The Kings’ struggles continued against Brooklyn, falling 108-103 to the Nets in a game that underscored Sacramento’s glaring need for depth and defensive presence. Despite De’Aaron Fox’s stellar performance (AGAIN), the Kings couldn’t keep up with Brooklyn’s scorching three-point shooting or find consistent production from their supporting cast.
It was a familiar script for Sacramento, starting slow as they worked to reintegrate Domantas Sabonis and DeMar DeRozan into the offense without disrupting De’Aaron Fox, who’s on all time heater at the moment. Adding to the challenge, the team was still without fan favorite and chief bailer-outer, Malik Monk.
Lapses in rim protection and defensive rotations ultimately cost the game. Brooklyn exploited those issues all night with crisp ball movement and tough shot-making, led by Cam Thomas, who repeatedly broke down Sacramento’s defense. While Keon Ellis and Fox showed glimpses in making Thomas work, the Kings didn’t have an answer for his versatile scoring.
Fox, meanwhile, put the team on his back once again. Displaying his full bag, he carved through defenders and hit difficult shots to keep Sacramento in the fight. But outside of Fox, the Kings lacked reliable options. The scratch ticket lineup melee featuring Doug McDermott (who might be better off cut and replaced by another veteran ready for an opportunity or a G League prospect), Colby Jones, Alex Len, and others highlights the team’s makeshift approach.
On the other side, the Nets demonstrated why their balanced roster is the envy of many Kings fans. Wings like Cam Johnson and Dorian Finney-Smith (who missed this game to injury) stay disciplined on both ends, while Noah Clowney just so happened to have a breakout game, punishing the Kings with hustle and a barrage of three-pointers. Brooklyn’s execution was near flawless, moving the ball unselfishly and hitting big shots when it mattered most — a testament to the OG, the tactician, and beautifully five o’clock shadowed, Jorie Fernandez. Despite some erratic shot selection, Cam Thomas still finished efficiently (34 points on 11-22) and proved why he’s integral to their offense.
The Good
Fox has been in his bag since the injuries started piling up, and this game was no exception. Foxy finished with 31 and 5 on an efficient 10-16 shooting, including 3-4 from deep. His shot diet was insane—three-pointers? Check. Drawing fouls and going 8-12 from the line? Check. Midrange mastery? Check. Even dominant post play. It was a complete showing. Keegan Murray and Keon Ellis also stepped up. Keegan posted 21 points and 8 rebounds while Ellis contributed 9 points, including three clutch three-pointers, along with consistent effort and defense all game. Meanwhile, Domas and DeMar turned it up in the second half like the All-Stars we know they are. Still, it’s easy to overlook just how special Fox is because he does this night after night, and somehow makes it look effortless.
Upgrades Needed
But here’s the thing—if Sacramento is going to contend in what might be one of the toughest Western Conferences in recent memory, there’s serious work to do with this roster. Specifically, the Kings need more from their 7th and 8th best players— Kevin Huerter and Trey Lyles. On the season, their production has been underwhelming, and Sunday night was no different. Combined, they put up just 11 points on 4-8 shooting, including a rough 1-5 from three. Trey added 6 boards in nearly 20 minutes but went scoreless. The path forward is clear: either Fox consistently drops 60, the Kings avoid injuries to lean heavily on Monk off the bench, or everyone prays for one of those rare nights where Huerter channels 2015 Klay Thompson. Those odds aren’t great.
Closing Thoughts
Sacramento flashed moments of resilience but couldn’t come through when it mattered most. Brooklyn’s 37-point explosion in the first quarter set the tone, and the Kings couldn’t claw their way back.
The team now sits at 8-9, 12th in the West (yikes), having lost three straight and gone 4-6 over the last 10 games. The injuries have been tough, but other teams deal with them too—it’s not the main excuse. The real issue? Depth. And Mike Brown is still rolling with Kevin Huerter as the starting shooting guard after a 17-game sample. Sure, Keon doesn’t command the defensive attention Huerter does as a perimeter threat, but in nearly every other area of the game, Keon has been better. Huerter still holds the edge as a playmaker too, but Keon’s development might narrow that gap moving forward. Kevin could still be a key rotational piece off the bench, though likely in a more situational role.
Of course, Monty McNair will be Monty McNair—if he makes a roster move, it won’t come until right near the deadline. Until then, Coach Mike Brown is going to have to shake things up and step out of his comfort zone with the rotation if this team is going to live up to its potential. It’s time for bold decisions.
Game Journal
First Quarter Slop:
10:41 – The throwbacks are looking clean! My wife and I are reminiscing about my 2005 Mike Bibby “dropping dimes” poster.
9:36 – From my bedroom, I’m in sync with Mark Jones at the arena saying, “This has to fall,” as the ball swings around the perimeter, and Keegan drains a three.
8:46 – Update: Keegan just airballed his second attempt from the corner. I’m seriously considering popping a bottle.
6:55 – Ziaire Williams, all 6’9 of him, drills a corner three to make it 15-13. Meanwhile, I’m thinking, why couldn’t we snag Williams and a 2030 second-rounder for a bag of Fritos?
4:40 – Cam Thomas blows past Colby Jones, but Colby recovers with a massive block at the rim that leads to a Keon Ellis three to tie it up at 20-20.
3:06 – Why is McDermott back in? I’m sick of watching him get cooked on defense.
Update: He played less than a minute. Props to someone on the coaching staff for figuring out he wandered onto the court.
1:45 – Fox has 14 points on 5/5 shooting and is on track for 56. Where would we be without him?
0:00 – The Kings end the quarter down 37-28, despite shooting nearly 77% from the floor. Our five turnovers led to 10 Nets points compared to just one turnover by the nets. Sloppy play is killing us.
Second Quarter Stress:
8:45 – Fox is playing with so much swagger and confidence right now.
8:37 – Another Clowney three-pointer stretches the score to 51-35. That’s 11-16 shooting from beyond the arc by the Nets, and the audible groans from Kings fans are loud.
7:13 – Mike Brown looks like he’s ready to throw hands with the refs. A technical is assessed, but this could be a turning point. The crowd’s energy is starting to return.
6:45 – Huerter nails a three to cut the lead to 16. Is that the first one he’s hit all November? I’m only half-joking.
5:31 – Domas forces a turnover in transition, gets the ball back, and scores a big bucket to trim the deficit to 55-42.
3:09 – Trendon Watford fouls Keegan Murray on a drive to the basket. Keegan hits 1/2 free throws, cutting the lead to 13. More importantly, the camera pans to Watford’s “The World is Yours” Scarface tattoo.
0:00 – Nets 65, Kings 57. Honestly, being down just eight feels like a miracle.
Third Quarter Heart Palpitations:
8:50 – I’ve completely lost faith in DeMar’s midrange. It’s just not falling. Dude needs to cut more off the ball or attack the rack.
6:45 – Huerter hits a baseline jumper off a great Domas pass, cutting it to 76-71. The crowd is officially back in this.
5:03 – Domas gets another putback. He’s now up to 11-11-6 and really coming alive.
4:24 – DeMar hits a second straight jumper, this time his signature midrange, and draws the foul for an and-one. The score is now 82-80, Nets.
2:32 – Keegan hits a turnaround jumper to tie it at 82. My heart is beating out of rhythm.
1:52 – Sweet give-and-go from Fox to Keegan and back to Fox. The Kings take their first lead at 84-83.
0:25 – Keon grabs an insane offensive rebound off a Keegan attempt where he was feeling himself a little too much. This rebound might’ve been the second-biggest play of the game, leading to two Keegan free throws and a 3-point lead, 88-85. But then Clowney drills another three to close the quarter.
That’s an 8-point swing. I math sometimes.
Fourth Quarter Rollercoaster:
8:55 – Who does Cam Thomas think he is? He just hit his third insane step-back three—a 25-footer—to bring the Nets within one at 94-93, Kings.
3:25 – DeMar cuts the lead to 105-100 with a great off-ball cut and feed from Domas.
1:25 – Fox baits Shake Milton into a foul but only makes 1/2 from the stripe, making it 107-103.
0:11 – Sabonis takes a baseline one-hander to try to trim the lead but misses. Score remains 107-103, Nets.
0:04 – Out of a timeout, the Kings run a perfect play to get DeMar a wide-open three, but he misses. Game over. Final score: Nets 110, Kings 105.
Looks like pain and suffering are back on the menu!
If this continues, we’ll be in the throes and woes of the STR days of old.
Perhaps an entry missing:
9ish minutes to go, 4th: Brown kills the teams momentum by subbing three guys out, offense immediately grinds to a halt, team gives up a 9-0 run.
It was so painful to watch. I don’t have any trust in Brown that he will make adjustments to the scheme, lineup, or substitution patterns.
This organization suffers from an inability to adapt and evolve from top to bottom, we can’t keep up. While other teams have gone through multiple transformations we stick with the same players and ways that don’t bring success. McNair takes forever to make moves and MB doesn’t make adjustments. Even our players have outdated playing styles or their evolution and progress seem stunted by this franchise. Fox probably would’ve already been a superstar by now somewhere else with better development. Same old Kangz, Vivek doesn’t know what he’s doing or who to hire or how to get out of the way. We don’t have anyone to show us the way to be a successful NBA franchise.
Fox I believe is in year 9, he is what he is at this point.
Close, year 8. Turning 27 next month.
I think this is an underrated concern. For an organization without much of a track record of success, we certainly are stubborn about who a “Kings player” is. We like guys who can do a number of things on the court, are good shooters (or are before they come to Sacramento anyway) and athleticism/physical attributes aren’t really considered.
Looking at teams like OKC and Houston, who have both passed us by and have substantial draft assets, maybe we’re not following the right model?
Try starting Keon over Huerter?
Please stop playing McDermott! Try Colby or Isaac Jones instead. At least they are more athletic.
Orlando Robinson got his chance, apparently, and Brown didn’t like what he saw…But keep trying Lyles at the 5, even though we have seen that hasn’t worked for a while now.
Will any of those changes make the team better? Who knows. But we do know that the current way of doing things ain’t working.
Brown is doing pretty much the se thing over and over again, expecting a different result. The embodiment of insanity.
Yeah, time to start Keon.
and in the bench unit I think they should still be able to play 5 out with Lyles at the 4 and Robinson or Isaac at the 5.
Colby looks good on D. he has to play with confidence on offense. Wouldn’t mind seeing him get more run.
The only confident looking offensive player has been Fox. Others have moments, but far too often. That’s an issue with coaching, imo. This wasn’t the case in 22-23 season when Huerter/Barnes/Keegan looked giddy to get the ball at the 3 pt line. Not the look is something like “don’t throw it to me”.
Try starting Monk over Ellis and Huerter. They need a definite spark the entire game at this point. Let Keon and Huerter battle it out for minutes. Starting Keon doesn’t really change the spread of minutes either.
Time to start asking questions about Monte McNair’s ability to build a team. The bench gets worse every year. Doug McDermott’s corpse is getting destroyed on defense and Mike Brown is pulling out G-League guys to soak up minutes. Now, why he refuses to start Keon Ellis after how he galvanized the team last year baffles me.
Also, man, would be nice to have drafted someone who can play with that 13th overall pick, huh? Or maybe even traded it for a guy? But no, we needed another goddamn Davion Mitchell.
Did the Kings have a better roster last season? I am starting to think so, which is actually quite a depressing thing to admit.
This is why fit is so important. On paper, DDR is an improvement over Barnes.
In practice, the pieces don’t seem to fit together (yet?). Domas has been throwing the ball away uncharacteristically lately, and struggling to intiate the offense. The eye test tells me that the fiddling with the offense is not doing him any favors.
Even with an unbalanced roster, a good coach finds a way to maximize the potential of his players. A great coach gets them to overachieve. Right now, Brown isn’t a particularly good coach.
I think CoTY and him getting extended made him way too comfortable. Losing Jordi really exposed his limitations this year IMO.
Jordi was the “defensive guy” the last 2 seasons, yet the defense is better this season without Jordi here.
I also think Jordi was the guy that decided who to sub in and out, and that is what this team is lacking. Brown has mentioned that the assistants do that for him (when being asked about heavy minutes for the starters), which seems to be passing blame on to them, and not accepting that he is the head coach and needs to take accountability for that, not slyly throwing the staff under the bus.
He really did that? Do you have a link, perhaps?
He did it sometime in the 1st 10 games of the season in a post-game presser. I don’t remember which game/s it was mentioned.
James Ham also mentioned afterward on an episode of his podcast.
I don’t know if that was Brown’s intent, but he sure did say that. That he needed to get with the guys on the substitution patterns.
That’s not good. And the substitution patters haven’t really improved since…
I think Doug is the main guy that handles the subs now…not 100% sure about that.
Hmmm. Thanks.
I thought DDR would have been the guy to get buckets WHEN the movement style offense sputtered out or was defended opposition.
But, so far, he is the slowing force on the offense. They need to get him in more movement action and cuts to the rim, which the defense probably won’t be suspecting. That should keep the defense on their heels, but I don’t think we will see that.
Brother, DeMar is far from the problem. Kevin Huerter and Keegan Murray are throwing up enough bricks to build a housing project and and they don’t have any real nba players past their top 8. Even their 8th guy, Lyles, stinks. There’s a reason the Kings are his fifth team.
Mike does deserve some share of the blame, though. I agree. The principles aren’t working right and it’s not a coincidence that every team shoots the lights out against us.
Keon galvanized the team?
They didn’t make the playoffs. Keon did his job and did it pretty well. He is not going to change the destiny of this team.
Some interesting stats from Dunc’d On.
Change in playmaking usage, year over year (% of plays that end in a potential assist). Note this is not affected by missed shots.
15.8% to 13.2% Sabonis
14.7% to 9.7% Monk
12.1% to 6.3% DeRozan
(Fox has been about the same year over year)
They also mentioned the hypothesis that adding a high % 3 point shooter tends to increase the success rate of everyone else. Adding a low % 3 point shooter does the opposite. The driver is not putting the defense in rotation as often.
The major change in the minutes distribution is replacing Barnes with DeRozan. The outcome seems to be a team that passes less, turns the ball over more, and shoots worse from 3. I would guess that being an undersized, less than athletic team, we need to pass more and hit more 3s as a share of made shots to overcome our physical deficit relative to other teams.
We will run ISO, and don’t tell me otherwise!
I think it’s insane to take that hypothesis and conclude the issue is missing Barnes. Barnes shot 4.7 threes per game last season, making 38.7%. Good, but not great. Barnes didn’t keep defenses that honest.
I’d say the general idea is accurate, you need shooters to keep the defense honest and not having that causes issues. But the issue isn’t a lack of Barnes, it’s Huerter shooting 29% from 3, Keegan 29.9%, Lyles 33.3%, and Monk 27.9%.
It’s mostly a team wide slump. The question is why?
-Bad scheme?
-Players anxious/unsettled/unsure of when to shoot or where to be on the court?
Something ain’t right, and I don’t expect it to magically change without some stylistic change on the offensive end of the court.
I think that’s insane as well, which is why that’s not the claim I’m making. It does seem to me that instead of replacing Barnes with a better offensive fit, we seem to have replaced him with a much worse offensive fit. So we’re not missing Barnes, exactly, we’re missing a player like Barnes (or better!) in our offense.
I think Barnes was clearly a below-average starter last season, but one thing he did do pretty much every time down the floor was go spot up at the 3pt line, leaving space for others to operate. DeRozan doesn’t do that, because he’s not effective there, and no one else thinks he’s effective there. He shoots 2.3 threes per game, making 31.3%. He also forces Keegan to play up at the 4, whereas Barnes was more interchangeable.
Guys aren’t making shots, but they’re also playing slower, turning the ball over more, assisting less (down over 4 APG!), and rebounding less. They’re shooting better from the line and from 2.
I agree that is not an issue of missing Barnes. But as I mentioned above, from a fit perspective, there can be some issues here.
Also, at 38.7%, Barnes would be the team best 3-point shooter with a volume of more than 3.5 attempts per game, and second in makes per game (1.8) behind Fox (2.2 makes at .356). We could use someone shooting that percentage at these numbers right now.
And on the subject of Barnes; he wasn’t a great defender but it seems to me that he was decent at closing out and defending the 3. I have looked at DDR a bit, and he’s really bad at it. And even when he closes out okay, his lack of length is really not bothering many shooters.
That is Western Conference player of the week Barnes to you.
Ah, life.
Yes, it’s awful shooting and lack of defense as everyone is pointing out. This team is so lost right now (except Fox most games lately)
Domas brings the ball up too much and it’s affecting finding guys in the right spots, especially DDR who isn’t a DHO player. Instead of rip and run maybe rip, pass the ball to a guard, go down court set up and let the guard run the offense.
Badge Legend