Why the Kings won’t let their pace be an excuse for some recent losses

There is no secret the Kings are one of the fastest-paced teams in the NBA.

Going into Monday’s game against the Brooklyn Nets, the Kings’ pace rating remained No. 2 in the NBA, where they’ve been for most of this season.

The Nets hadn’t played the Kings yet, but their coach was impressed by what he’d seen on film.

“It’s very rare a team jumps off the video screen like they do,” Brooklyn coach Kenny Atkinson said before the game. “Their speed is impressive and you feel that on film. I couldn’t believe how fast, even in slow motion, they got to the other end.”

To combat that pace, the Nets turned on their defensive pressure in the second half and coasted to a 123-94 victory over the Kings at Barclays Center.

Sacramento (24-23) fell to 1-2 on its season-long six-game trip. Despite a strong second quarter in which the Kings outscored the Nets 37-26, they were flat after the break.

“It was a tough game for us,” Kings coach Dave Joerger said. “I thought we had a nice rhythm in the first half. ... We just didn’t come out with that same intensity in the second half.”

Part of that can be attributed to a change in strategy by the Nets, who have won four in a row.

“We thought they had too many transition opportunities (in the first half),” Nets guard Joe Harris said. “We just felt confident that if we got them playing against a set defense, it was going to be tough for them to score. That was the focus.”

They also held Kings leading scorer Buddy Hield to 11 points, all in the first half. Hield, who went into the game averaging 20.5, went 0 for 4 after halftime. It was his lowest output since scoring six points in a Dec. 27 home win over the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Kings’ scoring average per game is down to 113.6, eighth in the league after being among the top teams earlier this season. The Kings have been held under 100 twice in three games after doing so just thrice in the previous 44.

The Kings also struggled on defense. They allowed open looks near the basket and from 3-point range. It led to 62 points in the paint and 13 3-pointers, seven by D’Angelo Russell, who before the game was named the NBA’s Eastern Conference Player of the Week. He scored a game-high 31 points.

Many lapses occurred because players were trying to help on the ball, but that left open lanes and shots.

“I think there were too many guys trying to stop the hot hand and too many guys trying to take on the challenge, which is a good thing, but there’s got to be better communication,” Kings forward Iman Shumpert said.

The loss overshadowed a solid outing by Bodgan Bogdanovic. The second-year guard set a career high with 11 assists, his second NBA game with at least 10. The other came in March. He also scored a team-high 22 points.

“It’s just one game and anyone can lose to anyone when you have a bad night,” Bogdanovic said.

The Kings can’t afford to have another bad night Tuesday. On the second of a back-to-back they face the Toronto Raptors, who at 35-13 (.729) have the second-highest win percentage in the NBA.

Sacramento has slowed a bit in pace, but was still only behind the Atlanta Hawks when play began. While that speedy play could be starting to wear the players down a bit, they won’t blame it for the losses.

“I think that’s more of an excuse than anything, if we try to lean on that,” Shumpert said. “We play enough guys and sub enough in and out to where we should be able to sustain playing a high level on defense and on offense.”

He added the Kings need to figure out how to get back to playing as a team, rather than everyone trying to be the one who gets them out of trouble.

“Once we get behind a little bit, sometimes we get outside of our regular makeup of how we score the ball,” Shumpert said. “When we’re struggling, we’ve just got to be better at helping each other score as opposed to trying to get into a one-on-one situation and just make something happen.”

Hield says the Kings can get back on track if they speed up their play.

“We’ve just got to get back to the pace we used to play with earlier in the year. It’s dropping; I can feel it,” he said.

Bodganovic said the team won’t dwell on the loss. It’s part of playing in the NBA. They’ll move forward and try to avenge their 114-105 home loss to Toronto on Nov. 7.

With the way games are played in the NBA, anything can happen.

“Last one we won on a buzzer-beater; tonight, we lost by (29),” he said. “You’ve got to be ready for the next one.”

This story was originally published January 21, 2019 at 7:45 PM.