Alvin Gentry blasts Kings after loss to Grizzlies; Davis says leadership has no ‘voice’
Interim Kings coach Alvin Gentry said he found himself yelling at his television at times when he watched his team play while he was away due to a case of COVID-19. He had to do that in person after being cleared to return for Sunday’s game against the Memphis Grizzlies.
Gentry lit up his locker room in a fiery postgame news conference following a 127-102 loss to the Grizzlies at Golden 1 Center. The Kings led by one at halftime and trailed by as many as 30 after falling apart in the second half.
“This is the most disappointed I’ve been in 34 years in the NBA,” Gentry said. “I can honestly say that. That performance was absolutely ridiculous. We didn’t play hard. We didn’t compete. We gave up 19 offensive rebounds for — I don’t know — 37 points or some astronomical figure. We didn’t guard the ball. We didn’t guard screen and rolls. We didn’t follow the game plan — all of those things — and to be honest with you, it’s the most disappointing game that I’ve been involved with.”
This could have been the start of a midseason surge for the Kings (13-21), who welcomed back four players who missed four games apiece due to NBA health and safety protocols, including point guard De’Aaron Fox. The Grizzlies (20-14) had already lost three in a row and they were primed for another after announcing Dillon Brooks, De’Anthony Melton and Yves Pons had been ruled out under the league’s protocol system.
“You can’t get a reputation in this league of being a team where you can come into their home gym and do what they just did to us,” Gentry said. “I’m just telling you that will stay with you in the NBA if you let teams come in and do what they did to us. They basically toyed with us, and we’re not that team. We’re not a team that people should be able to come in here and toy with us. So, yes, if you ask me if I’m upset, disappointed, you’re damn right I am.”
Fox threw down a soaring dunk that electrified the crowd early in the third quarter, but even that wasn’t enough to spark the Kings. Memphis shot 59.2% from the field in the second half. The Grizzlies outscored the Kings 35-14 on second-chance points and finished with a whopping 72-36 advantage on points in the paint.
“We never stopped them,” Gentry said. “… They shot it. They got it back. They had the ball in the paint the whole night, and so when they missed, they just got it back and put it in the basket. We never stopped them.”
The Kings continue to struggle defensively in ways they have discussed almost daily over the past four seasons under former coaches Dave Joerger and Luke Walton and now under Gentry.
Fox said “staying together” is critical for the Kings right now.
“That’s all you can do,” he said. “We’re the only ones who can get us out of this.”
Terence Davis, who started his career in 2019 with a Toronto Raptors squad that had just won the NBA championship, was asked if the Kings lack leadership.
“I’m not a guy to point fingers or anything of that sort,” Davis said. “That’s a whole different situation over there in Toronto as far as them winning and things of that sort, so it’s like, alright, you’re stepping into something where they just won a championship, so obviously the room and things of that sort are different.
“I don’t think we lack leadership. I just think we lack a leader’s voice, if that makes sense. We don’t really have a leader’s voice. We have leaders. Their voice isn’t being heard enough, honestly. That’s just my opinion.”
Desmond Bane scored 28 points to lead the Grizzlies. Jaren Jackson Jr. had 21 points. Ja Morant finished with 18 points, seven rebounds and nine assists.
Tyrese Haliburton had a team-high 18 points, five rebounds and seven assists for the Kings, who have lost three in a row and seven of their last nine. Damian Jones and Davis came off the bench to score 15 points apiece. Barnes had 12 points and seven rebounds, made 4 of 10 from the field and hit 3 of 5 from 3-point range, but he finished a team-worst plus-minus rating of minus-36.
Fox had 12 points and five assists in 30 minutes, finishing with seven of the team’s 19 turnovers. Fox said he was mostly asymptomatic during his second encounter with COVID-19, saying he was able to run and stay in shape. Davis, who was hit hard by the virus in September, said he didn’t experience symptoms this time.
Richaun Holmes was plagued by foul trouble and played only 13 minutes. He went scoreless on 0-of-4 shooting with four rebounds. Buddy Hield was held to two points on 0-of-3 shooting in 24 minutes. He was outscored by Emmanuel Mudiay, Robert Woodard II and Louis King, who only played the final 2:57.
Gentry said the organization believes its roster is good enough to win games. Only five teams in the Western Conference have winning records. The Kings are two games out of the final play-in spot and 3½ games out of the sixth seed in the West, but they’re only 2½ games better than the last-place Houston Rockets.
“At some stage, there has to be a sense of pride, individual pride,” Gentry said. “It can’t be on the coach. It’s can’t be on the GM. It can’t be on the secretaries. It’s got to be on you. You have to go out and compete and do it yourself.”
This story was originally published December 26, 2021 at 8:54 PM.
