Tomorrow afternoon, many of us will be eating baked, fried, or smoked turkeys, but on Wednesday evening, the Sacramento Kings found themselves on the other end of the bird-to-human relationship, as they were roasted by the Atlanta Hawks 115-106, snapping a seven-game win streak for Mike Brown and the Sacramento Kings. On the second night of a back-to-back, the Kings didn’t seem to have (turkey) legs to keep up with the Hawks on the road, who (dinner) rolled right by Sacramento from almost the opening tip. Malik Monk was the man all night for the Kings, scoring 27 points and dishing out (using the good china) 4 assists in 26 minutes off of the bench, while De’Aaron Fox put up 18 points on 20 shots as well. For the Hawks, Trae Young gutted Sacramento, scoring 35 points on 11/19 shooting from the field, 4/7 from deep, and a perfect 9/9 from the charity strip.
Unfortunately for the Kings, they don’t get much of a break in the schedule, as they’ll enjoy just one day of rest before they take on the best team in the NBA, the Boston Celtics, on Friday evening, which will mark their third game in four days.
From all of here at The Kings Herald, we wish you a safe and a Happy Thanksgiving! And remember, all TKH gear is currently 25% off with code REFSYOUSUCK. Now, get off this site and go enjoy a half-pan of green bean casserole and a quarter of a yogurt pie! And be sure to leave the varying flavors of your yogurt pie in the comments below!
They had opportunities. I’d like to think they would have won this game if they had an off-day coming in. Boston will be a big test. It’ll be interesting to see if Brown makes a change and swaps Lyles for Murray in the starting lineup.
I would take it a step further. Lyles starting at the 4 as you suggested. Bring Holmes in at the 5 and Métis at the 4 off the bench. Keegan can learn from sitting at the far end of the bench.
A couple of off nights shooting shouldn’t banish one of our capable forwards off the rotation. I’m not against him coming off the bench, but part of the reason he’s shouting so poorly is that defenses are still playing him tight, knowing he’s a threat to pop off.
He’s still a capable two way player, and will benefit you more than he doesn’t as the season goes on. Give him minutes until he loses them
Agree. If the issue with Keegan is confidence, the worst thing Brown could do at this point is taking away all of the playing time of our #4 pick during his first slump. Instead, they should be telling him to keep shooting.
yeah, keep him in the starting 5. After watching this game, I’m thinking he’s gonna have to play through this shooting slump with defense, rebounding and dirty work. Congrats for an exciting 7-game win streak.
hes not doing defense, rebounding or dirty work either
he is being asked to guard quick guards and wings on the perimeter and has been improving in my opinion. Tonight he played better after the 1st quarter and actually ended with a neutral plus minus.
Yeah, I’m not sure why Brown chose him to guard Dejounte Murray. That was a weird matchup.
he was also matched up against Donovan Mitchell in the first half of the Cavs game. Giving deference to the coaches, I can think of several benefits for getting this experience against top players.
Test Keegan maybe? It’s a weird matchup but they do need Keegan to do certain things on the defensive end. I would have liked to see how Keegan fared against Hunter and Collins honestly more often. But maybe that’s the next matchup in Jan.
Which of course is on a SEGABABA for Sac with Atl waiting for them (Kings play Jazz the night before in SLC). NBA schedules man.
I hope it is just a slump because this Keegan is not good.
And if it’s confidence, I’m not sure I’ve ever see /rarely seen a top 4 with confidence issues? Fultz
i don’t fully get it, since he’s always at least been a shooter/scorer. Hopefully it works it’s way out, or the fears of drafting him cause of lack of athleticism/ceiling are real.
Im not saying that’s true, just that I am a bit concerned.
More patience not less is required now. The coach can always not play him in crunch time if he isn’t productive . Only 21 minutes tonite . Trust the coach !
This.
The NBA scouts have figured out how to easily shut down Murray. It isn’t anything else. He has not changed as a player. He will learn how to adjust.
Lyles isn’t good either. Though. I mean as much as I dislike what Murray is doing I’d rather give him reps than mess with Lyles who is bad at defense and sub efficient (games like this for lyles are every 3/4)
Okpala, going small with Monk/Davis seem more apt
19 turnovers just ain’t going to do it especially the turnovers in the fourth quarter. Enough of the game. I am so frustrated with the league right now. No NBA team should ever have to play games back to back. No NBA team and that includes the Lakers. You are pitting a team that played the night before, on the road, against a team that had at the least one day off. Why would the league do that. If you extend some dates at the end of the season then do it. It is so unfair to any team to have to play back to back games. The other frustration is why do you have to play any games directly before and after Thanksgiving. Extend the schedule so players can spend one off day with their love ones on a day IMO is the second most important holiday of the year next to Christmas. So Thanksgiving means nothing to the league. Figure it out.
Found Lebron’s burner
Absolutely. Far a couple of seasons ESPN would put out a column at the beginning of the season along the likes of best bets for the season and it turned out most of the games they picked to bet on were all back to backs or 3 games in 4 days. The most rested teams won something like 70%.
Happy Thanksgiving to all Kings fans and their families. Enjoy the days together. Card games, chess matches, walks, bike rides, runs, naps, pie, and beer…..
This is our year as King’s fans.
Gallo agrees.
And he likes our chances of joy.
Happy Thanksgiving Gallo and a most definite yes to all of the above
I think this is the beginning of a number of good years for The Kangz.
Vivek non-meddling permitting…
Right. Could all end if that happens.
REFSYOUSUCK code.
Classic!
This is good
Thanks for confirming!
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Happy Thanksgiving TKH friends
See you Friday
Not terrible concerned by the loss, but a win would have been the best of the year. Too much poor shooting across the board, and frankly I think the biggest mistake Mike Brown made wasn’t diving deeper into his bench. I think he did so on purpose as he knew this was only the 2nd SEGABABA the Kings have had this season with 3 of them coming up in December alone. I’m assuming he wanted to see what his core group could come up with on a SEGABABA and he found out whom could do what.
But that said, the opportunities were there. Atlanta didn’t completely unravel and that’s almost what the Kings needed tonight. No big deal. Coming into this trip I was hoping the Kings could get 1 out of 3. They got the 1 last night vs Memphis, go into Boston and steal one if possible.
Kings ORtg: 116.8 (2nd) Kings DRtg: 113.7 (24th) Kings Net Rtg: +3.1
Merry Christmas y’all. And for those who partake, Happy Thanksgiving also.
Yup. Agreed on all takes.
In terms of going deep into the bench, I was a bit surprised Brown went to Delly (I believe in the 2nd quarter) over the likes of KZ. The Kings needed a stop, and according to Brown, KZ is a stopper. Either way, the minutes were non-impactful. But to your point, maybe a reach into the deep bench is what this kind of game is good for.
I had chalked this one up to a scheduled loss. No surprised tonight. On to Boston.
Happy Holidays.
Kings lost but so did Portland, Mavs, and Jazz and LAC.
Winners- Minnesota, Nuggets and Pels.
So more losers than winners in the West 1-10
Hawks were ready and rested and ready to take on the hype team.
And Hawks tried to give it away. Kings held onto the rope as Matt Barnes says but in the fourth, tried to catch up with home run 3 balls which came up short- a clear sign of fatigue.
While it was possible to get this one, it did slip away.
Keegan has disappeared. Lacks confidence. Just gave up on the drive in the second half Ended by getting fouled but just held up instead of powering through. And missed all his shots.
I believe let him try to find it in Boston. If that fails, let him sit and watch for a bit. We know he can play He needs to go strong- backed off on every drive and every opportunity under the hoop. “Send it down, big fella!”
The beam looked tired the last few games. Not displeased to give it a rest for a game.
Also better, given the current energy prices and global warming.
That looked exactly like a travel SEGABABA game – it annoys me that the NBA schedules these at all for any team*. Anyways, the Kings rolled a 1 on every shot and turned the ball over an insane amount but were somehow still in striking distance at the end so I’m not too worried.
*there are better scheduling solutions, I promise you
My completely useless take is I feel like Keegan off the bench was alot more productive. It could just be a mini slump but he’s not been great lately, which is to be expected from a rook. Maybe coming off the bench might be better for him as he learns the game a bit more and works on his craft a bit. If he’s not shooting the 3 he tends to play a bit scared, very tentative with what he does and isn’t trying to take over when needed. It may just not be his game, but when that shot isn’t falling all the good we know he can do tends to not shine as bright.
Anyways, can’t win them all.
Happy TurkeyDay you filthy animals🦃
Get your Hot Takes:
The game was within reach – the Kings needed to play mistake free (no missed shots, no turnovers, no fouls) hoop and in response, Trae Young needed to be off – neither of those things happened. The Kings almosted too many shots and Trae was clutch. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Harrison Barnes continues to roll – I think he gave his slump to Keegan/Kris*. Hopefully Keegan/Kris will snap out of it and move it to someone else.
I am a bit surprised how little time TDavis is seeing after the bigger chunks more recently.
*Kosta wondered if there was a Murray switch- Keegan is playing at Iowa St. to ramp up Kris’ draft stock and Kris is wearing purple – and I have to admit, it’s a hard theory to ignore. 🤔
Happy Thanksgiving- I’m giving thanks to GM McNair and Wes, HC Brown and staff, the Kings roster and even King Vivek/Queen Matina/Prince Aneel for this competitive likable Sacramento Kings Team and their winning ways. And of course, to the marvelous writers and podcasters and this fine.community at The Kings Herald
Happy Thanksgiving TKH! I was hoping to see a win but I’m not too concerned with the loss. Kings created the open shots they just weren’t going in this game. That’s not the norm. Even then they still had a chance to steal it late in the game. Hoping for a battle against Boston as I’ll be watching with my nephew who loves the Celtics. GO KINGS!
Look at the bright side, at least most Western Conf teams (Blazers, Mavs, Jazz and Clippers) all lost to Eastern Conf teams…………..
Just take some rest, and limit the turnover…..and we should be just fine.
p.s. Why there is no set play for Murray to shoot those corner 3 ?
Hey God, are you there? It’s me, Keegan Murray…..
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone that is celebrating today. I hope you all have a great time spending it with your families/friends.
Wish the Kings could have done that too.
Comes with being in the NBA. They’ll be okay. I’m sure they had a big group outing because they were on the road. Maybe even a few guys had family around.
Wouldn’t sweat it.
I’m sure they will. My whole point has to do with the team that has to play back to back. My wife who knows BB being a wife of 47 years knew that the kings played tired last night due to a back to back. If the team who does this should be able to play on equal terms and have a day in between to rest. The league can fix that very easily.
December the Kings play 3 back to back games. Let’s see who wins.
Yeah the NBA can change the schedule but it has consequences in doing so. And not always good ones for you. Every team plays b2b’s, every team plays at a rest disadvantage. It happens all the time.
The Kings have 13 b2b’s this season total. The next one is in LA against the Clippers on Dec 3rd at 1pm Pacific and Dec 4th at G1C against Chicago at 3pm Pacific. That’s not any better than this b2b. Or the b2b against Philly and Toronto on that 6 game trip in Dec.
The NBA has actually reduced b2b’s over the years, briefer it or not. There used to be around 20 b2b’s a season in years past. That’s why they start in October now among other things.
At the top of your comments you say there are consequences. Please explain. I still disagree. t think there should be no back to backs for any team. It is still a disadvantage for the team that had no rest between games. Can the league change this? Sure. It will be easy to do so. Will they. Probably not. Too bad.
Well, Jack, here’s what you need to understand. If you eliminate b2b’s, you have a season that runs into August. Every year. You simply don’t have enough season to eliminate b2b’s. And teams, players, even broadcast partners, want an offseason. Sure, you hate the schedule losses Jack. We all do. Follow 30 NBA teams and you’ll see this happens more often than you think.
If you start changing schedules for one team, it effects all 30 teams. Because there are ripple effects in doing so.
The Hawks, for example, have 10 b2b’s this season. The Kings have 11. And this changes things for everyone.
This makes it easier to travel East for a Pacific TZ team, for example. The Kings are headed East for all of 5 days and managed to play a long travel conference game (Memphis), and 2 teams in the East (Atlanta and Boston) that require a minimum of a day off to travel there.
You accomplish that by having the Kings play a b2b in Atlanta. You also manage to sneak in several non conference games for a West Coast team. That’s from the NBA’s perspective.
And you have to remember everyone has considerations the NBA has to take into account. I believe this is still the case, but the Utah Jazz do not play Sunday home games for religious reasons. I believe the exception to that is playoff games.
Simply put, I think you need to understand the NBA spends 18 months writing these schedules. I read an article on The Athletic months ago discussing how a schedule is made. I’ll try to pass it along as you might find it informative.
This is just the 1st paragraph from a long piece by Mike Vorkunov at The Athletic. Highlights within the paragraph are mine.
I really do recommend reading it. I think it will clarify things for those who think the Kings are being needlessly screwed by the schedule.
Thank you for the input. I really appreciate the comments. I will read it. I don’t think the Kings are getting screwed but all teams that have back to backs ae getting screwed.
Things I liked:
Monk’s Dunks (as well as his overall contribution). He’s starting to overtake Davion as my favorite King.
Domas’s overall game. He’s contributing everywhere.
Team Grit. Able to stay in striking distance despite a poor shooting night. This is the type of game former Kings teams get smashed by 25+
Davion’s Defense. There was a play where he was caught on a switch against Capela on the block. He got low, provided resistance, and Clint air balled over the rim from 3ft away, despite the massive size difference. He also caused a few TO’s on Trae. Guys may score when he’s guarding him, but he doesn’t make it easy. I love that he just chews his gum and goes about his business, no talk, no cheap shots. He’s nothing like PBev.
Reality Check. This could be a good loss that refocuses the team heading into a matchup against the NBA’s best team.
Things I liked, not so much:
Shooting 3’s when we needed a key bucket. When the 3’s aren’t falling, and you need a bucket take it to the hole!
Overall sluggish performance. Even if understandable.
The calls that go against or uncalled against Fox and Sabonis are baffling at times. Rarely do they get the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they need to do more flopping and flailing like others.
Trae Youngs antics and pube like hair. There’s just something about him I don’t like at all.
HAPPY!
Somebody needs to stop Davion Mitchell from overguarding his opponent 40 feet from the basket and incessantly getting picked off by the obvious high pick. Watched him repeatedly end up chasing his man down the lane as other defenders rush to cover and then their man is open. Go under the screen! Let your man shoot from 45 feet! Davion is praised as a solid defender and indeed he is very good at staying with a dribbler, but at triple threat this far from the basket that approach fails. Coach Brown or Doug Christie, surely you see this!!
It’s Thanksgiving, and I am thankful… for these Kings. Hey, even the Eastcoast Sports Programming Network notices them! Their legs were just too tired to out gun the Hawks (except Monk’s). I’m thankful for:
-Monk!!!
-Huerter, who KD says reminds him of Klay…
-Sabonis, the Euro High Post God…
-Barnes, Role Player Extrordinaire…
-and Mature Fox, still quick, now balanced, patient, picking his way through like a wily vet.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, but this is…fun! If I had to pick being first in offense or defense, this is what I’d want.
Thanks Monte…
Happy Thanksgiving.
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