The Sacramento Kings have now lost six games in a row after falling short in Chicago to the Zach LaVine led Bulls, by a final score of 122-114.
Richaun Holmes, Harrison Barnes, and Glenn Robinson III were all inactive for this game. Two of the best defenders sidelined on a team that is already the worst defense of all time was a scary sight coming into the night.
Marvin Bagley was aggressive from the jump and finished the night with 26 points, 11 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals. He managed an impressive and efficient 10/19 from the field while converting each of his five free throw attempts.
Chicago native Jabari Parker saw his first time on the floor all season for a shorthanded Sacramento roster, but his hometown Bulls proved hard to stop early on.
The Bulls were in control of this game for a large majority of the time before the Kings rallied to make it interesting in the middle of the fourth quarter.
The defense was so poor that Thaddeus Young felt like Joel Embiid with some of these post-ups – mainly because it was so easy for him to get Buddy Hield or Cory Joseph switched onto him and never saw any help come.
Just when Sacramento found themselves within striking distance, Zach LaVine took matters into his own hands and was able to secure a bucket nearly anytime that he pleased.
LaVine’s stellar play (due to being met with little resistance), left no room for error on the offense end of the floor and the Kings were not able to convert. LaVine tallied 38 points on a stellar 15/20 from the field, 3/6 from deep along with 3 assists, 3 rebounds, and 3 steals.
Bagley, Fox, and Buddy Hield all scored more than 20 points but the defense was the downfall of the Sacramento Kings yet again.
They have now lost six games straight after a promising run. The Kings play again tomorrow night, February 21st, against the Milwaukee Bucks at 6:00 pm PST.
I gotta say, this feels a bit on Fox.
From a box score glance, you may think I’m crazy, but those turnovers were rough, those free throws were rough, & some of his missed shots were makable.
In him taking that next step to being an All Star, he needed to take this game over. He also needs to own this loss.
I have rarely seen Fox take over games against good teams. Why would it be any different against Chicago? Kings feasted on teams missing their best players and key role players during that winning streak. Now…The Kings are coming back to earth. Chicago is not a good team. Donovan is a good coach. Bulls have 2 very nice players in Lavine and Coby. But, not much else.
Fox is a player who needs a inspiration.
the team has quit on the coach
Lets blow this thing up!
Live look at the Kings FO and ownership:
Kings FO probably doesn’t mind the losing
Welp, back to our regularly scheduled program folks.
?1
I am thinking Bagley is certainly improved on offense. Defensively, he’s still beyond awful. I lost count how many times Bulls players either ran right past him or literally outmuscled him to get to the basket. Let’s also take consideration the front line of the Bulls are mediocre and that’s being kind. Esp, with Markannan out. For all the points Bagley scored. His D is non existent.
Need a strong defensive center next to him for sure
I think his defense is inconsistent. He did well covering some of the drives and stay in defensive mode. But his one on one defense against other big men is just not that good.
Objectively false.
Wait…are we still being sophomoric?
“beyond awful” is hyperbolic. He’s becoming serviceable on that side. I don’t think it’s ever going to be a strength. But he’ll get better as he gets stronger and older if he keeps working at it. His length and quickness was giving Embiid some troubles, and he’s probably the best big man in the game.
This is how i feel. I am not trying to sound like a Bagley homer but he has looked better in the last couple of games. Playing the 5, spacing the offense out even more, and being more involved has made him look better.
Some positives include switching and contesting without jumping. He received two goaltendings as a help defender. (In my opinion, he was trying to bait the block but he should have helped sooner.) Now he seems to be trying to draw charges a lot.
Marvin is probably a year or two away. He needs to get stronger and work on his screens. This game had plenty of tape on his results of a good vs bad screen.
Bagley is still very poor defensively. 50 yr old Thaddeus Young Came off the bench and schooled him. The other part of the game was dealing with the likes of undersized Pat Williams and Carter(Wendell is. Looking like a Bust) In the Miami game, Kelly Olynk had a very
effective offensive game against him the other night. We’re talking Kelly Olynk here. Most of Kelly’s shots were mid-range, as well.
50 yr. old That Young schools a lot of players still. For about 5 min. at a stretch before taking a 10 minute power nap.
Don’t be afraid to compliment Bagley as his name is always attached to “but he doesn’t do this or doesn’t do that” and a few others are already anti-Bagley so they’ll tear down whatever you say.
He’s looked alot better recently and honestly the fact that he’s shooting almost 40% with a good sample size to judge and his shot certainly passes the eye test now shows that he works to improve. Defense and passing IQ are the hardest to teach and if he adds one significant improvement (3 pointers) and continues to add something each year I’d be fine with that. This dude is still 21 and we act like if he doesn’t become Sabonis within the next year he’s gonna be cut or traded. We’re probably gonna extend him barring injury or trade so he’s on the team for the next 4-5 years at least.
I understand that fan perspective will not change until the empty counting stats actually contribute to winning on the court, but we’re not winning right now, so celebrate his individual performances. That will only build his confidence and honestly he deserves it after the tough year he had last year.
He will develop along with the timeline of this team.
This team has no team defensive concept it seems, outside of mostly man-to-man coverage. Bagley got out on an island a few times, and he looked bad. But there was no help defense, especially notable late in the game where he got switched on LaVine and there was no double team. I mean, not even on that play – there was rarely a defensive effort to get the ball out of Zach’s hands for most of the fourth quarter.
It’s why it would have been nice to evaluate these guys under a competent head coach.
You’re correct about no team defensive concept. Guys force their players to the wrong side, guys are hugging their players two and three passes away, the switching concepts are horrible which is why you often see a big on the perimeter guarding a quicker player and a small guarding a big near the post with no help, help defense is virtually non existent because guys are out of position off ball, when help comes the defense doesn’t rotate so there is no help the helper rotation. My high school team plays better team defense. Buddy may be the worst off ball defender in the league and his on ball defense isn’t much better.
Lastly this idea that Barnes and Joesph are good defenders is fiction. Dallas let Barnes go for nothing and their biggest complaint besides his contract was his defense. I would say Fox and Holmes are average defenders and Haliburton slightly above average especially given his time in the league and everyone else being below average with Buddy getting a F.
Zach Lowe pointed this out a few weeks ago. He was saying that he thought part of the reason the team’s defense was so bad is because they are trying so many different things that they aren’t really taking the time to become competent at anything. He was saying that the whiplash of changing the scheme constantly probably makes it impossible for most of the players to figure out what they’re even supposed to be doing.
I would say another way of looking at it is they don’t really have a coherent team defensive concept as you said.
Gets stronger? Well
lets hope in this upcoming offseason. How many is that now? That he knows what the inside of a gym looks like. I really don’t respect players that disrespect the game. Bagley has talent, for sure. But. Does he have the mindset to be great? I don’t see it. Bagley has had multiple off seasons to work on the strength part of his game. His body looks no different then when the Kings drafted him.
That’s a fair point about Bagley. He needs to work on his body and get stronger. Having said that, since his humiliation against the Warriors earlier in the season he’s been making strides forward on both ends of the court. He’s very far from a finished product but even the Bagley haters have to acknowledge the improvement.
But he did get stronger though. He added 10-15 pounds. The question is, does he have the frame to get stronger to a point where he can bang inside.
Bagley is working much harder on the defensive end of the court. He’s certainly got a long way to go but he’s trending upward. The worst defender on the team is now Buddy both on ball and away from the ball where he breaks every fundamental concept of team defense.
TANK you Chicago! *cries*
De-fence couldn’t stop da Bulls!
Lavine had become a ridiculously great player. Doesn’t matter who the team is defending him. He’s been a triple threat All Season. That last jumper he made to ice the game was hilarious. Kings sent 3 defenders at him. Hali was literally tripping on himself to keep up with Zack. It just made me laugh. Lavine is the total package now. Has an all around game.
I assume defense is not considered part of the package you are talking about?
Who cares at this point? I remember when he signed the offer sheet to come to Sac many fans were dying for the Bulls to match. Meanwhile, many of the same fans were pumped for signings like Kosta and Dedmon. I would gladly take Lavine with his defensive deficiencies over garbage players like Kosta, Dedmon, Cojo etc.
Landing Lavine would have been a rare win for Vlade.
I don’t recall tons of people being “pumped” about Kosta or Dedmond for that matter.
I do. Plenty of people were excited we wrapped up FA with Kosta coming on board. Same with all the talk about how much Dedmon would open the floor with all the spacing he provides outside. Or how George Hill would be a great mentor to Fox.
Thats not even the point. Is Lavine a good defensive player? Not really. Would he be the best offensive player on our roster? Easily. Had the Bulls not matched would he be the best FA signing in years? Easily.
remember how Lavine himself also expressed he thought himself was heading his way to Sacramento during the summer league….
however, the Bulls just matched it, fxxk….
LOLwut?
Dedmon, sure.
And what LaVine is doing this season is very impressive. But Chicago is also 49-103 in games LaVine has played in since arriving (and is now just one game better than Sacramento this season).
Great recollection about Hill and Dedmon. With Hill, I got so sick of hearing this mentoring word which was just media gobbly gook being repeated over and over on the Sac royalty site.
Not Kosta but I remember many wanting Dedmond before the actual signing occurred and I was puzzled by the interest in him. Another stupid over payment free agent signing by Vlade.
He’s certainly made the leap. Very impressive, and I was always pretty down on him as an “empty calories” type of player.
Where’s the this is good guy
Does this count?
This game went just as planned!
This is good
James Ham was just here… James? O James? Where did he go??
Brown is the guy.
Brown, is this good. or bad.
?
Brown is pretty wordy. Efficiency would be 1, or 0 .. 😉
Well, if Washington wins tonight (they’re up by a couple with 3 minutes left) they’ll be a game out of the 4 seed in the tank race. Seeing as they probably lose the next two games, there’s a decent chance we’re in the bottom 5 sooner rather than later.
It took the kings this long to consistently run pick and roll plays with Bagley/Fox and Bagley/Haliburton. I am glad to see how much they go to it tonight.
Hield needs to be traded imo. He can’t play defense and he makes dumb decisions to many times.
The reason they haven’t consistently run pick and roll is because Bagley is bad at it. He doesn’t set good screens and he doesn’t roll hard enough to the rim when he slips. Honestly, it’s only been recently that he’s actually been making contact on screens so it’s getting a tiny bit better but he’s got a long way to go before it’s something they can go to and regularly get easy buckets.
A big reason Bagley had success tonite on the PNR? Williams is PF playing at 6’7, Carter is listed at 6’10. But, man is he soft or what. Lauri is out, as well. Bagley had favorable matchups tonite. But, he gets bullied easily with bigger more physical frontlines. But
Size shouldn’t be an issue. Bagley is 6’10. The question is the quality of the pick and the quality of the roll.
As well as the quality of the and, which ties it all together into a neat sequence. Like a rug in a room.
Exactly.
At least Parker got to play! Sweet dreams, HongKongKingsFan.
This made me laugh. Man Jabari is BAD. He also looks really out of shape. But perfect for the tank!
Baby Chuck Hayes lmaoop
PLAY of the night
At least Parker still got his confidence, and no shy to shoo the ball.
Give him more playing time when other guys are out…
vs
Dumbest play of the night
Hield need to be traded asap, his low BBIQ and poor defense keep hurting the team, no matter how many 3 pts shot he made, it still cannot be compensated.
It’s funny how you love Parker and are praising him for not being shy to shoot the ball, while he’s an an inefficient chucker. And in the same post you attack Hield for his bad D and BBIQ, things that apply to Parker as well.
I wanted to see Parker play…because Bagley sucks (at the beginning of the season….), and if Bagley had improved through out recent games, then why Parker cannot improve ?
While Hield had been given adequate playing time to show what a player he is…(and he had reached his ceiling, i.e. an average 3 pts shooter with low BBIQ)
I just think chances should be given to different players, in order to have a deep look into them …..
Parker has a shot, but he needs to stay in shape. Bagley is a lot younger than Parker. Bagley is a lot more athletic than Parker. It is easier to improve when you are young. But I agree that Walton should play him to see what his peak is.
His peak was 20 and 6 in year 3, but then he tore his ACL. Downhill since then.
Parker has played 6 seasons with all different kinds of systems and hasn’t stuck anywhere. He may be an efficient scorer but lack of defense keeps him on the bench wherever he goes.
And especially on this team, he’s not the solution.
He’s really awful. He’s collecting a check until he’s out of the league next season.
And he doesn’t seem too concerned about this fact either. Effort has always seemed to be an issue for him.
This.
Parker is a known commodity around the league by now. And using the term “commodity” is an insult to actual commodities.
I would have forgotten about him if HKKF didn’t bring him up after every game.
A few times I had to remind myself that he and Justin James were on the roster. I was like who did we try to send out with Bogi?
Marvin is still somewhat a mystery, Jabari Parker is not.
The winning run gave us a glimpse of the potential. The loosing streak gives us a picture of the present reality. I’m glad we got that glimpse of hope, and also glad that it didn’t blind us from the glaring holes. Let’s rank tank tank
The winning run showed that we could beat bad teams and injured teams while we were healthy and Fox had a hot streak.
Very little of that run makes me believe it’s sustainable.
Sustainably streaky
Hmmm, more ice cold with an occasional hot flash IMO but YMMV.
Buddy.Hield
I still believe if he plays against 2nd unit guys and gets 24-28 minutes instead of 32-38 minutes a game, this team would be better. Maybe not by alot but just better.
But it ain’t gonna happen because trade value watch is on.
Buddy doesn’t like it here. I’d thought he’d shoot his way out of Sactown. Instead he has regressed and of little trade value
Cory Joseph with 36 minutes tonight.
Game over man, game over.
2 points and 4 fouls in 36 minutes. I mean… what.
You can argue that this wouldn’t have made a difference at all in any of these games because of the nonexistent defense, but aside from the Philly game (where the team had a 4th Q lead but ran out of gas) and the Memphis game (where Fox was on a minutes restriction), we’ve missed at least one piece of our “3rd best lineup in the league” in the other 4 losses.
Too lazy to look up lineup numbers but I’m pretty sure that’s our only real positive lineup. Take any one of those guys out, especially Fox or the glue guys like Holmes and Barnes and you got no chemistry on offense and no trust on defense. Lack of depth shows.
What I’m implying is we’ve looked awful because take out our best lineup and 2-9 point wins becomes 8-14 point losses. Also, I think that means when we have a fully healthy team again and the rotations are back to normal, get ready for a few more unwanted wins.
Don’t worry, NBA teams are rarely fully healthy.
I’m counting on it. The tank has been fully accepted for me.
Imagine without just that ONE working lineup, we’d probably be top 4 already in the lottery so far.
Only counts when we are fully healthy and the other team isn’t…amiright
Chicago had Markkanon and Porter out ! Kings have been healthier than any team ( counting Covid ) in the league so that excuse is just Kangz ! They have benefited more than most !
Actually not an excuse it is fact and it passes the eye test, my point is that without Barnes and Holmes and our 4th quarter closing lineup we are a truly awful team so if you think just because the Bulls were missing Markannen and Porter we were supposed to beat them then you’re wrong.
Fox, Hali and Bagley are the only players playing NBA level basketball right now, Bulls still have best player on the floor, White, Young, Patrick, Temple and Satoransky who could be in any rotation in the league rn.
Zach Lavine murdered us in Chicago
“Swing and a miss”?
or
“Plain ol’ beatin'”
I’d like to see us go tank mode from a GM perspective but not necessarily from a player perspective. Trade Barnes, Bjelly, Buddy, Whiteside (if there are takers) and maybe even Holmes with the thought of building around Fox, Haliburton, and Bagley and their timeline. We can pickup some younger guys, cap flexibility, and likely a better draft position and give our youth monster minutes for development and to see what we really have. I would also like to see us move on from Walton in the offseason.
Yeah I am all for just tanking at this point and trading away Barnes, Bjelly, Buddy. Imagine having Fox, Haliburton, and Cade. Or have Mobley and Bagley in the front court.
I’m not sold on Mobley yet. He’s pretty raw and has a really frail frame. He’s like 20 lbs less than Bagley was coming in. I think he’s going to struggle to make an impact in his first couple years. He’s a better defender ( shot blocker) than Bagley but not as polished offensively. Ideally I’d like us to get one of the guys that can play SF: Cade, Kuminga, Green, Zaire, Scotty Barnes, etc.
I think Walton is definitely gone in the off season and the only reason he’s still here is because Vivek doesn’t want to pay him to do nothing for three years. Which isn’t a good reason but it’s a reason.
That’s a really good point about tank mode. That’s exactly what OKC is doing and many of their young guys (Maledon, Roby, Diallo, Pokusevski (now in bubble), Dort, Bazley) are steadily improving. I also agree building around Fox and Haliburton and yes Bagley for now but he still has much to prove.
Miss Len, Bazemore, and Giles. Three guys who are either bench guys or strictly playing due to injuries in front of them and we went 13-7 with them playing big minutes before the restart last year. The defense still wasn’t better but you could see the passion those guys had on our team and the disruptiveness they had against the other team. Those dudes are not world beaters but you can’t deny how well this team was playing with those guys.
Replace those 3 tough scrappy guys with Whiteside and GR3 and you get this soft Charmin Ultra team.
Giles seems like a good kid but there is an idealized version of his time here. He was bad and he’s been terrible in Portland this year. Vlade still should have picked up his option because why not but it wouldn’t have amounted to anything. I don’t think Monte was all that concerned that he was leaving despite the fan base’s protestations.
I know all of Giles flaws. I was specifically talking about that stretch he was our starting center and Len was backing him up. He was doing something right. The team was playing well.
Anyway, he was overall bad, but he wasn’t throw your phone at the wall bad on offense like Buddy or early season Bagley. He played within himself and a few of us do overreact to his 1 or 2 good passes per game but watching these 3 bigs try to pass right now makes Giles look like Jokic.
And no matter what he played hard and had the fans cheering when he was on the floor. This team is just missing any kind of passion and honestly FUN since that 7-1 stretch and even before that since those two early Denver games. Do I think he was a must resign? No, but just saying I miss watching a player like him, Len and Baze.
He definitely played hard which is really all Kings fans ask for and he did play with an edge which something nobody on the current roster does.
Fox is shooting 21% from behind the arc in the last 5 games. Sometimes numbers can lie to you. This number is telling you the truth.
Some nights he looks like an all star. Tonight, not so much.
At 23 years old he is really just coming into his athletic prime.
He also averages 9.2 assists to 3 turnovers. Don’t focus too much on his shooting percentage. His overall impact on offense is quite consistent.
I think the biggest issue is that he’s not really improving. Still a poor shooter from three and from the line, his assist rate is down a bit, and the team has been better offensively when he’s been on the bench this season.
He’s a streaky player. This season’s improvement by LaVine tells me there’s still time and hope, but at this point Fox isn’t consistently impacting games in the way you’d like to see from your “best player”.
I think somebody posted this on Twitter last night but Fox is like two different players depending on whether Richaun is playing or not. Which isn’t a great sign but does make sense because Richaun is the only guy who can effectively run pick and roll.
The only time LaVine was bothered was when Fox was assigned to him half way through the 4th. Fox got into him and he gets through picks. Cory Joseph is giving up 4 inches in height, more in length and athleticism and gets crushed on any decent pick. What is the friggen point? The outcome is so predictable.
The coach should be fired for repeatedly going to this failed gameplan when there is Fox, Jefferies and even Buddy more equipped to try to check LaVine. You cannot guard in the NBA if you lack the physical and athletic profile. Any novice observer can see this or come to this simple conclusion.
Why cannot Fox guard LaVine? Having Ty helps lessen Fox playmaking responsbility so he should be able to exert more effort on defense.
And why do we have 14 assistant coaches each of them more dense and clueless than the other, yes-men and token hires, who do nothing to remedy a gameplan destined to implode? They are all sitting there watching their brief careers come and go because they provide no value or guidance or inspiration.
LaVine 38 points on 20 shots, 75% FGs
CoJoSLo: 0 FGs 1 assist in 36 sad minutes
This is what Joseph is as a player, can’t guard, can’t create. He also likes to shift blame to teammates for defensive collapses and refs when he gets torched. He is a whiny little dude. Joseph might do something on offense when the opponent is overplaying on Fox and others, and being dared to do something. It was actually suprising this game was close as it was when you have this type of disrcepancy, and this was thanks to Ty and Marvin.
Marvin played better but he still has that selfish mentality I do not like. Unlike Ty, who stays in attack mode no matter who gets the shot. Marvins mentality is “I am hot, better shoot it”, Buddy is rubbing off on him to the negative.
Marvin misses some big shots down the stretch again. Marvin has to continue play with strong hands and a strong base. I do challenge those saying his defensive is awful as it has always been. Its not. He is in better position and not get abused as much.
23 points on 21 shots for Buddy is more losing basketball from our losingest player but it is a small step in the right direction his 2s and 3s were about half and half. I think Buddy should give up the 3 pointer unless there is no defender within 5-10 feet. He needs to flip his shot balance from 75-25 from behind the arc to 75-25 from within the arc and if this means fewer FGAs for awhile so be it.
He needs to look in the mirror and awknoledge his failure and quit expecting the same approach is going to deliver different results.
You can tell the coaching staff is exasaperated with Buddy and his mindlessness. When not jacking unconsciously, he threw a one handed left handed bounce pass that was easily picked in one of our last home games that helped to seal to loss. About half the coaches through their hands in the air simultaneously in disgust! Last night he threw a braindead outlet pass that was easily picked and could have helped us go down in flames again.
The coach resorted to sitting on the scorers table, defeated and deflated, his bald spot growing by the second.
Justin James is not an NBA player.
Kyle Guy was ruined by this coach, jacked around for so long his confidence and timing and rhythym are shot.
All Jabari Parker has to do is take care of his body for like 10 million dollars and yet he is chubby with NO muscle tone.
These last couple of games show the value of HB. We are terrible without him not only bc he is a very good payer but because we have no one fill his shoes, especially when the coach keeps Jefferies on a short leash in favor of proven loser players like Joseph and Bjelica.
Lot of takes there, but the buddy shot profile is ridiculous. The man made more three pointers in first four seasons than anybody nba history at 40% + clip. Yes 50/50 between 2s and 3s seems more ideal, but the idea he should be taking almost exclusively twos and not shooting threes unless wide open is nonsense. Is he playing well? No….but there is 4 season of data of him being a better shooter than this.
That CoJo take is what I have been noticing all season long. He always whines and blames his teammates every time he get’s torched on D and he can’t do anything on offense. That’s why I don’t like him (and the majority of TKH). I don’t get it why Doug and other team’s commentators talk highly of him.
Doug talks highly of EVERYBODY!
Everybody Sing:
The wheels on the bus come off, come off…
Tyrese has been just another guy of late. Getting his points and other stats, but not really making a difference in the game. Sadly, the team is gonna bring him down.
You think so? I thought he played really well last night. He missed a bunch of shots he’ll probably normally make but I loved his aggressiveness last night. I want him to shoot a lot even if it drags his efficiency down some. The stretch where we got back in the game was mainly due to him running pick and roll and creating. He’s a rookie so there are definitely going to lapses but I still love what I see from him. Watch him off ball on defense and he is usually the only guy who’s making the right read most of the time.
Fox could have easily taken over in a game like this. But, it seems he needs to pushed or prodded. In order, to turn on his Alpha Dog. Really Bi-Polar game. The 3 missed FTs in a row, 3 turnovers in the first Qtr. The way he approaches the game is baffling. He’s improved in some ways. But, does he really leave his imprint game in and game out? When he’s aggressive and playing smart, he’s one of the best in the league. Then, you see performances like last night. Where was he for the first 3 Qtrs?
The team lacks consistency of performance which is just another way of saying the roster just isn’t very good but I still think we are positioned decently for the future. Barnes, Bjelica, Buddy, Whiteside, Robinson, Parker, Joseph, James, all need to be placed on ebay and sold to the highest bidder. Hopefully we can get another draft pick and a young prospect and some cap space from the roster cleanout.
Walton needs to be applauded for keeping Cory Joseph relevant in the NBA, it feels like a breakout year for CoJo. He really fits with our future rebuild plans, just build the team around CoJo at this point, brilliant coaching.
The loser of this game was going to be the winner, I’m not mad. We clearly need more talent and our best shot at that is still through the draft until we get some momentum going.
Badge Legend