The Kings have their first loss of the Domantas Sabonis era, losing 109 to 85 in Brooklyn on Monday night. Despite missing their main stars in Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and newcomer Ben Simmons, the Nets managed to snap their 11-game winning streak led by new addition Seth Curry (23 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists) and veteran LaMarcus Aldridge (19 points, 8 rebounds).
Like all three games since the big trade, the Kings started this one off sloppy and faced a double-digit deficit pretty early. Unfortunately for them, they never really managed to bounce back aside from one run towards the end of the 2nd quarter and in the beginning of the 3rd when they managed to get within two points after being down by as much as 19. That was as close as Sacramento was going to get however and the Nets managed to outscore the Kings 23 to 11 over the final 10 minutes of the quarter.
The fourth quarter wasn’t any better and the Nets were quickly able to extend their lead back to 19. The Kings had a couple of mini-runs but Brooklyn answered back each time and Sacramento never managed to get the deficit back down to single digits before waving the white flag with a few minutes left.
The Kings shot just 34.4% from the field, their 3rd worst shooting performance of the season. De’Aaron Fox was the only Kings player to shoot 50% from the field and he finished with a game-high 26 points. Domantas Sabonis struggled most of the night matched up against the bigger Andre Drummond and Aldridge, and finished with 9 points, 9 rebounds and 2 assists. Harrison Barnes also was shut down, scoring just 6 points on 3-9 from the field. The Kings as a team also managed just 12 assists to 18 turnovers, and nobody seemed on the same page. Justin Holiday was the only Sacramento player who didn’t register at least one turnover, but he also shot just 3-12 from the field.
The only other Kings players aside from Fox to score in double digits were Davion Mitchell (13 points but on 5-14 from the field) and Donte DiVincenzo (12 points on 4-11 from the field). DiVincenzo definitely is rusty and took some ill-advised shots, but he also managed to contribute in other ways and finished the game with 8 rebounds, 5 steals and 2 assists. he was the lone King to finish with a positive +/- at +9 in nearly 27 minutes.
For a team chasing a play-in spot, a loss to a struggling Nets team missing most of their starpower is a tough pill to swallow. They have one more game on Wednesday before the All-Star break, where they’ll face their toughest challenge yet, a Chicago Bulls team that has been playing very good basketball all season and has the 2nd best record in the Eastern Conference. A win there would do a lot to erase the memory of a rough shooting night in Brooklyn.
Random Observations
- The Nets definitely got a boost from both of their new additions that played. Seth Curry is such a skilled offensive player and he’s going to thrive when Brooklyn’s stars are healthy and he has even more space. Andre Drummond did a good job of protecting the paint for the Nets and finished with 11 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and a block in 24 minutes.
- The Nets outscored the Kings 17 to 4 in fastbreak points. Nothing was coming easy for the Kings tonight.
- There were several moments tonight when Coach Alvin Gentry went with a lineup that didn’t feature any of Sabonis, Fox or Barnes. I don’t like our lineups when not one of those guys is on the floor. I feel like he needs to find a way to have at least one of them on the floor at all times. Seems like Coach agrees with me based on the post-game.
- There really felt like there was a lid on the basket for the Kings most of the night and sometimes that happens. At one point, Sabonis airmailed a three but Justin Holiday was wide open under the rim for the rebound and put back, which he also airmailed.
- Cam Thomas is a guy who I feel like is going to become a really nice player in this league for the Nets. He’s a very smooth offensive player.
- Meanwhile, Bruce Brown might be one of the more underrated players in the league. Just the consummate roleplayer and statsheet stuffer. Tonight he put up 19 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, 5 steals and 3 blocks with a +28 in 37 minutes. Very few guys have put up a 5×5 in the NBA and he came pretty darn close.
- Davion sure isn’t shy about shooting. He was second on the team in FGA. His three pointer is definitely coming around but he still needs to work on finishing near the basket, where his lack of size is a hindrance.
- It feels like the Kings have been losing every 50/50 ball these last 3 games. There have been quite a few good defensive possessions where they manage to knock the ball away and it just bounces bad or an opposing player is in the right spot at the right time.
Kings just need a little luck ..
Is that the pussification of the fanbase? Asking for a friend.
It is a Catastrophe!
Sorry team optimist. Same as it ever was.
Kangz.
Being an optimist in life is healthy, being an optimist when it comes to the Kangz is stupidity.
I disagree.
are we back to blowing it up?
Vivek says no.
Last I heard they’re a 5/6 seed next year. 🙂
On Tankathon maybe?
No, but Operation; M.C.N.A.I.R. is still alive and kicking.
I like the little stop and pop mid range shot fox has been hitting a lot more recently. They need to be running the high post through sabonis and have fox run around off screens. It’s nice to see a new wrinkle to his offense because he can usually get in the paint at will so not having to just crash for a dunk or layup I think will go far for him. Starting to get a little more comfortable in his 3pt too they dont all feel like they’re going to miss every time 😂
Thanks for a positive comment. All these negative comments if read by the players just isn’t helping matters. With the addition of 6 new players,half your team,and no practices what do these really great Kings fans want?
Well, realistically, they want perfection at all times. They didn’t get what they wanted (tear down to the studs rebuild), so they will be hyper critical of everything. And I think they would be hyper critical regardless of getting what they want. Every other team in the NBA is perfect, you see, flawless one might say, so the fact the Kings aren’t is just yet another example of institutional failure.
BestHyperboleEver needs a new nickname!
His NN works just fine. The extremes on both ends of the spectrum are starting to annoy me.
The only thing extreme about me is my extreme handsomeness and extreme humbleness.
if fans impact the front office, then it’s clear the negative and vocal fanbase inspired Monte to finally do something big.
With this organization, sucktitude never really goes away. It just takes a couple of days off every now and then.
Go root for the Lakers. They are really playing great. I am so tired of all these negative comments. It brings the players down, the staff down,and me down.Monty did what had to be done in order to turn things around. All you negative people wanted him to do something and he did. And he still isn’t done yet. GO KINGS!
It’s almost like being a fan of one of the worst franchises in professional sports history has negative consequences.
Yeah, but those two games …
I’d like to know how many wide open shots were missed tonight, but there is no way I’m going to watch that mess twice.
9-35 from three. That is going to be an issue going forward. This team still needs reliable outside shooting if Fox and Sabonis are going to rule the paint and mid-range game.
A stretch 4 next to Sabonis is a necessity. McGenius likely trades our first round pick this offseason for one.
The podcast with Jerry mentioned some intriguing names:
Pat Williams
Isaac
DeAndre Hunter
Jerami Grant
If those are the targets, I hope a 1st isn’t involved.
It would have to be. In the podcast Jerry thought Barnes was a keeper next to Fox and Bones. What the Kings need as another 3/4 wing like Barnes. So if a pick is not involved, what other assets do they have to trade other than Holmes? Maybe there is hope for a PJ Washington S&T for Holmes, but I don’t see how this team adds talent without scoring in the lottery or trading a pick.
I agree. Before all this started I wanted Holmes for PY Washington. I love Holmes . Something has happened to him. He isn’t the same Holmes. Maybe part of it is he is now a backup and not a starter. I hope not. Monty can’t do everything in one night but I believe he is moving in the right direction.
I’m not above moving a pick, I just think they should set their sights on something of a bit better caliber than that list. Of course, I could be over-valuing our picks, but I’ve gotta think that picks in the top 6 or 7 would be valuable to a good deal of teams out there.
I don’t want Isaac anywhere near Sacramento.
yes !
need a complete Ortho wing and a wheelchair fleet.
Kings pick now tied at 6. Could get to 9 if pass NOP, Blazers and break tie with SAS. May catch NYK.
I suspect a righting of the ship and passing SAS, NOP and Blazers for 9.
I do love when teams like PDX try to tank and the remaining players are like, “not so fast…”
I’ll take 11-12. They don’t catch NO, and SA doesn’t tank.
7-9 ping pong ball slot.
I don’t think they’re going to finish relatively far back in the lottery. I don’t think Sabonis by himself is enough to right this ship and suddenly start winning at a significant clip, relative to the other teams. Especially with their remaining schedule. Granted, that can change completely with injuries or if teams start sitting their starters from here on out.
All those guys were lottery picks and Williams and Hunter not likely traded for a 7 or 8 pick !
Just a terrible game ! Not enjoyable in any way !
Lol, all the fans that were excited after two post trade wins against bad teams.
This is still a below average team that isn’t worth watching.
McGenius still needs to figure out how to land a superstar or at the very least a third borderline all star caliber player to go a long with Fox and Ox. And you have to hope Fox keeps playing at a high level, which history suggests he will not.
Excellent piece by Tyrese in the Player’s Tribune, definitely solidified my feeling that he was the only fun and good thing about being a King’s fan, with him there was a bit of hope. Get used to games like tonight, Domas and Fox are overrated, poor defenders, can’t shoot 3s, fringe All-Star talent at best. The perfect two guys to build around if the goal is perpetual mediocrity.
I’m not telling people how to fan, but why can we only see matters in extremes?
i didn’t like the trade, even though I like Sabonis. I also didn’t build much hope on the basis of these two wins against mediocre teams. I kept wondering how they would react once they get punched in the mouth and teams take away what worked so far. We now saw a glimpse of that.
BUT, as this team wasn’t as good as the two previous games this team is also not as bad as last night’s game. And Sabonis is not overrated.
Come next season, I expect the team to be better than the team prior to the trade deadline. The two questions are:
1. how much better, and
2. will it ultimately be worth the price we paid?
To be determined.
Do you find it as tiresome as do I to be so reasonable?
Depends how you rate Sabonis to determine if he’s overrated. I’ve seen ratings anywhere between the 27th and 49th best player in the NBA. If you have him near 27 you overrate him. He’s probably somewhere between 36 and 42 right now.
Team never really looked in sync with each other. On the bright side, we didn’t lose ground on our 6th pick position.
The team with the worst record ( Orlando) also has the most former lottery picks on its roster (9) ! Yea – Kings only have 5 left since trading 3 ( Bagley, Heild, and Hali ) ! Lottery picks and wins does not compute . Last season Champs, Bucks had 1 !
Phoenix has 10 former lottery picks (if I counted correctly). It’s obviously not the be-all, end-all, of winning basketball, as you have to have good scouting to help maximize your selection with that lottery pick. Something the Kings have not had for almost 2 decades now.
Bucks had two though…Lopez and Augustin.
A team with a .373 W/L% isn’t swallowing any tough pills.
For fans of the Kings, all the pills are jagged and tough to swallow.
This team is still better than a week ago. There’s three new rotation players that have probably not had a single full practice together, cut them some slack.
They need a 3 point shooter in the draft.
Tyrese had 16 assists yesterday. Kinda wish they’d given up Fox instead. But they’d still be in the position of needing another 3 point shooter and better D.
good post
Just read Hali’s “Life Goes On’ piece on theplayerstribune.com
I think he’ll be great in Indiana, and alot of us will be following his career there.
The team has gone from being bad to mediocre, and the needs are obvious to everyone, including our GM. So, I have some hope that McNair will make the moves necessary for the team to keep improving. I would have liked to have seen Holmes and Barnes moved out as well, that would have speeded up the process.
You can trade Barnes but you will not get a better player ! Just younger – and most likely the draft pick will take several years to be as good – if lucky ! Moving deck chairs !
Barnes doesn’t help space the floor for Fox and Sabonis, so a trade that brings in someone like that would be helpful. Plus, he’s aging. ;
That’s funny. I think Barnes does exactly that: Operate as a floor spacer.
Speeded? Barnes is a really solid fit with Sabonis and Fox. Sure, he had a rough game tonight but who didn’t? Now, Holmes is a different story. He needs to regain the high energy magic that earned him the starter job.
That’s just the half of it – BKN shot 51%, when they’d only shot 44% over their past ten games. Same old Kangz defense we’ve seen all year.
Also somewhat discouraging that our all-star center got shut down so effectively. Will have to hope it’s just a one-game anomaly.
I wanna see how James Hardon fits but Damn, as of rn the Nets fleeced the 6ers
Even great teams are look tired and miss shots on these road trips. I expect this to be a slog, the Wizards win was a nice bonus. They need to get home, get some rest over the all Star break and get some practices in. I’m optimistic.
Is it actually the coaching staff with the low BBiQ?
They apparently had time to get the new players acquainted with the old elementary school offense, that doesn’t benefit player strengths and is easy to defend.
Perhaps they should cease any and all offense instruction and completely commit practice time to defending the 3 and paint penetration. Let the players do what they’ve done their whole lives playing basketball and play offence to their strengths.
Frustrating game to watch, Kings just looked out of whack all game. To your point Akis, Gentry needs to play not one, but two of Fox, HB and Sabonis at all times. Our bench, outside of Davion, DDV and Holmes, is just not good enough to sustain when two of the aforementioned three best players are sitting.
Our bench will be alright. How can you make a statement like that when they haven’t played any minutes as of now. It is up to the coaching staff to let others play. As of now Holiday has missed so many threes why not give Lyles and Jackson some meanigful minutes and then make you judgement.
Also, I just don’t understand why Holiday is taking so many shots…
Barnes, Fox and Sabonis should be the one who takes most shots
He’s shot close to 38% on 6+ threes a game for the past two years. He’s not a bad shooter
both DDV and Holiday are jacking it up- I think this is a natural reaction to make a point (pardon that pun)
This is about what I expect to see for the rest of the season. Some good play, more poor play. More losses than wins down the stretch. Even with the trade I don’t see this team getting to my pre-season 35 win prediction.
I kind of look at this like an extended pre-season for next year. Give Fox and Sabonis some time to play together, give the organization a chance to look at DDV and Holiday and maybe even Lyles. Wouldn’t mind a little Queta time down the stretch – doesn’t have to be a lot, but some a few minutes here and there would be nice.
The draft slot thing will hash itself out. The Kings weren’t going to be in the bottom four, and this trade gives Indy the edge for five. Anyone outside of the top three but inside the top ten should get a good player, but likely not a franchise mover. That’s what the Kings will be looking at as it pertains to either the player they select or the value of the pick that they ultimately trade.
Still a lot of work to be done to make this thing work within the time parameters of Sabonis’ 2022-2024 deal. The organization put the wheels in motion at the trade deadline. The right coach and addition of another top 50 player are necessities for this off-season, not luxuries. Very interested to see how the summer plays out.
I believe they will have more good games than poor games.
I’ll pay you $5 for each win if you pay me $5 for each loss from now to the end of the season.
What about moral victories?
I have as many morals as the Kings have victories.
I didn’t say wns or loses. I said more ood games than poor games. There is a difference.
Moral victories!
Good insightful post.
The trade was just as much for next year as this year. Tanking would have resulted in # 5 at best (Pacers are in deep tank) and this trade may result in a #9 at worst. My suspicion is that Kings move from 6 to 8 due to trade.
Kings really need shooters (don’t we all) Buddy is a shooter but inconsistent and he is a liability and was required to match salaries. I do not pine for Buckets.
While I do not like him and would not trade at all for him, someone like Clarkson would make a big impact. Not everyone has 3 snipers like the Nets (and KD + Kyrie) Kings could use just one. Next year’s draft and FA would do well to find shooters + a big bad stretch 4.
I’m hoping that the trade was 1m times more for next year than this year.
No real cap room next year, so the assets for adding shooting next year will be the draft, the MLE, and whatever value Holmes might have in trade. Barnes as well, but there is some subtraction where trading Barnes is concerned, so you’d really have to be getting someone nice back.
Youhave to look a Barnes trade.He is moving out of his prime and it will be hard to trade him. I did like Monty keeping him this year. He is a really good asset.
There may be rookie shooters at 7-9th pick. Sharpe for one.
Is a stretch 4 who can shoot better than a rookie guard who can shoot?
actually Kings need both.
MLE may help but may not.
Holmes trade may help –
Here we go with the coach again. Come on, how many changes do you need to see before you finally give up on that one. Now it’s Gentry. He a good man and he certainly didn’t get to where he got by someone giving him something. He’s earned his place and another coaching change is just an exercise is futility. Yes it’s imperative they get another top 50 player without giving up their two best players, but more importantly they are going to have to knock it out of the park come draft time which will require some luck. All those marginal veterans they got Holiday, Lyles, DD (maybe), Harkless, are not going to make a difference and I doubt they should be playing that much right now. Yes, take a look at Queta. It’s not like Holmes is killing it for us.
I never wanted Walton here and thought that the “coaching search” that led to his hire was a complete sham. I also did not think that firing him and installing Gentry was going to have any substantive change, other than making the games slightly more enjoyable by virtue of not having to see Walton’s mug anymore. And that has largely proven true, at least for me.
Also, I didn’t want Joerger fired. So when you ask me how many changes I need to see, I guess my answer is that I did not need to see one when they fired Joerger?
I think that Gentry is a career NBA coach, and very capable of caretaking a roster. I have never thought of him as being among the NBA’s best or worst coaches. He neither steals or costs you wins. A 30 team win wins 30 games under Alvin Gentry. A 40 win team wins 40 games, and so on.
The question is, does a Kenny Atkinson or Terry Stotts move the needle at all? Do either of those guys squeeze 41 or 42 or 43 wins out of a 40 win team. And if not them, is there someone else?
I have zero doubt that Erik Spoelstra could squeeze more wins out of this roster than Alvin Gentry. But Erik Spoelstra isn’t coming through that door. That said, I think it would be remiss of the organization, in its ongoing search to improve its personnel, to not explore any and all options of upgrading the coaching. Your mileage may vary.
I’m not exactly sure how Gentry has “earned his place” to get a multi-year extension. If they’d show improvement after firing Luke, I’d entertain it. However, the team hasn’t shown any improvement under his time.
If anything BTB, they had gotten worse under Gentry. Which is fairly amazing.
Deeper dive: Gentry has started 14 seasons as a head coach. His teams made the playoffs 3 of those times.
That stuff is all roster driven and nothing else. Look at Joergers over all record with the Kings. I don’t blame him but if your looking at records there’s nothing there indicating he made a difference. The Kings have changed coaches so many times in an effort to obscure where the real blame should be placed. Everyone points to the 39 win season Joerger had but they fail to mention the other seasons and I remember the sites saying over and over the team doesn’t play fast enough and then we got Fox and his style changed. Also keep in mind he had a 500 record well into the season, then got Barnes for basically nothing and it went downhill from there finishing out of the playoffs. And you talk about looking at mugs. There’s a pompous arrogant mug if I’ve ever seen one.
The evidence is overwhelming that this coaching argument is just fan frustration pointed in the wrong direction. Good coaches have failed here like George Karl and Malone. We’ve had coaches fail here and subsequently succeed elsewhere. It’s kind of like when fans say the Kings have poor player development. When you find me players leaving the kings and making big leaps forward I’ll give that some merit. You just can’t find any evidence also where a coaching change will matter. Now after a dozen coaching changes with no appreciable change in results, it’s time to bash Gentry. It’s all hogwash by justifiably frustrated fans. Heck Rivers has a winning record and how many times has that guy failed with a loaded roster. Do you really think if Gentry had all the rosters Rivers has had his record would be any different than his. Come on.
Thank you for making my point.
You should only use your powers for good, Yogi. Just sayin’…..
You are trying to be a fresh team thereforey ou need a fresh coach.
Keeping it simple… shouldnt coach take out players who arent shooting well and not playing defense but still putting up tons of shots (wait, buddy is gone, nevermind).
Curry is a legit starting NBA guard, Drummond a serviceable center + Ben Simmons + 2 first round picks! For Harden??
Morey got fleeced!
It looks like Karl was right….Seth has definitely been around for a few years, in the league.
Go figure.
Only 58 comments, must have been a win!
Team and fan enthusiasm crashed after two games. I thought this one was winnable without KD, BS and Flat Earth.
The first two games were propelled by adrenaline and free form. Once Kings tried to structure things and the high wore off, reality set in. And, oh yes, Kings had a terrible shooting night- 34 %.
The new team lacks consistent shooters. Look at Nets- little Curry, Mills and Cam Thomas, shooters all. Kings have zero equivalent. Shooters tough to come by- either in free agency or draft (takes some time)
Defense looks a lot better- DDV and Holiday get after it and pairing with Moe and Mitchell was interesting to say the least.
In last few games, too often Kings played great D and a blocked shot or deflected pass resulted in an opponent bucket. Has happened 3-4 times per game.
Shooting was off- not so much due to Nets defense but due to a combination of just bad luck, bad judgment, un-familiarity and trying to make the un-familiar new plays work. The initial free form was more successful.
Team went from bad to mediocre.
Since TDL, SAS, Blazers and NOP all winning. Only Pacers falling.
Davion now back in top 10 Rookie Ladder. This was a solid draft. Next year, not so much
Kings will never have 3 snipers like the Nets but just one would do-in addition to the occasional sniper. Kings really had to guard Curry, Mills and Thomas. That opened up the opportunistic Brown.
Nets fleeced Philly.
Even good teams have off shooting nights. This game isn’t indicative of anything, other than if you shoot 34% from the field, you’re probably going to lose, which is true for any team.
Off to Chicago and hopefully a better shooting night!
A few things.
Brooklyn came in on a losing streak determined to end it. They had Curry and Drummond available which they didn’t have the previous 2 games. They also lost 8 of their 11 game losing streak on the road, and the 3 losses at home were to the Lakers, Nuggets, and Celtics. This team wasn’t that bad, but the Harden cloud hung over them.
You saw the bad side of Domantas Sabonis last night. You also saw why trades like this take time.
Richaun Holmes was wholly ineffective last night. He needs some time, though. He did get punched in the mouth with this trade.
Since the trade, De’Aaron Fox is shooting 42% from 3 on a tick under 5 attempts a game. His TS% is 59.3, his USG% is 29.9 so basically 30%. Domas is at 23.3 USG% and a very low (for him) 55.3 TS%. If you get Domas’ TS% up to his career norms, it’s not impossible to see this being a top 10 possibly top 5 offense. Those numbers for De’Aaron would easily be a career high spread over a full season. I’m hoping they stay in that range for the rest of the season.
I also saw a team fighting to the end to try and get a W. It felt alot went right for Brooklyn as much as anything. Plus their game plan worked well and the cutting off Domas’ wasn’t as pronounced as it was in the first two games. Not a bad loss, snd lessons to be learned. It’s, as the saying goes, a process. Nothing happened last night that tells me this team couldn’t win games down the stretch. I just wouldn’t necessarily expect that either given the learning curve this team is under.
A few things.
Brooklyn came in on a losing streak determined to end it. They had Curry and Drummond available which they didn’t have the previous 2 games. They also lost 8 of their 11 game streak on the road, and the 3 losses at home were to the Lakers, Nuggets, and Celtics. This team wasn’t that bad, but the Harden cloud hung over them.
You saw the bad side of Domantas Sabonis last night. You also saw why trades like this take time.
Richaun Holmes was wholly ineffective last night. He needs some time, though. He did get punched in the mouth with this trade.
Since the trade, De’Aaron Fox is shooting 42% from 3 on a tick under 5 attempts a game. His TS% is 59.3, his USG% is 29.9 so basically 30%. Domas is at 23.3 USG% and a very low (for him) 55.3 TS%. If you get Domas’ TS% up to his career norms, it’s not impossible to see this being a top 10 possibly top 5 offense next season at least. Those numbers for De’Aaron would easily be a career high spread over a full season. I’m hoping they stay in that range for the rest of the season.
I also saw a team fighting to the end to try and get a W. It felt alot went right for Brooklyn as much as anything. Plus their game plan worked well and the cutting off Domas’ wasn’t as pronounced as it was in the first two games. Not a bad loss, and lessons to be learned. It’s, as the saying goes, a process. Nothing happened last night that tells me this team couldn’t win games down the stretch. I just wouldn’t necessarily expect that either given the learning curve this team is under.
Just as an aside, but looking up the Kings ORtg, DRtg, DRB%, eFG% and TOV% over the last 3 games, it seems the Kings are 20th in ORtg (112.2), 15th in DRtg (111.6), 5th in DRB% (77.6%), 19th in eFG% (53.5%), and 22nd in TOV% (15.2%).
Those are some interesting trends to say the least. It’ll be interesting to see which direction these move as the season winds down.
I’m sure that there will be a few different Fox/Ox mashups out there, but this one came together nicely –
I was angling for a retro De’Aaron and John Salmons mashup, but my Fox & Lox pitch was left on the conference room floor.
https://www.instagram.com/oxandthefoxnapa/
My paypal about lit on fire, I bought this so fast…this logo is awesome.
Genius Merch TKH!
IS THIS FOR SALE?!? So clean!!!
Meh. Fox can be one of 5 equally talented players. But to vault him up to a dynamic nba duo has not been earned yet.
Okie dokie.
Badge Legend