Turnovers, missed free throws and poor attention to detail plague Kings in loss to Nets
Coach Mike Brown recognized the first sign of trouble when the Kings didn’t run a scripted play correctly on the first possession of Sunday’s game against the Brooklyn Nets.
The Kings drew up the play and went over it in their walkthrough, but the possession resulted in a bad pass and a turnover, leading to a 3-pointer at the other end of the floor. Brown said the same thing happened in Friday’s loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.
“Two games in a row, we haven’t executed it right,” Brown said.
Turnovers, missed free throws and poor attention to detail proved costly for the Kings, who lost their third in a row, falling 108-103 to the Nets before a crowd of 16,750 at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.
Kings forward DeMar DeRozan was asked about the team’s failure to execute on the opening possession after the Kings fell behind by nine points in the first quarter and 19 in the second.
“Just got to pay attention,” DeRozan said. “You’ve got to understand that’s an opportunity for us to come out and get something easy coming out of the gate. I think when we do that wrong, that’s what steam rolls us into those slow starts.”
Cam Thomas had 34 points and six assists for the Nets (7-10). Noah Clowney came off the bench to score 18 points. Cameron Johnson had 16 points, six rebounds and four assists.
De’Aaron Fox had 31 points and five assists for the Kings (8-9), but he was held to one point on 0-of-3 shooting in the fourth quarter. Fox went 10 of 16 from the field and 3 of 4 from 3-point range, but Sacramento’s other starters were a combined 3 of 15 from long distance.
Keegan Murray had 21 points and eight rebounds. DeRozan added 18 points, five rebounds and five assists. Domantas Sabonis put up 13 points, 18 rebounds and seven assists.
Brooklyn shot 48% from the field and made 19 of 39 from 3-point range, shooting a sizzling 48.7% from beyond the arc. The Kings shot 48.1% from the field and 36% from 3-point range, but they went 20 of 31 (.645) at the free-throw line and allowed 24 points off 16 turnovers.
“We have to be better,” Fox said. “We can’t keep trying to fight back and expect to get a win no matter who we play.”
The Kings came out on fire, going 7 of 10 from the field and 4 of 5 from 3-point range over the first eight minutes, but they still found themselves trailing 27-20 after committing five early turnovers. Brooklyn led 37-28 after outscoring Sacramento 10-2 in points off turnovers in the first quarter. The Kings did themselves no favors at the foul line, missing four of their first seven free-throw attempts.
The Nets went 7 of 11 from 3-point range in the first period and kept firing in the second. They took a 54-35 lead midway through the second quarter after making 12 of their first 17 3-point attempts, converting at a red-hot rate of 70.6%.
“These guys hit shot after shot after shot from the 3-point line in the first half,” Brown said. “You’ve got to give them credit for knocking it down. There were three 3s that they hit that their hot players hit. Cameron Johnson is a hot player for them and Cam Thomas was a hot player — so Cam Johnson and Cam Thomas — and we told our guys, we can’t stop short with your hands down and let them shoot the basketball. They hit three 3s in the first quarter because we didn’t do our job or do what we’re supposed to do against a hot shooter, and we have to get better at that.”
The Kings staged a 9-2 run to cut the deficit to 12 with about four minutes to play in the first half. They got within nine on a 3-pointer by Keon Ellis and trailed 65-57 at the halftime break.
The Kings kept coming in the second half. They got within five on a basket by Kevin Huerter, cut the deficit to two on a three-point play by DeRozan and tied the game on a turnaround jumper by Murray.
Sacramento went up 86-85 on a basket by Fox late in the third quarter. The game was tied going into the fourth.
The Nets regained the lead when Fox went to the bench in the fourth quarter. The Kings trailed by five when Fox returned with 6:34 remaining, but they couldn’t close the gap in the final minutes.
The Kings outscored the Nets 46-30 on points in the paint, 17-10 in second-chance points and 11-7 on fastbreak points, but they were outscored 44-9 in points off the bench with all nine points coming from Ellis.
This is the first three-game losing streak of the season for the Kings. DeRozan was asked if frustrations are mounting in the locker room after losing four of their last five games.
“More so frustrated with ourselves, letting a couple games just slip away,” DeRozan said. “Slow first quarters, slow first halves, that’s all on us. If we change that around, we’d be having a different conversation.”
This story was originally published November 24, 2024 at 9:57 PM.
