The Kings concluded their five-game road trip with a final stop in Phoenix to face a healthy Suns squad. After a heartbreaker in Milwaukee on Sunday night, the Kings looked to brighten their spirits in sunny Arizona. With the scoring trio of Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal standing in their way, the Kings needed to focus in and have a collective performance on both sides of the ball to compete in this one. Let’s see how they did:
Quick Stats
Outcome: Kings lose, 117-119
Sacramento Kings: 117 pts, 50.0% fg, 45.0% 3 pt, 58.3% ft, 34 ast, 31 reb, 14 to
Phoenix Suns: 119 pts, 49.4% fg, 45.9% 3 pt, 90.0% ft, 32 ast, 46 reb, 20 to
It feels as if everything around me is on fire. Is this basketball hell? Or am I just feeling the effects of the hot rage pulsing through my veins because I have to write about what I just witnessed? I am almost left speechless at the way the Kings lost this game. Keep in mind, I’ve been around for awhile, and have seen some pretty shocking ways to lose a basketball game. But this one? This one might take the cake.
The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
The Good:
- The First 90%: The Kings had the whole city of Sacramento riding high for 43 minutes of this game. From tip off, the Kings came out looking like the better team on both sides of the ball. On offense, the best brand of Beam Team basketball was on full display. Cuts were sharp, the ball was constantly moving, and the pace was flying in the Kings’ favor. The Kings tallied 15 assists in the first quarter alone and shot 14-32 from the 3-point line through the first three quarters. De’Aaron Fox led the team in scoring with 33 points on 6-10 from the 3-point line. They enjoyed energized minutes off the bench from Malik Monk (13 points & 6 assists) and Sasha Vezenkov (14 points). On the defensive side of things, the Kings showed their best performance of team defense we’ve seen all season. For most of the game, it looked like Grayson Allen (29 points) was going to be the runaway leading scorer for the Suns (in the end, he was, but only by 2 points) because the Kings were able to contain Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal, who combined for just 37 points through the first three quarters. Sacramento was defensively active, causing turnovers (20 in total), and even forced four shot clock violations. All of these efforts gained the Kings a comfortable lead for most of the game, putting them in a position to be successful, as they were up by 17 points with 5:11 to go. Until…
The Bad:
- Free Throws: Certainly not the reason they lost, as the Kings should have won this game even shooting 0-12 from the line, but they only made 7 of these 12 attempts. That’s 58.3%. That’s bad.
The Ugly:
- 10% Meltdown: It’s going to take some time for me to forgive this team for making me write about this, but here we go. As stated above, the Kings played 43 minutes of beautiful basketball and led us all to believe it would be a great night. After leading for nearly the entire game, the Kings were sitting with a 17-point lead and only 5:11 left on the clock. What happened next felt like a nightmare. To sum it up: the Kings committed four turnovers, wasted two possessions on shots that were blocked, and the Suns finished on a 23-4 run that featured a barrage of 3s from Kevin Durant and Eric Gordon. To call it an epic crumble feels like an understatement. After doing so well for the first 90% of the game, the Kings completely fell apart in the last 10%. Kevin Durant finished with 27 points, with 12 of those coming in the final five minutes of the game.
The King of Kings
Domantas Sabonis collected his 11th triple double of the season with 21 points, 12 rebounds, and 11 assists. Another layer to my rage is the fact that these incredible performances by Sabonis are being wasted in winnable losses.
Up Next
Thursday, January 18th vs. Indiana Pacers – 7:00 P.M. (PT)
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Not enough alcohol.
nice 🙂
Is that Brown explaining why he made no adjustments, in line up or Offensive approach for most of the 4th tonight?
No it’s Brown pointing at beer.
Showing us how cold Monk and Fox were at the end of the game?
Yes, that’s the joke. His explanation for not doing anything was because he drank all these beers.
Another epic meltdown! (In your best Europe impression)
Ta da da ta, ta da da ta ta!
You summed it up very well. The first half was quite enjoyable and you could see a renewed attention to defense. This was probably a top 3 game for me through 3 quarters.
I do think Coach Brown deserves a call out for this one. Whatever buttons he was pushing, they weren’t working worth a damn. I can’t even believe they had time to lose? What a mess.
As good as Malik can be at times, he can be equally as bad at times. Just has some spaz moments and gets frazzled, trying to do too much.
Personally I love it when he drives the baseline into the paint and takes on three taller players at once.
Malik means Kang
Epic.
Yup, he got blocked 3 times during the meltdown on just such drives and had 3 additional turnovers during that stretch!
I am more open to a Monk trade. Equate his play to J-will (somewhat erratic), and the kings need a Bibby (more controlled amd consistent).
Obviously, there needs to be a lot less of the ball in Monks hands at end of games.
He forces and turns it over often cause he’s aggressive (which is good/his style…always on go).
Second, cause what the F are you doing not utilizing your 2nd best weapon-Keegan. Or your best in Fox?
Granted, I think the reason Fox has been deferring is he’s beat up/injured. Not going to basket as much. Allowing Monk to take it-
I agree on Keegan. They don’t find him a lot. Last night in the 4th. he should have been sought out more. Fox also needed the ball more as he was hot. On the game how many different ways can a team lose a game like that. The Kings are coming close to showing us. Yes Sabonis gets his triple double. Fox scores 33. Keegan 18. Kings lose. I am worried that they possibly might not get in the playoffs. A lot of wierd things happening.
I agree on Monk in this situation. The Kings had a 17 point lead with 5:11 left. There’s no reason for him to be out there. We weren’t playing catch up, and he plays a little reckless at times. It wasn’t Monk time. They could have thrown Duarte out there or something for a more defensive minded presence.
The best lineup, I think, would have been Fox/Murray/Barnes/Sasha/Domas. They all played decent last night and they take care of the ball.
Shhh…Monk and his expiring contract are untradeable because he’s 6th man and something something….
he has no bird rights.. what is he worth that comes close to his worth to the team?
His worth to the team seems to be rather overestimated.
Are you baseing this on 2,3 or 4 games or the whole year so far. Didn’t say much when Huerter could’t throw a marble in a swimming pool when standing on the end of the diving board. I’ll take his positives over the negative any day. If I were still coaching I’d love him on our team any day.
Think it mainly comes down to the contract situation. Huerter is locked up for a couple years, Monk is expiring and the Kings can not offer him as much as other teams possibly could.
Yup, and he’s also just a one way player.
Sheer stupidity.
It feels like Brown fell too much in love with his coaching savvy, Fox with his 3 point shooting and Monk with his passing ability.
Time for a players only meeting? I don’t know anymore.
Choke thread
Vomit…I’ll allow it.
Going to make it a lot more tense on Thursday to avoid a 4 game losing streak.
I’m slowly but surely trending back towards Kangz survival mode; expecting losses and be pleasantly surprised when they win.
I’ve always kept that. I wasn’t ready to get hurt again.
I shudder at the array of three-point shooters that the Pacers can put on the floor against us this Thursday. Even without Hali, will they top the 157 points they hung on Atlanta a couple months ago?!
Personally, I think this was the result of MB shortening the rotation a little too much, especially among the 3 guards (Fox/Monk/Huerter); they played a lot of high-intensity mins and it was obvious that
they’retheir legs were tired around the 5:00 mark. The perimeter defense took a nose dive from that point on.Has it ever been a nose up? I truly feel Brown is just hoping his team gets hot from deep to outgun opponents. Defense is a lost cause at this point.
That seems like it’s been Brown’s strategy since he was hired.
I think its mostly the players he has to work with. MB wants to play a certain style but can’t, so he’s letting the players do what they feel comfortable doing while asking them to add defense to the mix but schemes can only go so far without actually good defensive players to keep the intensity and mindfulness consistent.
Defense is the problem not Btown. If you think so then fire him and rehire Walton.
Also last years Coach of the Year was not deserved.
That was my point, Brown can’t fix the defense without players who are better playing defense. I completely disagree about last year’s COY, it was well-deserved.
Two games in a row that you had in your grasp to win and they blew both those opportunities, and tonight was just a complete choke job. Instead of having a 4-1 road trip, you end 2-3. Just no words at this moment.
Better pick up some wins the next two home games, because they’ve got a long seven game road trip after that, and if they don’t get it together things could get ugly record-wise.
It’s funny, I saw this as a positive game/2 games because we saw more passing/ball movement/DHO offense. So it’s on there still.
And Hierter/Barnes playing better-upping their trade value. Cmon Monte
I don’t think Barnes upped his value at all. Four and a half minutes into the game he had 8 points and 1 rebound. He finished the game, having played 34 minutes, with 8 points and 3 rebounds!
Iknow Barnes has more money and the Rockets are looking at him maybe a third team trade could get us Tari Eason.
Eason/Whitmore/Oladipo for Barnes/Davion/2025 Portland 2nd round pick.
It works salary wise. Rockets get a more dependable vet with Barnes who would be their 6th man.
Kings get two young wing players and the expiring contract of Oladipo. If the Rockets want more, then throw in a couple 2nd rounders or a protected 1st down the road. But getting younger guys on longer term contracts would probably be a good idea.
I agree. Go get Eason.
Jack with the daily Eason plug!
That’s why I am worried.
Lol, well that fucking sucked. Worst 4th quarter in recent memory?
Malik giveth Malik taketh away .
He did a little too much of the giveth today.
You can’t have the ball in Monks hands that often because his style is all out -aggressive-which leads to TOs and bad shots.
Feel like Brown needs to make that happen. If possible.
The O becomes a 1-2 man game and that’s it. Less kick outs or involvement of other players.
i
Agreed. The “team” concept tends to be disregarded on offense a lot of the times with him.
We need to get the ball a little more to Murray. Great the first half not enough touches the second.
I’m blaming this one on sabonis lol. All he had to do was spin left from the post to the baseline on KD, a double team is going to come, shooters will be open or go back to the low block for a damn hook shot. He tried to bully his way through him, monk gotta do some stupid crazy stuff with the shot clock going down. KD is one skinny strong person lol.
damn coach run a play for keegan please !!! Keegan need to realise he is the second scoring option , put them shots up !
fox and monk with the crazy shot selection was driving me crazy .
still love my kings lol
I’m blaming it on:
-58% from the line
-Outrebounded by 16 (Only 1 player with more than 4)
-6 assists in the final 20 minutes after 28 in the first 28.
-once again allowing a team to shoot lights out from 3
-coaching staff disappeared in the 4th
I feel like Brown should adjust here. Why didn’t he get Sabonis to post up KD ? Why not run o for Keegan.
Abd this concerns me for the playoffs. I don’t see Brown making the necessary adjustments in style or lineup. Odd choices. Same thing in playoffs. We will see.
They went to that post up a couple times he couldn’t back down kd or he passed it out lol . It’s on sabonis himself .
They have to get him the ball. Not his fault.
Sheesh brother I respect the opinion lol and the stats . I do agree , at the same time it’s basketball. no game is going to be perfect especially this team .the coaching staff was horrible , especially Mike .
at the end of the day 5 mins into the fourth quarter the kings was up . The kings was still winning 2 mins into the game . kings was still winning . Just watch sabonis shit was ugly he had a mismatch , was the biggest player on the court, catching the ball in the post passing back out making guys do stupid isos with the clock running down .
i do agree with your points tho , the blame is everywhere but to me Sabonis couldn’t take advantage of skinny ass KD or guys that’s 6’5 is crazy . Keegan Murray getting an offensive rebound and not going back up with it on someone that’s 6’3 is crazy . Fox and monk gave the game away . In my opinion the kings would have won if sabonis was able to take advantage of the mismatch, it was like the warriors serious all over again .
Wow this team is even softer mentally than I realized, that was definitely painful.
i don’t think the defense, BB IQ and free throw shooting are correctable, it’s just part of their identity…at least it is with this coach.
The NBA to Coach…. You gon learn today!
It’s been so bad lately… thank goodness for football.
Regression comes at you fast. The team’s record is catching up to its point differential and net rating. We’ll see if they can pull out of it or settle in as a play-in team like I sort of expect.
Something’s just off with this team this year. They’re not playing with the same passion as last year. The coaching definitely has to take a large share of the blame – too much reliance on the point shooting, extremely tight rotations over-relying just a few players, no improvements on D, horrid FT shooting (gonna blame the coaching for not getting the players to address that), and just the overall lack of fire. I’m not sure trading for one or two guys is gonna fix things. I think the problems stem internally.
Yeah, I agree. Record-wise, we may be better at this point of the season than last year, but something just doesn’t feel right about the team this season compared to last year.
Sure, we weren’t great defensively last season, but the team for the most part competed in almost every game (I don’t recall a ton of really bad losses). There have just been way too many games this season where not only did we have blowout losses, but the guys just looked so disinterested. Just not that same kind of fire they had last year.
I think even our record is gonna start to reflect our lack of fire soon.
I agree on most of your points but the players played what the coach wanted and look at the result a 22 point lead. Why we lost wasn’t on the coach. He can’t control free throws and turrnovers That’s on the players.
I was going to say: I really liked that Brown stopped rotating between flawed back-up guards (Ellis, Duarte, Mitchell) and just trotted out Vezenkov alongside Lyles, Murray, Sabonis/Len, and either Monk/Fox. He hadn’t done so prior to this game. And the added size, shooting, and off-ball movement seemed to really benefit the Kings…in the first half.
Regarding what happened in the fourth…I’d rather go and get dressed for work and cycle there with -6 degrees Celsius, than discuss those shameful last minutes.
Yep, doing just about anything in freezing weather would be better than reliving those last few minutes.
Same but -29 cels
Crap, and you go by bycicle?
FYL
In context the Kings don’t need these wins. Maybe they need the loss?
When a team is down 18 with only 5 and a half minutes to play, the only way they can get back into the game is by hitting threes. I don’t understand why, as a team, you don’t guard the 3-point line, and live with a team using up clock on a possession and getting a layup or free throws. Even one or two buckets of your own pushes the lead far enough. I see lots of blame doled out to individual players, but they are just playing the way they know how to, without someone to guide them. This is on the coaching. Guard the three and hit your free throws.
I saw only one three-pointer that was “unavoidable” in the last 5min when the Kings defender fell down in the backcourt and the defense had to switch, leaving a man open in the corner. But the others had no excuse. Get up on Durant and Beal and Gordon and make them put the ball on the floor.
Like they did the first 3 quarters.
In his presser, Brown said that they were blitzing the ball handlers to keep from having Sabonis trying to get out on their shooters. When they blitzed KD, he could simply see over defenders and get the ball to whoever was open for an uncontested three. Playing them straight up seems like it would have been a better strategy.
Clutch Fox has been non existent. I can’t help but think he’s just not right. He was so dominant in the early part of the year, and now we’re running offense through Monk at the end of games. The Monk led PnR has been effective, but Fox is unguardable when he’s doing Fox things.
Could be, could also be that the team and coaching staff is suffering from the burden of heightened expectations. They just don’t look as loose, fun-loving and carefree as last season, especially when things don’t go well.
That may also be the explanation for the general decrease in FT% for many players.
I may be totally wrong, but last year they were an underdog and a pleasant surprise with good vibes all around. That is no longer the case.
and…
What is Keegan during clutch time this season? Probably a small sample size because they play keep away from the young guy.
Don’t know. As for last night, he took just one shot in the 4th quarter, with 6 minutes left in the game. It was a 3, which he made.
Yeah. I agree with both of you. IMO and I have seen it as a small sample Keegan can provide some winning touches. He just doesn’t get them.
And that is my issue with Monk/Fox. They often look to themselves in those situations, and things have not been going well. Brown needs to actually run some players for the guys that helped get them the lead when it is starting to slip away.
What is the point of having all those shooters if 2 guys are gonna hog the ball at the end of the game?
Wow that explains a lot.
Sabonis seems to forget about Sabonis.
“Quien me vende una cantina,
ojalá y que bien surtida” … ????????
I don’t necessarily have a problem with Monk being so aggressive last night. My problem is the (seemingly) 100 straight possessions at the end, where the team, and Monk specifically, went right at Durant instead of working the ball around.
To me, that has to be either the team saying “Let’s try something else, or Coach Brown has to step in and move the offense in a different direction.
Down the stretch outside of Durant the Suns had 6’6” Booker and three 6’4” players (Allen, Beal, Gordon). We had size/strength advantages in at least 3 positions, but Monk kept driving into trouble in the paint with no avenue to kick it out to our shooters. His aggressiveness was definitely a problem last night.
The Suns started doing what the Kings had been doing (passing the ball, moving on offense) halfway through the 4th quarter and we saw the end result.
Kings started doing what the Suns had been doing (Iso ball) through the first 3.5 quarters and we saw the end result.
I don’t get why teams go away from what has worked all game once the game clock gets lower and lower in the 4th. They do this in Football too. Do what got you that lead, it obviously worked. But they just change the offense and bad things happen.
As a coach I never wanted to slow down the game when what was working as a team. You lose momentum. I never stalled back when you could. It never worked. I can give you a lot of examples why.
Is it not too far gone to say that what’s happening with the team is because of Mike Brown’s system? It’s like he’s pushing a square peg in a round hole, forcing the players to play a style not their own. Sure, some have risen to the challenge (Fox, Domas, Murray) but most have regressed and just became unplayable. I think he’s trying to force the Warriors system to the team instead of trying a new way to maximize the strength and minimize the weakness. We still have a very decent core and players but if Brown’s coaching doesn’t change soon then he’ll just keep pushing the players out.
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