The high-flying Kings came plummeting back to Earth in an ugly 125-111 loss to the Washington Wizards on Friday night at Golden 1 Center.
Sacramento will head into the short Christmas break with a sour taste in its mouth, and although the score shows just a 14-point loss, the Kings, down by as many as 30 points at one point, never stood a chance after the second quarter.
Trailing Washington 28-27 after the first quarter, Sacramento was outscored 40-23 in the second.
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SIGN UP HERE In speaking to reporters after the game, Kings guard Malik Monk was brutally honest about the fight -- or lack thereof -- Sacramento put up against the Wizards.
"They just didn't feel us [defensively]," Monk explained. "We let them do whatever they wanted to do. They just ran whatever they wanted to with no bumps. We didn't bump them at all, didn't hit them at all. Yeah, they just punked us tonight."
As ugly as the Kings' showing was, there were some positives.
NBA
Domantas Sabonis recorded his second consecutive triple-double, becoming the fourth player in franchise history with a triple-double in straight contests. In 34 minutes on the court, Sabonis scored 20 points on 5-of-14 shooting from the field while collecting 15 rebounds and dishing out 10 assists.
Potential first-time NBA All-Star De'Aaron Fox scored 26 points on 9-of-16 shooting from the field in 34 minutes on the court.
Off the bench it was 27-year-old Trey Lyles who had a near-perfect shooting night, scoring 14 points on 6-of-6 shooting from the field, 2-of-2 from 3-point range while missing his one and only free-throw attempt.
After the game, Lyles explained how the Kings ultimately beat themselves on Friday night and that Sacramento played down to the level of a lowly Wizards team.
"I don't think it was anything they did, I think it was us," Lyles said. "We came out lackadaisical, we didn't play any defense tonight. Offensively we didn't share the ball, and it showed in the outcome of the game.
"We have to hold each other accountable and we have to play up to our level. I think we played down to their level tonight."
Kings coach Mike Brown believes his squad deserved the beatdown they received throughout the game and felt Sacramento lacked its signature grit and physicality that has helped fuel its winning season.
"We deserve to get our behinds kicked like we did," Brown told reporters after the game. "It's a shame because we had maybe two or three guys -- Trey was one of them and obviously Domas was the other one -- play extremely hard. I thought offensively we were as selfish as I've seen us, especially in the first half.
"It's a shame because the one thing you want to be able to do is say, 'We left it out on the floor in terms of our grit and our hard play, but they were just better than us tonight.' You give them credit because they were better than us tonight, but I do not feel we brought the grit and the effort we needed to bring."
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The Kings head on their not-so-merry way into the holiday break with a deflating loss that felt out of character for a scrappy Sacramento squad that has had no shortage of energy this season.
After three much-needed days off, the Kings will face their biggest test yet as they welcome the top-seeded Denver Nuggets to Golden 1 Center for back-to-back games against one of the best teams in the entire league.