The Kings hit their lowest point of the season in Friday night's 105-103 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder at Paycom Center, and it happened in shocking fashion.
With the score tied 103-103 and 25.3 seconds remaining on the clock, Sacramento got the ball to De'Aaron Fox, who essentially was guaranteed the ability to take the last shot in regulation. He did not. Instead, Buddy Hield air-balled a 3-pointer at the buzzer. But before he could do that, the Thunder took the lead.
Oklahoma City guard Luguentz Dort stole the ball from Fox with about eight seconds left, raced down the right side of the court and laid in what turned out to be the game-winning basket over Fox's outstretched arms with 1.7 seconds remaining. It put the finishing touches on a major second-half collapse that ultimately amounted to Sacramento's fourth-straight loss.
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In each of their previous two losses, the Kings fell out of contention with a poor quarter and weren't able to catch back up. Friday was a different story. The Kings led by as many as 18 points and didn't trail at any point until midway through the fourth quarter. Fox's turnover might have been the decisive play, but they lost the game much earlier than that.
During the current losing streak, the Kings have lost low-scoring and high-scoring games. They've lost games in which they've gotten off to bad starts, and now, they've lost a game with a terrible finish. After the latest gut punch, the Kings were left searching for answers.
"I'm at a loss for words for tonight," Harrison Barnes told reporters. "If we're going to preach consistency, we have to live up to that, and right now there's too many areas in our game where we're not doing that."
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"It's a broken record every game," Barnes added. "We come in here and we're not starting off games with force, kind of letting people get comfortable. Obviously, it shows up in different ways ... I think for us, we really have to get back to how we were playing at the start of the season, or else it's going to be a long road trip."
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The Kings are now halfway through a four-game road trip that, on the outset, appeared to be a decent opportunity to go undefeated, given the quality of the opponents. But right now, the Kings are not playing well enough to overlook any team. Monday's game in Detroit presents a crucial chance to stop the slide. If they don't, an even lower point could be right around the corner.