After reaching a new low point following a miserable losing streak that led to the firing of Mike Brown, the Kings have managed to somewhat turn things around.
Sacramento's 138-133 win over the Western Conference's No. 2-seeded Memphis Grizzlies on Friday night prompted the Kings' victory beam to light the 916 skyline for the third consecutive game.
The win also gave Doug Christie a 3-1 record since being named Kings interim head coach last Friday. And after Friday's big win, guard Malik Monk spoke to NBC Sports California's Morgan Ragan and Kyle Draper on "Kings Postgame Live" to break down how Christie's leadership has helped spark a needed change for Sacramento.
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"He just simplified a lot of stuff for us," Monk said. "And he told us our main goal is to win at home so we've just been trying to bring the energy here. And he just simplified the game for us on offense and defense and we're not thinking that much. So big up to Doug."
Before this three-game win streak, the Kings had a 13-19 overall record and were 6-12 on their own Golden 1 Center home floor.
Rather than take advantage of one of the best homecourt advantages in the league and dig out of a subtle hole they got themselves in, they went 0-5 during the homestand that featured losses to the Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Lakers (twice), Indiana Pacers and Detroit Pistons.
As a result, Brown was dismissed and Christie was temporarily promoted.
NBA
Monk and the Kings now look forward to Sunday's game against their NorCal rivals, the Golden State Warriors, in hopes of extending their win streak to four for the first time during the 2024-25 NBA season.
And they'll rely on keeping things simple as they push to climb atop the Western Conference standings.