SACRAMENTO – Ten days ago the Kings were riding a three-game winning streak and appeared ready to stamp themselves as contenders in the NBA’s Western Conference.
Four consecutive losses later – all of them at Golden 1 Center – the vibe in the state’s capital is a lot different.
Rather than proving to be a contender, the Kings now are looking more realistically like a team that will struggle just to make it to the NBA play-in tournament, similar to the situation they faced last season.
Sunday’s 122-95 home loss to the Indiana Pacers was just the latest setback.
The Pacers entered the day with a sub-.500 record and were the Eastern Conference's No. 8 seed, yet they handled the Kings fairly easily.
“Their pace, whether it be in the full court or half court, was at a high level,” Kings coach Mike Brown said. “We were always a step or at least half a step behind them when it came to trying to defend them in the second half.”
Even though it came three days before Christmas, it was hardly the type of effort and production expected from a team that still views itself a legitimate playoff contender.
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After a somewhat sluggish, see-saw first half, the Kings simply stopped playing in the second half. The Pacers poured in 70 points over the final two quarters and strolled to a 27-point victory, Sacramento’s most lopsided loss of the season.
That came on the heels of the Kings’ one-point loss to the Denver Nuggets followed by back-to-back losses to the Los Angeles Lakers.
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Had they pulled off the win against the Nuggets, split the two games with the Lakers then held serve at home against the Pacers, the outlook for the Kings would have been a lot more optimistic and bright than it is now.
The play got so bad Sunday that fans at Golden 1 Center repeatedly rained down boos on the Kings throughout the second half.
“The fans definitely deserved better than what we showed today,” Brown said. “When you look in the mirror you want to say that you left it all on the floor and you’re trying to play the right way. It’s understandable why the fans let us have it.”
Brown remains confident that the situation is correctable, albeit with a few tweaks needed here and there. The Kings’ coach jumbled his rotations slightly against the Pacers in hopes of igniting a spark, but the changes didn’t produce the hoped-for result.
“This is pretty low,” Brown acknowledged. “We’ve had some other tough moments. But the one thing that I firmly believe in is if things are going good, you can never get too high. In this league, it’ll change in a heartbeat. Just like, if things aren’t going good it’s going to flip, so don’t get too low.”
No one knows that maybe better than Malik Monk.
The veteran guard never had a winning season during his first four NBA seasons in Charlotte then spent one brutal losing season with the Los Angeles Lakers.
What the Kings are dealing with now is essentially a speed bump compared to what Monk has been through in the past. He’s been leaning on those experiences as he tries to help Sacramento navigate through its current funk.
“We’ll have a great half then we’ll go back to one-pass shots, no-pass shots, things like that,” Monk said when asked what the problems seem to be. “We just gotta continue to move the ball, and I feel like that’s contagious.”
There’s been talk about a possible disconnect between Brown and his staff and the players in the Kings’ locker room.
No one has addressed that issue publicly, but Brown remains confident in the approach that the coaching staff has taken.
“We’ve been doing it for almost 2 ½ years now, and we’ve been doing it at a pretty high level,” Brown said. “That’s why I’m gonna keep preaching it and try to make a little adjustment here, a little adjustment there and keep searching for somebody to step up.
“I can’t just sit back and let stuff snowball and happen and say it’s going to be OK, because we all want more than this. The reality of it is, the fans definitely deserve more.”
