Malik Monk moves into starting lineup but Kings’ struggles continue with loss to Spurs
Kings coach Mike Brown has been reluctant to put Malik Monk in the starting lineup, but he finally made the move in Sunday’s game against the San Antonio Spurs.
DeMar DeRozan returned from injury and Monk brought a spark to the starting unit, but it wasn’t enough to stop Sacramento’s slide with a once-promising season seemingly teetering on the brink of collapse.
Victor Wembanyama recorded a triple-double with 34 points, 13 rebounds, 11 assists and three blocked shots, leading the Spurs to a 127-125 victory over the Kings before a crowd of 16,014 at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.
The Kings led by 17 points in the first quarter, but their inability to defend the 3-point line came back to haunt them once again. Going into the game, Sacramento was 28th in the NBA in opponent’s 3-point percentage (.382). The Kings will fall even further after allowing the Spurs to go 23 of 46 (.500) from beyond the arc.
Monk didn’t mince words when asked if simply being unlucky was part of the problem for the Kings, who have lost eight of 11 to fall to 12th in the Western Conference.
“It can’t be unlucky when they f---ing wide open,” Monk said. “Excuse my language, but they just be wide open. We just have too many mental breakdowns, and I feel like we don’t rotate enough when we need to, and that’s why we’re 9-12.”
Brown also lamented his team’s 3-point defense.
“Once they got confidence, it was hard to turn the faucet off from the 3-point line,” Brown said. “I’ve got to continue to try to find ways to help our guys in situations like that. Calling timeouts, telling them to do it a little bit better, and I did, but at the end of the day, maybe I need to change something for them.”
Addressing his team’s struggles in a more general sense, Brown said: “We have to do a better job collectively and it starts with me.”
Brown said Monk will remain in the starting lineup after coming off the bench in his first 162 games for the Kings.
“Malik is going to start,” Brown said. “He’s going to start, and maybe there will come a day I want to change it. I don’t know, but what we’ve done so far hasn’t resulted in good things in terms of our record, so I felt like I need to shake it up. It was good, but at the end of the day, we still lost. It’s about winning and losing in this league. I’m definitely going to give it some time and hopefully we can get over the hump.”
Monk was asked if it was bittersweet to get his first start for Sacramento in a tough loss.
“Yeah, it’s terrible,” Monk said. “Definitely wanted to win, but thankful I got my first start here. It took me three years, but I’m here now so hopefully it can continue, but, yeah, bittersweet for sure.”
The Kings had no answer for Wembanyama, who went 11 of 17 from the field and 5 of 9 from 3-point range. Wembanyama was the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NBA draft and a unanimous selection as the 2024 Rookie of the Year. The 20-year-old French phenom stands 7-foot-3 ½ with an estimated 8-foot wingspan.
“You see the size and you see the length, but with his skillset, I’ve never seen anything like it,” Brown said.
Devin Vassell came off the bench to score 21 points for the Spurs (11-9), who have won five of their last six games. Julian Champagnie had 19 points and eight rebounds. Keldon Johnson added 17 points, going 6 of 10 from the field and 3 of 4 from 3-point range.
DeRozan had 28 points, five rebounds, eight assists and three steals for the Kings (9-12). Domantas Sabonis had 25 points, 13 rebounds and six assists. De’Aaron Fox had 23 points, six rebounds and nine assists.
Monk, making his first start in a Kings uniform, added 19 points, seven rebounds and six assists. He went 7 of 14 from the field and 5 of 10 from 3-point range.
Two-way player Isaac Jones impressed in 19 minutes off the bench, scoring 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting with four rebounds, one steal and one blocked shot.
DeRozan returned after missing two games due to lower back muscle inflammation. Kevin Huerter was ruled out after spraining his right ankle in Friday’s loss to the Portland Trail Blazers.
The Kings came in reeling after losing five of six. The search for answers led Brown to make a surprise decision, moving Monk into the starting lineup for the first time since he signed with Sacramento in 2022.
Monk has said many times he would prefer to start while reiterating he will do whatever is best for the team. Brown has long maintained that the team needs the energy, playmaking ability and scoring punch Monk brings off the bench, but this time he brought it from the opening tip.
The Kings came out on fire, racing out to a 17-point lead in the first period. They led 42-28 after shooting a staggering 70.8% from the field in their highest-scoring quarter of the season.
San Antonio came back to cut the deficit to five on a couple of occasions late in the second quarter. Sacramento led 75-68 at the halftime break, but the Spurs kept coming, tying the game on a 3-pointer by Champagnie with 7:36 to play in the third period.
The Kings led 97-92 at the end of the third quarter. The Spurs tied the game early in the fourth and took a 103-101 lead on a dunk by Wembanyama with 8:11 remaining.
San Antonio went up 118-113 on a 3-pointer by Vassell with 2:49 to go. Monk hit a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to two with 12 seconds to play. The Kings could have had a chance to tie the game, but they couldn’t corral the rebound when Johnson missed the second of two free throws with 9 seconds remaining, in part because Sabonis was being held by Wembanyama.
The Kings outscored the Spurs 52-28 on points in the paint, 18-7 on second-chance points, 24-4 in fastbreak points and 25-7 in points off turnovers, but they couldn’t overcome San Antonio’s 3-point shooting. The Spurs went 6 of 12 from long distance in the third quarter and 4 of 7 in the fourth.
“We shot it well,” Spurs interim coach Mitch Johnson said. “Sacramento does a great job of packing the paint, showing heavy shifts, rotating, and so we did feel if we spaced the right way and moved the ball, we’d be able to have some inside out rhythm 3s.”
This story was originally published December 1, 2024 at 9:18 PM.
