There is one game the Kings can afford to lose, and it's not Saturday's matchup against Denver or any other tilt on the schedule in the near future.

It's the blame game.

In the midst of a seven-game losing streak (overall and at home), the Kings' situation is so grim that head coach Reggie Theus' tenuous job status remains as such, and locker room frustration is rising. But they have largely resisted the urge to play the blame game, which is a rare positive for this embattled squad.

Even after Tuesday's 99-94 loss to Utah that included a questionable late substitution (Quincy Douby), the ill-fated effort to conserve the minutes of a key player (Francisco García) and poor late-game execution for a team that entered with five losses by two points or fewer, there was no public finger pointing. The only way out, said Spencer Hawes, is to let the misery continue.

"No one is going to be accepting (the losing)," Hawes said Tuesday. "You sometimes find that on teams that have records that are less than they would like to be (that) people start accepting that. That's something I'm glad we haven't done. Every loss hurts as the last one."

García went one further, saying the players must back Theus even if the temperature on his hot seat continues to rise.

"We respect coach a lot, especially myself," García said after the loss. "He's helping us out, keeping us positive. We've got to keep him positive, too."

Yet as the Kings near the franchise record of eight consecutive home losses, there is reason to ponder some of the negatives surrounding the slide. Late-game lack of execution and poor shooting in critical moments continue to hinder the team's ability to close out games.

Some of the slipups have been more subtle. Tuesday, Theus' team continued a peculiar trend of advancing the ball before calling timeout that costs precious seconds late in games. Beno Udrih did it with 32.9 seconds left and the Kings down 93-90, when he took the inbound pass and dribbled across halfcourt before calling timeout rather than have it called before the baseline inbound pass. In this case, it left 30.4 seconds and virtually sacrificed the Kings' chance to have two offensive possessions in the final stretch before being forced to foul.

García's situation, by all appearances, was as simple as it was complex. In his third game back from a strained right calf that kept him out of 17 games, García – according to Theus – was given a playing limit of 30 minutes. He left the game for good with 9:44 remaining in the fourth and 31 minutes played.

"I couldn't go (more minutes)," said García, who estimates he is at "80 to 85 percent" health.

"I would love to be out there. … (But) me and (trainer) Pete (Youngman) talked about it. It was feeling too tight, so I didn't want to risk it."

With García no longer available to guard Kyle Korver and the Jazz guard burying two fourth-quarter jumpers over Bobby Jackson, Theus called on Douby, who had yet to play. Though Douby contested Korver on two jumpers on the defensive end, his badly missed three-pointers became his legacy for the night. Yet Douby was the victim of sorts, not only because he was asked to play cold but also his two shots came when his teammates passed up seemingly better options.

Douby's first three-point attempt came up short with 2:15 left and the Kings down 87-86, when Martin passed up an open three from the left wing to find his teammate in the left corner. Douby's second attempt came with the Kings down 91-90 and 52 seconds left, when Udrih – who had Hawes as an option in the left corner and Martin on the right wing – stumbled through the lane driving left and opted for Douby in the right corner.

In truth, neither Douby nor Jackson was a prime candidate for three-point success based on recent history. Jackson has hit 6 of 44 threes (13.6 percent) this season, while Douby has hit 6 of 27 (22.2 percent). Hawes has hit 41 percent of his threes (16 of 39). Martin was 3 of 6 in his first game back from an ankle injury.

"I was looking for someone who might knock down some shots down the stretch," Theus said in explaining the Douby move. "And also, I think 'Q' defensively could fight Korver a lot better going around picks, and he did a good job of it. He just didn't knock down shots."

And the Kings, once again, kept getting knocked down.

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