Chris Duarte, De’Aaron Fox and Coach Brown | 1.2.24 Postgame Pressers

Chris Duarte, De’Aaron Fox and Coach Brown | 1.2.24 Postgame Pressers

Chris I think uh 21 turnovers ties a season high for you guys what were you seeing in that aspect there I mean uh we just got to take good the ball uh we got to do better with that and uh you know give them credit uh they beat us so

Let’s see we just got to take care of the ball and Do Better Chris your application are being a part of the starting lineup now are they asking you to do anything specific and and is it difficult kind of fitting in with the offensive Rhythm that that

Other lineup has had for such a long time um like I say I’m embracing this role so I said I said this when I first came here when I got traed I said whatever the team need me to do you know I’m going go ahead and step up and do it

And uh you know in this case is defensively uh you know just going out there be physical um you know be be be a pesky Defender uh and I like it I like it I like that that part of me as a player uh I think uh you know that just

Make me better as a player so I’m embracing that role and I’m you know I’m willing to to go out there every night and bring it hey Chris uh obviously Terry got going in there just what did you see from him how difficult did he

Make life on you guys in the second half especially he’s an NBA player you know that’s what happen when you get when you let an NBA player get hot you know it’s it’s hard to stop him so yeah yes uh just wanted to ask you as far as

Um Chris the uh the team defense just didn’t look like it was too connected there did you feel that way too as far as uh trying to put pressure on the ball I mean I feel like we’re definitely getting better uh you know um the turnover was what what

Killed us today I think uh you know yeah we got to clean up some some stuff defensively and offensively but I feel like defensively you know we you know being physical that’s that’s helping uh Chris speaking of the turnovers does it um does it feel like

It might take a little time um for for this this group to kind of adjust to playing together and having that Rhythm offensively you know uh that’s part of basketball you know today was the night that we we couldn’t take care of the ball you know that’s that’s

The only answer I got for you turn know it happens you know of course we not we try not we try not to do that but you know it [Laughter] happens control pce say for so Aon turnover seemed to kill you guys tonight what was it that you were saying that was happening there especially in the fourth quarter I mean honestly I think we just gave the ball away I don’t think they did anything um that really

Just made us turn the ball away uh turn the ball over I think we’re just we were just too careless with the ball all night um on that note you don’t see domas have 11 turnovers like ever I mean how just how surprising was that to to

To see a lot of them come from him tonight yeah I mean like I said as as a team I think uh we we were careless as a whole and um sometimes we might have gotten too deep but like I said that’s something that we can control um and

Obviously you get deep in this in this league and you’re going to get six eight hands around you um so they did a good job of collapsing but um it starts with what we’re doing and you guys you obviously know what Terry roier is capable of um how difficult did he make

Life there especially in that second half yeah I mean um he’s one of those guys that can get to a spot um I we have to just try to be more disruptive uh obviously he didn’t shoot the three well tonight but he did everything else and um you know just

Being able to get in our paint collapsing and uh getting downhill getting to the free thr line um I think he uh he hurt us in a lot of ways yeah from your standpoint um when did you feel like the game got out of control at

The end uh I mean probably after my turnover I think I mean regardless of how bad we were playing we were up 90% of the game I would say and uh I said at the end um you know Terry hits I think Terry hit a three then I turn over

They get a layup or no PJ PJ gets a dunk then I turn over they get a they get a layup so I mean I would say there other than that um I don’t think we have the game in full control but we were up what four to six points throughout the most

Of the game and then those two things happen we lose the lead and then we lose the game Daren last week A bad loss to Portland tonight another bad loss is there any themes between both those both both those games I mean I don’t think those games are even close to the same

Uh we gave up what3 to Portland um and I don’t think we’re terrible defensively but our turnovers is what hurt us and we didn’t shoot the ball particularly well today so um I don’t think those games are obviously we can throw them in the column of bad losses but I think that

Those games are totally different Darren you’ve talked before about having you have to have a short-term memory and over the course an 82 Game season is this just one of those that you wake up tomorrow and forget about or do you want a game like this to maybe sting a little

Bit more to learn from it uh I mean it’s funny cuz I was telling them like obviously I don’t think we’ve had one of those bad just stretches of games but at the end of the day you you you soak in a in a loss like this and it can pile on

To six losses in a row so uh for me personally when I walk out this building I’m not thinking about this game again so um I think it’s two each their own on on a subject like that but for me personally once once I walk out of here

I mean we have another game tomorrow we’re playing against a good Orlando team so what am I thinking about this game for Darren with the change in the starting lineup like you you guys you the offense was seemed fine in Memphis but tonight it was just disjointed and

Out of rhythm is there kind of an adjustment period to to finding your rhythm with with you know someone else in in the group uh no I mean Chris started a game in the preseason uh we’ve done some things in practice I mean we had a like you said a good game last

Game um obviously like I said I think a lot of it was just us being careless with the ball I mean I was 0 for five in the first quarter I don’t think whoever’s in the lineup doesn’t affect that so um I mean we didn’t play well tonight and I

It has nothing to do with any type of lineup change or anything like that usually you know back Tob backs is kind of you know a pain or whatever but how satisfying is it that after a game like this you get to come back tomorrow and try again I mean those are usually

The the the good things about back-to-backs whenever you don’t play well on that first game um like you said you have to have a short-term memory because you have another game tomorrow so um like I said we want to obviously tomorrow we’ll watch film on some of

This but we have to prepare for the next game so um get what we get out of this game whatever we whatever our teaching moments are and uh move on to the next one cuz Orlando’s coming in here they’ve played well uh this year and we we we

Have to be ready or else it can look like the rest of our back-to-backs have this year barely over 50% uh in the paint tonight you guys were 24 or 47 what did you see on those looks from you guys Ian I we just didn’t make them uh

Obviously you know guys like Nick Richards and miles at the rim and those guys are athletic but I think there are times where we just just didn’t make shots at the rim and obviously we’re trying to tip it in and um I just think from a standpoint of a lot of what we

Did tonight I don’t think we were good dear I know you said you haven’t had any prolonged losing streaks or anything and you’re right but it feels a lot of times like you guys are taking like two steps forward one step back do you feel that

Where like just as you guys start to gain some momentum things kind of fall apart a little bit yeah and that’s where we have to be consistent on both sides of the ball I mean Memphis we have Atlanta where we didn’t play well in the first half and the second half we were

Great and then Atlanta we I mean uh Memphis we played probably our best game of basketball this entire season and then we come back and have a game like this so uh for us you want to try to be as consistently good as you can possibly

Be OB on both on both ends of the court and we have to control the things that we can control uh we can control our turnovers we can um control our shot selection or whatever shot we’re getting uh we can control our rebounding we have

To be able to do those things for as long as we can and obviously if you come into a game you just shoot 30% like that that is what it is that’s that’s basketball at the end of the day but uh we have to be able to control the things

That we can control and put ourselves in the best position to win you got to give uh sh a lot of credit uh they came in here and they had a game plan they kind of stuck to it uh but I would i’ would be wrong if I didn’t say uh that I

Didn’t think that we performed to our level of ability and that happens night in night out but uh the first thing that jumps out to me is our 21 turnovers I mean you have you have 21 turnovers in a game where all of them probably were unforce

Um literally we just I don’t know just couldn’t hold on to the ball and uh and that and then you know jumping in the air just kept leaving our feet you know possession after possession and throwing it to the ball throwing the ball to the to the Hornets to the other opponent and

Or picking up charges but to have 21 turnovers in a ball game uh especially when the turnovers aren’t forced it just takes away your opportunity to score um next thing again in in a situation like this we’re 30th in free throw percentage uh and we shoot 58% in a you know one

Two possession game that that’s tough um and those two things right there are controllables that we that we didn’t do a good job of controlling off offensively uh you give uh roier credit you give Bridges credit uh PJ Washington rest of their crew credit they came in

They all had big games um and know in the second half we couldn’t contain the dribble Drive possession after possession after possession they were getting into the paint and finishing at The Rim whether they finishing with an a in one or a layup uh it didn’t matter

They ended up scoring 34 points in the paint in the second half without a post-up threat and the tough part about it is you know we told these guys that you know they obviously have um one um they got a lot of guys that can shoot the three Terry shoots it

At a high level and we didn’t do a good job shrinking and helping our teammates uh contain the dribble drive and um you know allowing them to get to the rim as much as we did uh really hurt us and like I said to tune a 34 points in the

Paint in the second half without a post up a post up uh threat uh and then you know just a it was it was our execution down the stretch and our sense of urgency on both sides of the ball uh was was was alarming it was

Wasn’t good and I say that because again we probably had two or three unforced turnovers down the stretch where we didn’t even give ourselves a chance to shoot the ball uh which led to them getting easy baskets in transition and then our halfcourt defense I mean literally just

Standing on the weak side of the floor and we give up a stone cold layup uh and a crucial part of the game and so you know to to not have an awareness a sense of urgency uh it it it’s not it was not a good feeling

Being out there and and being a part of and I obviously I have a lot to do with it too cuz uh I I did not have our guys ready apparently Mike we saw in the first half you guys really seemed like you lacked energy uh Malik played only 5 minutes in

The first half third quarter I don’t know if he said something to you guys on the bench and then in the timeout you guys had an exchange just what was going on there just Heat of the Moment stuff was there something else happening yeah no it’s Heat of the Moment uh Malik and

I I think everybody has seen it but Malik and I I’ve gotten into exchanges before is not the first time and I I I bet a lot of money it won’t be the last time so um so that’s not a big deal I I you’re right we I mean

We the first five out there I thought they initially did a good job and then you know once we made Subs I like we were throwing underhand passes and I I mean it was the my opinion probably one of the laziest loosest games that we’ve had where we decided to play that way

You know and um and it gave them confidence and anytime you give an NBA team confidence uh especially with you know they they struggled scoring they’re missing a handful of guys but they’re NBA players and it’s an NBA team and Cliff does a nice job with that group he

Continues is to get them to try to play hard but when you give a team confidence like we gave them tonight uh things like that can turn into a loss some of those uncharacteristic things I mean domas I mean that’s probably never going to have another 11

Turnover game did do you feel like maybe that because of how much you rely on him on the offensive end and to get the offensive going do you feel like that maybe caused some confusion in your group at all I I I don’t I don’t think I don’t

Think the turnovers were confusion I just I just think we you know when I think of it we just lost the ball Sean or we jumped in the air and ran guys over we jumped in the air and tried to make passes and you know we continually

Preach hey play off with when you drive come to jump stop play off of two feet move the ball and you know I didn’t I don’t know if we hit enough enough singles tonight we had a stretch too in the first half where um you know we we we were six

For uh eight at one point in terms of spray threes and then we got to a point on a stretch of the game where we were catching and holding and then raising up over contested hand or you know taking a tough one that was that was contested instead of continually trying

To hit that paint because they do a good job of of uh when that ball is on a dribble dive they do a good job of this and there are a lot of simple passes that you can make we call it hitting singles and uh I don’t think we hit

Enough singles in in that first half and it led to some tough shots and um it got them confident kept them in the game and uh they obviously got the win because of a lot of different reasons not just because of that Mike it’s no secret that

You guys have not done well in backto backs this year is this a blessing or a curse that you guys have the magic coming in here tomorrow and and what are you looking for your guys to kind of bounce back from this well uh the first thing is to do a

Better job with the ball you know it’s it’s going to be hard if we give up 21 turnovers uh tomorrow it’s going to it’s going to be hard for us to to win a game um we definitely have to do that uh these guys are big they they do you know

Charlotte did a does a great job of getting in the paint these guys do too these guys uh have guys that can put the ball on the floor and and get in that paint and and finish and uh we can’t we’re going to have to do a better job of containing the

Dribble uh uh and then you know we’re going to have to do a better job of bringing a sense of urgency from the beginning until the end and not play as loose and or as LAX of days ago as we did as a group throughout the the course

Of that that first half and that times in the in the second half too Mike 58% from the free throw line tonight I think around 73% from the line seen in practice the the free throws if they miss the entire team uh runs but is there something is it a mental issue

That you think is holding this team back with the free throws or how do you coach I guess a team to get over that issue uh that’s you know it’s a good question that um we’re we shooting the same amount if not more free throws this year

Than we did last year um we just got to have guys go up to the line and knock it down I you know I sometimes you you worry and and and again I thought we were real loose tonight and so maybe it might have been a mental thing tonight I

I don’t know uh but obviously we’re 30th in the league and free throw percentage and so uh we’re not doing a good job collectively with it and maybe we got to shoot more than what we’re what we’re shooting we got to maybe stop practice I

Guess at times just to shoot two two in a row or four in a row or something like that to get the guys to try to lock in uh because uh right now for us to be 30th with the shooters that we have on this team um is not

Good Mike uh Chris seemed to play pretty well I’d like to kind of get your assessment of of him and I I but I do wonder if it’s possible that you know making a change in the lineup like if maybe there’s an adjustment period for for certain groups to kind of find the

Rhythm um offensively do you think that might be that play at all no uh because the the to me the turnovers didn’t have much to do with like uh guy wrong reads or something it wasn’t like a a guy started to go back door but then

He came to the top of the floor and the ball was thrown out of bounds it literally was dribble and throw it to the other team or deflection and the other team gets it you know or charge or us leaving our feet so I I don’t think

It had anything to do with that I mean he first game we Chris has started with with those four guys three games now the first time he did it was at Dallas and we scored 133 points I think or something like that the second time was

At Memphis and it was one of our highest offensive ratings of the season and then then tonight so so I don’t think that has anything to do with it um I just think you know we weren’t there mentally for the 48 minutes that we needed to be there and

That was why the turnovers happened and I thought Chris was good you know again we’re putting them on quote unquote uh our our best guy a lot of or our opponent’s best guy a lot of times that’s a guard um and I thought he was physical I thought he did it without without

Fouling um and then he took for the most part he he took the right shots I don’t think he forced anything I shoot he played uh uh he played 29 and a half minutes he had seven re seven rebounds four assists um so I thought he he had a pretty good night for

Us yeah coach how frustrating was this second half for you defensively after the positive progress you guys had made in those last six quarters coming into the night and where do you feel like your shortcomings were uh it it was frustrating but I I thought our offense

Uh back it up we didn’t the frustrating part we didn’t we didn’t contain the dribble drive that that was frustrating and we didn’t what I call shrink and helping the gaps enough we’re guarding our guy we’re small we’re staying hugged up with our guy and so there’s a lot of

Room to drive the basketball and we had been doing a pretty good job of sitting in the gaps or playing big so that part was frustrating uh but on top of that I felt our our turnovers um really hurt us in the second half HT hurt our defense because

I mean when we turn the ball over they were getting out and it was three on one four on Two And they’re getting to the rim and laying it in so those two areas uh bothered me with our defense um if we take care of the ball a little

Bit better our defense is a little bit better uh and then the biggest thing like I said is just the dribble drives and the lack of uh sitting in the gaps against this team tonight

Chris Duarte, De’Aaron Fox and Coach Brown speak to the media following a loss to the Charlotte Hornets on January 2, 2023.

0:00 – 4:04 Chris Duarte
4:04 – 9:54 De’Aaron Fox
9:54 – 22:30 Coach Brown

Stay connected with the #SacramentoKings:

Subscribe 👉 https://www.youtube.com/kingsflix?sub_confirmation=1

Instagram 👉 https://www.instagram.com/sacramentok…
TikTok 👉 https://www.tiktok.com/@sacramentokings
Twitter 👉 https://www.twitter.com/sacramentokings
Facebook 👉 https://www.facebook.com/sacramentokings
Website 👉 https://www.kings.com