Brown says Kings fans ‘deserve better’ after loss to Pacers originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
SACRAMENTO – Ten days ago, the kings were on a three-fight winning streak and looked ready to establish themselves as contenders in the NBA’s Western Conference.
Four straight losses later – all at Golden 1 Center – the mood in the state capital is very different.
Rather than proving to be a contender, the Kings now more realistically look like a team that will struggle to qualify for the NBA play-in tournament, similar to the situation they faced last season last.
on Sunday 122-95 home loss to the Indiana Pacers was just the latest setback.
The Pacers entered the day with a sub-.500 record and were the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference, but they handled the Kings fairly handily.
“Their pace, whether it was full court or half court, was at a high level,” Kings coach Mike Brown said. “We were always a step or at least half a step behind them when it came to trying to defend them in the second half.”
Even though it took place three days before Christmas, it wasn’t the type of effort and production expected from a team that still considers itself a legitimate playoff contender.
After a somewhat slow and hectic first half, the Kings simply stopped playing in the second half. The Pacers put up 70 points in the final two quarters and cruised to a 27-point victory, Sacramento’s most lopsided loss of the season.
This follows the Kings’ one-point loss to the Denver Nuggets, followed by back-to-back losses to the Los Angeles Lakers.
If they had won against the Nuggets, split both games with the Lakers and then held their home serve against the Pacers, the outlook for the Kings would have been much more optimistic and bright than it currently is.
The play was so bad Sunday that fans at Golden 1 Center rained boos on the Kings several times throughout the second half.
“The fans definitely deserved better than what we showed today,” Brown said. “When you look in the mirror, you want to say that you left everything on the floor and you are trying to play the right way. We understand why the fans let us do it.
Brown remains convinced that the situation is correctable, even if some adjustments are necessary here and there. The Kings coach mixed up his rotations slightly against the Pacers in hopes of igniting a spark, but the changes didn’t produce the hoped-for result.
“It’s pretty low,” Brown admitted. “We have had other difficult times. But the one thing I firmly believe in is that if things are going well, you can never go too high. In this league, that will change in the blink of an eye. Just like if things aren’t going well, it’s going to turn upside down, so don’t go too low.
Perhaps no one knows this better than Malik Monk.
The veteran guard never had a winning season in his first four NBA seasons in Charlotte, then had a brutal, losing season with the Los Angeles Lakers.
What the Kings face now is essentially a speed bump compared to what Monk has experienced in the past. He’s drawing on those experiences to try to help Sacramento through its current funk.
“We’ll have a good half, and then we’ll go back to one-pass shots, no-pass shots, things like that,” Monk said when asked what the problems appear to be. “We just have to keep moving the ball, and I feel like it’s contagious.”
There has been talk of a possible disconnect between Brown and his team and the players in the Kings locker room.
No one has addressed this issue publicly, but Brown remains confident in the approach the coaching staff is taking.
“We’ve been doing this for almost two and a half years now, and we’re doing it at a pretty high level,” Brown said. “That’s why I’m going to keep preaching it and try to make a little adjustment here, a little adjustment there and keep looking for someone to step up.
“I can’t just sit back and let things snowball and happen and say it’s going to be okay, because we all want more than that. The reality is that the fans definitely deserve more.
