SACRAMENTO -- The 2016-17 Sacramento Kings are beginning to feel like a broken record. Poor starts lead to monster deficits. In-game adjustments make the game interesting. Kings run out of gas and fade down stretch.
This is the recipe for disaster for Sacramento. They know the problem, they just can’t seem to be able to do or say the right thing to change the outcome.
“If we play the way we play in the last five minutes of games every game this season - from start to finish, we’d probably be undefeated,” a clearly disappointed DeMarcus Cousins said following the Kings 117-104 loss to the Houston Rockets on Friday night.
Sacramento fell behind 38-19 to end the first quarter against the Rockets, allowing the visiting squad to shoot 8-of-17 from behind the arc during the game’s first 12 minutes. They won every quarter after the first, but when you allow an opposing team to come in and punch you in the face and silence your crowd to start a game, you are usually in for a long night.
“You win the second quarter, third quarter and fourth quarter, but we didn’t come and bring enough force early in the game - not enough activity and not enough physicality,” coach Dave Joerger said.
It’s one thing to know what your problem is, but the Kings are grasping for answers as to how to fix their issue of poor starts.
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“We have to come in with a better approach in these games,” Cousins said. “I wish I had the answer. We’re well prepared every game. It’s on us. I’ve said it earlier and I’ll say it again - it’s on us.”
Joerger changed up his starting lineup again Friday evening, going with the undersized backcourt of Ty Lawson and Darren Collison, but that wasn’t really the issue for Sacramento. They overplayed James Harden and sagged off the Rocket’s perimeter shooters.
With plenty of space to shoot, Trevor Ariza got Houston going, hitting four of his team-high six makes from distance in the first 10 minutes of the game.
The Kings ran at Houston’s shooters, which seemed only to compound the issue. As Sacramento ran away from the basket trying to defend the perimeter, every long rebound seemed to bounce right back to the Rockets, who quickly found the open man for another long range attempt.
“We were just too loose,” Joerger said. “Certainly we know they can shoot threes, so we started to stay in there.”
Houston finished the night with an NBA-record 50 3-point attempts, making 21 from behind the arc. It’s hard to win an NBA game when you get outscored 63-27 from 3-point range.
Sacramento cut the Rockets' lead to eight late in the game on the herculean effort of Cousins. The Kings’ All-Star center poured in 16 of his game-high 32 in the fourth quarter on his own wild barrage of 3-point makes.
The Kings finished their five-game homestand with a record of 2-3, but they faced four division leaders and a very good Rockets team. They leave Saturday afternoon for New York where they will begin a six-game road trip on Sunday against the Brooklyn Nets at the Barclays Center.
Omri Casspi sighting
Fan favorite Omri Casspi has found himself on the outside looking in of coach Joerger’s rotation. The 28-year-old wing has had plenty of conversations with general manager Vlade Divac about his future with the club, but those talks have had very little impact in the way of playing time.
After sitting the previous three games as a healthy scratch, Joerger turned to Casspi to start the second quarter. Casspi instantly brought an energy to the floor that the Kings were missing, although it wasn’t enough to sway the outcome of the game.
“I missed being out there, playing in front of our fans,” Casspi said. “Unfortunately the result came up short, but it’s good to be out there.”
Casspi played 28 minutes in all, coming away with a modest seven points, five assists and four rebounds. But he ran a plus five in the +/- category, which isn’t bad in a 13-point loss.
“That’s what I’ve got to do every night,” Casspi said when asked about bringing energy. “Earlier in the year, I should have done a better job of bringing that energy and kind of earning coach’s trust. It’s something I need to build on.”
Joerger has 12 NBA caliber players vying for minutes. He prefers to play an eight or nine man rotation, which will likely depend on matchups.
“He’s done his work, he’s stayed ready for his opportunity, I think it’s going to work out for him,” Joerger said. “You’ve just got to work through it, cause everytime we say somebody should play, then you have to come back and say, okay, who is not going to play.”
Someone is going to draw the short straw. Plenty of nights this season, it has been Casspi. On Friday night against Rockets, Ben McLemore logged just four minutes of action, while Willie Cauley-Stein and Anthony Tolliver each received the dreaded DNP-CD.
