Kings must match toughness and intensity of ’playoff-type atmosphere’ in NBA bubble
Cory Joseph, Harrison Barnes, Corey Brewer and Kent Bazemore are the senior members of the Kings roster in terms of playoff experience. All four have participated in dozens of playoff games and three of them have championship rings.
Those who have been to the postseason tell those of us in playoff-starved Sacramento there is a level of intensity and toughness that is unmatched during the regular season. Joseph said the Kings are seeing that type of intensity in the NBA bubble at Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, where 22 teams are vying for postseason bids and playoff position. The Kings have not responded well to the environment, losing by big margins in their first two games against the San Antonio Spurs and Orlando Magic.
“If you’ve never been to the playoffs, then, yeah, you have to go there to experience the physical aspect of it,” Joseph said. “This is pretty close. The intensity has risen. Everybody’s in the playoffs, fighting for seeding or trying to make the playoffs, and we’re in that same position. We’ve just got to go out there and refocus.”
The Kings (28-38) will continue to strive for some semblance of toughness, intensity and defense when they face the Dallas Mavericks (40-29) on Tuesday at HP Field House, where they were blown out in Sunday’s loss to the Magic. Orlando led by as many as 36 points in a 132-116 victory after a 44-point outburst in the opening period.
First quarters have been a problem for the Kings. They trailed the Spurs 43-30 at the end of the first and fell behind 44-26 against the Magic. Bazemore said the Kings must do better against the Mavericks, who feature Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis.
“The first quarter will say a lot about where our minds are moving forward,” he said.
A number of players have pointed to effort and execution as reasons for defensive breakdowns.
“I won’t pin everything on defensive schemes because our coaches are professionals. They’re really good at what they do,” Bazemore said. “It’s just the effort it takes to really execute these defensive schemes that we’re lacking right now.”
Playoff experience
Joseph, a nine-year NBA veteran, reached the playoffs each of his first eight seasons with the Spurs, Toronto Raptors and Indiana Pacers. He has appeared in 82 playoff games and won a championship with the Spurs in 2013-14.
Barnes, an eight-year veteran, appeared in 64 playoff games with the Golden State Warriors and helped them capture the NBA title in 2015.
Brewer is a 13-year veteran who has appeared in 47 playoff games with the Mavericks, Denver Nuggets, Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder. He was part of a championship team in Dallas in 2010-11.
Bazemore is an eight-year vet who has been to the playoffs four times with the Warriors and Atlanta Hawks. He has appeared in 41 playoff games.
Jabari Parker, Nemanja Bjelica and Richaun Holmes have appeared in a total of 15 playoff games for their former teams, but the other 10 players on Sacramento’s roster have never reached the postseason. These eight seeding games in the NBA bubble are as close as they’ve come.
After losing their first two games, the Kings will have to get hot in a hurry if they still hope to end the NBA’s longest postseason drought after 13 consecutive losing seasons. They now trail the Memphis Grizzlies, Spurs, Portland Trail Blazers and New Orleans Pelicans in an eight-game race for the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference playoffs, just a half-game ahead of the Phoenix Suns.
Sacramento’s slim playoff hopes have been reduced to a sliver with only six games remaining, but the Grizzlies look like they might go winless, the Spurs and Blazers have brutal schedules, and the Kings have two games against the Pelicans.
“We’re definitely still in it,” Bazemore said. “Any locker room I’m a part of will never lose confidence in our abilities. I told the guys today, I said the worst thing about this is that we are underachieving as a team. That’s just the truth. We are a very talented team. We’re more talented than the first two teams we played against and a lot of other teams that are here. It’s just all about figuring out the small stuff.”
Kings lacking toughness
Whatever happens, Bazemore thinks the team’s younger players will benefit from this experience.
“It’s a good learning experience for a very young team that hasn’t been in a playoff-type atmosphere,” Bazemore said. “I think the intensity down here is reminiscent of the playoffs without the 20,000 people, so it’s an eye-opening experience for a lot of guys.”
Kings coach Luke Walton feels his team has lacked physicality, saying “the defensive intensity is just not OK.” The return of 7-foot center Alex Len might help if the Kings can get him back following a difficult recovery from COVID-19. Len has been upgraded to questionable against the Mavericks after missing the first two games.
“To start games, we have to be more physical, more vocal, more willing to sacrifice our bodies,” Walton said. “Little things like that kind of spark a group and we haven’t done that yet here in the bubble. We’ve had moments of it. We’ve had stretches of it. I think when Cory Joseph and Corey Brewer were in the game we saw a little bit of it, but it’s got to be from the start.”
Bazemore said that’s how teams find success in the postseason.
“That’s the beauty of the playoffs,” he said. “It’s not about who’s scoring the most. It’s about who wants it more, who’s going to play hard, who’s going to play that entire 24 seconds over and over and over on both ends of the floor.”
These are lessons the Kings are learning the hard way, but Bazemore believes they will respond to the challenge.
“I think these guys are definitely learning,” he said. “It may be a shock for some, which is why you might see the play being not as good as it should be. It could be just culture shock for some guys, but we’ve got a hard-working bunch and these guys are definitely going to try to find a way to figure it out.”
Walton agreed.
“I think it’s going to be great for our guys in the long run,” he said. “I’m still very confident we’re going to start playing a lot better, but by the end of this whole thing it’s going to be a great learning experience for us as a group and for certain young players that haven’t played in this type of intense situation yet.”
Kings upcoming schedule
Spurs 129, Kings 120
Magic 132, Kings 116
Aug. 4 vs. Mavericks, 11:30 a.m. (NBCS)
Aug. 6 vs. Pelicans, 10:30 a.m. (NBCS, NBA TV)
Aug. 7 vs. Nets, 2 p.m. (NBCS)
Aug. 9 vs. Rockets, 5 p.m. (NBCS)
Aug. 11 vs. Pelicans, 6 p.m. (NBCS, TNT)
Aug. 13 vs. Lakers, TBD (NBCS)
