How Doug Christie’s simplified offense helped streaking Kings win close game in Chicago
The Sacramento Kings on Sunday tied their longest winning streak of the “Beam Team” era with their seventh consecutive win over the Chicago Bulls.
And they did it while setting their best mark in four seasons in an obscure but important statistic.
The Kings in Chicago turned the ball over seven times and allowed just three points off their giveaways, which was the fewest since allowing two on Jan. 22, 2021, against the New York Knicks, a season before the beam’s existence and nearly four years ago.
The Kings came into Sunday afternoon’s game with opponents averaging a respectable 16.6 points off their turnovers, the eighth-best mark in the NBA. And in a game that featured 28 lead changes and 13 ties, minimizing mistakes and not gifting points to Chicago was crucial in the Kings’ 124-119 win where they led by just three inside the final minute.
Which could be pointed to the simplified version of the Kings’ offense they’re running under interim coach Doug Christie, which players have mentioned throughout their hot streak since the Kings switched away from Mike Brown as head coach.
“He’s calling basically three or four plays,” Kings center Domantas Sabonis said Sunday after finishing with 22 points, 16 rebounds and eight assists. “One for DeMar (DeRozan), one for Foxy (De’Aaron Fox) and one for me. He’s trusting his main guys to create the advantage and then everyone plays off that.”
The simplification of the offense falls in line with themes of the winning streak and the energy boost the Kings have gotten since Christie took over. The vibes have changed, Christie has significantly lessened the physical strain of the practice schedule and the offense is less reliant on X’s and O’s and more on players using their instincts.
“Just allowing them to play to their strengths,” Christie said. “Sometimes we get into actions that aren’t really actions. Just get to the business. There’s no need to do a lot of other stuff on top of the fact that we want to drive, kick, swing and move the basketball. So it gives us more time to do that, allowing them to just kind of use their special talents.”
Among their special talents: letting DeRozan and Fox score in the fourth quarter. The Kings’ duo combined to score 18 of Sacramento’s 27 points in the final frame Sunday. It was DeRozan’s first game in Chicago after joining the Kings in a sign-and-trade deal over the summer, and it was Fox’s first game since suffering a contusion in his right glute when he was knocked to the ground by Memphis Grizzlies big man Jaren Jackson Jr. late in a victory on Jan. 3.
“It’s stuff that everybody in the league basically runs,” Fox said of the simplified offense after he scored 26 points against the Bulls. “But you have to be able to do it with pace and you have to be able to attack every single time that you’re going down the court. So those are just the little nuances of it.”
Fox mentioned the Grizzlies, who have the NBA’s fifth-most efficient offense, averaging 116.6 points per 100 possessions (the Kings are eighth at 115.1). He said their style is similar in that they don’t call many plays or do anything too complicated. Instead they rely on point guard Ja Morant to prod the defense and kick out to their shooters.
“They’re not running a ton of plays,” Fox said. “They have a bunch of guys that can shoot the ball and get down low, and that’s what they do at a high level, so that’s kind of something that we’re doing right now, and I think we’re doing it at a high level.”
Malik Monk gave the Kings 18 points, nine assists and eight rebounds on Sunday while he continues to thrive in the starting lineup. Since entering the starting lineup Dec. 1, Monk is averaging 18.7 points and 6.4 assists — and 21.8 points in eight games since Christie took over.
“I just feel like it’s not at a standstill, and we’re not thinking as much,” Monk said. “And just a lot of flow going on.”
DeRozan smiled when asked about how Christie has simplified what the Kings are doing offensively. He finished with 21 points while it was clear to his teammates winning in his return to Chicago was important to him.
“Doug’s just telling us, when you go out there, just bring your game, that’s all he says,” DeRozan said. “’I can’t teach ya’ll how to play, ya’ll know how to play. And putting that trust within us and having an unselfish group like we have, that’s the outcome that you get.”
The Kings had their full roster available Sunday for the first time this season, largely because rookie Devin Carter made his debut Jan. 3 after requiring surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder. Keegan Murray was out during Carter’s debut against Memphis, the night Fox went down.
WIth Carter in the rotation — he played nearly 11 minutes Sunday after averaging 15.3 during his first four games — the Kings had Keon Ellis coming off the bench and were able to keep Fox to just under 33 minutes in his return from injury. Fox had been among the league leaders in minutes played prior to his injury.
Having their entire roster healthy means Christie will have to navigate playing time decisions such as how to incorporate Ellis’ defense in his closing lineup while playing Fox, DeRozan, Monk and Sabonis, and the need to have Keegan Murray to stretch the floor with his 3-point shooting.
Prior to Fox’s return, Christie had an easy decision to allow Ellis to stay on the floor. He was particularly helpful during the Kings’ double-overtime win over the Miami Heat earlier this month when he had 14 deflections with three steals, one block and eight rebounds.
“It’s a good feeling,” Christie said. “I mean, it gets tough. I’m sure guys want to play more. When Fox comes back, Fox is Fox, and he’s special. So to come back after a layoff and you look up and it’s like, yeah, he’s got (26 points), and he just covers the stat sheet, he makes big shots. It’s a blessing to have that, and I don’t ever overlook that as a coach.
“That’s him, that’s Domas, that’s DeMar, that’s Malik. That’s what they do. And I’m never thinking that I’m anything more than the person that tries to allow them to be everything they want to be and put them in position to do that.”
This story was originally published January 12, 2025 at 5:13 PM.
