At some point, the Kings are going to have to try something new. The same old lineup, rotations and poor defensive play have gotten old. So has all of the losing.
The Kings walked into Madison Square Garden with the same approach that led to the previous eight consecutive losses. They walked away with an embarrassing 140-121 loss to the New York Knicks on Thursday night.
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Rookie Immanuel Quickley roasted the Kings for 25 points in just 20 minutes of play. Former King Alec Burks rolled Sacramento for 19 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter as New York dropped the hammer.
Here are three takeaways as the Kings dropped their ninth straight game to fall to 12-20 on the season.
Hot mess
The Kings’ defense has been ridiculously bad all season long. After a stretch where it improved, the team is back to allowing anyone and everyone to score at will.
NBA
The Knicks came into Wednesday’s match up as the lowest scoring team in the NBA at just 103.6 points per game. New York dropped 77 points on the Kings before the two teams could even get back to the locker room for halftime.
Sacramento couldn’t stop the Knicks guards. They couldn’t stop Julius Randle. There was even a moment when they couldn’t stop 35-year-old defensive specialist Taj Gibson.
If the Kings can’t show some pride and figure out how to stop someone, this losing streak may never end. They allowed the Knicks to score 36 points more than their season average in the drubbing.
Double-double
De’Aaron Fox is hunting down the Kings’ bigs in the double-double category. The fourth-year point guard picked up his eighth double-double of the season and sixth in his last 12 games against New York.
Fox finished with a game-high 29 points to go with 11 assists and four rebounds.
On the downside, Fox turned the ball over six times and the tandem of Derrick Rose and Quickley dropped a combined 41 points against the Kings’ guards.
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Bagley continues to shine
Marvin Bagley continues his upward trend. The 21-year-old big man struggled with foul trouble against the Knicks, but that didn’t stop him from putting up solid numbers.
In 23 minutes of action, Bagley scored 19 points on 7-for-12 shooting. He added five rebounds and was active for the Kings.