Kings get ‘old-fashioned whooping' in 53-point loss to Celtics

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The Kings' 53-point blowout loss to the Boston Celtics on Tuesday was a new low, even for Sacramento. 

The 128-75 loss consisted of 30 percent shooting from the field and a disastrous 18.2 percent from deep for Sacramento. 

“We just got whooped,” Kings’ big man Richaun Holmes told reporters after the loss. “An old-fashioned whooping. They made shots, we couldn’t make nothing. They didn’t have much resistance from us so it was just an old-fashioned whooping.” 

And that was the nice version compared to coach Alvin Gentry’s summary of the game

“There’s really not a whole lot to sum up, we basically got our ass kicked,” Gentry said. “I mean I don’t know what other way to put it. We just gotta do much better. I’m disappointed because I thought we competed and did a good job in Milwaukee and gave ourselves an opportunity to win, but it just didn't work out. We were never in this game. That’s very disappointing to me.”

Kings guard Buddy Hield, coming off the bench, was the only player to score in double-digits on Tuesday at TD Garden as he finished with 11 points. Hield, Holmes, Tyrese Haliburton and Terence Davis scored a combined 34 points. 

Meanwhile, Celtics star Jayson Tatum scored 36 points alone with seven triples. 

“I don’t really know how to describe it,” Holmes said. “That’s how it goes in the NBA if you don’t cut someone’s water off. You got to defend better. But they made a couple tough shots. Once they got their rhythm going, you couldn’t stop them at all. Disbelief, I don’t know if that’s the word, just frustration and disappointment.”

The Kings only turned the ball over 10 times, but those turnovers resulted in 21 points for Boston. 

Their 20 percent shooting from the field and 5 percent shooting from the 3-point line in the first half didn’t help their case. And the shooting didn’t dramatically improve in the second half. 

“We mentally need to prepare better, I feel like,” Holmes said. "And just take the game serious from the jump. We came out, we can’t allow teams to get on runs, the attitude and focus is not there, especially right now to allow a team to beat us  by 50.”

Sacramento struggled to move the ball around, and Boston’s lockdown defense forced the Kings into tough shots at the end of the shot clock. 

Boston also had more than twice as many assists than Sacramento. 

“We got cooked,” Haliburton said after the game. “There’s not much to it. Start to finish, they had a good game plan.”

The Kings gave up 28 points on second shot attempts on Boston’s 17 offensive rebounds. 

Sacramento has struggled defensively all season, but the Kings weren’t able to find any success on either side of the floor in Tuesday’s shutdown.

With an 18-31 record and a season full of ups and downs, is this the lowest point for Sacramento?

“I mean we got another chance to play tomorrow, god willing,” Holmes said. “We get another opportunity. You got to have short memory, even with a loss like this. You gotta get back up tomorrow and get ready to play. And we will be better.” 

“Being in a situation where we got to play tomorrow night, we have an opponent that we got to lock in and concentrate on,” Gentry said. “And so we don't have a lot of time to spend on this game. We definitely have to take a look at it and understand why what happened, happened. We can't have the offense and the defense at such a low. One of them is going to have to play much much better. And we actually need both of them to play better.”

RELATED: Barnes: Kings need 'drastic' change ahead of trade deadline

The Kings and Oklahoma City Thunder are the only teams to lose by more than 50 points so far this season. 

Gentry said the guys are embarrassed.

“If there's anything that comes out of it, the guys, they’re embarrassed more than anything," Gentry said. "And I don’t think anyone has taken it as just another loss and that’s it. Obviously, it was an embarrassing loss tonight and the way things played out, I don't think the guys appreciated it nor did they shrug their shoulders and go on about their business.” 

The good news is Sacramento has a chance to bounce back and try to get things rolling again vs. the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday. 

“It’s dark right now, we’re not where we want to be,” Haliburton said. “But there's still a lot of the season left. I’m a member of the Sacramento Kings so I’m going to help fix this. I don’t know how long it’s going to take, it’s not going to be in a day, it’s not going to be in a month, but I’m going to be here and we’re going to make it work I promise you that.”

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