What we learned as Kings' bad basketball continues in blowout home loss to Hawks originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
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SACRAMENTO — The Kings’ bad basketball continued in their final contest of a five-game homestand, falling to the Atlanta Hawks by a final score of 133-100 on Wednesday night at Golden 1 Center.
Boos poured into G1C throughout the game — and they weren’t for Atlanta.
Just one night ago, Kings coach Doug Christie called out the haters and critics of his team, vowing his team would turn things around and warned that “The Kings Show” was coming. A few hours later, the Kings lost 122-108 to the Denver Nuggets. This is after consecutive blowout losses to the Oklahoma City Thunder and Minnesota Timberwolves.
Christie said his passionate pregame comments weren’t targeted at a specific individual, but rather any fans, media members or players disrespecting his squad.
The boos, which have sprinkled in here and there at times during the Kings’ early NBA season, reached a new level of loudness Wednesday.
With so many questions regarding this team now and in the immediate future, at least one thing is crystal clear: Fans are fed up.
Here are the takeaways from another deflating loss:
Dennis struggles
Schroder’s start with Sacramento hasn’t gone as anyone anticipated, to say the least.
He entered Wednesday’s game in a shooting funk, making just one of his last 19 field-goal attempts over the past three games.
He had combined for five points in those contests. On Wednesday night, he appeared to have turned things around, scoring eight points on 3-of-4 shooting from the field in nine first-quarter minutes.
But, of course, one quarter doesn’t tell the whole story.
Schroder wound up adding just one more point after that first quarter, finishing with nine points on 3-of-8 shooting from the field and 2 of 3 from long range. He was a minus-20 in 26 minutes.
Hawks let it fly from 3
Atlanta entered Wednesday’s game shooting 34.5 percent from 3-point range, good for 20th in the league.
The Hawks knocked down six treys in the first quarter alone against the Kings, with four of their five starters sinking one apiece.
Atlanta finished the game with 17 3s, and shot 42.5 percent from long range against Sacramento’s defense, which continues to struggle.
That percentage could have been much higher, too, as Hawks players tried to take advantage of a snoozing Kings defense but just missed several wide-open shots.
It’s not the first time a team that’s not known for its 3-point shooting comes into G1C and lets it rain.
And if something doesn’t change for Sacramento, it likely won’t be the last.
Offense?!?!
Christie almost is offended if any media member asks him about Sacramento’s offense.
He has made it perfectly clear that the team is focused on its defense, and knows it must improve in that area if the Kings want to win games.
But with multiple starting lineup changes, mostly because of injuries and also due to personnel, the Kings’ offense has yet to find a consistent rhythm.
Still, it was the least of Christie’s concerns after Tuesday’s loss.
“Offense? Yeah, nobody’s talking about offense,” Christie told reporters postgame. “I mean, tonight was only 108 [points] but on most nights, we’re scoring enough points. It ain’t about the offense. Guys can score the ball. There’s a lot of people that can score the basketball.
“If we want to win, we need to focus on the defense, period. … I don’t want to hear about no offense.”
Well, the Kings are 24th in the league in offensive rating and 27th — or, fourth-worst — in defensive rating so far this season.
They scored 12 points in the second quarter against the Hawks on Wednesday.
Just three seasons ago, the Kings ran a historically great offense. Now, we’re here.
It might be time to worry about the offense.
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