Harrison Barnes describes ‘frustration, anger, embarrassment’ as Kings’ struggles continue
Harrison Barnes acknowledged that losing is taking a heavy toll on his team’s locker room after the Kings lost again Wednesday night.
Barnes described a growing sense of frustration after the Kings lost their fifth in a row, falling 121-104 to the Atlanta Hawks at State Farm Arena.
“It’s a range of emotions: frustration, anger, embarrassment, disappointment. You can go down the list,” Barnes said after posting 28 points and nine rebounds in the loss to the Hawks. “No one prepares and wants to lose, wants to go through losing the way we’ve been going about it. There’s a lot of frustration, but it’s on us to get out of this.”
The Kings (18-32) came into the season with playoff aspirations, but they have lost 10 of their last 12 to fall 14 games under .500. They are 13th in the Western Conference, three games behind the Portland Trail Blazers for the final play-in berth.
This is not what the Kings envisioned when they brought back a core group that includes De’Aaron Fox, Tyrese Haliburton, Buddy Hield, Barnes, Marvin Bagley III and Richaun Holmes. The Kings thought they had enough talent to end their record-tying 15-year playoff drought, but they have fallen well short of expectations.
Barnes doesn’t know where the Kings went wrong.
“It’s hard to do the full reflection of where we are, where we were, comparison to last year, all that type of stuff,” Barnes said. “I think for us right now, it’s just a matter of finding our collective competitive spirit. I think that’s the biggest thing we have to do right now. We all have to be tied in together. Energy is contagious. Right now, it’s tough, but we’ve got to figure out a way to find that and compete at a high level consistently.”
Defense has been the team’s biggest problem. The Kings are 29th in the NBA in scoring defense, giving up 114.9 points per game. They are also 29th in defensive rating (114.3), defensive rebounding percentage (.703) and opponent second-chance points (15.4). They are 30th in opponent points in the paint (52.7).
Barnes was asked what the Kings are missing.
“I’ve been pretty consistent with the word consistency,” Barnes said. “That’s what we need. … For us, it has to be consistency on the defensive end first. That’s what’s going to allow us to get out and run, get out and do what we do, but we haven’t stopped anybody. Everyone we’re playing is having career nights. Everyone we’re playing is having a field day, and until we get the defensive side of the ball consistently under control, it’s not going to matter whether we score 98 points or 130 points.”
Interim coach Alvin Gentry vowed the Kings will not quit, saying “I’ve never quit anything in my life and this is not going to be the first thing,” but he is frustrated, too.
“I’ve tried everything,” Gentry said. “I’ve tried to get them to the point where they’re totally upset with me so that would galvanize them and put them all together, but that hasn’t seemed to work.
“I’ve tried to talk to them along the lines of appreciating each other and understanding each other and having respect for each other, and if you do that then you’re going to compete at a level, not just for yourself but for your teammates. So, I’m open for suggestions. I can tell you that right now.”
