The crisis is brewing on the side of the Kings where the arrival of the Pacers this night did not help revive the Californians. On the contrary, Indiana came blazing, inflicting its fourth defeat in a row on Sacramento at home, in a match that has always been special between the two teams since the trade between Tyrese Haliburton And Domantas Sabonis.
The teammates of DeMar DeRozan (2 points to 1/7 shooting in 28 minutes) completely plunged after the break, conceding 70 points, all concluded by a nice bronca from the fans…
“No one likes to be booed at home, but we probably deserve it”, recognized Kevin Huerter after the meeting. “We had already lost three at home, and now you are beaten by almost thirty points at home, during the Christmas period no less. The fans deserve better.”
The eleventh defeat of the season at home…
The Golden 1 Center knows how to set things on fire when his team deserves it. But this insipid second half was the straw that broke the camel's back. The fans had been patient until then, but the Kings already have 11 losses in 17 home games. It’s simple, no one has done worse at the start of the regular season in the NBA!
“It’s clear that the fans deserve better than what we showed today”, added Mike Brown. “In a way, we have to bounce back for them, but also for us. It's like that for every man, when you look in the mirror, you want to be able to tell yourself that you gave everything on the pitch and that you tried to play the right way. But when you let 70 points in the second half, of course it’s understandable.”
There are clearly few reasons for hope, except that Sacramento will have another chance to redeem itself against Detroit on Thursday evening. Hoping for better days, Kevin Huerter and his coach therefore insisted on the need to “keep believing”as the shooting guard slipped.
“In this league, things can change in the blink of an eye. If things start to go well, things can quickly turn upside down, so you shouldn't see yourself too low, try to concentrate on the next task to accomplish. Our situation sucks, it stinks, but we must remain as determined as possible to find a solution and get out of this bad situation we are going through”concluded Mike Brown.
While this period at home before Christmas seemed perfect to get back on track, the Kings continue to slide and now find themselves in 12th place in the Western Conference, with 13 wins for 17 losses.
The gap thus increases with the Top 11, and that is unlikely to calm the transfer rumors around De'Aaron Fox.
| Shots | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | L.F. | Off | Def | Early | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Party | Pts |
| De'aaron Fox | 29 | 37.2 | 48.7 | 33.3 | 80.9 | 1.1 | 3.9 | 5.0 | 6.1 | 3.5 | 1.7 | 0.3 | 2.7 | 26.3 |
| Demar Derozan | 24 | 35.6 | 48.5 | 31.4 | 86.1 | 0.5 | 3.4 | 3.9 | 4.0 | 1.7 | 1.6 | 0.5 | 2.0 | 21.6 |
| Domantas Sabonis | 27 | 36.1 | 61.8 | 42.9 | 80.3 | 3.4 | 9.9 | 13.3 | 6.1 | 2.9 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 3.4 | 21.3 |
| Malik Monk | 22 | 29.6 | 44.3 | 35.9 | 84.9 | 0.2 | 3.4 | 3.6 | 5.1 | 1.7 | 0.8 | 0.6 | 2.4 | 15.8 |
| Keegan Murray | 28 | 36.0 | 42.4 | 30.3 | 85.3 | 2.3 | 5.2 | 7.5 | 1.4 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 0.8 | 3.0 | 12.2 |
| Kevin Huerter | 25 | 25.4 | 43.1 | 30.8 | 68.4 | 0.4 | 3.1 | 3.4 | 2.0 | 1.0 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 2.3 | 9.8 |
| Keon Ellis | 27 | 20.7 | 45.9 | 40.2 | 84.4 | 0.8 | 1.5 | 2.3 | 1.1 | 0.7 | 1.2 | 0.9 | 2.0 | 6.4 |
| Trey Lyles | 19 | 19.5 | 35.8 | 33.8 | 71.4 | 0.8 | 3.1 | 3.9 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 1.3 | 5.3 |
| Isaac Jones | 18 | 9.1 | 66.0 | 25.0 | 47.1 | 0.5 | 1.2 | 1.7 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 1.2 | 3.9 |
| Doug McDermott | 21 | 8.7 | 43.1 | 41.8 | 60.0 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.9 | 3.9 |
| Jae Crowder | 6 | 14.8 | 35.3 | 25.0 | 83.3 | 1.0 | 1.8 | 2.8 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 1.7 | 3.3 |
| Orlando Robinson | 7 | 6.5 | 50.0 | 25.0 | 50.0 | 0.4 | 1.3 | 1.7 | 1.0 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.9 | 2.3 |
| Jordan McLaughlin | 21 | 7.6 | 36.8 | 36.4 | 71.4 | 0.1 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 2.2 |
| Alex Len | 22 | 6.5 | 54.2 | 0.0 | 42.9 | 0.5 | 1.1 | 1.6 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 1.3 |
| Colby Jones | 18 | 5.7 | 36.4 | 44.4 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 1.1 |
| Mason Jones | 3 | 4.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 2.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.0 |
| Isaiah Crawford | 1 | 5.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 |
