Identity, urgency: Takeaways from Sacramento Kings’ 7-game win streak as it ends on the road
The Sacramento Kings never led, they fell behind by 21 points in the first quarter, they allowed a triple-double to Giannis Antetokounmpo and they watched their stirring seven-game winning streak end Tuesday night to the Milwaukee Bucks.
The Kings haven’t had an eight-game winning streak since November 2003. It’s been 7,716 days since they beat the New Jersey Nets, 105-92, with Doug Christie in the starting lineup to win eight consecutive games. Christie scored 12 points against Jason Kidd, Kenyon Martin, Richard Jefferson and company while Sacramento was paced by 25 points from sharp-shooter Peja Stojaković.
More than 21 years later, Christie leads the team as interim coach. Tuesday night marked the end of a streak that may have completely changed the current season following the firing of Mike Brown. The Kings lost six straight games — five under Brown and Christie’s debut — before going on their seven-game run that included Friday’s road victory over the defending champion Boston Celtics. They’re back to .500 after Tuesday’s loss at 20-20.
The Kings rode a wave of good vibes thanks largely to Christie’s contrasting style from Brown’s. His more player-friendly practice schedule appeared to result in more energetic play. His relatability as a former player led to more buy-in on the defensive end.
Now that the streak is over, the Kings will have to generate their own momentum into a difficult part of their schedule given the honeymoon period of Christie’s tenure could be transitioning into normalcy. The Kings return home for three games before going back out on the road for a six-game road trip that includes trips to Denver, New York, Oklahoma City and Minnesota.
“To be honest with you, the only thing that I’m really solid on is that we continue to solidify our identity,” Christie said after the 130-115 loss in Milwaukee. “Like, you come and play extremely hard, and you play extremely physical, and you get after it for 48 minutes with the talent that we got, most times, you’re going to walk away with the W in this league.”
Physicality was a theme Tuesday, but not in the way the Kings wanted. Antetokounmpo had his way with Sacramento’s defense, finishing with his fifth triple-double of the season. He reached his NBA-leading scoring average of 31 points late in the third quarter before finishing with 33 points, 11 rebounds and 13 assists. Milwaukee outscored Sacramento by 30 points in Antetokounmpo’s 37 minutes.
The Kings trimmed the lead that was hovering around 20 for most of the game to 11 with 8-plus minutes left before the former Finals MVP returned from a rest and helped put the game away.
Christie tried to match Antetokounmpo’s fierce physicality by guarding him with Domantas Sabonis, and later backup big man Alex Len when Sabonis was in foul trouble in the second half, but it didn’t work. Christie noted Sabonis had guarded Antetokounmpo during games in recent years and the physicality helped. The Kings needed to slow down the athletic big man because they were missing Malik Monk and the 22 points per game he’s averaged since Christie took over.
“There was a point where Giannis started bringing the ball up the court with absolutely zero pressure, and that’s not Domas’ thing,” Christie said. “So that was the big switch.”
The switch didn’t take effect until the fourth quarter when the Kings tried Keegan Murray on Antetokounmpo. Murray started picking Antetokounmpo up full-court, and it led to Antetokounmpo dishing four assists.
“You have to try to meet his physicality, and we weren’t able to do that,” De’Aaron Fox said after scoring 20 points with 11 rebounds in his second game back from a three-game absence with a bruised glute.
Team-building and ‘a sense of urgency’
The Kings ended their road trip traveling to Milwaukee from Chicago on buses Monday afternoon. They had an optional shooting session in the evening, and instead of a normal practice or shootaround after arriving in Milwaukee, they opted for a team-building exercise at a local escape room.
It was another example of Christie’s emphasis on recuperation between games, in stark contrast to Brown’s heavy practice schedule. It wasn’t the reason they lost on Tuesday, but Christie’s relaxed style could come under scrutiny should the Kings’ winning ways come undone.
“We could have come out with more of a sense of urgency,” said DeMar DeRozan, who led the Kings’ scoring effort Tuesday with 28 points. “(The Bucks are) coming back home after losing by 40 on the road, and natural instincts for a good team is to respond on the road. We got to be more aware of games like that, especially on the last game of a road trip.”
The Kings’ numbers improved significantly during the first eight games under Christie. The offense jumped from ninth to fourth, the defense went from 16th to sixth, and their net rating moved from 13th to fourth.
Tuesday’s loss aside, Sacramento’s players are optimistic they’ve created a new foundation to build on for the rest of the season.
“A lot of good was done,” Fox said. “Obviously we want to keep the pace up. I think we were good defensively. Obviously (Antetokounmpo) is somebody we got to stop, just being able to get downhill and get his teammates easy shots. I think that was our back breaker tonight.”
The Kings ended their road trip 2-1 and in ninth in the West, in line for a return trip to the NBA play-in tournament. But they clearly have higher goals, including landing a top-six seed that would have them avoid the play-in altogether.
“We got ourselves back to .500,” DeRozan said. “We were in a deep hole. Now we got start it again. We still got a lot of ground to cover in a tough Western Conference.
“I think every game’s got to be just as important as the next. That’s just got to be our mindset.”
This story was originally published January 14, 2025 at 9:41 PM.
