In the early stages of the NBA season, the Sacramento Kings are already facing a reality check. The latest 107-89 defeat at the hands of the Houston Rockets drops the team to a 2-3 record (12th place), as the loss exposed the Kings defensive flaws Saturday night.
From the tip-off, it was clear the Rockets had a game plan: exploit the paint and be more aggressive than the Kings. It worked. The Rockets won the offensive rebound and fast break point battles, and finished with 54 points in the paint. And Houston is currently 20th in the league in points in the paint (48). The Kings gave the Rockets an open-door policy to the paint in the first half. In the second half, various defensive breakdowns led to wide open shots for the Rockets.
On the other side of the ball, Sacramento has shown flashes of a high-powered offense early this season, but were stifled by a Houston defense for much of the game that was particularly unkind to Domantas Sabonis. The Rockets swarmed Sabonis at every opportunity and effectively shut down the inside game. Sabonis only took 10 shots, making 5 of them. Compounding this, the outside shots weren’t falling, resulting in a bad performance all around.
Following the game, Head Coach Mike Brown was candid when asked about what his team’s identity is when they are missing shots. Brown heighted that when the three-point shot is deserting them, the Kings’ need to be able to rely on a more defensive and physically imposing style. “We’re not going to hit threes all the time,” Brown said in his post-game presser, emphasizing the importance of defensive grit over long-range proficiency. But it’s a mindset that seems to be a work-in-progress, as the Kings have yet to consistently embrace the physicality and defensive effort required to win on off-shooting nights.
“You have to be able to defend because the ball is not going to go in the hole all the time. I’m not sure if we’re ready to embrace that all the way because we’ve done it in spurts. If some shots are going in, we’re feeling a little bit better about ourselves. If our shot is not going in, you can just look at the body language. Our head drops, our shoulder drops a little bit, and we really let that impact us if we’re not getting it done offensively,” Brown said.
And the stats from Saturday tell a story of a team in a bit of a shooting disarray, particularly from beyond the arc, where they converted a mere 11 of 41 attempts. Keegan Murray scored 7 points and went 1 for 8 from three-point land. Kevin Huerter went 2-8 from the field and 0-3 from three. Their struggles, especially with De’Aaron Fox out, were emblematic of a team seemingly at a loss when the shots aren’t falling.
Brown’s philosophy is clear: keep shooting. Yet, he also knows the mental game is just as critical. “In this league too, at the highest level, you have to have an inner confidence that you carry all the time,” he stressed. But Brown’s larger message, which has been the case pretty much all season so far, was about resilience, urging his players to contribute through defense, rebounding and sheer effort – aspects of the game that shouldn’t slump like shooting can. “It’s not all about making shots, because right now, they’re not falling,” Brown said.
So far, this season, the Kings aren’t who they were last season on offense (113 points per game for 15th in the league, down from 120 per game and 1st in 2022-23), and the defense hasn’t served as something they can hang their hat on like Brown had hoped. Yet, we are only five games in, and De’Aaron Fox should be back soon. So, there is plenty of time, but they will need to shift to having more of a defensively tenacious unit while still pushing to maintain the high-powered offense of last season.
The Kings get another shot against the Rockets on Monday.
I took a Covid test this morning because I still felt sick after watching that sad performance in Houston. It was negative, had to be sure.
yeah, I had to stop watching videos of kangaroos on YouTube … you just never know …
That 3th quarter has to be in the top 10 of worst basketball ever played. It was so ugly it gave me fake confidence that I can indeed play professionally. Please bench Huerter, please, I’ve seen enough garbage and now his teammates have caught the brick flue.
That was the worst game I’ve seen the Kings play in nearly two years (Jan 2022 Boston game), I hope not to see it again for another 2 years. Absolute horrible show of concentration, execution, and effort.
I really hope the team digests this loss as it is…. A reality check. Let’s run it back tomorrow and see how they respond.
No scoring to offset the typical shit defense.
Play defense and shoot below average….this game is a win.
Monk need to be the starter at shooting guard. The only player on the team that can help Sabonis get buckets in the pick and roll . It’s so freaking obvious. Play your best 5 . Forget the bench need points talk .
harrison barnes and huerter can go to the bench and score points .
I agree that someone else can score off the bench. Having Fox out of the lineup as a shot creator is what hurts worse than the porous defense, IMO. Monk would help with shot creation – and maybe a few erratic turnovers.
Monk should def be starting and playing a ton of MPG, getting tired of Davion’s inconsistent shot and offense. Offense did look super lost it was discouraging but it is early, Kings need to get their mojo back ASAP. I honestly don’t see any hope for our defense unless maybe he starts playing defensive specialist types more. I just want our fun ass offense back…come on Kings…be entertaining again. Have some damn confidence and swagger, I agree with Coach Brown.
As i wrote in yesterday’s thread, elite offense is erratic, elite defense is a constant.
So I endorse the message, but I do have a few minor (stressing: MINOR) quibbles with Brown’s message.
He preaches consistency, but he hasn’t been consistent himself. He said that playing good, hard D isn’t a switch that you can’t just click on and off, but that is what he seems to be trying to do here.
Last season, almost all the focus was on offense. I saw Brown chewing out players about not letting it fly much more often that for lazy D. On many occasions, I saw halfhearted defensive efforts and no quick substitution or an earfull. So Brown help build those lazy habits for an entire season and now he basically wants them to flip the switch. Is that entirley consistent? Not sure how that vibes with his own philosophies.
Again, a minor quibble and I am not blaming him entirely. He saw what he could fix easiest to end the drought and he succeeeded, so there’s that.
But with the above and with no apparent urgency to get strong defenders and rebounders in the offseason, the building up of the D without impacting the offense too much will be a challenge. And despite my quibbles I have faith in Brown, so I am happy to see how we evolve.
I think maybe we have been watching different games. Brown almost never takes a timeout for anything other than defense and will not hesitate to burn one early if he feels the intensity isn’t there. (I have affectionately dubbed any early quarter timeouts as MBTO) Plus I witnessed him multiple times taking a timeout only to provide immediate defensive coaching to an individual player.
I would agree that he has to tell Keegan to shoot more but that isn’t surprising as he was a rookie and adjusting to the game.
Fun fact, the Kings are currently 14th defensive rating. A huge improvement although 5 games is definitely small sample size. It appears offensive woes are the issue so far. It’s interesting, it’s not one particular player who is experiencing shooting troubles, it’s most of the team. Could it be the changes to the defensive perhaps? Is there possibly a natural adjustment period on offense due to the increased effort on defense?
Yup, and many of the shots they are taking are wide open. The offense is working, but the shots just aren’t falling yet. Eventually layers will return to the averages because that is how averages work.
Rough seeing Keegan missing open 3’s. Huerter and Barnes have a history of streaky shooting – but was hoping Keegan could retain a level of shooting consistency. I believe he will turn it around.
Fox will be out too for this game…
And it seems Mike Brown would not make any change to the starting 5….
So, I hope the shooters can make their shots in this game, and also, Barnes needs to take more shots and more one-on-one……..
I have little faith in Mitchell, as the Rockets don’t have anyone named Curry, his job would be much easier…..
Who’s the defensive standout on this team again?
Both are interesting figures…
An on-ball stopper/perimeter defender with length would do this team much good.
I like Dyson Daniels. Go get him Monty
I still can’t understand why the club exercised his option for next season.
IIRC, playoffs were when Davion along with Malik Monk were the two backcourt players who made a positive difference, other than the star of the series for Sacramento, De’Aaron Fox. One could throw Terrence Davis in there for his offensive spark in a couple of games.
Giving the hard working, tail busting, elite defense, 2 years in the League player an extension seems like a sensible move to me. But, I don’t know much about much.
I am interested in why you believe that extending Davion this Summer was not a reasonable move and what you think would have been better.
I simply think he’s shown not to be a very good player in NBA terms. I also don’t consider his defense to be elite. Better than most of the players on this team, sure…however, they’ve also been one of the worst defensive teams in the league during his tenure, so that skews the perception of how “good” he has been.
Keeping him as a back of bench at the minimum, sure. But $6m a year for meh defense and zero offense/playmaking seems to be a waste of money in my eyes. Especially for a backup point guard.
For the sake of the team, I hope he can find a way to be a positive contributor this season and next, but considering he’s already 25, that “developmental upside” window is pretty close to closing.
Of course, we don’t know if this is about the best that can be expected or if there is a next step up that is near; Khris Middleton, Gabe Vincent or as Jerry Reynolds hopes to see – a next Kyle Lowry.
Every player is a risk – not just how the skills improve, but where they fit on each team and each system with each roster. When do you cut bait – when do you regret it? After all – this is the guy this GM selected, and that factors into decision making process as well.
In the case of Davion Mitchell – there a lot of good reasons, IMO, to have kept him this Summer; new coach, new system, his playoffs and mostly, his famous work ethic.
Many players work hard – and those players are more difficult to move on from. If the Kings do move on from Mitchell, I could see him on the Miami Heat in a New York second.
And let me add – I am a fan of the guy, (like you, I am guessing) we want to see him succeed. I think 5 games into his third season, he deserves more chances than less.
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