‘An indictment on us’: Kings lose to Hawks with Young, Collins, Bogdanovic out of lineup
Trae Young was sitting on the bench in street clothes 48 hours after putting up 56 points and 14 assists against the Portland Trail Blazers. John Collins and Bogdan Bogdanovic weren’t even in the building.
The Kings had another chance to pick up a win over a depleted team, but again they came up short. Kevin Huerter came off the bench to post 25 points, 11 rebounds and five assists, leading the Atlanta Hawks to a 108-102 victory over the Kings on Wednesday night at Golden 1 Center.
“I think when teams are missing guys — I think similar to what we were like when we were missing players — you don’t know what to expect from dudes,” Kings guard Tyrese Haliburton said. “Guys are playing free. Guys are getting opportunities they don’t normally get, so they’re making plays, but I feel like we haven’t beaten a team this season when they’re missing their best player and that’s an indictment on us. That’s completely on us and we just have to be better.”
Cam Reddish scored 18 points for the Hawks (17-20), who had lost four of their last five. Danilo Gallinari added 16 points and Clint Capela recorded a double-double, finishing with 11 points and 14 rebounds.
De’Aaron Fox had 30 points and six assists for the Kings (16-24), who have lost three of their last four. Fox posted his sixth 30-point game of the season and his second in a span of 24 hours following an almost identical performance in Tuesday’s 122-114 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Tyrese Haliburton had 24 points, five rebounds and three steals for the Kings, who will go on the road to face the Denver Nuggets on Friday and the Trail Blazers on Sunday.
Fox scored 12 points over the final 4:29 to give the Kings a chance. He was going for two more with his team trailing 103-101 with 24.8 seconds remaining when he felt officials missed a call on Hawks guard Delon Wright.
Fox said Wright “definitely hit my elbow” and “non-calls like that, I think, definitely change the game.”
“I got to the same spot four or five times in a row and I don’t know if they thought I just decided to air ball that time or not,” Fox said. “Definitely a game-changer because we were down two at that time.”
Young was out with a low back contusion. Collins and Bogdanovic were not with the team after clearing NBA health and safety protocols earlier in the day. Gorgui Dieng, Solomon Hill, De’Andre Hunter, Jalen Johnson and Cameron Oliver were out as well.
The Kings have dropped a number of games against teams that were missing some of their best players. They took a 117-92 loss to the Lakers at home on Nov. 30 despite the absence of LeBron James. They lost to the Charlotte Hornets when LaMelo Ball, Terry Rozier and P.J. Washington were out. They lost to the Toronto Raptors when OG Anunoby and Precious Achiuwa were out. They lost to the Dallas Mavericks when Luka Doncic and Tim Hardaway Jr. were out. Then they lost to the Lakers again on Tuesday with Anthony Davis out of the lineup due to a knee injury.
“To be honest with you, we almost seem to play better if they have everybody from the standpoint of being locked in and understanding those situations,” interim Kings coach Alvin Gentry said. “It doesn’t matter. We’ve played games, obviously, where we’ve had depleted personnel. Every team has been through it in the NBA. That should be a nonfactor in my opinion. I think you’ve got to be locked in and ready to play and do whatever is necessary to win games.”
This story was originally published January 6, 2022 at 12:02 AM.
