
He’s too soft. Its been his #1 issue his whole career thus far. Needs to get mean.
Keegan is far from being a 2nd or 3rd option. Way too inconsistent. Ellis hasn’t even taken a shot, Lyles is scared, Mitchell is scared, whole damn team scared. Game is over
Think I even saw Domas try to get Keegan going. We need mad Keegan, if that exists.
Do we have a bench?
So two guys can surround Fox and scream in his face? WTF is that?
Kangz mode activated.
Give me Jones over Sasha.
too short to defend their forwards
We ain’t winning without keegan. MB/monk/fox need to call him out.
Oh no not Sasha
Fox only one hitting from outside
keep it close…
This needs to be Vez’s breakout game. Shit…
We can’t stop dribbe penetration.
Fox trying to singlehandeldly keep the Kings’ hopes alive.
They have not stopped a single player from getting to the basket all half
good minutes from Sasha
Better than I expected.
If he made that 3, even better
Fox is trying to put this team on his back. But they just don’t have many reliable scoring options outside of him. Domas will get you 18/12/10 a night, but he’s not gonna go off for 40. Need a reliable third option outside of those two and they just don’t have it.
I wouldn’t even call Domas a 2nd option. He not built to score like that. Need an upgrade in offseason
He’s a walking triple double. He’ll rebound like crazy and set guys up to score, but he should really be a 3rd scoring option. You can run the offense through him, but he can’t carry the scoring load. They need a consistent scoring threat out on the wing.
Ideally Keegan Murray is your 2nd option. Loss of Monk is a killer.
My pregame dread was that Keegan would come out cold after being on fire against GS. Dread confirmed and then some.
Down 9 and shooting 5/20 from 3. If those start falling, it could be close.
This team lives and dies by the three. If they want to win this, they need to shoot 50% or better from deep in the second half.
Better be a whole new team in the third quarter or we’re cooked.
Heuerter and Monk are the bench.
Lyles and Len can play but not what we need.
I’m playing Fox the entire second half. I think they have no choice considering no one else can create their own shot.
I agree, need full mintues from Fox
Why play defense?
Half of the Kings shots are from 3, while the Pels have shot just 8 from deep. That’s your game.
Bingo. Also some bad 3’s, not in the flow of the offense.
I’m baffled at why the coaches didn’t prepare Davion for the game.
shot selection
Maybe Davion is just making bad decisions? He has been good the past couple weeks, tonight he looks sped up.
he played well the entire 2nd half of the season. but he changed his shot selection in the Golden State game. it was obvious.
The problem with this team is that there are too many guys who don’t show up when the pressure is on. They were fantastic against the Warriors, but the only guy who really showed up tonight is Fox (and Barnes), and that’s not enough.
Fox, Barnes and Domas. But the rest stunk, so far.
Keon has played great D
yes, but right now, we need more production beside that
CJ blew by him several times as if he wasn’t even there.
He’s good at many aspects but still suspect against dribble penetration, IMO.
Also, we need him to be part of the offense.
I’d argue that Sabonis has shown up. 4-6, 10, 9, 4, 3 steals, and a block. What else do you want from him?
Sure. But Domas can’t score when you need it and they’re all getting smoked on defense.
9 mins and 2 turnovers for Lyles…
He needs to do a much better job
Same roster same problems.
We need the TNT crew to turn against the kings. It’s the only way.
Any update on Keegan’s injury?
When we up 10, feels like we up 1. Pels up 9, feels like 20.
More TO’s (9) than assists (8)…
Jeez.
turnovers, turnovers, turnovers…
Saw on Twitter: Keegan will return.
Good news, and he needs to shoot the damn ball, and make them
He hasn’t really been open. Murphy and Jones have stuck to him.
He did not even drive and try to shoot some mid-range jumper
Pels pressure him when he has the ball, and Keegan can’t handle that, so driving will result is a turnover.
He needs to get consistent at attacking the basket and creating his own shot. If all he ever is is a 3 and D wing, that will have a ton of value for any Kings roster that hopes to contend, but they drafted him at 4 to take his offense to the next level.
can the Davion of the 2nd half of the season please show up?
The good news is that, outside of Fox and Sabonis, this team couldn’t agree much worse.
The bad news is, with the current injury issues, I have no idea where a spark could actually come from. Maybe Barnes just starts playing out of his mind and it opens up good looks for Keon, Trey, and a hobbled Keegan.
I want to see Keegan get pissed off, one time.
so are we going to be researching draft prospects tomorrow?
An athletic stretch 4 to compensate for Domas’s weaknesses.
We need a big that can score and play defense..,maybe Zack Edey.
They need a Brook Lopez. Someone who can guard the paint defensively and let Domas play away from the basket, but then can stretch the floor offensively and let Domas go to work in the paint.
Agreed. Just doesn’t seem like MM has made any effort to obtain this archetype of a 4.
no objection here
that would be nice if he’s the BPA.
Itr seems that they’re calling the game more tightly to start the second.
Clearly not a foul on Jonas.
let’s go Kings!
Pel’s size and length is too much.
Just lose the challenge, please
Kind of thinking they won’t.
Fuck, Keon. Come on.
He’s a bit overwhelmed.
Still green and it shows
They just need Fox to take all the shots. Nobody else is doing anything, especially Keon. 1 shot so far in 23 minutes.
fuck that……………..
Pels are just too long. Just a matchup nightmare.
I understand that they get injured a lot, but seriously, how are other teams able to beat their length, size, shooting, defense, etc.?
I was just thinking the same thing. I think other teams have more physical players that just pound the Pels.
They’re flat out better right now.
JFC
a 6-0 run
Well, when you hit your open looks from deep…
That’s a wrap. Been a mostly fun season. Hoping to see some big changes in the off-season, but not expecting much.
Was really hoping we would convey our pick to ATL this season, that’s a big negative.
Yes, major changes are in order.
Length Kills
That’s what she said!
Don’t worry, MM will triple down on players with no length this offseason.
Amazing, is it really hopeless against this team?
dude. Kings are just psyched out.
0 and 6 would be a total embarrassment.
Pets ain’t scared of no-one on the Kings at this point.
It´s a freaking dunkfest
Pels hungry for exclamation point dunks now.
Hero Fox isn’t the solution
It never is. Off the dribble 3s is a death wish for this team.
Really no other option if we want to win this game. He has to be the best player on the floor rest of the game.
The Kings lose the majority of their games when Fox shoots 10 or more 3s. He is currently at 9.
Ya he needs to attack
Never has been.
It’s hard to believe the Kings are a lottery team again.
Go away.
No thanks.
Come on, play better D, and we can tie the game, and take the lead
It’s over – McNair’s experiment running it back with Barnes has been a disaster. Instead of getting longer, we settled for Barnes + bargain basement solutions as our plan. Now we have no bench.
It was a horrible offseason. Most of us thought so at the time and it’s proved true.
Let’s go Fox Beast Mode
Okay, people already acting like the game is over.
Time for me to log off.
You’ve said that before.
Goodbye 👋
Buh bye
It’s honestly why I rarely dip into the comments here at all anymore.
Signs of life. Keep it up boys.
Last time they got it down to 8 it was almost immediately back to 14. This time got to get it down to 4 or less by end of quarter.
Davion showing life!
Not cver. 3s over 2s. Keep it close for 4th
The overreacction around here is sometimes pretty crazy. It´s a 7 point game with 18 minutes to go and we are doomed?
Sometimes you can just tell by the flow of the game.
Most game threads are like this.
If the Kings win, the voices of doom magically disappear.
I don’t think I am overreacting. I have seen this many times this season, so just going off of experience.
Christ, how many dunks have the Pels had?
Wish they’d cut the Drama Kangz act and take the lead already.
Domas sucks on the defensive end. Absolutely no interior defensive presence.
Domas is being forced to help because everyone else is letting their man get by them.
The Domas apologist
Ok. Just calling it how it is. It’s hard to guard the dunkers spot when you have to help on the straight line drives.
Puts him in a tough spot
It would put anyone in a tough spot
Both things can be true.
Rim protection has never been his strength. He needs a rin protector to help him.
I wish Dalton for Tennessee was younger. Not sure who be there at the tail end of the lottery. Clingan or Castle would of been awesome, but won’t be there.
Unless convey the pick to Hawks, but remains to be seen.
It is a layup line for the Pelicans right now
Kings have missed 7 free throws.
Fox really needs to work on that part of his game. I love his game, but 73% from the line is not good enough for a guy that can get to the basket at will.
Needs to be around 85%
At least 80%, but he’s a career 75% FT shooter and has never been over 78%.
Fox just chuckin threes wtf
yes, he should pass to Sasha
He’s going hero ball. One hand that’s not a winning recipe. On the other hand, who else had looked reliable?
Fox played the entire 3rd, right?
Fox was gassed at the end.
and he’s back in. Coach Brown needs to let him rest
turnovers, missed free throws and stagnant offense. Common recipes for a Kings win or go home disaster
Jonas having a bigger impact than Sabonis. It’s over.
He does every time they play the Pelicans
No weak side help at all.
We’ve seen this bad play all season. The Kings laid massive eggs in like at least 20 games. You can see it coming from a mile away. So don’t hate on the folks who call it what it is.
But according to some we’re not allowed to say the game is over.
Don’t say that or I’m taking my ball and going home!
Agreed. The other day I said without hesitation I picked the Pelicans to win this game. Some guy gave me grief for saying it. Where is he now?
This squad here just having the time of their life right now.
Pretty soon, you’ll be hearing them say they aren’t allowed to do all the pouting they just did.
It’s an important part of the doomcake recipe.
It always entertains.
I usually try and stay positive and hopeful, but when their play looks like this, I call it like I see it. They have been pretty bad all evening.
I wish we could poach some of the pelican players. Especially Murphy.
OKC and Pels is going to be a great series. The NBA media nerds like KOC are salivating.
I do not want to see Barnes in the starting lineup next year
I don’t want to see him on the roster
I’d be perfectly fine with that too
Just a sad way to end like this
Eh, they are shorthanded and gassed against a terrible matchup.
The starters all had to be good to great tonight given the lack of bench scoring, and Keegan and Keon went missing.
This team lacks a consistent 2nd scorer, a consistent half court offense, and a good bench outside of Monk.
Sad to see the Kings play so poorly in such a big game.
Just not good enough. Pels are longer, more talented and have more depth. Can thanks MM for that.
Yup!
I 100% contribute the Kings poor 3pt shooting to the Pels length. When you live by the 3 you die by it to a team that actively contests those shots with abnormal length.
And yet they just keep chucking. They run out of ideas quick, it seems.
Ingram plastic man. Lenghty
Only 3 pts for 6 mins is just unacceptable
How do we trade that albatross Barnes contract for naji marshall or any of these wings. I mean this is embarrassing
How the hell are we gonna beat this team next year? Fuck!
Well, there it is. Up and down season. Mix of strengths and weakness. Their offense disappeared tonight, and the Pels couldn’t miss. Defense was somewhat better this year but the offense needs work. We do need upgrades at the 4, and perhaps the 2.
Let’s take a historically epic offense and change it! Great idea!
Not really interesting in arguing. However, tonight’s offense was epic but in the wrong direction.
An absolute spanking
Fox taking over 20 shots and twice as much shots as the player in 2nd place with shot attempts is never a good look. This, with only 2 assists is a recipe for a disaster.
Well boys, it was an interesting season. On to Tankathon. Gotta get a good PF.
Gonna be rough with the 13th pick
I am a big Sabonis fan. However, sometimes I wonder if we could have a lesser version of him and not have such a dent in the salary cap. Valacunious seems like great value.
We’re not allowed to criticize Domas on the site.
Still a good season, given the injuries and run it back policy. Here’s hoping for some banging trades
Did they just tank for the pick?
Lol no. This is not a good draft class and why beat the Warriors if they wanted to avoid playoffs
The 13 pick in this draft is not worth tanking for.
Damn, this Pelican team is really our kryptonite over the past few seasons. Hope they move them to the east. hahaha
Next year…Time to listen to the new swift album.
It’s really not that serious is it?
I think we might have just witnessed a new version of the stealth tank.
tank for what?
The inability to trade future assets this offseason?
It was fun boys. See ya next season.
Need upgrade at 4 and backup PG
Still times, let’s play D…and score the basket
Lol
I am pretty disappointed with the effort though. Lots of easy open dunks and very few offensive rebounds
So, no playoffs again for the Kings. Hope this doesn’t start another 16 years of futility.
Absolutely embarrassing debacle of a performance. This core has topped out and the team needs major changes, unless the goal is to be a fringe playoff team every year.
Key word here is “Major.”
Been saying this since last summer and got slammed for it. Running it back with Barnes was terrible decision. Main argument was West would improve and Kings wouldn’t be 3 seed again with this roster. All came to pass.
Not sure where they can go from here. The pick not conveying hurts their chances to trade for an impact player, they may lose Monk to free agency, and the 13th pick in a weak draft probably won’t return the impact they need.
Brown is also gonna need to reexamine an offensive plan when the dribble handoff is neutralized and the three isn’t dropping.
The league has seemed to understand how to slow down the dho.
Common theme – poor 3pt-shooting team shots nearly half their shots as 3ptrs.
Their offense has been built around the 3 all season, they were 3rd in the league 3PTs attempted. They weren’t a poor 3PT shooting team, but they also weren’t good enough to rely on it the way they did.
Yes, please attack the rim now Fox.
“If Fox would of could of should of the Kangz would of won The Finals”
Yet again, Fox hustles way too late.
I’m not blaming Fox for this one. Ellis, Murray, Lyles, Barnes….whoever. But not Fox
He’s played 41 minutes and busted his ass the whole game.
I get the criticism from you, at times, but he and domas are the only ones that showed up tonight.
What else do you expect from him?
All I can say is Keegan has loser mentality
How do you know this?
from his body language, and he thought the game is already over…
He kept losing his man….
To be fair, the game was over late in the first quarter when they turned the ball over like 4 times in 5 possessions.
He went to locker room directly after the loss…
Keegan is hot and cold, like a lot of young players and other players in his tier. I’m sticking to the story that he’s Barnes minus 10 years.
I called him Tobias Harris when we drafted him and that feels pretty on point so far. Which is fine! I just don’t understand people thinking he’ll be an all star someday. I don’t see it unless he gets much better at shot creation.
Someone needs to reset Fox’s watch
If Fox is just going to jack threes, please trade him ASAP and continue to run the offense through Sabonis.
How do you know this?
Know what? My opinion?
Wrong recipient, sorry about that.
Wonder what they could get for Fox?
Kings this season are 2-7 when Fox shoots 12 or more 3’s per game. Tonight he’s shot 15. They’ve won ONE game this season when he shot that many 3s.
Ingram, on the other hand, has 24 points with only two 3pt attempts.
PLAY TO YOUR STRENGTHS.
I hear you but Fox isn’t the problem in this game. Everybody other than Fox and Sabonis were terrible.
Exactly. Is it coaching then or what?
Problem is that no one else could score the ball. Sabonis scored opportunistically, but it’s not like he’s going to get you over the hump one-on-one. He should take better shots, but part of it is that Fox took a bunch of bad shots because no one else could make anything.
Agreed. Our best players showed up but nobody else did.
Fo me, any shot Fox takes from beyond the arc is a bad shot, especially since most are off the dribble. He’s 7th on the team in 3pt shooting, yet takes the most attempts.
Tonight 16 of his 29 shots from the 3. That’s just not a recipe for success. It’s like having Westbrook taking those shots as opposed to attacking the paint.
Your turn, Monte.
Minus Monk and with minor tinkering, this is a 7-10 seed again, more likely on the lower end of that scale.
Of the conference is healthy were a borderline play-in team. I wouldn’t say we’ve got more talent than any playoff team and I think the Rockets have more talent than we do as well.
Without being able to trade their first round pick, it’s gonna be hard for Monte to do a lot. Barnes, Huerter, and Mitchell aren’t worth the talent this team needs in order to contend.
that was soooooo Kangz.
We all knew this was coming tonight right?
Nope, I’m not that clairvoyant. Going in they could have done better but didn’t.
0-6 kind of speaks for itself. Especially when the average margin of victory is almost 20 points.
I hear you.
just a little taste of Kangz to go with our burger and fries.
It’s wild that the Kings looked like a different team this season as opposed to last with basically the same squad.
The rest of the conference was injured last year. This year there weren’t. There are at least 8 or 9 teams more talented than the Kings if everyone is healthy.
Well, folks, it’s been fun.
Lyles and Ellis. Yeesh.
Ellis just got Klay’d
Yeah, Ellis was awful on both sides of the ball and I’d still rather have Ellis start than Huerter, who I think has had the yips since the Warriors series.
FOX needs HELP on the offensive end Monte!!!! Can you realize that NOW? Do what you couldn’t do last summer and this years trade deadline. PLEASE
Until their first round pick conveys to Atlanta, they are kind of handicapped unless you want to trade Fox and Sabonis and blow it up.
I disagree
Pieces could of been added to improve bench depth this year. Mavs got PJ and Gafford after missing out on Siakim. They pivoted and made good additions. They were excellent after the all star break.
A few pieces could have possibly been added at the deadline, but the deadline has passed. As of now, they can’t trade their first round pick and need to try and resign Monk.
The problem is the Kings don’t have great assets to trade. Teams clearly don’t want Heurter, Barnes, or Mitchell. Maybe you can flip Ellis to a team that is tanking, but he’s such a bargain right now, I’m not sure if that’s the best option. It will be very hard to significantly upgrade the roster as it stands.
I just want this to mean they don’t run it back tinkering with bench players again.
Jose Alvarado is what I hoped Davion would become
Godspeed Jorde, tear up the East next year.
I am really curious to see what he does with the Nets next year.
And if New Jersey trades us one of their small forwards, I won’t even raise a conspiratorial eyebrow.
Kings could have Luka
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