Sacramento Kings guard DeMar DeRozan (10) dribbles against the Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) at Chase Center in San Francisco on Fri Jan 9, 2026 (AP News photo)
Sacramento Kings podcast Tony Harvey:
#1 Zach LaVine is one of Sacramento’s leading scorers and a primary offensive threat for the Kings this season how do you see him executing against the Houston Rockets on Sunday.
#2 Can DeMar DeRozan and Malik Monk provide enough offensive balance to complement Sacramento’s scoring?
#3 What impact will Russell Westbrook’s playmaking and leadership have against Houston’s defense?
#4 How important will contributions from role players like Dennis Schröder be if Houston focuses its defense on the Kings’ stars?
#5 With Domantas Sabonis and Keegan Murray’s status uncertain with injury concerns, who steps up for the Kings on the boards and interior defense?
Whether you’re pre-gaming with the Kings or celebrating an A’s win, Cyprus Grille at the Holiday Inn Sacramento Downtown – Arena is your downtown go-to.
⚡Craft cocktails? Check. 🔥Game-day bites? Oh yeah. 🏟️Steps from Golden 1 Center? You bet.
Open daily, Cyprus Grille is serving up local flavor with a front-row seat to the action. Stop by before or after the game—or make it your new downtown hangout.
Cyprus Grille—where fans fuel up.
📍Located inside the Holiday Inn Sacramento Downtown – Arena @ 300 J Street
Happy Hour – 4pm-6pm
Show your ticket for additional discounts when dining in.
Malik Monk #0 of the Sacramento Kings drives to the basket during the game against the Golden State Warriors on January 9, 2026 at Chase Center in San Francisco, California. (Mandatory Photo Credit: Noah Graham/NBAE via Getty Images)
By Jeremiah Salmonson
MISSION BAY, SAN FRANCISCO — The Sacramento Kings were back in action on Friday night in San Francisco as they took on the Warriors. The two teams in action were a far cry from what they were just two full seasons ago when they faced each other in a first-round matchup in the playoffs that went seven games.
When the two faced off on Friday, the Kings were solidly out of a playoff spot and the Warriors were fighting to be in the eighth seed as of this writing. The Kings gave the Warriors a run for their money, but the Warriors ultimately defeated the Kings 137-103.
Before the game, Doug Christie spoke with the media on the standard of Kings basketball he expects to see from his players, and he certainly got a version of that in the first half.
The Kings, playing Malik Monk in the first half, went toe to toe with the Warriors in a very competitive 24 minutes of basketball. The Kings were outscored in the first quarter 34-29 but managed to outscore the Warriors 30-29 to head into halftime trailing only 63-59.
The Kings shot 52% from the field and 38.5% from deep in the first half to keep pace with the Warriors offense, which put up similar numbers. It’s hard not to draw some sort of conclusion that Malik Monk getting minutes in the first half had some correlation with the Kings being able to match the Warriors. Malik finished the first half with eight points and no turnovers on 4-for-5 shooting during nearly 11 first-half minutes of action.
It was an encouraging half from the Kings, who looked to continue to assert Doug Christie’s desired style of basketball in the second half.
The third quarter was mostly the same for the Kings. They were competing on both ends of the floor, and that led to an 84-84 game with 3:10 to go in the third quarter. However, what followed was a complete meltdown from the Kings. In the remaining time in the third quarter, the Warriors went on a 13-0 run to take a 97-84 lead into the final 12 minutes of action.
The fourth quarter didn’t go much better for the Kings. The Kings were embarrassed in the final quarter as they were outscored 40-19 and fell to the Warriors 137-103 on Friday night at Chase Center. The Kings’ defense gave up in the final quarter of the game and allowed what was a close game for the most part to get away from them and end in blowout fashion.
The Warriors got 66 bench points compared to only 38 points from the Kings bench. The Warriors also got 60 points in the paint compared to the Kings’ 50 points in the paint.
Over the final nearly 15 minutes of the game, the Warriors outscored the Kings 53-19. It was a microcosm of the season in which the Kings show some fight and completely collapse in key moments of the game.
“Speaking to them in there, I said, ‘It’s 180 seconds, you guys relaxed,’” Doug said after the game, referring to the 13-0 run the Warriors went on to finish the third quarter. “It’s unacceptable. It can’t happen. But it’s been a theme. Good enough to win, but also good enough to hang in and then get beat. So there’s a nastiness and a fire that it has to make you mad for you to break through that.”
Speaking with the media in the locker room after the game, Zach LaVine was frustrated but at a loss for solutions.
“I mean, each game you go into, we’re trying to get off the schneid,” Zach said after the game. “Today we had a really good opportunity too, and we let another one get away. It’s not like we’re going to get this back. Eventually we’ve got to put our foot down and figure out how to get a win. It doesn’t matter how good you play through three quarters or whatever. I think we’ve been talking about that enough.”
Enough may never come for this Kings team. The Kings have had their backs against the wall since last season with this roster, and it seems no combination or buttons that Doug Christie presses make any difference in the outcome of the game.
The Kings have now lost seven straight games and have the second-best lottery odds in this year’s NBA lottery with an 8-30 record.
Up next: The Kings will return home to take on the Houston Rockets on Sunday at 6 p.m. PST inside the Golden 1 Center.
Whether you’re pre-gaming with the Kings or celebrating an A’s win, Cyprus Grille at the Holiday Inn Sacramento Downtown – Arena is your downtown go-to.
⚡Craft cocktails? Check. 🔥Game-day bites? Oh yeah. 🏟️Steps from Golden 1 Center? You bet.
Open daily, Cyprus Grille is serving up local flavor with a front-row seat to the action. Stop by before or after the game—or make it your new downtown hangout.
Cyprus Grille—where fans fuel up.
📍Located inside the Holiday Inn Sacramento Downtown – Arena @ 300 J Street
Happy Hour – 4pm-6pm
Show your ticket for additional discounts when dining in.
Dallas Mavericks forward Anthony Davis tries to hit a shot over the Sacramento Kings center Maxime Raynaud (42) at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento on Tue Jan 6, 2026 (AP News photo)
Sacramento Kings podcast Jeremiah Salmonson:
#1 Zach LaVine has been the Kings’ leading scorer—how do you expect him to attack the Warriors’ perimeter defense and get his looks against a tough backcourt?
#2 With DeMar DeRozan’s experience and mid-range scoring, how can Sacramento use him to control the tempo early and keep Golden State from building a quick lead?
#3 Russell Westbrook brings veteran playmaking—what role will he play in setting the Kings’ pace and facilitating offense against the Warriors’ switching defenses?
#4 Malik Monk has been a scoring spark off the bench this season—how important will his shooting be in keeping the Kings competitive if Sacramento falls behind early?
#5 Keon Ellis provides energy and 3-point shooting—can he help space the floor and make timely shots to relieve pressure on Sacramento’s stars?
Whether you’re pre-gaming with the Kings or celebrating an A’s win, Cyprus Grille at the Holiday Inn Sacramento Downtown – Arena is your downtown go-to.
⚡Craft cocktails? Check. 🔥Game-day bites? Oh yeah. 🏟️Steps from Golden 1 Center? You bet.
Open daily, Cyprus Grille is serving up local flavor with a front-row seat to the action. Stop by before or after the game—or make it your new downtown hangout.
Cyprus Grille—where fans fuel up.
📍Located inside the Holiday Inn Sacramento Downtown – Arena @ 300 J Street
Happy Hour – 4pm-6pm
Show your ticket for additional discounts when dining in.
Demar Derozan #10 of the Sacramento Kings complains about a call during their game against the Dallas Mavericks at Golden 1 Center on January 06, 2026 in Sacramento, California. (Mandatory Photo Credit: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
By Jeremiah Salmonson
DOWNTOWN SACRAMENTO — The Sacramento Kings were back in action on Tuesday night at the Golden 1 Center to take on the Dallas Mavericks. However, the game itself seemed like the secondary story of the night.
The Sacramento Kings and Dallas Mavericks are two teams with very recent falls from grace. There are a lot of similarities to draw between the two franchises, to go along with some stark differences. In this one the Kings fell from grace on Tuesday night 100-98 in razor close contest.
Both the Kings and Mavericks were playoff teams as recently as 2023 and 2024, respectively. Yet, neither team has any hopes of making the playoffs this season after major roster blowups were enacted by the teams’ front offices.
Last season, the Kings fired the first coach to take them to the playoffs since Rick Adelman in 2006, Mike Brown. Along with the Mike Brown firing came the departure of De’Aaron Fox at the trade deadline, which marked the end of the “beam team” era for the Kings.
On the other side of the court, the Dallas Mavericks — and since-fired GM Nico Harrison — traded their All-Star and young star Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers in what was one of the more puzzling moves in NBA history. Harrison has since been fired, and the Mavericks have moved on to a new group to lead the team.
Two teams with unforced errors now find themselves at the bottom of the Western Conference. As of Tuesday, the Kings sit at 14th in the conference with only eight wins on the year. The Mavericks are a 13-win team and sit at 12th in the West. The two franchises share a lot of similarities in their situations near the bottom of the standings. The main difference is that the Mavericks were fortunate enough to land the No. 1 pick in last year’s NBA Draft and selected Cooper Flagg, whom they now look to as their future.
On the other hand, the Kings have no first-round pick as part of their future and have a roster full of misfit veteran players with very little size or defensive ability.
These issues were on full display on Tuesday during the loss to the Mavericks.
The Kings lost to the Dallas Mavericks in fitting fashion, as the game came down to a botched play with less than 30 seconds left that led to isolation basketball for the veteran players on the team. Fittingly, the Kings were unable to convert, falling to the Mavericks 100-98.
The Kings did a good job holding the Mavericks to just 100 points, but the offense, which is ranked near the bottom of the league, failed them in the second half of the game.
Maxime Raynaud, who fouled out, was confident after the game that the Kings’ offense would turn it around given the level of talent on the roster.
“Everything kind of comes up given where we are at right now, but I do believe we have some extremely talented offensive players,” Raynaud said. “I mean, Russ is the highest-scoring point guard of all time. Zach has been a 50-40-90 player all his life. Deebo is probably one of the best closers in the NBA. So in that sense, we probably just have to find more collective solutions and not only rely on them carrying us every single game. We’ve got to give them some help.”
Help may not be what the Kings need. From the viewer’s perspective, the offense simply seems broken and stagnant — a recipe for disaster in the modern NBA.
“Just being more organized, understanding what we could get instead of trying to rely on a one-leg 30-footer to go in,” DeMar DeRozan said of the late offensive woes after the game. “Just got to give ourselves a better chance.”
The Kings have lacked organization and rhythm on the offensive side of the ball all year, and Tuesday was no different. The offensive stagnation has been an issue since the Kings blew up the roster last season before the trade deadline. Unlike the Mavericks, the Kings have no clear path forward to improve the team or their chances at another playoff appearance in the near future.
Up next, the Kings will travel to San Francisco on Friday to take on the Golden State Warriors at 7 p.m. inside Chase Center.
Sacramento Kings center Drew Eubanks throws down against the Milwaukee Bucks at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento on Sun Jan 4, 2026 (AP News photo)
Sacramento Kings podcast with Barbara Mason:
1.Sunday night the Sacramento Kings took on the Milwaukee Bucks at Golden One Center. Both teams are struggling this season but it was the Bucks who were favored in this game with a 16-20 record.
2.It was a game time decision for Giannis Antetokounmpo taking the floor in the game after suffering a calf injury and as it turned out he was indeed able to play in this one.
3.After trailing by as much as 26 points in the second half, the Kings got to within three points in the second half of the fourth quarter only to let the Bucks back in the game and eventually run away with it.
4.The Kings welcomed Zach LaVine back on the court playing off the bench and three Sacramento starters had double digits with Russell Westbrook scoring 21 points the team high. It just wasn’t enough to get past the Bucks.
5.The Kings will take another crack at the Dallas Mavericks Tue Jan 7th. The Kings hoping for the same result they had back on December 27 when they won that game. The Kings would like nothing more than to break this horrific losing streak and beat Dallas a second time.
Whether you’re pre-gaming with the Kings or celebrating an A’s win, Cyprus Grille at the Holiday Inn Sacramento Downtown – Arena is your downtown go-to.
⚡Craft cocktails? Check. 🔥Game-day bites? Oh yeah. 🏟️Steps from Golden 1 Center? You bet.
Open daily, Cyprus Grille is serving up local flavor with a front-row seat to the action. Stop by before or after the game—or make it your new downtown hangout.
Cyprus Grille—where fans fuel up.
📍Located inside the Holiday Inn Sacramento Downtown – Arena @ 300 J Street
Happy Hour – 4pm-6pm
Show your ticket for additional discounts when dining in.
Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (left) drives on the Sacramento Kings forward Precious Achiuwa (9) in the first half at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento on Sun Jan 4, 2026 (AP News photo)
By Barbara Mason
After making an epic comeback, the Sacramento Kings (8-12) came up just short losing to the Milwaukee Bucks (16-20). They had trailed by as much as 26 points getting to within three points in the second half of the fourth quarter only to let the Bucks run away with the game 115-98.
The Bucks Giannis Antetokounmpo made life pretty miserable for the Kings finishing with a double double, 37 points and 11 rebounds. Kevin Porter Jr. also played a huge role in the win scoring 25 points . The high for the Kings was Russell Westbrook with 21 points and Zach LaVine finished with 20 points on his return..
Game recap: After the first 12 minutes of play the Kings trailed by a couple of points 28-26. The Kings took a slight lead mid-way through the quarter but the Bucks fired back taking a seven-point lead with two minutes left in the first quarter 26-19. With 48 seconds left on the clock the Kings had fought their way back into the quarter tying up the game at 26. Sacramento was still in this game.
The second quarter turned upside down for the Kings getting outscored 34-18 by Milwaukee. After a competitive first quarter, the team just came apart in the second quarter trailing at the half 62-44.
Antetokounmpo who was able to take the court in the game just wore the Kings down. Sacramento had put the stops on the turnovers which was good news but they were shooting at around 57% from the line and could not hit a three only having two in three quarters of play.
Four Bucks were shooting in double digits with Antetokounmpo leading the way with 24 points and nine rebounds. Myles Turner, Porter Jr., and Ryan Rollins all had double digits through three quarters.
The Kings Westbrook, Keegan Murray and DeMar DeRozan all finished the third quarter with double digits but they could not put the stops on the damage that Antetokounmpo was bringing.
After three quarters the Bucks had taken an 85-69 lead. Sacramento was much more competitive in the third quarter outscoring the Bucks 25-23 but they just had a lot of ground to make up going into the fourth quarter.
After trailing by as much as 26 points, the Kings cut the Bucks lead to 85-75 in the final quarter. With 11:10 left in the game the Kings had a very real chance for a come-back in this game. Sacramento continued to cut the Bucks lead to single digits 88-85 with under nine minutes left in the game.
When it was looking so very positive for the Kings the Bucks pushed their lead back out to 95-85 with a lot of time still left in the game. Porter Jr. and Antetokounmpo had come up huge for Milwaukee in the final minutes of the quarter. After the amazing rally by Sacramento the Bucks hung tough finishing off Sacramento 115-98.
The Kings fought hard in the second half of the game fending off a 26-point deficit pulling to within three points but let the Bucks back in the game. It was yet another heart-breaking loss for the team, their sixth loss in a row.
LaVine had a great game off the bench finishing with 20 points. Westbrook had the team high with 21 points.
Antetokounmpo had a solid game finishing with a double double 37 points and 11 rebounds. Porter Jr. was also terrific scoring 25 points with 4 rebounds. The Bucks had outplayed the Kings on both ends of the court.
Game notes: Sunday night the Kings battled but lost to the Bucks at Golden 1 Center. The Kings suffered a fifth straight loss. It would be fair to say that the season is over with only 46 games left in the season but they may be looking at some improvement in those remaining games.
Sunday night the Kings welcomed Zach LaVine back on the court playing off the bench. For a minute the Kings was concerned with yet another possible blow when Maxime Raynaud came out of their matchup Friday night against the Phoenix Suns. He limped off the court with a leg injury mid-way through the fourth quarter. He went immediately to the locker room.
Thankfully an MRI taken after the game proved to be negative and the Kings had avoided yet another setback. The last thing the Kings could afford would be to lose another center who was playing in the absence of Domantas Sabonis. The Bucks Giannis Antetokounmpo was probable going into Sunday night’s game suffering a right calf strain and played 32 minutes. Neither team can boast a stellar season but the Bucks had the real edge since Antetokounmpo took the court.
The Kings will remain at home for their next game taking on the Dallas Mavericks Tue Jan 7th. They will be looking for a second win over Dallas having beaten them on December 27. Tipoff for this game is another late one with an 8:00pm PT start.
Whether you’re pre-gaming with the Kings or celebrating an A’s win, Cyprus Grille at the Holiday Inn Sacramento Downtown – Arena is your downtown go-to.
⚡Craft cocktails? Check. 🔥Game-day bites? Oh yeah. 🏟️Steps from Golden 1 Center? You bet.
Open daily, Cyprus Grille is serving up local flavor with a front-row seat to the action. Stop by before or after the game—or make it your new downtown hangout.
Cyprus Grille—where fans fuel up.
📍Located inside the Holiday Inn Sacramento Downtown – Arena @ 300 J Street
Happy Hour – 4pm-6pm
Show your ticket for additional discounts when dining in.
Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown (7) drives on the Sacramento Kings forward Keegan Murray (13) in the first half at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento on Thu Jan 1, 2026 (AP News photo)
Sacramento Kings podcast Tony Harvey:
#1 How will the Milwaukee Bucks who have been struggling and the Kings likewise handle Sunday’s game?
#2 Which Sacramento Kings player(s) will take on the scoring load without Domantas Sabonis or other injured starters?
#3 Can Sacramento’s backcourt, including Russell Westbrook and Dennis Schröder, control the tempo against Bucks’ guards?
#4 Talk about how the Kings will they will handle the Bucks Giannis Antetokoumpo?
#5 How important will bench production be for both teams in deciding this game?
Whether you’re pre-gaming with the Kings or celebrating an A’s win, Cyprus Grille at the Holiday Inn Sacramento Downtown – Arena is your downtown go-to.
⚡Craft cocktails? Check. 🔥Game-day bites? Oh yeah. 🏟️Steps from Golden 1 Center? You bet.
Open daily, Cyprus Grille is serving up local flavor with a front-row seat to the action. Stop by before or after the game—or make it your new downtown hangout.
Cyprus Grille—where fans fuel up.
📍Located inside the Holiday Inn Sacramento Downtown – Arena @ 300 J Street
Happy Hour – 4pm-6pm
Show your ticket for additional discounts when dining in.
Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker (1) drives past Sacramento Kings forward Keegan Murray, left, during the second half of an NBA basketball game, Friday, Jan. 2, 2026, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri) SOURCE: Rick Scuteri
By Barbara Mason
The Sacramento Kings (8-27) played a nice opening quarter in their contest against the Phoenix Suns (20-14) only to falter in the second half. They were trailing at the half 62-56, bested by Phoenix in the end 129-102. Keegan Murray had his best game since returning to action finishing the game with 23 points and ten rebounds for a double double.
They stumbled in the second half of play as the Suns continued to extend their lead. As the fourth quarter wore on Phoenix had established as much as a 28 point lead. Devin Booker was red-hot finishing with 33 points. The Kings had 21 turnovers in the game, the Suns only 11.
Game recap: After a couple of quiet games upon his return, Murray got after it in the first quarter of Friday night’s game. As the quarter wore down Murray had already hit 11 points and had two rebounds. Despite the nice start for Murray Sacramento trailed after the first 12 minutes of play 32-29. Russell Westbrook and bench player Keon Ellis both came away empty in the opening quarter.
The Kings Nique Clifford hit a three to start the second quarter to tie up the game at 32. Minutes later the tie persisted now at 35 when Sacramento’s Doug McDermott made a 23-foot three point jumper. It was a nice start for the Kings.
Ellis would follow that shot with a three of this own giving the Kings a 38-35 lead. The Kings had already committed ten turnovers and needed to put the stops on that trend. They were only shooting around 55 % from the line so room for improvement on those two fronts.
As the game went into halftime, the Suns had taken a 62-56 lead. Murray finished the first half with 16 points and five rebounds. Poor ball protection had plagued the Kings throughout the first half with 13 turnovers. Booker finished the quarter with 27 points and Sacramento would be looking to try and contain him in the second half.
The Suns got going in earnest leading after three quarters 97-83. Murray added to his total shooting for 23 points and eight rebounds. Booker was on fire with 33 points through three quarters. The Suns hung onto a healthy 15-point lead throughout the quarter and the Kings had their hands full going into the fourth quarter.
After hanging in the game through the first half, the Kings ran out of steam trailing by as much as 28 points through the fourth quarter. The final was 129-102 in favor of Phoenix and the Kings had lost their sixth straight road game.
Murray had the team high for the Kings with 23 points and 10 rebounds for a double double. Westbrook finished with 17 points and 9 rebounds and DeMar DeRozan scored 13 points in the game. It was a quiet night for Maxime Raynaud finishing with six points and five rebounds.
Booker tore up the court finishing with 33 points and he had a lot of help from teammates Dillon Brooks with 18 points and both Collin Gillespie and Mark Williams each had 15 points. Williams also turned in nine rebounds just shy of a double double.
Game notes: Not much has gone right for the Kings since their win over the Dallas Mavericks last Saturday 113-107. Since that win the team has fallen to the Los Angeles Lakers, the Los Angeles Clippers, Thursday night to the Boston Celtics and they extended the loss streak to four with a loss to the Suns on Friday night.
Friday night they faced another tough match-up losing to the Suns. The Kings continue to struggle on the court defensively, much of their problems stemming from injury to Zach LaVine and Domantas Sabonis but have welcomed Keegan Murray back on court after a calf strain.
Murray was back on the court for the Clipper match-up but did little in his return only hitting 11 points and 2 rebounds. The loss to the Clippers was a wipe-out losing 131-90 followed by the loss to the Celtics 120-106.
The Kings played a close game through three quarters with Boston but fell apart in the fourth quarter outscored 32-18. There seems to be no end to the stretch that Sacramento is going through right now. The team is playing on a five game road skid and Friday night faced the seventh place in the Western Conference Suns, they took a sixth road loss.
They have beaten some elite teams in the second half of the season but right now they are fighting off falling into the basement, a half-game lead on the New Orleans Pelicans. The Kings more so then probably any other team need to make some moves with some very accomplished players on the line like Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, Domantas Sabonis and Malik Monk.
Unfortunately all of these guys have sizeable contracts which discourages any teams that might have interest. It’s a really tough situation with no clear-cut answers.
Sunday evening the Kings will match-up with the Milwaukee Bucks at Golden 1 Center. Tipoff for that game is scheduled for 6:00 PM.
Whether you’re pre-gaming with the Kings or celebrating an A’s win, Cyprus Grille at the Holiday Inn Sacramento Downtown – Arena is your downtown go-to.
⚡Craft cocktails? Check. 🔥Game-day bites? Oh yeah. 🏟️Steps from Golden 1 Center? You bet.
Open daily, Cyprus Grille is serving up local flavor with a front-row seat to the action. Stop by before or after the game—or make it your new downtown hangout.
Cyprus Grille—where fans fuel up.
📍Located inside the Holiday Inn Sacramento Downtown – Arena @ 300 J Street
Happy Hour – 4pm-6pm
Show your ticket for additional discounts when dining in.
Photo credit: Sacramento Kings guard Demar Derozan, right, looks on while being guarded by Boston Celtics guard Payton Pritchard, left, during the second half of an NBA basketball game Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026, in Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Scott Marshall)
By Vince Cestone
The Sacramento Kings couldn’t handle a 29-point game from Jaylen Brown as the Boston Celtics win 120-106 on Thursday night at Golden 1 Center.
Brown made 11 of 25 shots, with only one of them being a 3-pointer. But he made six free throws in the game. Brown did foul out in the fourth quarter, but the Celtics were able to close out the game easily.
On Sacramento’s side, DeMar DeRozan was the headliner with 25 points. Dennis Schroder had 18 points, and Keon Ellis had 16 points. But it wasn’t enough for the Kings as they fell to 8-26 on the year. The beam hasn’t lit up in Sacramento too often this season. The Kings have now lost nine of 11 games.
The game was tied at 90 with under 11 minutes remaining, but Boston’s Derrick White shot a 3-pointer to put his team up for good.
Sacramento was up 61-56 right before halftime, but Brown helped the Celtics go on a 6-0 run to take the lead.
The Kings came within four points with 6:30 left in the game, but they could not overcome the Celtics, who showed why they were the better team.
The Celtics are now 21-12 on the season.
Up next, the Kings will take on the Phoenix Suns on Friday in Arizona.
Whether you’re pre-gaming with the Kings or celebrating an A’s win, Cyprus Grille at the Holiday Inn Sacramento Downtown – Arena is your downtown go-to.
⚡Craft cocktails? Check. 🔥Game-day bites? Oh yeah. 🏟️Steps from Golden 1 Center? You bet.
Open daily, Cyprus Grille is serving up local flavor with a front-row seat to the action. Stop by before or after the game—or make it your new downtown hangout.
Cyprus Grille—where fans fuel up.
📍Located inside the Holiday Inn Sacramento Downtown – Arena @ 300 J Street
Happy Hour – 4pm-6pm
Show your ticket for additional discounts when dining in.
Nique Clifford #5 of the Sacramento Kings dribbles the ball during the game against the LA Clippers on December 30, 2025 at Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, California. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2025 NBAE (Photo by Juan Ocampo/NBAE via Getty Images)
By Jeremiah Salmonson
INGLEWOOD — The Sacramento Kings were back in action on Tuesday night in Los Angeles. It was the Kings’ second of a two-game trip to Los Angeles, as they played the Lakers on Sunday night at Crypto.com Arena, where they fell 125-101. On Tuesday, the Kings got Keegan Murray and Drew Eubanks back from injury, which was a needed lift for a club that has had a rough go of the injury situation this season. However, it wasn’t enough, as they fell to the Clippers in another Los Angeles blowout, 131-90.
The Kings started the game off poorly. The Clippers were getting whatever they wanted, and the Kings’ shots weren’t falling as the offense stagnated. Sacramento was outscored 34-20 in the first quarter, as nothing was going right for them. On the other hand, Kawhi Leonard picked up right where he left off after his career-high 55-point performance in his last game against the Detroit Pistons. Leonard scored eight points in the first quarter, while James Harden paced the team with 12 first-quarter points.
The second quarter was even worse for the Kings.
The Clippers outscored the Kings 39-20 in the second quarter to go up by 33 points. The score going into halftime was 73-40, as the Clippers were well on their way to routing the Kings. Kawhi Leonard finished the first half with 26 points on 8-for-13 shooting from the field, while James Harden was right behind him with 16 points of his own. Russell Westbrook and Keegan Murray led the Kings in first-half scoring, as they each managed seven points.
In the third quarter, the Kings and Clippers traded baskets, which was not what the Kings needed at that point in the game, trailing by over 30 going into the quarter. The Kings outscored the Clippers 31-27 in the third to chip away ever so slightly at the Clippers’ massive lead. Going into the fourth quarter, the Kings trailed by 29 points, and Kawhi Leonard had a 30-point game going for Los Angeles.
In the fourth quarter, the game was all but decided, and the 12 minutes of action were merely a formality. Nothing noteworthy happened in the final quarter, as the Kings were outscored 31-19 to finish the game and lost by the final score of 131-90.
Nique Clifford was the leading scorer for the Kings, as he ended the night with 18 points. Maxime Raynaud had a solid offensive game and finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds.
“First and foremost, there’s a standard that we are going to play to, and that is just what it is, period,” Doug Christie said after the game. “So the fact that you come out and don’t is unacceptable. So we search for lineups, try to find lineups tonight that have energy.”
Well, Doug hasn’t been able to find any lineups with that sort of energy here in Los Angeles.
On the bright side, Max Raynaud and Nique Clifford continue to develop in a positive direction for the Kings. Raynaud had 12 points and 12 rebounds, and Clifford had a career-high 18 points in the loss.
“Those kids are trying,” Doug said of Max and Nique after the game. “They’re figuring it out, and that’s everything that we can ask for from them, and they continue to improve.”
Up next: The Kings will return home to take on the Boston Celtics on Thursday at 7 p.m. inside Golden 1 Center.
