by Charlie O Mallonee

SACRAMENTO–The Sacramento Kings regarding their last road trip they got a win in Charlotte on Wed the 11th, everybody was pretty excited because Charlotte was one of those games that was projected for the Kings to have a shot to win it. Being on the road the road percentages usually go against you and you would say usually this will not be a win but they picked up a crucial win in Charlotte during that long seven game road trip.

The Kings got that win on a Wednesday and now that week on Friday the 13th they were headed to Philadelphia. We know that the 76ers are a team that have been horrible all season long. It’s a team that has been accused multiple times of taking dives in games to get another number one pick to try to build up their team.

You look at this game and you say this is a shot for the Kings to go in and get a win, they went in and they played some pretty good basketball particularly in the first half. They scored 42 points in the second quarter of that game and they had a lead as large as 18. So your going “wow” an 18 point lead coming into the second half if these guys play just a little consistent basketball they can win the game.

Well the problem was they didn’t play consistent basketball, in the third quarter they allowed themselves to be outscored 37-18 the Sixers with the wide lead. In the final quarter the Sixers outscored them 26-25 and they came away with a seven point 114-107 victory. It was a demoralizing loss for the Kings because it was one of those games that was penciled in as you remember we talked about before they went on the road trip we had penciled in victory in Philadelphia.

If you win in Charlotte and Philadelphia and now your heading to Washington you have a shot at a potential .500 road trip to be very exciting for the Kings. You lose that situation and it was a particularly tough loss because in the Philadelphia game DeMarcus Cousins scored 39 points pulled down a record 24 rebounds. Now when you have a performance like that and you don’t come away with a victory it not only demoralizes the team but particularly the guy who scored that many points and set the record in rebounds.

They had Rudy Gay in that game and he scored 24 points and they were the only three players for the Kings who scored in double figures ultimately after doing so well in the first half of the game they wound up with 40.2 percent from the floor. Their three point shooting was under 30 percent. Here again were going to keep going back to this and we understand the Kings head coach George Karl dribble drive aggressive offense and the Kings are going to commit more turnovers. This was a head scratching loss for the Kings 114-107.

Charlie O is a Sacramento Kings beat reporter for http://www.sportsradioservice.com for more listen to the podcast below