The 2024-25 Sacramento Kings may just be the most frustrating Kings squad of all time.
The Kings fell 130-129 to the Denver Nuggets on Monday night to drop back below .500 at 13-14. It was Sacramento’s 9th loss this season of just five points or fewer. The Kings had fought their way back from a 23 point first half deficit to take a 10 point lead with 4:10 left in the game. Denver would go on to score 21 points in those final four minutes, capped off by a Jamal Murray midrange jumper with 8.6 seconds left to put them ahead. The Kings had a chance to win the game and put together an extremely well designed play that should have given DeMar DeRozan an easy layup or dunk, but DeRozan mishandled the pass from Domantas Sabonis and after recovering the ball, missed the fallaway jumper at the buzzer. The final play was a microcosm of this Kings season so far, with this team being so close but managing to find a way to fail anyway.
The first quarter was an absolute disaster-class performance from the Kings, with the Nuggets dominating the paint, the glass and pretty much everything else to get out to a 41-21 lead. The only player who really got going for the Kings early was Domantas Sabonis, who scored 8 points in the first quarter on 4-7 from the field. No other player made more than one field goal in that first quarter as the Kings shot just 9-25 compared to 16-27 for Denver. The Nuggets also had a ridiculous 19 – 9 rebound advantage in the quarter, with 7 of those being offensive.
Sacramento’s offense managed to recover in a big way in the second quarter however. After shooting just 9-25 for 21 points in the first, the Kings scored a season-high 47 points in the 2nd on 16-24 from the field. DeMar DeRozan led the way for the Kings with 11 points in the quarter, and Doug McDermott, who got the start after Keegan Murray was declared a late scratch due to an ankle injury, made all three of his three point attempts for 9 points in the quarter. Sacramento’s defense still left plenty to desire as Denver scored 34 themselves, but by halftime the Kings had managed to cut a 23 point deficit to just 7.
The 3rd quarter was Sacramento’s best from an overall perspective. Sacramento came out aggressive on both ends of the floor and played with a lot more physicality after allowing the Nuggets to score 50 points in the paint in the first half. The Kings held the Nuggets to just 21 points in the third, and Malik Monk got rolling, scoring 15 points on 6-7 shooting including all three of his triples. After entering the quarter down 7, the Kings actually finished up 7 and with all the momentum. With the deficit behind them, all they had to do was hang on for 12 minutes and close the game out at home like good teams do.
And for about 8 minutes, that’s what they did. The Nuggets would go on a little bit of a run, but the Kings would hold them off. In fact with 4:10 to go, De’Aaron Fox got a floater in the paint to put the Kings up 119-109, their largest lead of the game.
That’s about the time the wheels started to come off. Jamal Murray hit a three pointer to cut the game to 119-114. Domantas Sabonis responded with his own three to push the lead back to 8 with 3:01 left. Murray followed that up by getting to the line to cut it to 6. Fox missed on the other end and then Westbrook scored on a backcut (one of many such cuts that killed the Kings all night) to cut it to 4. DeMar DeRozan got about as wide open a look from his spot on the side as you can get but missed. Aaron Gordon, who to that point hadn’t hit a three, came down and hit one from the left wing to make it a one point game. Following a turnover, Nikola Jokic gave the Nuggets the lead at 123-122 with a little floater.
If I wasn’t so exasperated, this final minute would have been really exciting. De’Aaron Fox came down and took the lead right back, followed by Jamal Murray getting away with a bit of a pushoff on Fox to hit his own midrange jumper. Fox came right back at Murray and drilled a three in his face to give the Kings a two point lead. Nikola Jokic responded by hitting his first three of the game to change the lead yet again. Then Fox found DeRozan on the baseline for a drive and dunk to put the Kings up with 21 seconds left. After a timeout, Jokic and Murray played their two man game, and I thought Fox and Sabonis did an admirable job of trying to defend it, with Fox fighting through the screen to stay attached to Murray, but Murray was able to get to the elbow and hit the midrange jumper to put the Nuggets up.
The Kings called timeout to draw up their final play, and I thought it was one of the best designed plays I’ve ever seen the Kings run in this situation. Monk inbounded the ball to De’Aaron Fox in the backcourt, and after Sabonis came up to screen, Fox handed the ball off and Sabonis drove the paint. As the defense collapsed, DeMar DeRozan came crashing in from the side and Sabonis passed the ball to him for what should have been another dunk or layup, but DeRozan didn’t catch the pass cleanly and instead had to fight with the Nuggets to control the ball under the hoop. He did manage to recover it but had to settle for a tough turnaround that hit the back of the iron and popped out. It was a tough ending to what had otherwise been an exciting finish.
In so many other years of Kings basketball, I would be commending the fight the team showed after falling down by so many points so early. But these aren’t the same Kings teams who can coast by on moral victories and what ifs. This Kings team came in with expectations and so far they’re failing to live up to them. After a season in which they barely missed the playoffs, they’re once again failing to close out games. It takes a lot to stand out in the West, and right now the Kings have nobody to blame but themselves. Right now the 6th seed has 14 wins. If the Kings had won just 3 of the 9 games they’ve lost by 5 or fewer this season, they’d be at 16-10, good for 5th in the West.
Mike Brown harped on the team still not putting in the work to do the little things, and it’s hard to argue with him. This team still plays too loose and inconsistent. Yeah, it was nice to come back from a big deficit, but don’t allow yourselves to fall into such a hole to begin with. Don’t allow a Denver team to score 76 points in the paint on a night when Nikola Jokic only scored 20 points on 8-19 from the field. Mike Brown got memed on hard for his “possession after possession” speech the other day, but the Kings need to realize every possession matters, especially when it comes to all these close games. You can’t be wasting 3 on 1 fastbreak opportunities. You can’t be watching the ball and allowing your man to slip behind you for an easy layup or putback. It all adds up.
The Kings are back in action on Thursday to take on the L.A. Lakers.
Random Observations
- The Kings on the court have some work to do, but it’s also on this front office to get some depth for this team. Doug McDermott did an admirable job stepping into the starting lineup today, scoring 16 points, but the bench itself was disappointing yet again. Yes, the Kings were shorthanded without Keegan Murray, Kevin Huerter and Trey Lyles, but it’s tough to see just 14 points from your bench, and almost all of that was Keon Ellis with 12 points. Colby Jones played almost 19 minutes and didn’t score (although I thought he did a good job defensively). The return of some of our injured players will help, but this team desperately needs some reinforcements, particularly in the frontcourt. Domantas Sabonis had to play 42 minutes in a game where he took a hard fall and was already dealing with a sore back because the Kings simply don’t have anyone reliable enough to spell him for any significant stretch.
- Offensively, the Kings have definitely started to look more like the original 22-23 Beam Team, and inserting Malik Monk into the starting lineup has been a big part of that in my opinion. Malik pushes the pace better than almost anyone on the team, including Fox, and his playmaking is top notch as well (10 assists to go with his 25 points). The Kings also thrived in the fastbreak against Denver, scoring 30 fastbreak points to just 16 for the Nuggets
- Despite the Nuggets having so many offensive rebounds, the Kings actually had more second chance points at 12 to 9. Denver only shot 4-13 on their second chance opportunities.
- DeMar had a rough 4th quarter, going just 1-6 from the field. He had some good looks too that he normally knocks down.
that starting five with McDermott and DeMar at the forward spots can’t handle the Nuggets starting 5. it was way to easy to score on them.
Who could have seen that coming?
Oh, wait.
And yet, Brown kept him in, “possession after possession”…
kept him in after the early timeout!
You got to let them play through their mistakes.
Well not all of them, obviously. Just Dougie and Huerter.
Keon has not had that luxury
MB’s coaching this year has definitely been disappointing. His selection of rotation when a starter is out is particularly baffling.
To add, the team’s performance after several days off has been really disappointing but this was the case last year, too.
He’s the same coach who started KZ Okpala for the first 3 games of the 22-23 season instead of Keegan and also started Chris Duarte for 11 games last season when Huerter was struggling.
Dumb question: How much better is this season’s Kevin Huerter than Doug McDermott?
totally different players, but I’d say he’s significantly better.
Starting I. Jones probably would’ve been better.
Missed opportunity to title this “snatching defeat from snatching victory from the jaws of defeat”
When the Kings win the championship in 2047 we’ll all look back on this day as one of the many necessary stepping stones to growth and inevitable victory.
Jack can’t wait that long.
Neither can I
I would be 94 in 2047. Not happening.
Is it just me or does it look like MB’s “game plan” is to throw shit at the wall to see what sticks?
Thanks Adamsite. I’ll be dead long before that but who cares. I’m the only one who does. That’s not true. My son and grand kids care. It could happen for them. I hope it does.
Or ElRon.
‘Mike Brown harped on the team still not putting in the work to do the little things, and it’s hard to argue with him.’
Anybody else find this strange? Shouldn’t he be in charge of this?
LOL, hard to beat a good football coach rant!
I guess if someone brought a laptop or something to a post game interview…
This was a critical game for the Kings to position themselves for a chance at finishing in the top 6. But, yet again, the team lacked the mental toughness and execution to close out a veteran playoff team, or any team for that matter. Still a play-in team at best.
2 or 3 years ago, we would have looked at this game and the OKC one where Fox scored 60 as signs justifying optimism. But now, when the team loses because of mistakes like Lyles firing up a long range 3 with lots of time of the clock with about a minute a half left against OKC in regulation, or DeRozan fumbling the Sabonis pass in the final seconds, we see a team that can’t execute like winning teams do.
The book is out on the Kings around the league: the team can’t execute and defend in the final minutes, so play with confidence in the late 4th, with the expectation that you will erase the deficit and win.
27 games in the book, which is 32% of the season. 27 games into the lone playoff year, the Kings were 15-12 and ended up winning 48 games. Last year, at this mark the Kings were 17-10, and ended up winning 46 games (mind you the lost Huerter and Monk to end the season).
To match the 46 win season from last year, which was just a play-in seed, the Kings will need to go 33-22 the rest of the way. That’s .600 the rest of the season. It’s not impossible, but highly unlikely as they are currently constructed and playing.
The last time the Kings played .600 or above for last 55 games was 2005-06, which was the last year they made the playoffs and made a mid-season trade for Ron Artest, who finished 4th in DPOY that year.
Your move, Monte.
Kevin Huerter, Colby Jones and multiples 2nd rounders for DFS and DayRon Sharpe.
Lets go Monte.
Put me in the camp that rearranging the deck chairs around the edges won’t move the needle one bit. Plus, the Kings would be giving up the best player on the best contract with draft assets. DFS has a PO for next season and Sharpe is about to be a RFA. Pass.
What are your thoughts on adding to the roster?
Maybe I might be able to help. Huerter, C. Jones, McLaughlin, Robinson a first and second to the Blazers for Williams, Thybulle and Camara. Backups: Carter( when he gets back, Ellis, Camara and Thybulle at SF, Lyles and Issac Jones at PF and Williams at center. You have good defense and some offense. Williams a good backup to Sabonis and can also play along side Domas. He’s shooting the 3 pretty good and definitely is a rtim protector and offensive rebounder. Camara is a up and coming defensive with an attitude I like. Good defender. We all know what Matisse can do on the defensive end. Mike doesn’t have to play them all at once but intermix with starters. I finally believe Carter and Camara are not that far from being starter material.
That’s a bit rich. Doubt the Blazers would put Camara in that deal.
As of today…blow it up or stand pat. I absolutely don’t want to leverage any future capital to try and make the playoffs with fringe additions.
It’s debatable who is better, Huerter or DFS. DFS is just a much better fit. Last night, we could have used a defensive combo forward who is shooting 45 3PT% on high volume.
It’s an atypical year for both Hueter and DFS. Huerter is below his career averages so the Kings could potentially be selling low on him. Plus, he has another year guaranteed to a very reasonable contract DFS on the other hand, is shooting way above his career averages, and has a PO for next season that he may opt out of. In all reality DFS is having the best year of his career, but it could be an outlier.
I just don’t think it is good asset management for a guy who may or may not affect the win/loss column, especially if the Kings are the ones giving up future draft capital.
John Collins is who we need. He rebounds, bangs, and hits threes. He can capably play small ball center too. The Kings are horrible at rebounding and any addition needs to significantly improve that area. The forwards we’re hearing about in rumors would not significantly upgrade our rebounding or defense. I’d say DDR for Collins.
The problem is, Utah has to agree to any such deal. I don’t see Utah wanting DeMar and his contract unless some decent draft capital is coming their way.
Despite the 1st quarter, that was the most fun game I’ve watched in a while. The Kings have so many weapons of offense that it can be dizzying. If they can put it all together, and make their shots, this could be a really exciting team to watch every night. As of now, too inconsistent.
I still believe we need to get DDR to be our 6th man and maybe help to close games with buckets. Install Keon to start. Try that until trade deadline. If it really doesn’t work, try to get the most out of trading DDR to get better depth.
Jason Anderson says the Kings are in conversation about Kuzma, Cam Johnson and Dorian Finney-Smith. Obligatory comment that Kuzma is below average on his best day, awful this year and in my opinion, would actively make the team worse.
Nets just sold Schroder for pennies on the dollar. Of the three mentioned, I’d go after Cam Johnson first with a Schroder like offer.
I’d consider DFS
I don’t want to hear about any forward except John Collins.
Honestly, they did well without Murray and Huerter. Still, the offense went limp after they got the late 10 point lead. You have to know how to finish. Denver went with Murray and Jokic, pick and roll. Their two stars. I believe coaching may possibly have something to do with that…
My response to the many trade thoughts is to remind us of last off-season: trade Harrison Barnes, undersized 4, 4th option, for EMar ERozan, undersized 3, volume shooter, forcing top draft pick Murray to become… undersized 4, 4th option! And we wonder about defense…
Monte didn’t improve the defense. Monte’s moves have made Murray regress on offense, so we can’t recapture the Beam Team. And to top off the s#@t sundae, Mike doesn’t know how to use his bench or be a game coach. The only bright spot is the league’s best pick and roll, Monk and Sabonis. Pure pleasure to watch. Get a real 4, get Murray shooting 3’s again, get De Rozan to a contender. Probably too late for that. Surprise me Monte!
Add to that, I am not a fan of the DDR pick up. He’s not what they needed. Can’t shoot the 3. Defends so so. But takes ball out Sabonis hands- grinds O to halt a lot.
Just not the right fit. Off bench- cool. Honestly, I wish they could trade him too.
I don’t think they trade him. I too like the idea of him coming off the bench. I’d love to somehow get Cam Johnson on the cheap from the Nets, start him next to Keegan to give the Kings wings some much needed length and shooting, then bring DDR off the bench. I highly doubt it happens, but one can wish.
If they get Johnson, I’m assuming that Monk would go back to the bench.
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