Kings coach Mike Brown and Malik Monk exchange words in highly ‘alarming’ loss to Hornets

Kings coach Mike Brown and Sixth Man of the Year candidate Malik Monk exchanged words during the third quarter of Tuesday’s game, but that was the least of Sacramento’s concerns when the night was over.

The shorthanded Charlotte Hornets snapped their 11-game losing streak with a stunning 111-104 win over the Kings of inconsistency. Excessive turnovers, poor free-throw shooting and a general sense of lethargy contributed to Sacramento’s worst loss of the season before a dumbfounded sellout crowd of 17,983 at Golden 1 Center.

“Our execution down the stretch and our sense of urgency on both sides of the ball was alarming,” Brown said. “It wasn’t good. And I say that because we probably had two or three unforced turnovers down the stretch. We didn’t give ourselves a chance to shoot the ball, which led to them getting easy baskets in transition.

“And then our halfcourt defense, we’re literally just standing on the weak side of the floor, and we give up a stone-cold layup at a crucial part of the game. So, to not have an awareness, a sense of urgency, it was not a good feeling being out there and being a part of it, and obviously I had a lot to do with it because I did not have our guys ready apparently.”

Terry Rozier scored 34 points for the Hornets (8-24), who won for the first time since Dec. 8. Miles Bridges had 27 points and P.J. Washington came off the bench to add 17 on 7-of-13 shooting.

De’Aaron Fox had 30 points, five rebounds and six assists for the Kings (19-13), but he went 11 of 25 from the field and 3 of 10 from 3-point range. Officially, Domantas Sabonis recorded his 27^th double-double of the season with 23 points and 18 rebounds, but unofficially he recorded the kind of triple-double no player wants after committing a career-high 11 turnovers.

The Kings committed a total of 21 turnovers with six in the fourth quarter. Fox only had three, but two of them came in the final 44.2 seconds as the game was being decided.

“You have 21 turnovers in a game where all of them, probably, were unforced,” Brown said. “Literally, we just couldn’t hold on to the ball. That and then jumping in the air (before passing). We just kept leaving our feet, possession after possession, and throwing the ball to the opponent and/or picking up charges, but to have 21 turnovers in a ballgame, especially when the turnovers aren’t forced, it just takes away your opportunity to score.”

The Kings had won eight of 11 dating back to Dec. 8, but they looked lackadaisical from the time they took the floor for the layup line.

“Honestly, I think we just gave the ball away,” Fox said. “I don’t think they did anything that made us turn the ball over. I think we were just too careless with the ball tonight.”

Fox said he wouldn’t spend much time dwelling on the loss, especially because the Kings now have to face a much better Orlando Magic squad Wednesday on the second night of a back-to-back.

“I was telling (the team) ... you soak in a loss like this and it can pile into six losses in a row, so for me, personally, when I walk out of this building, I’m not thinking about this loss again.”

Monk v. Brown

Monk and Brown have formed a strong relationship with push and pull from both sides. Brown has jumped Monk’s case in the past, most notably in a viral video that caught Brown telling Monk: “I’m about to blow my f---ing top.”

That line came as Monk was complaining to referees during an intrasquad scrimmage at the team’s practice facility during training camp. Recently, Brown has praised Monk for his maturity because he is often the one to rein in his coaches when they complain too much to officials.

Monk, who spent four seasons with the Hornets, had a bad stretch when he entered the game in the first quarter against his former team. He finished with a minus-11 rating in 4:59 after missing a wild 3 early in the shot clock, committing a careless turnover and losing his man on defense. Brown benched him for the rest of the first half, just as he has done with Kevin Huerter and Harrison Barnes in the past.

Monk’s absence added to the malaise inside the building as fans wondered why Davion Mitchell (9), Trey Lyles (8), Huerter (7) and Alex Len (6) had logged more minutes than Monk, who had a season-high 27 points on 10-of-13 shooting in Sunday’s win over the Memphis Grizzlies.

Monk came on late in the third quarter, hitting two 3-pointers in a span of 41 seconds to put the Kings up 76-70. Monk turned to the sideline and gave Brown a look of frustration — maybe even defiance. A moment later, Brown and Monk exchanged words during a timeout, but they appeared to resolve their differences quickly.

“Heat of the moment,” Brown said. “Malik and I — I think everybody has seen it — but Malik and I have gotten into exchanges before. This was not the first time, and I would bet a lot of money it won’t be the last time, so that’s not a big deal.”

Brown left Monk in the game for the rest of the third quarter, subbed him out briefly in the fourth and then brought him back to finish the game, but still Monk finished with just six points, three rebounds, two assists and a minus-21 rating.

Starting Chris Duarte

Brown again chose to start Chris Duarte in place of Huerter, who started 104 games over two seasons with the Kings before coming off the bench the past two games. Brown explained before the game his decision was “not a one-time thing.”

“We’ve got a lot of selfless guys on this team,” Brown said. “These guys are connected. They all want to win, and at the end of the day, I have to make decisions that I think are best for the team at that time, and I’ll be the first to admit I can be wrong. I don’t have all the correct answers. I’ve been wrong may times before, and I could be wrong on this, but I’m going to give it a go. ... It’s one of those things that we just kind of play out, wait and see and see how it goes, but it was not a one-time thing. It’s a change that we made that, right now, we’re going to continue to take a look at going forward.”

Duarte finished with 12 points, seven rebounds, four assists, one steal and a plus-three rating, second only to Fox’s plus-four.

On the first possession of the game, Duarte came up with a deflection, leading to a steal by Keegan Murray. Sabonis missed a layup at the other end, but Duarte was there to corral the offensive rebound, scoring on a putback to give the Kings their first basket of the night.

Moments later, Duarte knocked down a corner 3-pointer on a sensational baseline pass from Fox, putting the Kings up 13-6 in the opening minutes. The Hornets came back to take a 25-21 lead after the Kings shot an unsightly 30.8% in the first period.

The Kings led 50-45 at the half, but they struggled to find a rhythm offensively. Fox and Murray went a combined 1 of 13 from the field to start the game. The Kings shot 41.3% from the field with nine turnovers in the opening half.

Brown didn’t think the addition of a new starter affected the team’s offensive rhythm.

“The turnovers didn’t have much to do with wrong reads or something like that ... so I don’t think it had anything to do with that,” Brown said. “Chris has started with those four guys three games now. The first time he did it was at Dallas (on Nov. 19) and we scored 133 points or something like that. The second time was (Sunday) at Memphis and it was one of our highest offensive ratings of the season.”

Free throws

The Kings went 10 of 17 at the free-throw line, shooting 58.8%. They are last in the NBA in free-throw shooting on the season at 73.2% with a 63.3% clip in their last three games.

“We’re shooting the same amount, if not more, free throws this year than we did last year,” Brown said. “We’ve just got to have guys go to the line and knock it down. ... I thought we were real loose tonight, so maybe it might have been a mental thing, but obviously we’re 30^th in the league, so we’re not doing a good job with it collectively.”

Up next

The Kings will continue their four-game homestand when they entertain the Magic on Wednesday.

Both teams will be on the second night of a back-to-back. The Magic (19-14) opened a tough four-game road trip with a 112-107 loss to the Phoenix Suns on Sunday before suffering a 121-115 loss to the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday.

Paolo Banchero is averaging team highs of 21.7 points, 7.0 rebounds and 4.7 assists. Franz Wagner averages 21.1 points, 6.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists.

Upcoming schedule

Jan. 3 vs. Orlando Magic

Jan. 5 vs. Toronto Raptors

Jan. 7 vs. New Orleans Pelicans

Jan. 9 at Detroit Pistons

Jan. 10 at Charlotte Hornets