Why did Kings have ANOTHER letdown?

Why did Kings have ANOTHER letdown?

Mo how you doing I’m fine I’m whatever you’re whatever F I’m frustrated but like at the same time and and you know I’m not I don’t know if it’s this point of the season to where I’m definitely not hey it’s one game because there is no more like it’s one game

Um I am very much along the lines like this [ __ ] happens but I think when we really start breaking down everything that we’re about to break down is is when the emotions start coming up it’s when you’re not controlling the controllables and uh that can be frustrating especially on your home

Floor I mean you talk about the basketball Gods giving you this Miami Heat team that is short-handed the basketball gods are also giving you all these home games to end the season on and you got to capitalize on that you really got to capitalize on that and

Even being so close in some of these moments uh seeing this team be so resilient and and mentally strong down the stretch in the fourth when you’re starting off almost down 20 what a great great fight back but then there’s just like little other things at the end it

Was why couldn’t you just do something else when you’re down six you know what I mean or do something else when you’re down two even at there at the end and why did you even have to get down by 20 because of so many things that you just

Weren’t taking care of so yeah we’ll get into all those deeds I love how Morgan said I’m fine and then went on about a two minute monologue where she sounded extremely frustrated at the end no it’s frustrating because what you just said Morgan Miami is a good team we we’re

More than aware of this they coming into this game had won seven of its last nine games they beat Sacramento before I went into tonight knowing all these guys were missing right that we just rattled off and I went this is going to be a tough game H same same and

It’s not even so much that like oh the Kings aren’t going to bring it I’m going look Miami it doesn’t matter who is out there for them you look at their starting lineup tonight even with all those guys missing well Duncan Robinson bamama to bio Caleb Martin they were in

The starting lineup tonight they started NBA finals games these guys aren’t like a joke yeah this Miami team’s not a joke they’ve got some really good players they play the right way and spoler has a standard for them go out there and play hard we don’t use being short-handed as

An excuse that’s the mentality they have they come at you they play physical and they’re going to be ready to go now with that said I don’t go you don’t get down by 20 because Sacramento should be more mentally resilient by now you know and that’s I think one of my big takeaways

Tonight is like you get down 20 it was a sloppy game for you in the first half but you’re in the game in it but then you get down 20 and there was missed opportunities with adjustments to the rotation then you decide to go into a matchup Zone yourself cuz Miami was

Crushing you and that their matchup Zone was amazing that forced a lot of the mistakes from Sacramento so together you go into match up Zone it changes the game you’re getting turnovers keegans making plays defensively everyone’s making plays Fox is making plays and you cut that lead down to

Two you get back in the game you make it a game you had a chance to win it not with like 90 seconds to go you were back in the game at the halfway point of the fourth quarter I guess my problem looking at this is just going dude those adjustments those tweaks

Whether it’s the players on the court or from the coaching staff they got to come earlier they can’t can’t be coming when you’re desperate when you’re down 18 to 20 points at home in the fourth quarter those need to happen like you were just saying all right they made a little bit

Of a push here what’s our main adjustment adjustment let’s let’s throw up this matchup zone now it’s a Sixpoint game we’re going to do this now to change the look of the game not wait until you’re down 1820 when you got to just go ahead and just throw [ __ ] at the

Wall I think there are a lot of missed opportunities tonight by the Kings yeah and and I think that’s just like a a mental shift too by Mike Brown and the coaching staff where like they got a change from okay we’re not behind anymore we’re in this we’re here what

Adjustments do we need just pound pound Pound and nothing seemed to be like pounding I guess you could put it in that sense but um did you make a face did you saw that yeah I did you dick um but yeah so I I guess guess I guess yeah

That’s that’s where a lot of the frustrations come in uh with this team and with this game tonight and there’s a lot of things that I also loved about this game tonight uh a lot of individual moments a lot of Team moments or a few team moments and I think one of my

Favorite team moments was truly when this team was fighting back in that fourth the beginning of the fourth the resiliency like you what I saw there and this is another thing they were F you could tell they’re fighting through heavy legs right like they’re fighting through second night of back toback and

I say this everyone does it but what they had to leave on the floor with the LA Clippers you know going up against three future Hall of Famers and everything it was a lot they end up pulling out the win what could they push through tonight they tried they really

Tried pushing through and they fought back in the beginning of the fourth but then there was just my I guess where my frustrations came in is it shouldn’t have eat even got to that hole like he shouldn’t have gotten down by 20 and I get that that’s going to happen against

Teams in the NBA but it it there was so many other things going on against the Heat where it just felt like no no no this is this is your game you got this it got off to a weird start too Sacramento had seven turnovers in the

First quarter turned into 11 points for Miami so the kings were shooting the ball I mean you go to the end of the quarter and the Kings close well they end up leading 33- 32 I thought they did a good job getting back in the game Chris darte with some nice moments in

That first quarter provided some nice energy for Sacramento during that stretch they end up shooting 62% in the quarter Keegan has got 12 points in the first quarter they’re up by one but they had seven turnovers and going all right you know what start taking care of the

Ball here and you should be fine in this game but I think the one thing I didn’t get give enough love to at the time in my head was this it was some of the turnovers were not like oh lazy passes it was Miami Zone and Miami has done

This the last couple of years they run a matchup Zone they run a lot of zone defense they are amazing at it and they do Sacramento loves getting into the paint spraying out for three they were not allowing any spray threes deflections oh my God in the a I mean

The discipline that was there by Miami’s defense poking the ball away they’re always digging if you go back and watch the game you will see active hands all the time from Miami Heats Defenders if sabonis got the rock there are multiple guys around him ready to go and it was

Just forcing him to make kind of tough passes and it just took the Kings out of any rhythm that they had everything seemingly hard for Sacramento during stretches of this game because of that zone defense and and the Kings finished that first quarter going on like a 10-

Two run right like it was a nice little Spurt of energy to finish off that that first quarter after you lost the ball seven damn times or I think it was seven yeah and you’re exactly right though with the Miami Heat in their defense their activity there’s times that

They’re absolutely fouling but what they do such a good job of is that they set the tone with the officiating crew early and basically say this is how we’re going to play so are you going to stop the game all game long or are you going

To like understand that this is our this is our standard and a lot of it is handsy and they and like I said they get away with some things but like you that’s the effort you got to put forth and then understanding your personnel of your officiating crew too and being like

Okay they’re going to call that [ __ ] every single time I got it back off or oh I’m going to keep getting away with this just a fantastic job by the Miami Heat and just again the way that they all stay at one level doesn’t matter who’s playing in the second quarter go

To a much better start for the Sacramento Kings they really expand banded the lead I thought one of the first plays of that quarter Fox got the it was actually the first play of the quarter Fox got the ball on the inbound went quick push up the floor for a

Bucket I’m like okay I want to see more of that you saw that fox Ali oop to Malik monk all of a sudden Sacramento is starting to click a little bit here um but the close was bad the Kings led by 10 they were up 5545 Miami ends up

Closing the second quarter on a 20-7 run to take a 65 62 lead the other thing with Miami tonight Morgan yeah all their guys who played expanded minutes I’m not talking about Williams or or schwier who who really were limited tonight but the seven guys that they played Caleb Martin hawz bam Duncan

Robinson who couldn’t shoot tonight but made [ __ ] happen with his 11 assists Del Wright playing in his first game with Miami Haywood heith and Kevin Love those seven guys all played great they they were fantastic and you talk about someone like heith for example I mean

Just the energy and the spark that he brought Off the Bench right away in this game it was like okay how many times have we heard like if don’t you know make sure that you’re stopping bam or whatever but just don’t let the other guys beat you and it really was one of

Those nights where the other guys were beating you including the guys like bam yeah High Smith had 15 points at the half he finished with 15 points in this game but I mean you get 15 on six of n shooting he was active on the glass too

The thing that popped out to me is how many times he would get his hand on a ball he had three offensive rebounds that’s a Crusher right like that’s just great activity from him he also had three steals his length was a major weapon for Miami in this game and just

Talking about him really quick and those offensive rebounds and him being that weapon in that first half I did think the Kings did do a good job of making adjustments throughout this game like whether it was coming out of a timeout and in having a good offensive play or

Coming out of a timeout and then you’re seeing three bodies down low boxing out you know every Heat player like putting a point of emphasis on it understanding the importance of it um something that I felt like we weren’t seeing in the beginning of the Season were the in-game

Adjustments it always felt like oh they didn’t do this all game long so I was glad to see that they slowed down high Smith as other guys started contributing so at halftime of 6562 Sacramento had nine turnovers for 13 points the first half bam maabo was awesome 17 points

Five rebounds four dimes for him in that first half and I thought one of the key things that hurt Sacramento tonight too sabonis picked up his second foul at the 818 minut Mark of the first quarter at 818 of the first quarter yeah and it had a major impact on the game because

All of a sudden you know bam plays aggressive Bam’s going strong bam can blow by you put the ball on the floor he’s a major threat he knows sabonis has two fouls and he knows this sabonis doesn’t want to pick up number three early in that first quarter he doesn’t

Want to pick up his third in the second quarter sabon has backed off in a major way there was no real pressure on bam around the basket because sabonis was so concerned about picking up that third foul I thought that changed the game a little bit even Keegan’s foul trouble change

The game too yeah I mean and that’s where again I go back to even Personnel like someone like Tyler Ford calling some of that [ __ ] and it’s like you just got to understand who is your officiating crew and being able to be like okay how do I adjust and sabonis

Adjustment was to make sure that he wasn’t going to be as aggressive down low when bam was trying to go through his arms it wasn’t even just about staying vertical it with someone like bam you have to use so much of your strength but if your strength is going

To be seen as a Poss or deemed a foul in this league then you got to make sure you’re changing up and his change up was to be less aggressive against bam so Kings were down at the half third quarter this was the quarter right we talked about the first quarter all the

Turnovers how they ended the second quarter was bad and then the third quarter the game was tied up at 71 okay it’s going to be a game here right 71 uh by halfway through that quarter Miami was up 80 173 the Kings just looked gassed at stretches you know it

Seemed like they were getting frustrated with some of the missed shots of Miami defense just couldn’t get into the flow the other thing I noted is halfway through that third quarter sabonis had not had a field goal attempt in the quarter and I’m like again this guy is

An important part to what you do I know he’s getting a lot of attention but got to find some ways to get him the rock so he can create something yeah you know like get bam into foul trouble or so that was the thing tonight is

Bam wasn’t in some foul I’m looking at BAM out bio tonight had one foul you get him into foul trouble tonight that could have changed things dramatically well I text you when we I think we saw one of his uh sabonis his first field goals in that second half

And that was when Malik monk came in and it was in that two-man game and you saw this little slip from sabonis and monk pocket pass boom gets it to him layup then a few possessions later it’s Monk and sabonis again and it was uh just like a

Pick and pop to the free throw line midi for sabonis and then um you know you saw another moment after that where it was sabonis setting a screen and monk had a floater like it was working things were working and like sabonis was still able

To really be a part of the offense make things happen in that moment without being too aggressive down low and drawing another foul you know we given a lot of love to Miami and what they were able to do especially what they do defensively right how they get

You uncomfortable they get you out of your stuff and then they executed on the other end I thought the third quarter what really hurt Sacramento some of the lineups out there and spola did a great job you put Kevin Love out there he put Kevin Love out there with bam he put

Kevin Love out there with hawz and this is when the game changed the Kings lost this game in the third quarter and I’m looking at one lineup in particular 602 Mark you got Mitchell out there with monk herder Keegan and sabonis you can’t run that lineup out

There when you’ve got love and adabo out there they were just hunting every mismatch how many times did I see oh they’re going davon’s in the game they’re going to go right at him and have a big post him up and then it puts you in a really tough spot because bam

And love are such good passers too they see the floor well but I didn’t think Sacramento didn’t bring over a double they just went okay go ahead and deal with this one-on-one these guys are going bucket same thing with Kevin herder tonight where they were ex they

Saw Kevin hder and go that’s our Target we’re going to make sure Bam gets the ball hawz gets the ball or love and we’re going to go at him with a turnaround jumper they didn’t bring help and that happened late in the game too even when they had bigger lineup but I I

Could not believe that they went small for that long in that third quarter because Miami just exposed them well it’s surprising too because if you look at the night before of just how much that they were helping each other out blitzing guys I mean sometimes blitzing at the half court like right you’re

Going to do that with some of the stars but it’s not even about that it’s about like you said just throwing a double on someone when they’re on um even guy some help when they’re even on the high post when they’re when they’re uh you know

Trying to post up one of the smaller guys down low whatever it is I mean being active and just being able to rotate over I just didn’t see a lot of that type of defensive activity which I thought was really interesting um which I thought they still worked really hard

I never felt like anyone was being lazy on a drive just mismatches that’s what it is what it was that’s where your coach has to help you out and Mike Brown I thought went with that small lineup far far too long especially with the size out there and I’m like dude

Love is destroying you Kevin Love in This Game had 19 points seven rebounds in 15 minutes yeah dude on six and N hwz was a beast 26 points on 12 of 17 shooting love and hwz outscored Sacramento in the third quarter 23-19 Miami as a team outscored

Sacramento 36 to19 but I I thought they they they went it was 602 they at Mitchell monk herder Keegan sabonis and they don’t make an adjustment until the 215 Mark and they put Fox monk Keegan that’s when they brought ly back into the game with sabonis and I I I just did

Not like that at all I mean that that is something that needs to be adjusted quicker and they’re in a comfort now now they’re comfortable now now they’re believing that they could hit everything why not go to a Zone sooner if you’re really going to bust out a

Matchup Zone in the fourth quarter make that tweak earlier do not wait until you get down 18 yeah 20 in a game yeah when desperate mode comes out right and it’s like be desperate in those moments when you see when you see a team like the Miami Heat um they’re not the San

Antonio Spurs so when they they turn it on they click and and they get going and the lead gets going you got to make your adjustment then you know you can’t you can’t be like all right I’m going to let my guys figure this one out let them

Figure it out against the Pistons the Spurs whoever else but against a team like the heat I mean they’re just they’re so well coached obviously by Eric spola and it’s like it’s sometimes it’s genius sometimes it’s just buying sometimes it’s just been this consistent standard for so long that just bleeds

Into everyone’s soul and I think Mike Brown has a lot of that but then there’s just these moments where you’re just like you you have to be the one to be like nope I’m done with that I’m going back to my short leash method and this is [ __ ] and I’m making this

Adjustment and it’s not even that someone’s not doing their job it’s just that like you said the matchup is clearly not working and I don’t know how many teams that lineup would work against right Mitchell is a small player monk is not like a massive two guard

Herder has good length at like six7 but again this Miami team and almost every NBA team what are they looking for they’re hunting they’re targeting certain players not necessarily because they’re like awful defensively but because oh that could be the weakest linked we have a size Advantage here and I thought the

Kings waited way too long to go big again and they should never have gone away they should never have gone that small tonight especially against no especially when when when he’s playing love with hawz or love with bam I I just don’t understand it and I I I understand that love likes to

Work the perimeter but he’s also so smart he moves without the ball he’s a good passer yeah just just brutal well and I think something that you would text me about was when haime hawz was going kind of hunting for Kevin herder right and it’s like I thought Kevin herder was

Doing a decent job even like staying in front of him but then hawz would just get deeper and deeper deeper into the paint and no help in no help and would also feel like he was quick had a quicker release than what Kevin herder could add with getting his hands up you

Know like it’s hard to keep your hands up moving back doing all these things where it’s like he’s like okay well I’m going to shoot over you every time or I’m going to make sure I get this Baseline jumper or get into the paint you’re exactly right there just should

Have been um more King’s bodies coming on over so it really fell apart in that third quarter for Sacramento the game was tied up at 71 but they were outscored 36 to19 by the end of the quarter it’s 10181 that was scary so you’re down 20

Going into the fourth quarter bam was on the bench to start the quarter um they get the lead back the Kings started to cut a little bit bam hit a wild ass shot as the shot clock was going down so annoying beats the shot clock makes it

105 to 86 oh what do you know the Kings decide to switch things up they go into a matchup Zone and it worked to Perfection screwed with them screed with what you like about how they were able to execute with that I mean I just I I liked mixing it up when everything’s

Already not going well for you right like you’re seeing that this matchup isn’t going well for you so you do something to try and alter it you make an adjustment an in game adjustment you don’t look back at this and go gosh I wish we did this and by the way going

Into a matchup Zone especially when you don’t do it all the time it’s not easy I mean obviously they’re running this in practice and stuff and understanding where they need to be on the floor and how they have to move together um but I was really happy to see that they could

Pull this one out not saying they need to pull it out all the time and kind of saying they should have pulled it out even sooner you know like when they felt like things were going south that’s my thing with tonight and it’s not even about going going south because of what

The score is it’s about feeling the dominance of of the matchup of the other team and being like well [ __ ] let’s throw this at them so yeah I would have liked to see it sooner I loved uh seeing them play together in that zone it’s not easy and that defense in that quarter

Was fantastic they made a lot of plays in the fourth quarter and Miami had five turnovers in the quarter turning into 12 points for the Sacramento Kings a dear and FOX also had a block in that quarter so did Keegan Murray Sacramento had five steals in the fourth quarter hell yeah I

Mean the intensity you guys the way that they’re getting up and guys it felt a little bit more like last night like when dearn or for example there was this I I don’t know when this moment happened I want to say it was in the fourth and

It was Kings had the ball dearn started losing it maybe it was Caleb Martin or whoever jumped on it they both jumped on it and fox got pissed well and yes because so then so then it was a timeout right Caleb Martin was calling a timeout

The refs were calling it a timeout then Tyler Ford was allowing Eric spola to manipulate him to say we never call time out and then he goes inverted whistle and I’m like no dearen gets so pissed and he just goes up and he’s like he’s calling a timeout down there on the

Floor like he’s telling Mike Brown and everything and good then they had to take the time out I loved seeing that passion from dearen is my point you know you got a little bit of that angry Fox and that’s when things started going in a different direction I need the that pressure

You’re just talking about the on ball pressure from the kings in that fourth quarter The Zone here’s my question and I don’t know how you can even answer but I’m just throwing it out there what why does that come when you’re down 20 going into the fourth quarter why

Does that happen then like why can’t that happen earlier like there were moments for example these big runs that they have allowed this year and I know in today’s game we we see massive runs with three the three ball that that changes the scope of things here in the

League why can’t the wake up happen faster why can’t that mentality mentality shift sooner so you don’t get yourself in a hole where you get down 20 and then you have to play perfect basketball down the stretch right right so can I tell this is kind of a weird

Example but here’s an example you gain 20 PBS and you get desperate and then you go I’m desperate I’m going to the gym I’m going to work my ass off now what what why didn’t you do that when you gain 10 pounds why didn’t you do

That when you gain five it’s a mental shift right it’s something that that motivates you and triggers you be like oh hell no I’m not doing this but my point to this is why you got to Fig figure out when you’re 5 lbs heavier to have that mental shift not when you’re

Down 20 you know what I mean but you you can’t be putting on 20 pounds three times a year if you can’t you can if you can if you get get out of it that’s you can’t do that that that’s the whole point is like I love how they they brought it in

The fourth quarter I love that they got back in the game it’s just I think a lot of people who are watching the game tonight if they you stuck with it or if you’re at the game you’re sitting there going I’m enjoying this and I hope you

Could pull it out but couldn’t you have just woke it up a little bit because it look you got to score 3619 in the third quarter I mean if that’s just if that’s 30 to 24 the game’s different my point is find your fire find your mental shift without getting there without things

Getting bad how can you do that when you’re 5 pounds heavier so shift here’s my question is who is that on that’s on individuals I mean because like here here here no no no no I cuz here’s my thing cuz you can’t go to the bench and

Look at oh Mason Jones can you hype everyone up let’s not talk about the fact the Kings finally lost a game with Mason Jones on the bench now three and one damn it um but you can’t you know what I mean like he can’t he can’t be

He’s not like Fairy Godmother where he can just like sprinkle some hyp dust on everybody that’s not what I’m asking but no that’s I guess this is I’m getting to my point though is that it is an individual thing on these people and you can say that’s coaching too yes it’s

Absolutely leadership it’s coaching but it’s on the individual to be like okay they want me to get up they want me to do this sometimes a coach just will trust your best player to be like okay they’re they’re conserving some energy because you know second night of back

Toback they’re making sure that they can like last the rest of the game whatever um but there’s other times absolutely you want to see a head coach just be like get your ass up there like what are you doing this is you know this is what we’re doing right now on this defensive

Possession whatever but it yes accountability with these individuals you got to find a way to get that mental shift got to find it within so many awesome plays in the fourth quarter during the comeback you had Keegan ripping it from bam and then gets the

Ball back hits a three ball to cut it to 10595 then you had Fox with an outstanding block he blocked Duncan Robinson it leads to a Keegan Murray 3 making it 10 698 I’m looking out my notes to King’s cut to six with 547 to go after a fox

Jumper so 6 point game just over halfway through the quarter that’s a you’re in it that’s a game now uh Fox cuts it to two 110 to 108 with 324 to go and then Miami just got it going um I thought it was really impressive Hai hawz Jor who

We have not spent a lot of time talking about quite yet because we’re going in order here he had some great baskets including one on Kevin herder and then he had an incredible one on sabonis where he just absolutely fakes sabonis out of his shoes gets to the basket

Bucket and then it’s 114 108 bam hit some big shots on the stretch I thought hawz was just a game changer tonight annoyingly good and it’s not a surprise if anyone watched him play I I think there was Zero doubt he was going to be a good NBA player and

Then when Miami got him he went of course Miami got this guy this guy’s a stud his footwork is tremendous his ability to finish he has some really challenging shots in this game he shoots it with confidence he didn’t really care who the Kings threw at him I thought

Keegan had some nice moments on him but he also I think scored on Keegan too he could put it on the floor finish around the basket got that turnaround jumper just a really good player Miami loved his basics of what he could do on the floor and what his um I guess his

Mindset is as a competitor and they just elevated that to another level and they knew exactly I mean everyone knew exactly what Miami was going to do with him now did we think it was going to be like this so quick um maybe not so much

Dominance but at the same time like are you surprised this I mean this guy is just like talk about a different mindset uh just so confident but also so confident because he puts in the work and he puts in the work mentally and physically and it I it’s it’s fun see he

Seems like one of those players where I’m I’m going to be glad to see his success throughout his career but [ __ ] I’m going to hate playing him every single time 26 points for him he also had five rebounds three steals two assists 12 of 17 shooting my goodness

Deuce and Mo try to make sense of the Kings tough home loss to the really, really short-handed Miami Heat.

Full Night Chat: https://www.youtube.com/live/XtIVHBbKcWA?si=ZD_XhczctsDuP2lw&t=792
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