Why Kings' miserable loss to Pelicans ‘a great thing' to Brown

Share

Miserable. Inexcusable. Embarrassing.

Those are just some of the words to describe the Kings’ 136-104 blowout loss to the shorthanded New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday at Smoothie King Center. The 32-point defeat was their largest loss of the season.

But Mike Brown thinks the loss could turn out to be a good thing for the team in the long run. 

“Not that anyone wants to go through this, but I think this is good for our guys,” Brown told reporters postgame. “Cause we’ve had a pretty good year so far and we’ve experienced a lot of highs. Now we’re hitting a little adversity … I’m interested to see how we respond from this adversity, not just short term but long term as a team, but more importantly as individuals. 

“Cause when you hit adversity as an individual, your true colors come out. And right now, I don’t know if we’re all in like we talked about at the beginning of the year. So right now, I’m going to sit back and I’m going to watch and see how we all handle this adversity. It’s tough to go through, but it’s a great thing for this team to experience right now.” 

While Brown tried to look at the positives of the catastrophe, he didn’t take away from the beatdown his team received, saying the Kings got their “ass kicked” and gave props to Pelicans' coach Willie Green and his staff. 

The Kings’ starters looked like anything but on Sunday, and it was Sacramento’s bench players who stepped up and provided a glimmer of hope for the Kings before the Pelicans completely ran away with the game. 

“One of the things that’s plaguing us is our turnovers,” Brown said. “We keep playing off of one foot or jumping in the air trying to make a pass and teams are too good defensively. So the first thing we have to do offensively again is take care of the basketball. We’re trying to dribble through too much traffic instead of just making the simple pass or hitting a single.

“We don’t need anybody to be great. We had nine turnovers in the first half for 15 points. Nine turnovers in a half is hard to survive on the road. I don’t care who you’re playing.”

The Kings certainly missed De’Aaron Fox’s presence, who was out for the second straight game due to personal reasons. And while Fox’s absence played a part in the Kings’ struggles, it was in no way an excuse to be toyed with by a team who was missing several of their own stars.

Brandon Ingram (left toe soreness), Zion Williamson (hamstring strain) and Dyson Daniels (ankle sprain) and Jonas Valanciunas (right quad soreness) all were out for New Orleans. 

“We’re hitting a little adversity because we can’t hit shots,” Brown said. “We’re getting good looks, we just can’t make them right now. We’re turning the ball over, we’re not getting stops, and you know, we’ve dropped two in a row.” 

Malik Monk had a team-high 16 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the field, along with four rebounds, three assists and one steal off the bench for the Kings. Keon Ellis took advantage of his minutes, finishing with 10 points on 3-of-5 shooting from the field and 2-of-3 from deep. The first-year guard also added four rebounds, two assists and two steals in a career-high 16 minutes. 

RELATED: Report: Kings among six teams interested in Pistons' Noel

Domantas Sabonis had a double-double, but nothing else stood out from any of the starters. And even though shots weren’t falling, the weak defensive performance Brown saw from his team was even more disappointing.

“Defensively, we can’t contain the dribble. We gave up 40 points in the first half because guys were getting by us, getting to the rim and finishing in the paint. That is my biggest concern right now defensively, who can I put on the floor to contain the dribble? Shots aren’t always going to fall. I’m OK with that. 

“But if your shot’s not falling, what else are you bringing to the table? Are you rebounding? Are you defending? Are you doing something to help us win a basketball game? And right now, that’s not happening. We got guys missing shots, but we’re not getting help from guys in any other areas. And that’s something that has to change.” 

The Kings (29-23) remain in third place in the Western Conference, but that, too, can change in a flash. 

Contact Us