Kings Report

I don’t think this week could have gone worse for the Sacramento Kings. It started out with two devastating losses in a row to one of our arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Lakers, one of which, according to the NBA’s Officiating Last 2 Minute Report, included an incorrect call by the officials in the last 12 seconds of the game that resulted in the Lakers having the ball when it should have been the Kings, a call that could very well have affected the outcome of the game. I don’t think there is a team out there I take more pleasure in beating than the Lakers, so it was especially heartbreaking for me.

The week ended with an even worse loss to the Indiana Pacers, which my son, Rudy, and I were unfortunately witness to. It was Kids and Family Day at the Golden 1 Center on Sunday, December 22nd, and the vibes before the game couldn’t have been better. The kids got free shirts, there was free face painting and balloon creations, and the crowd was pumped to watch the Kings turn it around after those Lakers games. The first half was fine, maybe even good. The score was tied, De’Aaron Fox had 15 points, and Domantas Sabonis had 14 rebounds already. DeMar DeRozan, on the other hand, had only two points, and this should have been a sign of what was to come in the second half.

It really felt like the Kings gave up in the second half; it seemed like they just didn’t care anymore. I’m not sure if Coach Brown was being honest when he was asked about the players’ attitudes and said, “The guys are feeling pretty good; we thought we were in a pretty good place,” because something is definitely not right. I’m sure a lot of those kids’ tickets were Christmas presents, and as Mike Brown stated in the post-game interview, “the fans definitely deserved better than what we showed today.” And the fans certainly let the Kings know they were disappointed by vehemently booing after the final buzzer; the Kings lost by 27.

I am really hoping that this is the Kings’ rock bottom this season and they come back after their Christmas break and turn things around because I really don’t want to go back to the Kings team of the last two decades, where we never made the playoffs. I still enjoyed going to games and watching occasionally, but that’s nothing compared to the last few two years when the Kings were actually good.

The Kings have one of the worst home records in the league, but they have one more home game this week to hopefully improve on that, on December 26th against the Detroit Pistons; it’s a sad turn of events when I go from hoping to win three out of five to hoping we can just win one game, but here we are!

After that, the Kings will play the Lakers for the last time this season on Saturday, December 28th, in Los Angeles. Last year, we swept the Lakers; this year, we are 0-3, so this is our last chance to not get swept ourselves. Then, the Kings will head back home for their last game of 2024 on Monday, December 30th, against the Dallas Mavericks before heading to Philadelphia to play the 76ers on Wednesday, January 1st. All I want for Christmas is for the Kings to make the playoffs in 2025. Is that so much to ask for?