Blowout loss to Los Angeles Clippers exposes more matchup problems for Sacramento Kings
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Add the Los Angeles Clippers to the list of teams that present the Kings with seemingly insurmountable matchup problems.
The Kings lost to the Clippers for the second time this season, and this one was even worse than the first.
Kawhi Leonard scored 31 points to lead the Clippers to a 119-98 victory over the Kings on Tuesday night at Crypto.com Arena.
Normal Powell came off the bench to score 15 points for the Clippers (13-10), who have won five in a row and six of seven dating back to their 131-117 victory over the Kings on Nov. 29 in Sacramento.
“Obviously, we got our behinds kicked,” Kings coach Mike Brown said. “That’s twice against this team that we had no answers. What’s most concerning is sometimes you’ve got to fight and tonight we had no fight in us.”
James Harden had 15 points, six rebounds and seven assists. Paul George had nine points and six rebounds before missing the second half due to a sore left groin.
Keegan Murray had 17 points and seven rebounds for the Kings (13-9), but he went 6 of 14 from the field and 0 of 5 from 3-point range.
Domantas Sabonis had 15 points and 10 rebounds, his 18th double-double of the season. De’Aaron Fox finished with 14 points, three rebounds and three assists after averaging 31.3 points, 4.9 rebounds, 7.8 assists over the previous eight games.
The Clippers shot 52.4% from the field and went 11 of 29 (.379) from 3-point range. The Kings were held to 41.9% shooting and went 10 of 37 (.270) from beyond the arc.
“We’re a 3-point shooting team, but the reality is if the 3s aren’t going in … we’ve got to figure out a way to get to the rim, get to the free-throw line, because we’re not going to always be able to rely on the 3, and that showed tonight.”
The Kings have a total of nine losses to four teams this season. They have lost to the Clippers (2), Golden State Warriors (2), Houston Rockets (2) and New Orleans Pelicans (3).
The common thread seems to be bigger teams with length and physicality.
“Houston’s big,” Brown said. “New Orleans is big. The Clippers are big, and obviously they’re different because some of them have scoring at four or five positions, but it’s about the level of physicality that our opponents have brought to the game when it comes to the common denominator for the losses.”
The Kings and Clippers were both on the second night of a back-to-back. The Kings set a franchise record with 25 3-point goals in a 131-118 victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Monday in Sacramento. The Clippers were back in action 24 hours after logging extended minutes in a hard-fought 132-127 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers.
Fox came out firing, scoring 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting with three 3-pointers in the first quarter, but the Clippers led 32-24 after shooting 55.6% in the opening period. That was just the start of Sacramento’s problems on a long night in Los Angeles.
The Clippers went up by 29 points in the second quarter and led by as many as 33 in the third. They were up 99-70 when Brown waved the white flag at beginning of the fourth quarter, choosing to sit his starters for the rest of the night.
Clippers coach Tyronn Lue liked what he saw from his team.
“I think we locked in defensively and that’s where it all starts for us,” Lue said. “(When) we’re getting stops and getting out in transition, we’re a hard team to beat.”
Brown did not like what he saw.
“I was disappointed in our group because we were talking more about our offense than our defense,” Brown said. “At the end of the first half, they shot 60% from the floor and scored 70 points, and throughout that whole first half, coming from our players, it’s ‘Hey, we’ve got to swing the ball. We’ve got to do this offensively. We’ve got to do that offensively.’
“That can’t be our mindset, not when a team’s shooting 60% from the floor and scoring 70 points on you and getting 32 points in the paint in one half. Your mindset has to be: Somebody has to get a stop. And if somebody doesn’t get a stop, there should be somebody stepping up and getting in somebody’s face with some passion to let them know we’ve got to do better as a team.”
Brown said the Clippers were “extremely physical with us.” He was disappointed his team didn’t show more fight, resistance and grit, saying “there was none tonight.”
Fox was asked about Sacramento’s lack of physicality at the defensive end.
“We’ve done it in stretches, so we just have to be able to do it as much throughout the course of the game as we can,” Fox said. “We can’t play good teams and just do those things in stretches to win those games. You’ve just got to go out there and do it. You can practice it all you want, but if you’re not doing it in the game then it doesn’t matter.”
Shooting struggles
Kevin Huerter’s recent shooting struggles continued for the Kings.
Huerter was held to three points on 1-of-8 shooting from the field and 1-of-4 shooting from 3-point range. Over the past three games, Huerter has scored a total of 10 points while going 3 of 18 (.167) from the field and 3 of 12 (.250) from beyond the arc.
“Definitely frustrating — frustrating week,” Huerter said. “Luckily, we have a lot of games coming up, so get back in the gym. ... There’s no excuse. We’ll have an off day and I’ll be in there tomorrow getting back to it, but there’s no excuse. There’s no easy solution. You’ve just got to get back in the gym and get your confidence back.”
What about Barnes?
Harrison Barnes had a nice night in Monday’s win over the Nets, scoring 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field while going 3 of 4 from 3-point range. Against the Clippers, Barnes was almost invisible. He finished with two points, one rebound and one assist in 19 minutes.
Cooking up jokes
During his pregame news conference, Brown was asked about the difficult matchups the Clippers present with a stable of stars such as Leonard, George, Harden and Russell Westbrook.
“They got so many, I’ve probably gotta take one, too,” Brown quipped. “Every time you look, oh, shoot, Hall of Famer, so yeah, we all gotta take one. I think I can cook Ty Lue. Last time I saw him, I think he was in a wheelchair or something like that, so I’ll cook his ass — at least right now.”
Flopping fine
The NBA announced Tuesday that Kings guard Malik Monk was assessed a postgame flopping fine of $2,000 upon league office review of a play that occurred late in the first half of Monday’s game against the Nets. The play occurred when Nets center Day’Ron Sharpe was called for a transition take foul against Monk with 1:42 to play in the second quarter.
Up next
The Kings will return to Sacramento to open a six-game homestand against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday at Golden 1 Center.
The Thunder (15-7) has won four of its last five games with wins over the Los Angeles Lakers, Dallas Mavericks, Warriors and Utah Jazz. Oklahoma City is second in the Western Conference, two games back of the conference-leading Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Kings beat the Thunder 105-98 in a group stage game in the NBA’s in-season tournament Nov. 10 in Sacramento. Oklahoma City is led by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who is averaging 30.4 points, 5.5 rebounds, 6.6 assists and 2.8 steals, and Chet Holmgren, who averages 17.0 points and 7.8 rebounds.
Upcoming schedule
Dec. 14 vs. Oklahoma City Thunder
Dec. 16 vs. Utah Jazz
Dec. 18 vs. Washington Wizards
Dec. 20 vs. Boston Celtics
Dec. 22 vs. Phoenix Suns
