Doug Christie didn't take long to win his first match, after replacing Mike Brown on the Sacramento bench. The new coach even had three successes in a row before facing the Warriors. But all of them had an asterisk: the best opposing player was absent.
No Luka Doncic against the Mavericks, nor Joel Embiid against the Sixers, when Ja Morant was not there against the Grizzlies. There, Stephen Curry was well dressed and, to make things even worse, it was De'Aaron Fox who was out. But it's hard to know when we look at the final score, in favor of Sacramento: 99-129!
“We knew we had to be strong, especially without Fox. We had to play together, pass the ball around, get everyone involved. We did it very well”, welcomes Malik Monk (26 points and 12 assists) while seven Sacramento players scored at least 10 points.
A benchmark victory
The observation is clear: beating a team with its best player, when his own is then absent, and with a 30-point difference logically makes this victory the most significant of Doug Christie's young career.
“They played hard, with heart, and like I told the players, when you do that, you can look in the mirror and be proud,” summarizes the interim coach. “We're not always going to win, or have winning streaks, but we can control the way we attack. They continued to live up to my expectations. »
If the dismissal of Mike Brown came as a surprise, the jump hoped for with the change of coach is a reality, with four victories in a row. “We adhere to Doug Christie’s wishes. We trust what he says”explains Malik Monk, who adds that his coach “is a former player so he knows how to tell us things better than someone who hasn’t played at a high level”.
The 31 assists on 45 baskets pleased the coach. “We played for each other. I try to make them understand that this is the basketball I want them to play. It's a team sport. Some teams rely on one or two players, I want us to rely on all five”insists the former Raptors.
