SACRAMENTO -- Undisciplined. It's a word that we haven't heard much, but it is one of the better ways of describing the 2016-17 Sacramento Kings 40 games into the season.
"We're not a good team right now - plain and simple," veteran Matt Barnes said following another loss on Sunday night. "We have what it takes, but we're undisciplined, we're not consistent and we lose our focus too much."
Turnovers, technical fouls, inconsistent offensive and defensive sets - this has become the Kings' bread and butter. And it's come to a head during the team's 1-5 homestand, especially on the Kings' 122-118 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
"Tonight, turnovers killed," DeMarcus Cousins said. "We didn't execute well. I don't think we were that great defensively."
Cousins' six turnovers was a team-high, but he had plenty of help. Only Garrett Temple failed to give the ball up on the night, leaving nine other players to share in the 22 total miscues for Sacramento.
"We just don't pay attention to detail and it always comes back and bites us in the ass at the end of games," Barnes said.
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Despite all of the messy play, Sacramento still had a chance. The Kings had an outside shot to erase an enormous deficit and come back and beat OKC. But that has become their modus operandi.
During their six-game homestand, they have trailed by 14 or more points in every contest. On Sunday against the Thunder, they fell behind by 17 and still were able to cut the lead to just three with 26.5 seconds remaining. In a game that often comes down to a few opportunities that go one way or the other, the Kings are more often the team that makes the crucial error.
"It's a few plays here and there that we think don't matter early in the game and we end up losing a four point game," Barnes said. "We're a hell of a team in the last three minutes of a game. We make it exciting, but most of the time, by that time, it's too late."
Kosta Koufos picked up a tech in the second quarter. Barnes picked one up during a crucial moment in the fourth. Cousins had one as well, giving him 11 on the season, but it was the double-tech variety with Russell Westbrook, so it had no impact on the score.
"We complain too much to the refs, you know what I mean," Barnes said. "We've got to worry about the other team. I think we worry about the refs too much."
Those two points came back to play a major role in a close ball game and they carried no favor with the officiating crew either. It's possible that the game would have had the same outcome, but it's difficult to say for sure.
"Stop talking to the officials and let it go," Temple said. "They're going to call what they call; I've never seen a call changed because a person is talking to the official. It is what it is."
There is no benefit of the doubt for a team like Sacramento. They have a reputation with the officials that they live up to on most nights. They are in the refs ear from start to finish. When technical fouls are called, it isn't a surprise to anyone in the building.
"They're human beings just like us, so if you constantly berate them about calls, that's not going to help you," Temple added. "So we've just got to leave them alone, try to control what we can control."
At some point, the Kings need to learn from their mistakes. But at the halfway point of the season, they appear to be regressing. Frustrations are mounting as their playoff hopes once again dim in the month of January.
With the loss, Sacramento fell to 16-24 on the season. They have one game left at Golden One Center on Wednesday against the Indiana Pacers before embarking on a brutal eight game road trip.
