The Nightmare Continues: Kings Lose Fourth-Straight To Depleted 76ers
Nov 22, 2021, 9:40 PM | Updated: Nov 23, 2021, 8:20 am
(Photo by Alex Goodlett/Getty Images)
(Photo by Alex Goodlett/Getty Images)
New coach, same results for the Sacramento Kings
Although the Sacramento Kings made a big change on Sunday afternoon with the firing of head coach Luke Walton, changes did not happen overnight.
The Kings watched a nine-point fourth-quarter lead evaporate right in front of their eyes as a severely short-handed Philadelphia 76ers team took the Sacramento offense out of the game to claim a 102-94 win on Monday night at Golden 1 Center.
With the loss, the Kings (6-12) have lost four-straight games and eight of their last nine as their downward spiral continues.
The 76ers have won their past six matchups against Sacramento dating back to the 2019-20 season.
Philadelphia was short-handed on Monday night, playing without the services of All-Star center Joel Embiid (health & safety protocols), guard Ben Simmons (personal reasons), guard Danny Green (hamstring) and forward Tobias Harris (hip soreness).
While the 76ers were short of virtually their entire starting lineup, talented guard Tyrese Maxey helped pace his team to an early 11-5 advantage in the early going.
Kings guard De’Aaron Fox (eight points in the first) attacked Maxey and the rest of the Sixers defense to lead Sacramento on a 10-0 run to counter Philadelphia’s during a back-and-forth affair over the first 12 minutes of action.
Buddy Hield caught fire in the first, scoring 14 points (four-of-four from three-point range) in the period as the Kings took a 33-28 lead into the second quarter.
Hield finished the first half with a game-high 16 points and six rebounds, while De’Aaron Fox added 14 points to keep the Kings within three points at the break. Sacramento struggled to contain Maxey (12 points) and Sixers guard Isaiah Joe (11 points) as Philadelphia outscored the Kings 27-19 in the period to take a 55-52 lead into the third.
Richaun Holmes got his offense going in the third quarter as the big man scored 10 points–with several of his baskets being assisted by Tyrese Haliburton–before heading to the locker room after being struck in the face by a 76ers defender with less than seven minutes remaining in the period.
With Holmes on the bench (he later returned to the sideline), Tristan Thompson was called on and provided the Kings with a solid boost in the third. Thompson scored eight points and grabbed four boards over seven minutes as Sacramento’s big-man duo helped build an 82-77 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
The Kings used a 12-3 run at the end of the third to begin the fourth with plenty of momentum as they looked to snap a three-game losing-streak.
After the Kings took its biggest lead of the game to begin the fourth at 86-77, Philadelphia responded with a 16-4 run to take a 93-90 lead with less than four minutes remaining.
Sacramento’s impressive third quarter run would become a footnote as the 76ers completely took them out of the game down the stretch, holding them to just 12 points in the fourth quarter to hand the Kings their fourth-straight–and possibly worst–loss of the season.
Philadelphia was missing nearly 100 points of scoring and it didn’t matter. The Kings offense looked unorganized and out of whack down the stretch with too much one-one-one ball and the 76ers took advantage to steal a win at Golden 1 Center.
“There are a lot of games left, but we can’t keep saying that week after week after week,” Kings head coach Alvin Gentry said postgame. “There are no moral victories. We need to win games. I’ll be the first to say I need to do a better job of preparing them to play, and the players need to do a better job playing.”
Rome wasn’t built in a day. Not even a year. Maybe not even 15 years. When will the Kings turn the page on this nightmare?
At this point, your guess is as good as mine.
Coming Up
Sacramento’s four-game home-stand will conclude on Wednesday night when Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers come to town. The Blazers will be playing the second game of a back-to-back after they face the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday.
The Kings opened up the season in Portland back on October 20th and claimed a 124-121 win behind a 36-point effort from Harrison Barnes.
Be sure to get all of your Kings vs Blazers action right here on Sports 1140 KHTK starting with pregame coverage at 3:00pm PST on The Jason Ross Show prior to a 7:00pm PST tip-off from Golden 1 Center.
Upcoming Sacramento Kings Schedule
- November 24th vs Portland Trail Blazers
- November 26th @ Los Angeles Lakers
- November 28th @ Memphis Grizzlies
- November 30th vs Los Angeles Lakers
- December 1st @ Los Angeles Clippers
