Fox, Bagley Injured in Kings’ Double-OT Loss to Minnesota.

Where do we even begin with this game tonight? The Sacramento Kings have now lost five straight games after falling to the Timberwolves 105-104 in double-overtime. Minnesota snapped a 11-game losing streak with the victory, and Sacramento lost both De’Aaron Fox and Marvin Bagley to injury.

“Tough loss. We are frustrated. This is what we talk about. This is where we have to continue to stick together and fight through as a group. It was hard to lose De’Aaron in the first quarter and I dont know if that took away our energy…” said Kings head coach Luke Walton.

Fox played just over two minutes tonight before exiting the game with an apparent lower back injury. The Kings diagnosed him with back spasms quickly thereafter and said he would not return.

As for Bagley, he was turning in an impressive performance before suffering an apparent foot injury in the third quarter. The 2018 2nd overall pick scored 18 points on 10 shots in 20 minutes. There hasn’t been any update on his condition.

The Kings had multiple opportunities to win the game at the end of regulation and both overtime periods, but couldn’t convert. Bogdan Bogdanovic missed a wide-open three to end the fourth, and Buddy Hield rimmed out a three, resulting in the loss.

The Kings had 3 solid looks at a potential game-winner, none of them went down…

TWolves 105
Kings 104
FINAL OT2 pic.twitter.com/ICT2EbPRtK

— Chris Watkins (@ChrisMWatkins) December 27, 2019

Hield, who has been trying to shoot his way through a massive offensive slump, was visibly frustrated with his playing time and didn’t shy away from speaking his mind:

Buddy Hield speaking his mind after another frustrating loss. Everything he said is on point. Everything I tweeted out all night long. The best players need to play. That simple. @buddyhield pic.twitter.com/LZbo8aEbzm

— Leo Beas (@beasleo) December 27, 2019

Biggest takeaways from Hield's post-game media session:

1. He doesn't believe his defense should be keeping him off the floor.

2. He feels like coaches are losing confidence in him.

3. He feels he should be on the floor late even when struggling.

4. He liked the last shot.

— Matt George (@MattGeorgeKHTK) December 27, 2019

“No message tomorrow other than we are back at it working. People get frustrated after losing. We will take a look at the tape and go back at it tomorrow. There’s no magic to this. It’s hard work and discipline,” said Walton.

Bogdanovic, who returned after missing the past three games, says that he doesn’t believe it will take much to turn things around for the team, “Every team has a period of time when they struggle and obviously we are. We just need 1 win I think…”.

Sacramento, now 12-19, will host the Phoenix Suns on Saturday night as game one of a weekend double-header. They face the Nuggets in Denver on Sunday.

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