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By Jeremiah Salmonson

The Sacramento Kings came into Thursday night’s game against the Miami Heat on a four-game losing streak. The Kings have been struggling, and ended up losing their fifth straight game 118-110 at Golden 1 Center. It sounded like a familiar theme that they went through early on in the season and aren’t back dealing with. The Kings showed signs of life a few weeks back, but have since fallen back into their losing ways. Their last game was against the Brooklyn Nets. 

In the Nets game, the Kings didn’t play any defense. The Nets scored a large 136 points against the Kings defense. The Kings managed to score 125 points against the Nets, but the high-powered offense was too much to overcome. On Thursday, the Kings were set to take on the Miami Heat in Sacramento at 7 PM PST. 

In the first half, the Kings fell behind early. In the first quarter, the Heat were able to outscore the Kings 31-21. In the second quarter, it was largely more of the same. The Kings weren’t able to get into an offensive rhythm and they weren’t able to get defensive stops either. The Kings were again outscored by the Heat in the second quarter 26-22 to dig themselves a 57-43 heading into halftime. The Kings would need to right the ship in a hurry to come back in the second half.

In the second half, the Kings weren’t much better. However, they started on the right foot. In the third quarter, the Kings outscored the Heat 36-32. It appeared the Kings were on the right track for a comeback, but the fourth quarter would go as planned. The Kings did outscore the Heat 31-29 in the final quarter, but it nearly enough to overcome the deficit. The Kings ended up losing 118-110 as they continue to search for answers to end their five-game losing streak. The Kings left this game still searching for answers. They’ll have to wait until they play on Saturday. Tyler Herro led the Heat with 27 points in the win. In the losing effort, the Kings were led by Nemanja Bjelica, who scored 25 points. 

The Kings head to Chicago to take on the Bulls on Saturday night at 6 PM PST.