Thursday night was a must win game for the Sacramento Kings. They were coming off a dramatic double-overtime loss to the Charlotte Hornets on Monday, followed by a scheduling loss to the Portland Trail Blazers the next night. This was their chance to wash away a two-game losing streak and once again stake their claim for the eight spot in the west.
But this Kings team has a flare for the dramatic. They can win five in a row and just as easily drop three straight like they did Thursday night in New Orleans. The final score of 114-105 speaks volumes as to how they lost, but figuring why they keep stumbling in situations like this is a much darker question.
Sacramento fell to a team missing three of their five starters. Anthony Davis, Tyreke Evans and Eric Gordon all missed the contest due to injury. And yet it was the Pelicans that came out with a purpose from the opening tip and punched the Kings in the mouth.
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“We were fighting from behind from the very beginning,” coach Chad Iske said following the game. “We gave up 37 points in the first quarter. You’re kind of fighting uphill the rest of the night.”
[HAM: Instant Replay: Kings' position takes hit with loss to Pelicans]
Sacramento native Ryan Anderson was the main culprit, dropping 18 points on the Kings in the first quarter, followed by another 12 in the second. He finished with a game-high 36 on 13-of-25 shooting after the Kings made major adjustments coming out of the intermission.
“We came out with no flow,” DeMarcus Cousins said. “Ryan had some scorchers in the first half and his effort alone kind of put the game away. Most of the game we were fighting back but we were in too deep of a hole to get out of it.”
NBA
Sacramento fought back late. They shaved 10 points off the Pelicans 18 point lead and had a chance to make it a five point game with a Ben McLemore 3-ball with just over three minutes remaining. The shot came up short and the Omir Asik hammered down a dunk on the other end, effectively ending the game.
“We expended so much energy to try and get to that point and couldn’t quite get over the hump,” Iske added. “You can’t spot people 18-points on their home court.”
[HAM: Kings' Cousins named West All-Star reserve]
The Kings porous defense and inability to stick with Anderson early is how the Kings loss. Anderson’s sharpshooting opened up lanes for Jrue Holiday, who attacked the Kings defense for 25 points and eight assists. Norris Cole added 17 points and 10 assists as the Kings played Swiss cheese defense.
“We just all need to commit - coaching staff and players commit back to it a little bit more and focus on it a little bit more,” Iske said of the Kings defense. “It’s going to be the difference maker for us.”
Defensive intensity was a major reason the Kings fell out of this game early. Filling in for George Karl, who sat out the game with gastroenteritis, Iske mixed and matched his lineups all night, throwing the kitchen sink at Anderson to slow him down.
You can attack the scheme or game plan, but in the end, it’s the players on the floor that have to perform. Like so many times this season, the Kings came out flat.
Why does this happen to this team? That would take an advanced degree in sports psychology. There is no rhyme or reason for why this team falls flat on it’s face time and time again.
You can say that they play down to their competition, but that’s a symptom, not a underlying cause. This team is in major need of a group therapy session before they give away an entire season trying to figure out who and what they are.
OFF TARGET
Something is amiss with Marco Belinelli. Vlade Divac locked up the 29-year-old sharpshooter to a three-year contract this summer hoping he would space the floor for DeMarcus Cousins and Rajon Rondo. The return on his investment so far has been less than stellar.
There was a glimmer of hope coming out of the Portland game on Tuesday that maybe Belinelli had found his stroke. He finished the night with 14 points on 4-of-8 shooting and chipped in four assists. He looked confident and active.
That version of Belinelli has popped up periodically throughout the season. He usually goes in five or six game spurts when he shoots well and plays well. The Italian-born wing started off the month hot, dropping in six consecutive double-figure contest while averaging 17.7 points per game.
Since then, he has scored in double figures just twice, including the game against the Blazers. Over his last nine contests, he’s averaging just 6.7 points per game on 19-of-70 shooting (27.1 percent) and 5-for-28 (17.9 percent) from behind the arc.
Compounding his issues on the offensive end is the fact that Belinelli allows 112 points per 100 possessions on the defensive end, placing him in the bottom 20 defenders in the league.
Belinelli is averaging 10.8 points on the season, but he’s shooting 38.6 percent from the field and 31.9 percent from long range, both well below his career averages.
With the trade deadline looming, the Kings are getting wildly inconsistent play from the shooting guard position. It might be time to look for a more stable options on the open market.