That wasn’t good, and big parts of it weren’t fun, and many parts of it were frustratingly stupid, but the Kings won! Light the beam and send those gifs!
Full recap to follow.
Postgame Thread: Kings 129, Mavericks 128 (OT)
What a weird win.
By Greg Wissinger | 83 Comments | Feb 10, 2025
Feb 10, 2025; Dallas, Texas, USA; Sacramento Kings guard Zach LaVine (8) dunks the ball against the Dallas Mavericks during the second quarter at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images
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Good times in Sactown. LTB!
Keon is really the carpet of this team.
DDR!
Horse in a suit wild ugly dance! Kings win!
&ct=g
Dallas Dance!
&ct=g
Oh…wait!
DDR Nove Shot for the Win!
Nove performance, indeed!
Your call my man!
That was ugly but a win is a win. +1 for beating Klay and Kyrie, 2 dudes I absolutely can’t stand. Oh, and Jason Kidd.
Kyrie is a special, special player. A treat to watch his game.
Monk with a great Offensive rebound on the missed free throw by Sabonis.
Give some credit to Sabonis on the effort on the rebound, Malik had space to grab that ball because the defender was trying to box out Sabonis.
Spot on the mark. Sabonis is a warrior. Just no quit in that guy. Monk doesn’t have a lane to the basket if Sabonis was not forming a “wall” deep in the lane.
A win is a win, but holy fuck do I hate this Kings offense. It’s Monk dribble dribble dribble, to DDR just below the 3pt line. a quick dribble to a back to the basket back down, to a contested turnaround midrange shot hoping for a foul or a make. It’s 1993 NBA basketball.
That’s it. That’s the offense right now. I’m unimpressed.
Rudimentary right now.
It’s HORRIBLE to watch. They need to mix the lineups but they won’t.
Oh now you have a crystal ball also?
Yes, not very pleasing to the eye.
I agree it’s hard to watch, but I just don’t think we’ll be watching these constant miscues all season. Are you afraid this is all we’ll get? I’m not.
Agree. You can never take a win for granted in the NBA, so a good job gutting it out….
But we needed an MVP caliber game from DDR to beat the Mavs by 1 in OT while they are missing AD, Lively, and PJ Washington.
Basically, this game didn’t do much to move the needle in my confidence in this team. I am hoping that Monte has a plan and is able to hit a home run like Morey and the team did in Houston with the Harden trade… but right now I am not really seeing where the upside comes from on this team.
DDR is 35, LaVine is about to turn 30, Sabonis is 28, and Monk is 26. Monk is still young, so maybe there is still some untapped upside, but he’s close to his peak. Murray and Ellis are 24-25 and still have some upside, but I’m struggling to see either one turning into another star player. Murray seems like a potential plus starter with Ellis as a really strong role player (and great outcome for a UDFA).
Kind of seems like we are what we are. A roughly .500 team who can compete for a play-in spot or a 6-8 seed if everything breaks perfectly for us. But what’s the upside? Where do we go from here?
If another star becomes available, does Murray, Carter, Val and our mid grab bag of picks get a deal done? Do we have to throw in Sabonis or Monk and lose out on other star power we need? I can’t imagine any serious team that is losing a star player will be interested in a 36 year old DDR or 30-31 year old LaVine making $47-49M.
My real concern is here is that we wind up stuck in no man’s land.
I don’t get the “we are what we are.” Why? The offense looks completely chaotic right now. They had no training camp together, no practice, and less than a hand-full of games. Why would it not get better?
Because they don’t have the right collection of players for it to get much better. They don’t have a point guard. The only play makers they do have are so bad at defense that their best offensive lineups get destroyed defensively. They need to start Keon Ellis but they can’t because the guys ahead of him make too much money.
Their last two wins were against a team that is 12-40 and they were down by 20 early and a team who’s center was 6’7 because every other big on the roster is hurt. The ceiling of this team is just incredibly low.
This team needs to be blown up in the absolute worst way but they’ll never do it because Vivek abhors the idea of rebuilding. I’d like to see this team intentionally rebuild with a purpose for the first time in 20 years but it’ll never happen. It’s incredibly depressing when the team’s goal is to make the play-in. That’s pathetic.
I’m not gonna argue, I’ll just chuckle when they make the playoffs and your over-the-moon.
If they lose in the first round of the playoffs, they won’t have accomplished anything. I’d prefer they attempt to compete for championships but I get some fans don’t really care whether that happens or not.
I think the issue comes in at how do they “compete for championships”. Some like what they have now, some wanted a full tear down and rebuild, others wanted different pieces added.
End of the day, I think we all want the team to compete for a championship.
I think they can compete for championships by getting more high end talent. The only way Sacramento can accomplish that is through the draft or trade. The trade is tough these days because stars get to dictate where they want to go more than ever and nobody is coming to the Kings of their own volition.
So, that leaves the draft. Now, if you want to tell me that the draft is a viable route either because they passed on Luka and traded Haliburton, I can’t argue that. I just at the landscape and think that’s the only hope. Could Cooper Flagg, Ace Baily or Dylan Harper vault this team into championship contention at some point? Maybe. I’ll take a maybe over this current iteration of the team with no ceiling beyond a first round playoff exit (and even that might be generous).
I was advocating for the tank before the LTB season, didn’t feel like they had enough assets for a run. I had to join the bandwagon when they started winning, but alas they didn’t have enough assets to sustain it. Health was their secret weapon that season and it will be a big part of their success this year, if it happens. Injuries are taking their toll on the NBA. This team has some subtle advantages.
I’m completely off the tank now. Too late, that ship has sailed. This is what we’re doing now, time to get on board.
What’s actually sad to me, is that with a couple moves, the Fox version of the team could have competed for a top-4 seed in the west. If they had added JV and maybe Cam Johnson while keeping everyone except Huerter and possibly Devin Carter, they would have had a 1-9 rotation that could give other teams a lot of problems.
But removing Fox has taken away the upside, mainly because Monte did nothing to improve the team for two straight seasons after the LTB season. Bringing on Demar was counter productive because it killed the team’s spacing and made the defense even worse. He’s a good player individually but there was a reason all the Kings best lineups featured one of Fox or Derozan on the bench.
You mention injuries and that’s the team’s only hope for success IMO. We have to stay healthy and hope that other team’s get hurt ala the Mavs right now. I just wish we didn’t have to bank on team’s being injured to have a realistic shot at doing anything.
I don’t think it would surprise anyone if we made the playoffs. But getting bounced in the first round by a younger, more promising team wouldn’t go against anything I had typed.
FK&C articulated it well. I agree some extra chemistry will help. But we don’t have more talent than with Fox. And have two wins against really banged up teams where we looked dicey at best.
We can be a slightly over .500 team, but without another major move that I am not sure we have the ammo to make, it’s hard to see this team taking another step and becoming a team that can compete with the top teams in the West.
I think we’ve been stuck in no man’s land for the entire Vivek era.
I think we arrived in no man’s land last season after peaking in the LTB season. Before that we dreamed of reaching no man’s land. In the 9 Vivek seasons prior to LTB we finished in the top 10 twice. Fired Karl after the first one and fired Joerger after the second.
Definitely fair to a degree, but look back at the LTB season two years ago.
We finished 3rd in the entire Western Conference at 48-34. We had two All NBA Players who were 25 and 26 years old. We had all of our picks except for one protected first owed in the Huerter trade. And Huerter was 24 and had a strong season. And Murray had a phenomenal rookies season and was 22. And Monk was 24 and a 6th man of the year candidate.
We also had a lot of young lottery tickets on the team: Ellis (23), Davion (24), Davis (24), Okpala (23), Metu (25), etc. This is what the Rockets did and plenty did not pan out but a couple became guys like Lowry and Dragic or were young dudes they were able to include in trades.
The issue now is we’ve gotten older and worse. As I outlined above a big part of our core is 35, 30, and 28. Even our supporting cast around them has a lot more older vets like Val, Lyles, Crowder, and Douggie.
Maybe Monte has a great plan and is able to flip some of these assets for a star. But it felt like we were in a much better position to do this two years ago.
Well said, SPTSJUNKIE. There was a window where the Kings had a lot of options and had the opportunity to be aggressive and add the wing and front court depth the team needed. Instead, they sat on their hands for two years and waited until things got so untenable they were forced to make panic moves and trade Fox. It definitely didn’t have to go this way but I totally get Fox wanting out. I would have wanted out too were I in his shoes.
No Fox, no Huerter cutting and moving.
Keegan makes 3 token cuts, otherwise stands at 3 point line.
It’s a win! As J Reynolds once said, “If your not happy, GET HAPPY!”
I like the Heimdahl and Thor front line.
Poorly officiated. Kangz defense. Deebo with the shot instead of running the clock out and taking a foul but redeems himself with the game winner. Ugly but exciting win!
Our own Twin Towers.
JoDomanas play together in the Lithuanian team and know each other’s tendencies, so we can at least exploit that familiarity. I juat wish JV doesn’t foul as much.
But he’s already helping Sabonis not to foul out as much which is a big plus.
Sabonis doesn’t need to walk on egg-shells as much. It isn’t as big of a deal if he fouls out.
Man you are out of control “JoDomanas”. Good laugh for my morning.
Ugly win, but it’s a win.
LTMFB
I’m still partial to Baltic Brothers.
No LaVine in OT? What BS coaching
he was not playing defense.
Jk I think he did play to close. He should get better after ASB (3 pts and less TO I mean)
LaVine is surprising me in a not-great way with his passing. It’s not good. So many passes behind the cutter, or so easily deflected or intercepted. Anyone else noticing this?
He’s been making passes I didn’t know he could . Some have gone in the stands, and I think that’s to be expected for a minute. He sent some zingers into Domas for dunks. Familiarity should help cut down the mistakes.
This is who he has always been. He’s a career 1.5 A/T ratio player who was sitting at 1.6 this year in Chicago and whose career high was 1.9. And his career high in assists is 4.9 in 2021 when he has a 31% usage rate and was the focal point of the Chicago offense taking 19.4 shots per game.
LaVine isn’t selfish per se, he’s a willing passer as we have seen. But he’s really not a playmaker. He’s a bit like Buddy or Barnes in the sense that he will swing the ball in the flow of the offense and make some nice passes when he’s being a bit more passive, but once he starts to dribble the ball he’s generally looking to score and isn’t really great at creating for others.
Collect them all!
I always saw Lavine as a scorer, and not much else. Definitely not a playmaker. I never saw Barnes, let alone Buddy make the passes Lavine is making. As far as the turnovers, maybe that is just who he is, but I don’t think so. First of all he’s almost 30 now. Secondly, I see his Chicago stats as only loosely relevant. This is Domas’ team, less pressure to create.
It feels like this fanbase is largely unwilling to accept Lavine, and maybe I’m delusional, but I think his game will come around, and the fans will eventually also.
This is a realistic expectation. Sadly a big step down from Fox.
I mean he’s 30 and has never even touched a 2.0 A/T, which is pretty tablestakes for most players of his archetype. And keep in mind during his time in Minnesota and Chicago, he played with KAT / Wiggins and then DDR when Demar was 10th overall in MVP voting and All NBA 2nd Team and was the focal point of the offense.
Look, I will accept any player who puts on a Kings uniform and gives us 100% effort. I want LaVine and the Kings to be successful. However, he is facing headwinds that we had a big downgrade in talent and are paying LaVine $47M and $49M the next two seasons. It’s not a great situation to be in. LaVine will certainly get better as he settles in, his shooting should come around, but his passing and poor defense is just who he has always been.
All of this makes him an awkward fit on our current roster. Either we let him pound the ball and take possessions and shots away from our other talented offensive players, but we don’t get playmaking or defense. Or we have him play more off ball, but then we limit his strength and have him as a net negative on defense, which greatly limits his value. Ironically, we are probably best off with him as the 6th man and providing instant offense off the bench (potential 6th man of the year material), but I don’t think the franchise is willing to go there.
Yikes.
Kings the better team, showed some moments of really good play and then turned it over, could not get a call, play poor D but got the win.
Torture.
These current set of games are the inflection point- continue bad habits and lose or pull it together (like times tonight) and become a force.
which rando guys scored for Dallas?
Hard to believe that this wounded team put up this sort of fight.
De’Aaron Fox leaves the Kings and tonight, and because he does not wear purple and black, he gets 18 free throws.18! bet that never happened in Sacramento.
Zebra conspiracy? sure seems hard to dispute.
He was 15 of 19 from the line in his 49 pt game against Utah this season
you ruined a really good conspiracy theory and self-pitying whine, but
good call Jman.
It was the only time in 514 games in Sacramento that he had 18+ free throws
So what we’re saying is, Fox was right to go to San Antonio?
I didn’t watch the Spurs game, but I think we all saw how Fox attacked the basket less and less in Sac. He might be more motivated right now to attack the basket, and he was also playing next to Chris Paul, so there was less facilitating he needed to do.
Could be an outlier game, could be the refs are now giving the Spurs star calls, or if this keeps up, maybe “taking the ball out of Fox’s hands” and making him a two guard is what needed to happen all along.
All the talk about whether or not Fox can be a 1a, well he’s a solid 1b now.
Do you get credit for making the winning shot when you tried to lose the game for no discernible reason?
Yes, yes you do. It may be lucky, but that counts too.
I just hate rewarding incompetence and they shot the ball for no reason with 17 seconds left up 2, then proceeded to give up a wide open 3 to Klay Thompson of all people. All of this taking place against a team missing half their players with no center while the Kings are completely healthy. I feel worse after that win that I have after many losses this season.
I wish I could take your pain and put it in a little box.
Keep Kangz Weird!
All road wins are good, but damn the offense is clunky. Gotta take care of the ball. No way it should be that hard to beat a team playing Edwards and Exum big minutes.
And fuck the refs
The Christie Count:
Head Coach Doug Christie Era:
14-7 (.667)
For Christie to finish @ .500
11-18
For Team to Finish >.500 (42-40)
15-14
For Team to Finish: 46,48,50
19-10, 21-8, 23-6
Interestingly- The Win/Loss has improved, yet the point differential has dropped to just +0.8 from a previous high or +2.4 which was high as 8th, but is now 12th; above LAL (+0.7), IND (+0.6) and GSW (+0.3) in plus (+) point differential column. PHX is (-). At this time, tonight.
Sacramento also 14th in League record which it shares with DET and GSW.
My gut take on this is that Mike Brown relied on this very analytical approach to offense of “always take the shot with the highest expected points per possession.” This results in a lot of spray 3s, and transition 3s, as well as shots around the basket.
It worked great for 3 quarters, but would stall in the 4th when the game slowed down which is when we’d start playing ‘your turn-my turn’ with DDR, Fox and Monk. Mike Brown’s offensive scheme would hit a roadblock and he’d be completely unable to adapt or make in-game adjustments, and they’d lose narrowly.
Christie is open to making in-game adjustments. Just last night he tried JV-Sabonis for the first time during critical minutes – and it worked! I know statheads think they can Moneyball every aspect of basketball, but the reality is that sometimes you just need one bucket or one stop, and it doesn’t matter how you get it, what it looks like, or whether some spreadsheet nerd deems it “efficient.” This is why I believe they can win more tight games while having worse advanced numbers.
Interesting take thanks
Put some respect on DeMar DeRozan’s name! He is so clutch, and is willing to take the biggest shot in the game time after time. GIANT STONES.
Why are so many people trying to trade this guy, or bench him? Maybe his game is just easier to discredit, because its not flashy. But so effective, and he’s all heart. Got to love on a dude like this please!
Because he’s dribble, dribble, dribble-not much D. A ball stopper. Not a ball mover. 1-1 Not a great 3 point shooter.
More importantly, he’s not what they need.
Bench to balance out starting lineup or trade to get the wing they need. Etc.
Carmelo Jr.
Most importantly right now, he was exactly what they needed last night!
He made us (me) look silly. Maybe he heard some of the talk.
I have no clue what I just watched, but the Kings won I think? Yay!
This was a messy game, clearly the team has not gelled yet and there is blatant confusion on assignments on both ends of the floor. That being said, damn it feels good to have talent on this team, and the ability for multiple players (not just fox) to take big shots.
I like our future, no doubt Lavine is going to get going when he trusts himself in this scheme. I really do hope that they keep Doug and see what he can do in an off season with this team, if nothing else than because he demands effort on the defensive end every possession.
Hard to watch the offense, and hard to fathom why Deebo took that layup. Happy for him that he redeemed himself as he had an incredible game, really pulled us out of that first half with our heads held high. Other than that, take the win and move on! LTFB!!
Great comment Scoreless! Well said. It’s is SO nice to have all this talent on the team.
The Kings have had a lot of dumb losses this year. I’ll take a dumb win from time to time.
This is one of the dumbest wins I’ve ever witnessed lol.
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