Kings reach rock bottom with disastrous collapse in loss to Pistons originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
SACRAMENTO – Next stop for the Kings: Rock Bottom.
That is, if they’re not there already.
Thursday’s stunning 114-113 loss to the Detroit Pistons was a perfect synopsis of the Kings’ recent fortunes – their inability to hold onto big leads, their inability to hone in on key details and make plays down the stretch, and a general sense of malaise in crunch time.
For the second consecutive game, the Kings were booed by the passionate home crowd at Golden 1 Center, a sign of just how bad things have gotten lately.
That’s five consecutive losses for Sacramento, the Kings’ longest slide since a seven-game skid during the 2021-22 NBA season.
In a campaign with gut punch after gut punch, this one feels like it hurts the most.
The Kings led by as much as 19 and held a 98-83 advantage following Trey Lyles’ 3-pointer with 8:31 left to play. Sacramento’s offense seized up like a bad engine after that, as Mike Brown watched his team go scoreless over the next 3 minutes.
They got outscored 24-13 over the final 5 ½ minutes, and that wasn’t the worst part.
With the Kings holding a three-point lead as the clock was ticking off the final seconds, Detroit’s Jaden Ivey position himself in the right corner for a 3-pointer. Fox closed out a bit too hard and fouled Ivey, who made the basket and free throw for the game-deciding points.
It was a complete breakdown in defensive philosophy that killed the Kings, according to Brown.
“If you’re up three and guys are going to the 3-point line, there should be no closeout opportunity. No closeout opportunity,” Brown explained. “We were OK with the mscoring a two at the rim so you should not be in position to help at all. You should be hugged up to your man at the 3-point line. Everybody should. Why there was closeout by Fox? I’m not sure.
“Tough loss that at worst should have gone into overtime.”
Brown also had issues with Kings’ pace over the final six minutes — “We come to a complete stop with about six minutes to go. Three minutes to go we’re rolling the ball and walking it, going against a set defense every time,” Brown said.
The Pistons scored 37 points in the fourth quarter after getting only 43 combined in the second and third quarters.
“We gotta have some form of mental toughness,” Brown said. “We’re getting hit with screens and we literally stopped and complained to the referee. That’s not winning basketball.”
Fox acknowledged the frustration that the Kings are feeling, especially after letting another game slip away at the end.
“We knew this was a game that was winnable,” Fox said. “We gave ourselves a chance to win going into the fourth quarter and we didn’t do a good job. We gotta be able to finish games better.”
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