by Michael Martinez

picture credit Google Images

SACRAMENTO- On a night where the Kings celebrated women in sports, especially with Becky Hammon and Nancy Lieberman being the first opposing women coaches in NBA history to square off, the Kings looked to end their losing woes. Against one of the deepest teams in the NBA, the Kings knew they would have their hands full. While the Sacramento Kings continue to search for a way to stop their opponents on the defensive end, the San Antonio Spurs capitalized with offensive runs. As the Kings stuck around with the Spurs for the first 3 quarters, they collapsed on every end of the floor in the 4th, even with All Star Demarcus Cousins back in the lineup. Every ounce of hope the Kings had prior to the 4th quarter, was quickly lost when the Spurs outscored, out hustled and out played the Kings in all aspects of the game. The Spurs handed the Kings their 6th straight loss at Sleep Train Arena, defeating the Kings 106-88.

The Kings got their offense going in the 1st with a nice fast break push where Rudy Gay assisted Demarcus Cousins for a big jam. The 1st quarter was more about defense and the team’s willingness to hustle and put forth their best effort. The Kings held the Spurs to a shooting percentage of 37.5% from the field, 9-24. The Kings made sure to pressure the Spurs’ ball handlers at all times and kept a hand in their face. The team also did well crashing the glass, finishing the quarter with 15 rebounds. Most importantly, the Kings pushed the ball and had 14 points in the paint. As they pushed the ball around the perimeter, the team did a good job of getting the ball close to the hoop for easy looks. Cousins struggled early on, but finished the quarter with 8 points, shooting 3-8 from the field, adding 4 rebounds and 2 assists. Rajon Rondo matched Cousins with 8 points as well, shooting 4-4 from the field. Rondo’s jumper looked solid in the first quarter, which was important with Darren Collison inactive. Rondo played the whole quarter and with his efforts, the Kings held a lead over the Spurs 24-23 to end the 1st.

After a great 1st quarter, the Kings hoped to bring the same defensive effort to the 2nd quarter. Both teams started off slow, but Rondo quickly helped the Kings out with his passing ability. Rondo has great vision and he did a nice job of seeing Marco Belinelli coming off screens and anticipating when he would be open. The combination of the two helped the Kings score early on, but when Belinelli started missing the mark, the offense slowed down big time. As the offense slowed, the defensive end began to allow the Spurs to score and the Spurs went on an 8-0 run in the middle of the 2nd. Ben McLemore ended the run by driving to the hoop and scoring on a lay-up. The big blow to the Kings was their defense, allowing the Spurs to shoot 57.1% from the field in the 2nd. The Kings did not do enough to get to the paint and stop the Spurs in the paint. Rondo, who played the entire first half, finished with 8 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists. Bellineli finished the half with 10 points, 4-7 from the field, 2-2 from behind the arc, with all points coming in the 2nd quarter. Cousins picked up a technical foul towards the end of the quarter and the Kings sloppy 2nd quarter, 5 turnovers, put them down 49-43 to end the first half.

After a disappointing 2nd quarter, the Kings looked to stay close with the Spurs. Gay started the quarter off strong, making all 6 of his points in the first 5 minutes. The Kings did a good job of scoring, but after tying the game at 55, the defense fell apart. Once the score was tied up, the Spurs went on an 11-0 run. The Kings defense was playing poorly, but once Kawhi Leonard came out of the game, the Kings began to find a bit of a rhythm. The Kings went on a 10-3 run late in the 3rd with Cousins getting to the foul line often. Cousins put up 13 points in the 3rd, going 9-12 from the free throw line. He shot 2-6 from the field and added 5 rebounds and 1 assist. To end the quarter, the Kings pushed the ball, playing to their up-tempo offense and were only down 72-69 to end the 3rd.

The Kings looked to make a stand and tried to pull out a win against the Spurs only down by 3. However, for the Kings, they allowed their opponents to score with ease. The Spurs began to pour it on when they went on a 22-0 run. Patty Mills contributed to this run by not only putting up 7 points while adding 6 assists in the 4th alone. Mills finished with 8 assists and 9 points. Omri Casspi was the little offense the Kings had, scoring 9 points on 4-6 shooting with 2 rebounds. All of the Kings star players, Gay, Rondo and Cousins did not do much on either end to help the Kings. With the Kings down, fans began to leave with 6:31 remaining in the game, as they were tired of watching the Kings get outrebounded and out hustled. The Kings’ players began to play selfishly and when the ball movement died down, the Kings did as well. The 4th quarter was the difference in the game as the Kings never found any moment on either end of the court, losing 106-88.

When asked about the 4th quarter, Coach George Karl said “Bad offense, creates bad defense.”

The Kings’ poor shot selection created easy opportunities for the Spurs to score.

In his first game back, Cousins was out of sync with his mid range jumper. Typically Cousins is money from mid range, but being a little rusty he shot 5-20 from the field. Cousins did a good job of getting contact at the rim and shot 11-15 from the charity stripe. Rondo played all 48 minutes and after a good scoring first quarter, he finished with the same 8 points and totaling 6 rebounds and 12 assists. The Kings shot 40.5% from the field for the game and 36.8% from behind the arc. The team was out played in the 4th quarter and hopefully the Kings can find a quick solution.

The solution might not be that easy though, as the Kings seem to have some issues in the locker room. Cousins told reporters that their would be a players only meeting and said “Just to make it clear, I believe in every single person in this room. We just got to stick together.”

Cousins reiterated this idea throughout the post game interview and it will be interesting to see if the Kings can figure it out at tomorrow’s practice.

I asked Gay if the difficultly of their schedule has played a factor in their 6 game losing streak.

“Not having a rhythm completely, and then playing against playoff teams, it doesn’t help,” said Gay.

The Kings will once again be tested by a good team as they take on the Pistons at home this Wednesday. The Kings will need to find an answer on the defensive end of the floor as newly crowned player of the week, Andre Drummond, looks to continue his domination.