Kings Fall Flat in Blowout Loss to Warriors

In a game where the Sacramento Kings needed to come out strong and show that the All-Star break and rest were what they needed, they instead fell flat, losing 106-132 to the Golden State Warriors.

The main talking point during the first few games and time off was that the Kings just needed time to gel. With a week off and practice yesterday, all of the problems that have plagued them showed up once again tonight.

They finished the night with 21 turnovers that turned into 38 points for the Warriors. Meanwhile Golden State only turned it over 12 times, leading to 5 points for the Kings.

Turnovers have been a problem ever since Zach LaVine made his debut. The thought was that with more time, the team would figure out how to play with each other, but tonight could be a sad realization that it may be harder than we all thought to make such a high-usage change mid-season.

The other persistent issue the Kings have faced all year is losing the three-point battle. Sacramento shot 11-of-32, 34.4%, from beyond the arc compared to 20-of-43, 46.5%, for the Warriors.

It's a trend that has continued and gotten worse since the trades. The Kings were already losing the three-point battle nightly, but over the last seven games, they have continued to fall further behind in the battle beyond the arc.

The Kings offense still has the potential to be great, but their defense seems to be getting worse by the game. That's not exactly what you want for the final stretch of the season.

One of the lone bright spots of the night was the strong play of Markelle Fultz. The former first-overall draft pick scored eight points and had one assist in 9:36 minutes of play.

Doug Christie went with a ten-man rotation tonight, not counting garbage time. With the season on the line, he'll have to make difficult decisions with the roster and the strong play of Fultz could force Christie to give the point guard more minutes over the final 26 games.

Even with that small silver lining, it's hard not to see this game as a major disappointment for the Kings. The Warriors are their direct competition for one of the play-in spots and similar in talent and record.

Sacramento's schedule is just going to get harder to finish the season, and tonight is a step in the wrong direction out of the break.

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