The Golden 1 Center crowd rained down boos on the Sacramento Kings as Tyrese Haliburton’s layup put the Pacers up 111-85 with 4:51 remaining in the game. The Kings came into this game with things in disarray: back to back losses to the Los Angeles Lakers, rumors about De’Aaron Fox’s future with the team, teams potentially trying to steal Malik Monk away, and a record of 3 games under .500. It was primed for a get-right moment. Instead, the Kings lost 122-95 after letting the Pacers shoot 58% from the field.
Things are not good.
The Kings did come out of the gate better, avoiding falling behind big early like most of their recent games. Fox set the tone with 15 first half points and played good defense on Haliburton. Domantas Sabonis controlled the glass with 14 rebounds in the first half. The game was tied at halftime at 52-52, and the Kings did a good job of capitalizing on the Pacers 7 turnovers, scoring 12 points off those. The Pacers still shot the ball well at 48% from the field. The Kings did a good job of not fouling, with the Pacers only taking 2 free throws in the first half. Kevin Huerter provided a nice scoring punch off the bench with 8 points.
In the second half, the Kings fell apart, getting outscored 70-43.
The Good
- The fans in the arena: They let the team know how frustrated they were with the performance, and rightfully so. The Pacers are a sub-.500 team in a much weaker conference, so coming into this game with everything surrounding the Kings right now, those fans who paid to attend the week of Christmas deserved better.
- Nothing else should be listed as good right now.
The Bad
- The offense: 36% from the field and 31% from three. Only 20 total assists.
- The defense: The Pacers shot 58% from the field and 43% from three, and had 35 assists to 12 turnovers. The Kings only had 3 blocks and 3 steals.
- The Sacramento Kings: If the offense is bad, and the defense is bad…checks notes…the team is bad. (What has been so peculiar about this season has been that the team’s ratings indicating it is better than its record. After this loss, however, the net rating has dropped to 14th.)
The Ugly
- This team’s identity: Unfortunately, there isn’t one, at least a positive one. The identity is a team that loses a lot on its home floor (6-11 at home), is not clutch, lacks consistent focus/effort and largely looks defeated. The Sacramento Kings are currently directionless and don’t appear to have the leadership in place to overcome what is happening.
- Mike Brown’s Use of Keon Ellis: 5 minutes in garbage time. Yes, test some offense with Doug McDermott, but if the other team is shooting 58% you need a guy who is going to give it all to slow that down on the floor. (McDermott went 1-4 from the field in 18 minutes.)
Up Next
Something should happen next with this 13-17 team. It could be big, it could be some smaller adjustments, but things need to change. If it doesn’t, the noisy world of Kangz is sure to take over. The next game is Thursday against the Detroit Pistons at 7 p.m.
In much of the NBA, this game gets the coach fired.
Hard to interpret the postgame clips James Ham is posting. As usual, the guy who I want to root for most, because he looks like he cares the most, is Domas.
Domas deserves better from his team, his coaches, and his front office.
Domas definitely deserves better.
MB:
And once he finds someone to step up, he rewards them with a DNP-CD or just garbage time minutes
That’s Mike Brown logic.
JJ Reddit > Mike Brown. ’nuff said. Fire his ass
Surround domas with high iq off ball shooters and watch some magic happen
Glad I didn’t watch this and knew this was going to happen. They always lose the second game of a back to back. Checks the stats – and yup, they keep chucking up threes even though the percentages are bad. It’s like everyone lost their shot and keeps chucking up threes.
Ugh. Been a Kings fan since they moved to SAC but it’s getting more difficult by the day lately.
Same. At some point logic must prevail.
I think I’ll probably just take a break until they make a move. There’s just no reason to invest any time or money in this organization right now.
Me and my friend were saying the same thing awhile back. We’ve been fans since the 2002 team, been loyal for 20 years, and once we broke through 2 years ago, we thought there was nowhere to go but up.
But alas, the narative that we are the NBA franchise that nobody takes seriously has reared its ugly head again.
At some point, people should just.. let go.
Im so tired of my kings.
This team deserves no attention, time to take a break from these clowns.
Hard to imagine that this season is salvageable. Whatever moves are about to happen (and, yes, as Blake mentions there absolutely HAVE to be some moves shortly forthcoming), they have to be for the future of this team, not for this season.
The only “future” move that has happened in the Vivek era (11 years and counting) was when Vlade traded DMC for Buddy, a pick, and filler. It seems every other move in the Vivek era has been patchwork to reach for a few more wins.
That trade could have set us up for a better future if they had correctly used the number 10 pick or even the 15 and 20 picks to go with Fox.
It’s always one step forward two steps back with this franchise.
For my own sanity I’m expecting little to no change. Appreciate your optimism though.
Mike Brown and or his agent leaking the report in the off-season that the front office did not want to extend him over the summer is now looking even more brilliant. That pressured the FO to extending him. Almost makes you wonder if Brown saw this coming over the summer. Now the question is whether the kings will eat 30 million.
As someone who has followed the Kings off and on since their arrival, I have to say that I’m really sad about what is happening. No one on this team wants to lose, to go through this. Fox doesn’t go home after games and laugh like the Joker (the movie one, not the Nuggets one) about how much money he stealing from the team and the fans. Brown doesn’t text friends after games about how he’s pulling one of the greatest cons since The Sting. While it is bad for fans, it is much worse for them.
I’ve always doubted that Fox and Sabonis were going to make this team a strong playoff contender, but I still held out hope that it might happen. I’ve been wrong about basketball before, sometimes several times in the same week.
But it is going to get worse unless radical changes are made. Fox should be traded as soon as possible to get some value for him, and Rich Paul should help the Kings make it happen. Ownership should publicly acknowledge how bad it is, and make a commitment to fans to overhaul the franchise. Coaches have been hired and fired, GMs have been hired and fired, players have been drafted and traded, and yet, here we are. I keep coming back to what I said yesterday, Vivek needs to bring in an interim President of Basketball Operations to rebuild this organization from the ground up, and then turn it over to his replacement. I suggested Bob Myers, but there are other good candidates, too.
As a fan, I would not only buy into this, I would be excited by it. If there is a money issue, Vivek and the owners need to solicit outside capital to make the franchise competitive. If Vivek and some minority owners value their luxury tax payments more than building a winning franchise, they need to be bought out. There are plenty of rich people who would love the opportunity to own part of a successful NBA franchise.
We are beyond a situation where the right GM and the right coach will right the ship, because, even if the Kings could get them to work here, the organization will sabotage them.
I agree that this organization needs a reset from the top. I do not know who Bob Myers is but I do like the process you describe. Owners not willing to pay to win will not win in the NBA. It is even seen in the comments here. People write paragraph after paragraph describing how the Kings are stuck because of the salary tax structure. Many other teams have quickly worked through that issue.
Somewhere in the organization a culture of losing, “good enough”, we can’t, or whatever other loser mentality you can think of THRIVES. We can put together a roster of fifteen Hall of Fame players and this organization will crush them.
Myers would be a dream come true. The genius that put together the Dubs dynasty.
Left at the right time. Vivek should offer him anything to get him.
Yup, but an impossible dream. Bob Myers could get any open basketball-related job he wants in any organization, and name his price. Why would he come here to work for Vivek?
I’m assuming Myers and Vivek have a history.
Sac is close to the bay, assuming Myers is still based out there.
The challenge of fixing a long down trodden franchise.
The satisfaction of making the Kings better in the long run than the duds.
Plenty of reasons.
I wouldn’t assume Myers sees that as an attraction.
How do you know they’re not buddies?
maybe they are maybe they aren’t, who knows.
Myers would come here for about to about a year or so and then turn over the keys to the new people. Of course, he’d want to be paid a lot to do it. There are others who could do it if he isn’t interested.
I suffered through 2002 while living in SoCal (what a misery). I suffered through the imminent departure from Sac while living in Seattle and wrote letters to NBA supporting the Kings staying in Sac. Was I wrong? If they had moved to Seattle I could have picked back up being a season ticket holder. Sad to even let these thoughts enter my head. Not feeling anything good right now. I’ll likely stop my 18 year NBA league pass subscription and just stop caring.
I’m not feeling up for another “rebuild.”
I hope to feel better (regarding Kings) on another day, but today I feel pretty beat.
btw… I don’t blame any of the players.
I also was living in so cal in 2002 … that was brutal
But There in lies
the
problem. This team has never done a rebuild. When? They teetered in either mediocrity or poor for the better part of almost 20
years. If they actually did a proper rebuild. They would not be in this state of disarray.
Rebuild is OKC, Rockets, Cleveland, A proper rebuild takes a competent front office and Gm, and years.
The Fan base. At least me. Would embrace a fiery team full of young hungry players. Draft picks and young assets.
The Kings Have never done that type of rebuild. Ever!
But if adding Finney Smith, Kuzma, or Grant is the idea of improvement…it’s more rearranging deck chairs.
So, when you speak of another rebuild what does that mean.
Great points. How many are interested in several 20 win seasons with no assurity of ever being a contender . See: Detroit, Washington, . Most drafts don’t have Wemby, or LeBron .
Next year will mark the 60th ( yikes) anniversary of following this franchise.
Through that time there has been one common thread. Incompetent ownership.Present company not excluded.
Born just outside of Kansas City. These guys followed me here.
I hope this one puts the “if we were in the Eastern Conference we’d be fine” comments to rest. This, the Atlanta and Toronto games show differently.
You can’t win if you can’t protect your home court.
Assists, rebounds, turn overs, and effort.
Simple.
I mean, they’d currently be 10th and in the play-in instead of 12th and 2.5 games out of the play-in.
Yay?
Really? Lol
Sabonis is a phenomenal player putting in immense effort while sacrificing his own well being for his team. This team is not doing anything for him in return. Sabonis loads up the stat categories that lead to team wins. Insane rebounds and assists to go along with them while adding 20 or more a night on the score board. His competitive nature and will to win is not measured statistically. This man is incredible.
I can accept that this team is trash. It is nothing new. I cannot accept that his team, the coaches, and the front office sit and watch Sabonis do what he does without giving him anything in return.
All of this happens while his agent sits at home because Sabonis wants to win in Sacramento.
I whole heartedly disagree. Sabonis is a great regular season player. But not a 1 or even 2 on a contending team.
There is a reason Sabonis doesn’t get much pub by NBA experts.
He’s a regular season anomaly. That always gets exposed in the biggest stage.
Let me enlighten you. Boner has been to the playoffs 5 x. 3 with Indiana, 1 with OKC, 1 with Sac
His career average is 12 pts and 7 boards.
So, you tell me. Does that sound like a 1-2 option in a contending team? Because it’s not.
He will also be going into his 10th season next year.
He can’t rim protect, he’s a poor defender, that’s obvious, he does not space the floor, he shoots 1-2’
3s a game. He contributes to winning. He does not have the capacity to put a team on his back and lead it to victory. Embiid, AD and Jokic yes. The only 3 that can.
Yes, Boner can score in the regular season when. Most teams don’t put a premium on Defnse.
Playoffs a whole different story.’Crowd him force him off the block and his kryptonite is gone. Good player. Yes. Incredible.
There’s a reason The Pacers and Okc let him go. Incredible?
Cmon.
I know what you said without reading it. You are consistent. Go read some NBA stuff and see what they say about Sabonis. Pretty cool major feature about him and his family recently.
That’s right consistent. I bring up real stats to back up what is say.
12x All NBA Isaiah Thomas said this about the Kings: In the NBA You have stat fillers and you have impact players.
I think I’ll defer to an utter legend.
The Kings have 3 20 pt scorers. How much winning are they doing?
I could care less if Sabonis is salt of the earth,
great father, husband, pillar of the community. I am talking basketball.
Yes, consistency is key. And one thing that’s consistent Kings losing.
I am guessing you just wrote a bunch about the Rockets?
Explain who you could get that is better than Sabonis since he is without question the best center in the franchise 70 year history . Very tiring !
eh, I think the type of empty stat filler would be more like someone who takes all the shots and is inefficient, perhaps doesn’t pass much and/or doesn’t play D.
Domas is unselfish. Shares the basketball. Gobbles up rebounds. Plays hard every night. shoots with good percentages.
Can’t win at a high level with him
I agree with you. Thank you!!! Other people who don’t pick up on this blows my mind. Fox is the best player on this team and highly more coveted than Sabonis. There are 8-10 C i would take over Domas. Easily.
KOJ stating facts over feelings regarding Domas. Funny how so many Domas fan boys can’t accept that reality.
Citing his career 5X playoff numbers is incredibly disingenuous, and I think you know it. In OKC he played a whopping 6 total minutes. In first 2 playoff series with Indy, he came off the bench at age 21 and 22. In the third playoff series with Indy, in which Domas made his first all-star game, HE DIDN’T EVEN PLAY.
If you want to knock him for his one truly judgeable playoff series, here in Sac, then fine, but damn near the whole roster underperformed. We all saw Brown get completely out coached as the Dubs keyed in on Sabonis for the whole series.
So am I gonna say Sabonis can’t play in the playoffs because of one series against the defending champs? He no.
I love Domas but i can acknowledge that he is not perfect and has some serious limitations. Most players do.
But one thing that I keep coming back to is that in the play-off series against the Warriors and the play-in games last year, the opponent was completely focused on taking away Domas’ dribble-handoff and doubling/tripling him in the paint, while at the same time letting Fox get his own?
To me, that indicates that they were much more concerned with Domas getting the Kings clicking on all cylinders than they were by Fox doing that, or Fox just killing them on his own.
And on the other end, Domas was constantly forced top help because guards, including Fox, were constantly getting beat at the point of attack and he had to come over to avoid straight line drives to the rim. Consequence; Domas was out of position and Looney got plenty of offensive rebounds.
As with Fox, there’s more to it than just the raw numbers.
Interesting that over the last ten games Domas has averaged only 5.4 assists per game—down from 8.2 per game last season. Are opposing teams focused on taking away that part of his game? The Kings are 4-6 in that stretch.
Partly that, partly the different scheme and problems with incorporating DDR, in my opinion. Oh, and players not making outside shots, I guess.
Not making those shots hurts the teams assist numbers. The team does appear to be going away from Domas as the hub of the offense, for some reason. That, in turn, has hampered the ball movement and probably caused players to take shot they are not accustomed to (Keegan mentioned the other night that he is getting shots that he is not accustomed to this season. Said he mostly was getting more DHO shots in the past 2 seasons, but this season has been different).
More drives by Monk and Fox, it seems, along with DDR ISOs, takes away any chance for Domas to facilitate. Defenses must love when the Kings do that.
Weird that adding a third ball handler/playmaking guard in monk to the lineup negatively effects domas and the team dynamics…maybe he should start keon like everyone else freaking knows
Agreed. I liked the idea of starting Monk, I thought that having two super quick guards who could penetrate/score/dish would put a lot of pressure on the opponent, as most teams do not have multiple POA defenders that fast.
Unfortunately, either they are playing very timidly, or the offensive game plan does not encourage much pick and roll or penetration. If they are not going to lean into a strength and take advantage, then there is no reason to have Monk start, and the balance that Keon brings is a bigger plus.
I thought Tim brought up a great point the other day with the lack of drives and PnR action with DeMar, who is very productive in both of those lanes. DeMar was my favorite Non-Kings player in the league, and constant on my fantasy teams, so I watched a lot of (dull) Bulls games the last few years, and enjoyed how varied his game was despite a mediocre threat from three. The Kings have made him solely a jump shooter, or they just give him the ball and stand there, watching him try and get of a shot. It is bizarre to take away his strengths, and to not take advantage of him being a very good passer. In my eyes, it is as egregious as the inconsistent role for Keon.
Yeah coach brown is having an epic coaching meltdown right before us
Cut off Domas and you have removed the brains of this team.
I appreciate Sabonis’ effort, grit, toughness and how he goes about his business. That said, he commits some of the dumbest fouls on the planet. Just boneheaded crystal clear fouls that he somehow can’t comprehend how pushing in the back with 2 hands could ever be called. I would argue there is not a single “high BBIQ” player on this team. They all do some things so dumb at such an incredibly high level that it outweighs all the other “high IQ” things they do otherwise. This team sucks and they ALL are a part of the problem.
Please list all players that don’t make dumb fouls . There are none .
Kawhi Leonard?
Hard to make fouls in street clothes.
I like Sabonis, but I’m not thriled with him considering his salary. If you want to compete for a championship in a salary cap league it is essential that your highest paid players are capable of leading and if necessary, winning games by putting the team on their back. Sabonis is not that type of player in my opinion.
I think this somewhat analogous to Brock Purdy. I like him, but if you pay him the amount they are talking about you can’t win because you don’t have enough cap space to build around him. He is also not a player capable of carrying a team.
Yeah just trade fox and derozan for high off ball iq players that can shoot, team will look a lot better
I have been critical of Brown but have to applaud his defensive gameplan to cause confusion and indecision for the Pacers.
“What do we do? Do we target Huerter, or do we attack McDermot?”
Too bad it didn’t work.
Don’t forget about DeRozan, he was part of that genius strategy as well.
Oh yes. It was funny when people argued at the time of the acquisition that despite the fact that he couldn’t hang with Shooting Guards anymore, he was an underrated defender.
And as much as I applaud Keegan for his defensive improvements, it seems to me that we overrate these improvements because we once again rate him against other Kings defenders. Nobody in the league is afraid of him. NO even targeted him specifically for a portion of the game.
The minority of commenters that questioned the DDR trade were lambasted on this site. It was a dumb trade when it was made, and it looks even dumber now. MM went from McGenius to McMoron since the LTB season. Get a real GM in here who knows what they’re doing. I’ll take Anajali over MM at this point lol.
Be careful what you wish for as that may well be Vivek’s plan .
I’m sure Vivek deep down still wants Mark Jackson to be the coach.
It’s wild that this is not out of the question.
This team is so bad to watch even posting on Kings Herald isn’t as fun as it used to be.
The coaching staff has to go. Immediately.
Some of it is Brown, Some of it roster construction.
Brown is probably not the long term answer. spoles or pop could probably get this team to play .500
ball. But not much more than that.
Way more, just by putting more cohesive lineups on the floor
Everytime we lose, Im reminded of players like Bagley, Fredette, Tyreke, Stauskas and Thomas Robinson.
Luka, Thompson, Curry, and Lillard. Those are the palyers we couldve had.
We have had more misses than hits and to watch Dallas have the succes their having through the draft and the Spurs succeed because of draft lottery luck shows me the next 10 years wont be any good for me as a fan as well.
But if drafting is all about luck, why is san antonio Continuously finding players in the middle of the draft that contribute to winning basketball.
When our we due for our franchise generational player, Basketball Gods?
Great recap of a sad game. Nitpicking the expresion is “rain down” (like waterdrops from the sky) and not “reign down” … unless of course you were aiming for a pun about the Kings.
Rain it in it in with the criticism, please.
Both Fox and/or Sabonis and Mike Brown need to go.
Brown has no clue on the rotation..
Fox does not make this team better…
Get a PG that can make his teammates better…….
and a head coach that can ulitize his players
AKA blow it up. Get rid of MM while we’re at it.
TANK for #Cooper Flagg……
Merry Kangzmas everyone.
If you get rid of Brown or McNair now it will be at least 10 years before we can again make a move to be a contender. At 81 I’m can;t wait that long. Listened to Matt George this morning and agree they are no totally to blame but instead of blowing it up completely make some major changes in this team’s roster.
As much as I love the guy Fox IMO would be the major move, If we wait until he gets his money he will be a King for the rest of his playing time. Maybe that’s alright but IMO he should be traded before that happens.
Huerter, Lyles C. Jones and Keon would be the other players who might bring someone YOUNG to help. I personally would miss Keon but he needs to play and because of Brown won’t get playing time with the Kings.
The Spurs as I see it are looking at a trade for Fox. The have the young players and draft picks to do this. Combining Huerter, Lyles, Jones and Ellis could possibly get at least one good YOUNG players to help
I don’t really know what to do about Derozan. He is old and only here for a short time. Does Monty keep him or trade him.
This is what I would do. Trade Fox to the Spurs for Castle, Johnson, Sochan 2 firsts and 3 seconds. Trade Huerter, Lyles, Jones,Ellis a first and 2 seconds to the Spurs for Collins and Kessler.
Starters: Castle, Monk, Murray, Collins and Sabonis
Backups: Carter/McL, Johnson, Derozan?, Sochan and Kessler.
Why would I do that?
After looking at last nights stats the Pacers had 7 players over 10 points none more than 15 and 2 at 8 points. The Kings had only 4 players over 10 points and the rest of the team at 2 or 3 points and at garbage time. IMO this is one of the biggest problems the Kings face. If you want continuity and teamwork this is what you need to do. Get everyone involved in the concept and work together to achieve that goal.
Last night the coach of the well-rested team found minutes for 11 players over the first 3+ quarters while the coach of the team on a back-to-back could find minutes for just 8 players (and not even his best 8!).
Brown early in the season “I gotta find a way to not play the starters heavy minutes”
Brown recently “The minutes just aren’t there for some guys, and they might have to sit”
Ok boss. Whatever you say. A couple less minutes for DDR, Monk, Fox throughout the game would help them stay fresh. Those minutes can all go to Keon, who is a good defender and spacer.
SOMEONE CALL PUKE MAN
Paid to lose….the game is obviously rigged by the refs, Vegas, the mafia, etc….for the Kings to always suck. We have been seeing this for the better part of 40 years in Sacramento, as the big guys love to stick it to the small markets. At this point the Kings players have decided to give up trying – and I can’t blame them – the bullshit calls are too much. Adam Silver is just running a rigged operation.
Counterpoint: Spurs, San Antonio. Alternative counterpoint: Thunder, Oklahoma City.
Alternative alternative counterpoint: Milwaukee, Denver & Toronto have won 3 of the last 6 championships.
Also: Hickory High School. 1951 Indiana State Champs. Defeated the Bears from South Bend Central, the Power Memorial of Indiana.
A team can play above the level of calls consistently getting called against them as a small market, but it takes a really locked in team to win above the level of rigged play-calling.
Okie dokie.
I want AI Refs now, and I want to see players bitch to a machine that doesn’t give a shit lol
They can just print the fine for a tech right there on the spot! Much more efficient.
Pitchers & catchers report in 49 days!
It is pretty cool that we got the A’s for a few years.
A’s > Kangz
Meh, the A’s are just the “A” in KANGZ
Vivek + Fisher. What could possibly go wrong?
Two negatives equal a positive…I’ll show myself out.
FWIW, I love MLB in Sac. But I sure do hate the circumstances, as well as the disingenuousness of Fisher. Side note – as a lifelong Giants fan, I am embarrassed and ashamed over their role in all of this.
Last time I followed the A’s were the Chapman/Olson years before they were traded or let go. Since then, the A’s have given no hope, and the MLB offices have made changes to the game that I found to be gimmicky and unwatchable.
What a frustrating season. Had a chance to trade Keegan at high stock value and make Tyrese/Domas move again, but wonder if that ship has sailed given his pathetic offensive play.
Haven’t watched as much as I’d like the season, so not going to pretend to know everything about the team. But….if I had to guess, we lack big man dominance down low, we lack defensive intensity, we lack cohesion, and we lack leadership. Merry XMas ya miserable Kings Fanz 🙂
If Vivek would have allowed Monte to do a full tear down when hired, Kings likely have a similar record as they do now.
it’s true they would not have broken the playoff streak, but they’d have a bunch of assets and young players on the rise
The last 2 seasons were fun only because the team had previously been so bad. This team never had a ceiling. Now they have no ceiling, very few assets and a bleak future. Trying to re-tool is continuing on the wrong path that’s been wrong for five years. Full rebuild may not work but this team is a known commodity and is certain not to work beyond 500 basketball.
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