How the Kings hope to embody interim coach Doug Christie’s message to save season
A phrase written atop the dry-erase board in the Sacramento Kings’ locker room captured a sense of what interim coach Doug Christie apparently wants to do. With a version of language that, let’s just say, might not be acceptable to everyone, the message was to do anything but relax.
The Kings won Monday, beating the Dallas Mavericks 110-100 by hanging on and not relaxing. It was Christie’s first win taking over for fired head coach Mike Brown, followingtheir ugly, winless home stand during the holidays.
There was an uneasy feeling before and during Monday’s game at Golden 1 Center. It was the Kings’ first home date since firing Brown and the wave of backlash the team received from other head coaches throughout the league who had worked with Brown or had close connections.
A group of fans Monday sitting in the lower bowl near the media seating donned shirts quoting Nuggets head coach Mike Malone’s statement disparaging the Kings after learning of Brown’s firing on Saturday.
‘Clutch is who wants it the most’
Christie is charged with turning around a team that has struggled in the biggest moments of games throughout the season. The Kings entered Monday with an NBA-high 13 losses in games that were within five points in the final five minutes. They were 6-12 at home while Golden 1 Center continues to boast one of the most spirited and rapt crowds in the NBA.
The team added DeMar DeRozan to De’Aaron Fox over the summer giving the Kings one of the most accomplished duos in clutch situations in the league. All of which played into why Brown was fired.
Which is where the phrase on the whiteboard — “NO --- RELAX!” — would be most applicable.
“Clutch is who wants it the most,” Christie said before the game. “Clutch is who’s going to dive on the floor, who’s going to sacrifice themselves in a way that it’s going to hurt. If I’m willing to further than you’re willing to go. Clutch has to mean something when it gets (late in the clock) and the shot goes up and at this moment, it’s me or you and it’s always me.
“And when we get to that point, then we make that step when those statistics start to change. And that’s what I’m asking. When it comes to that point, what are you willing to do? I know what I’m willing to do for you, and I’m going to support them in any way I can. Because it will always be my fault, it’ll never be their fault. They’re going to do their job, I’m here to take the bullets.”
Christie and the Kings’ players have been forced to take the bullets from the media while the front office headed by GM Monte McNair, assistant Wes Wilcox and team owner Vivek Ranadivé have not spoken publicly. Their decision to not address Brown’s firing left players to answer questions about the circumstances, and Fox using social media to dispel the idea that he went to the front office to push Brown out the door.
It was an idea Fox’s teammates co-signed.
“I feel like Mike would have told y’all with how vocal he is and how much he speaks out about what we do,” Malik Monk said when asked if he thought players had a problem with Brown. “I feel like he would have told y’all if somebody had a problem. But hell no. Yeah, hell no.”
Monk then pointed to Fox, who was two lockers down with earbuds in. “He probably did it already,” Monk quipped.
‘We got to produce on the court’
The Kings’ hung on to beat the depleted Mavericks after an ugly start. Fans started booing midway through the first quarter after a P.J. Washington-made 3. Dallas led by as many as 18 in the first quarter before the Kings made a game of it in the second.
The Mavericks were missing six rotation players including Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, Klay Thompson and Dereck Lively, which justified the home fans’ early frustration.
But the Kings turned things around and the Mavericks’ hot 3-point shooting came back to earth after they sunk 7 of 8 from distance in the first quarter. They only made five more throughout the game while Trey Lyles gave the Kings a boost with 13 points while Sacramento outscored Dallas by 31 points in his 22 minutes. Fox had 33 points while Domantas Sabonis had 17 points, 16 rebounds and seven assists.
“Physicality, energy, effort, going out there and leaving it all out there,” Lyles said when asked about the new whiteboard message. “Playing into exhaustion, which is something that I think we need to more of as a group.”
Kevin Huerter had one of the highlights of the night when he hit a 3 late in the third quarter and had a rare moment of exuberance. The Kings took a 6-point lead into the fourth quarter leading to some of the fans at Golden 1 Center giving the team a standing ovation.
“(It’s) just a little weird, obviously,” Huerter said of the Kings’ previous week. “I feel for Mike as a person. This is an organizational thing. Players are responsible for this, coaches, all the way on up. So you feel for Mike, but we’re pros. We got to go out there and win. There’s a lot of season, and so we just try to lock in the best we can.”
The Kings found out about Brown’s firing when they were getting ready for their flight to Los Angeles on Friday to play the Lakers the next day. Brown had just completed a morning practice and spoke to the media before getting the news from McNair by phone.
“We were surprised that — I think it was more so the timing of it, like seeing it,” Huerter said. “We had a full morning of practice about to get on a plane and it all went down. The rest is not up to us. ...
“We got to produce on the court and just try to worry about that.”
This story was originally published December 31, 2024 at 10:56 AM.
