Potential Playoff Problems Revealed in Sacramento Kings Loss to the New York Knicks

Potential Playoff Problems Revealed in Sacramento Kings Loss to the New York Knicks

Whether on a podcast a radio show a television show or written in an article we’ve all heard or read the term at some point that playoff basketball is different from the regular season in the NBA well tonight the Sacramento Kings got a playoff test against a very physical New York Knicks team

Unfortunately the Kings come up short presenting some similar problems to where the Kings struggled in the playoffs last year against the Golden State Warriors will’ll break it all down Plus Kevin herder returns to the starting lineup and it did not go well it’s all right here on locked on

Kings you are locked on Kings your daily Sacramento Kings podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day and now ladies and gentlemen it is that time time for another episode of Locked on Kings hello and welcome into locked on Kings your podcast hub for Sacramento

Kings coverage all season long my name is Matt George I have the privilege of being your host here I’m a Sacramento Sports Anchor and reporter for ABC 10 News tonight’s game the result was not what the Sacramento Kings won it’s certainly not what we wanted here on the

Lock on Kings podcast right the Kings losing to the New York Knicks 98 to 91 this is the first time this season that the Kings have held an opponent under a 100 points and loss that just speaks to one how good of defense that the New York Knicks play they’re coached by Tom

Tibido it shouldn’t surprise anybody this is New York Nicks brand of basketball and even if they were missing Julius Randall tonight who normally Cooks the Kings especially here in Sacramento over the course of his career the Knicks didn’t need him because they had a guy named Jaylen Brunson who did

Almost all of the work for them quite literally Brunson put the Knicks on his back tonight and carried them to this victory in a grinded out slugfest physical lowc scoring playoff esque basketball game now I’m not saying that playoff basketball means that two teams are are are likely being held under 100

Points just because it gets to playoff time doesn’t mean that the scoring all of the sudden disappears but in playoffs we saw it last year we got a glimpse of it last year right the physicality really picks up the effort on the defensive end really picks up every play

Has significantly more meaning and typically you don’t see the it happens every once in a while but you don’t see the super high scoring Affairs that we get pretty much every night to some extent during the NBA regular season right it’s just an extra level of intensity and while of course tonight is

A regular season game against two uh non-conference opponents right you have a Western Conference team versus an Eastern Conference Team both teams in their own respective playoff races Sacramento in a little more volatile of a position than the New York knck are in right now so this team this didn’t have

Necessarily a rivalry to it there wasn’t a tremendous amount on the line this was just the Sacramento Kings being met with a very physical very aggressive defensive-minded Nick Squad and Sacramento trying to hang with them and in many ways the Kings did I thought and in terms of the regular

Season games that we’ve seen this season in terms of the closest you can get to a play play off style of of basketball game that’s what we got tonight which is good practice for the Sacramento Kings a good kind of glimpse into where they’re at how much they’ve grown from the

Struggles of the playoffs against the Golden State Warriors and what still they they have to work on we’ll start with the good because I did think there was a decent amount of good from this game despite the Kings losing and then we’ll get to the bad because of course

There’s plenty of bad to break down as well the good is Sacramento battled the whole night now you might be rolling your eyes at that and it might be going Matt that’s bare minimum you battle you you play hard for All 48 minutes but the

Knicks are a team that they will I mean they make you at times want to quit with how hard they play right especially for a team like the Sacramento Kings who likes to try and get into the paint a lot likes to do a lot of scoring around

The rim wants to try and get downhill and play Fast the Nicks will slow you down and the Knicks will beat you up if you come into the paint right and physicality is typically something that that the Kings have struggled with this season they’ve struggled with the physicality of the Houston Rockets in

The three times they’ve lost to them they struggled with the New York Knicks physicality tonight in in in similar ways as well but the Kings battled the entire night and specifically what I like is that they didn’t allow the scoring struggles of the entire game

It’s not like the Kings went ice cold in one particular quarter although the fourth quarter late game execution was not good we’ll get into that the kings were struggling offensively from start to finish in this game because of the way that the New York Knicks play but

The Kings did not allow their offensive struggles to dictate their effort on the defensive end they continue to play physical they contined to fight they Contin to battle despite the fact that their primary strength usually the the gas that makes the engine run is Sacramento’s offense right that wasn’t

There tonight really at any point the Kings didn’t have much offensive Rhythm really at all it was pretty rare if the kings were able to string together consecutive baskets and yet they continued to fight two separate times in this game they fell behind by nine points once in the uh

Second quarter and once in the like late third quarter I believe or early fourth quarter one in each half and in both circumstances the Kings managed to close that gap before it got out of hand and they closed that Gap quickly right especially in the second half the the

The the kings were up by like three or four points or something like that that and I think Jaylen Brunson came back in helped build that lead up to nine so this must have been the fourth quarter he comes back in helps beat that build

That lead back up to nine the Kings go on a little mini run and quickly cut it right back down to four with still a few minutes remaining plenty of time for them to to to try and get this win at home so the Kings had a couple of if

We’re using like boxing terms they they took a couple of hooks from from the Knicks right some big shots to where the kings were staggered they were against the ropes a little bit they had to respond or things could have gotten out of hand especially with how much they

Were struggling offensively nine points at times feel felt pretty insurmountable based off of how much the kings were uh were struggling to get into any kind of offensive Rhythm well they were able to respond both times and they did so in in relatively quick fashion so I’m pleased

With that it’s good to see that the Kings went Toe to Toe blow for blow with the New York Knicks over the course of this entire game were able to respond didn’t allow their offense to to dictate what they were doing on the defensive end of the floor because

Defensively outside of Jaylen Brunson now that’s a big caveat because Jaylen Brunson was amazing and we’ll get into that but outside of Jaylen Brunson the Kings did a good job maintaining everybody else on the Knicks or handling everybody else on the Knicks outside of Brunson the Knicks shot 20 of 58 from

The field that’s 34% and six of 28 from three-point range that’s 21% you know you hear the term a lot in in sports especially in the NBA right this guy’s gonna get his but don’t let everybody else beat you the Kings really did not allow the New York Knicks to beat them

Tonight they got beat by the Knicks defense and Jaylen brunson’s offense right but they did not allow it’s not like the kings were struggling to contain Brunson and then they also had dvan chenzo and buan bogdanovic and Josh Hart and everybody else were also getting theirs and reing down threes if

Not the Kings would have lost this game by like 2025 and the game probably would have been over quickly so again evidence that outside of one guy who not just the Kings have struggled to find an answer with the rest of the league has been struggling to deal with Jaylen Brunson

Outside of him Sacramento defensively did not sto with their uh their intensity they battled hard and they managed to to keep this game close by not allowing the other Knicks players uh to to really beat them or get anything going so also credit to the Kings over

These last four games games they’ve now held opponents to 102 points per game which is really good for the Kings it’s a four game sample size the kings are also two and two over those four games if I were to tell you in a four- game stretch that the Kings would be holding

Their opponents to 102 points per game you probably would be feeling pretty good about the king’s chances to go four and0 I think that also speaks to the offensive struggles of this team but any any short stretch or consistent stretch where the Kings defensively are are are

Holding their opponents into in the low hundreds or even below 100 twice you’ll absolutely take that from a king’s perspective okay that’s all the good now let’s get into the bad here speaking of offense very similar to the playoff series last April against the Golden State Warriors offense led the Sacramento

Kings down in a physical playoff likee battle the Kings took the Warriors to seven games and they’re it wasn’t like they were holding the Warriors under 100 points or in the lower hundreds every single game but defensively Sacramento fared far better in the playoffs than I think we all expected right but

Offensively the Kings did not look like themselves didn’t look like the team that was number one in the NBA offensively again playoffs are a different Beast tonight’s game very similar physicality although the New York Knicks are a much better defensive team and Far More Physical team than the

Golden State Warriors are you got a taste of what physical playoff basketball probably will look like and once again your offense could not keep up it’s a one game sample size who knows how a seven game series between the Kings and Knicks would go and the Kings

Have another crack at the New York Knicks coming up in Madison Square Garden uh in a little bit so we’ll get another chance to see how the Kings can respond and adjust and adapt to the Nicks physicality and their style of play on the defensive end but tonight’s game the king

Still are struggling with making that physical defensive impact while also being able to get that offensive output that they are known for and that they are comfortable with over this four game stretch really over those back-to-back games against the the Bucks and the Lakers the Kings did do a good job at

Times playing physical defense and scoring on the other end they Ed their defense to translate to offense getting out in transition that’s something the Kings struggled with tonight they also did a really really good job spread the basketball with spray uh spray threes which is a fundamental pillar of

Sacramento’s offense they didn’t do that tonight so as much as I want to just just chalk this up to hey it was a good low-scoring defensive game and the Kings just came up short I can’t help but make parallels and similarities to this is the kind of physical basketball they

Faced in the playoffs and just like the playoffs offensively they were struggling but spray threes is something you’ve heard me talk a lot about here on lockon Kings this week right it’s been a major topic of conversation since the Houston Rockets loss the king’s goal is to generate 20

Spray threes a game quick recap a spray three is is is getting into the paint touching the paint kicking it out to a catch and shoot open three-point shooter the kings are trying to generate 20 of those looks a game against the Bucks they generated 20 they went 10 of 20 for

50% on just spray threes alone that game they shot in the low to mid- 40s from three-point range against the Lakers they generated 19 spray threes made 11 of them shot as a team in the mid-40s from three-point range tonight the Kings shot 27% from threep point

Range and they generated only nine spray threes they went three of nine in those spray threes so the best looks that they can possibly generate from themselves three-point wise at least according to Mike Brown or the the looks that the Kings want to create for themselves offensively they shot just 33% on those

Looks and were 11 short of their goal credit to the Knicks defense of course they do a really good job packing the paint making it difficult for you it’s not like the Kings weren’t trying to touch the paint but when they were touching the paint they weren’t able to

To kick the ball out to find those sprays and it also got to a point where thought the kings were relying way too much on isolation sets too because they recognized that it wasn’t going well attacking the basket but Mike Brown hit that point really hard post game right

He hit it really hard like this was the unacceptable part of this Kings game was we we struggled to spray the basketball if we’re not spraying the basketball offensively we are going to struggle and he’s been proven right over this four game stretch the Kings have struggled to

Spray the ball against the Rockets and the Knicks two teams that play physical interior defense they lost lost those games and shooted po shot poorly in the two games against the Bucks and the Lakers that they won they attacked the basket got into the paint kicked out for

Open threes shot a high three-point percentage scored a lot of points won both of those games so I mean it’s staring us right in the face there Mike is definitely on to something he recognizes that generating spray threes is the best chance for this king’s team

To win so what they have to figure out is how to generate those spray threes against teams that are going to pack the paint and play physical because you best believe teams are paying attention to this right if the Kings face the Thunder or the Timberwolves or the the who knows

Whoever they face in the playoffs even if that team isn’t as good defensively interior uh with interior defense as the New York Knicks are they know that that’s how you’re you’re you can at least slow down this king’s offense so the Kings need to know that they’re

Going to face this they’re going to face teams that are going to try and be swiping at them and bumping them and knocking them around on the inside and not trying to give them those spray threes that they’re looking for the Kings still need to find a way to

Consistently generate them if they want their offense to look as good as it’s capable of being so the spray threes were a struggle the king shooting in general was a struggle they missed 55 total Shots tonight A lot of that again has to do with the New York Knicks

And the way they play defense like they’ve done that to a lot of teams not just the Kings they are very very legit but offensively you need to do better than 55 misses 35% from the field 27% from three-point range also look late game execution was was really bad in

This game the King shot or or rather scored 17 points in the fourth quarter a lot of that again I felt had to do with too many ISO sets and not enough attempts to try and spray the basketball the Kings just were not able to get into

Any kind of offensive Rhythm and and as the game really picked up the intensity down the stretch the Kings just went ice cold they fell apart offensively at the right time they never really got going but the wheels completely fell off there down the stretch in fact the last basket

That the Kings made was a Keon Ellis dunk with two minutes and 31 seconds remaining in the game the final two and a half minutes the Kings didn’t score a single point the offense let them down simply put the offense let them down so if this is a playoff test the Kings

Passed in some ways ways they passed last April and failed in the same ways they failed last April which cost them that uh that series and come to think of it too think back to game seven right the Kings did a relatively good job against the Golden State Warriors with the exception of

Steph Curry going for 50 tonight defensively the Kings did a relatively good job against the New York Knicks except for Jaylen Brunson going for 42 you can connect you can string together a lot of parallels from tonight’s game to the playoffs and whether it’s a discouraging

Progress report for you or a good test for Sacramento or or a good opportunity for them to experience it and try to address it as the playoffs are right around the corner now like 16 or 15 games away or something like that let’s see how the Kings respond still got more

To get into Kevin herder returned to the starting lineup tonight after missing last game with an injury it did not go well with talk about him and of course konell is coming off the bench got to talk about the officiating as well because that’s a major topic of conversation amongst Kings fans right

Now dearon Fox even brought it up again postgame it’s all coming here in just a second today’s episode of the long on Kings podcast is brought to you by eBay Motors passion drive and patience what brings home the winning trophy is also what keeps your ride or die alive eBay

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Missed my or rather if you listen to my conversation with brandan nunz from Sactown Sports 1140 in the Kings pulse podcast on yesterday’s show you would hear that I am very much team start Keon Ellis right I think Keon has earned an opportunity to the starting uh to be put

In the starting lineup I think Keon right now gives the Sacramento Kings the best chance to not just win basketball games but the best chance to play the style of basketball that Mike Brown has been preaching and want this team wanting this team to play all season

Long so you might be expecting me to take Kevin herder return to the starting lineup zero point 0 of three from the field one rebound two assist one steel performance and tear it to shreds and go see this is why Keon needs to start I do still feel that way

Right I do still feel that Keon Ellis should be the starter Kevin herder played 15 minutes and 58 seconds tonight so round it up he he played 16 minutes tonight lowest by a large margin of all the starters Keon Ellis Off the Bench played 29 minutes was on the floor

Basically to close this game until things got out of hand so Kevin got the start he started the first quarter he started the second half but Keon Ellis got the starter minutes tonight so whether that matters or not for me the big deal was and always

Has been about setting the tone right I thought what Keon Ellis has done really well in these six starts that he’s been a part of where the kings are six and0 by the way especially these two games that the kings are coming off of against the Bucks and the Lakers as I thought

Keon helped set the tone for the Kings defensively that carried out through much of the rest of the game tonight Keon Ellis did not start Kevin herder did start and the tone was still set defensively right I just spent an entire segment talking about how well I felt

The Kings battled pretty much start to finish in this game on the defensive end of the ball now the tone wasn’t set defensively by Kevin herder it was set defensively I think by the entire team largely dearen Fox as well Fox got the assignment of guarding Jaylen Brunson early on in this game

So I didn’t see what I was afraid of tonight which is Keon not starting Kevin starting instead and the King’s defense just being atrocious and not looking ready to go uh and not looking anything like they looked the the the couple of games before that specifically the game

Before that when Kevin herder was out right I did not see that so I’m not too upset about this performance from Kevin herder I’m really not now him scor scoring zero points isn’t acceptable right the reason why Kevin herder only played 16 minutes tonight is because if

He’s not scoring he’s really not giving you anything now I’m not saying that he was just standing there on the perimeter with his hands in his pockets watching he’s working he’s always working I will always give him that credit so people know that Kevin herder is not a lazy

Basketball player he’s been putting in the work all season long to try and improve defensively he’s trying to crash CL uh crash the glass he’s trying to get his teammates involved he’s trying to get open looks the New York Knicks weren’t trying to give him anything to tonight they weren’t letting him get

Involved which again credit to them but if Kevin’s going to be out there Kevin has to be doing something on the offensive end of the ball I think people are going to pick on Kevin herder tonight they’re going to look at that zero in the starting lineup and it’s I

Think it’s easy loow hanging fruit I’m not saying you’re wrong to do it you could probably agree with me and probably do agree with me that Kevin uh should not be starting and Keon Ellis should be starting again I I feel that way but I’m not going to blame this lost

By any means on Kevin hder the Kings definitely needed more from him but as a whole the Kings needed more from everybody offensively right everybody struggled damanda sabonis got off to a great start scored 13 points in the first quarter scored what five points for the rest of the game like he

Struggled dearon Fox struggled had good stretches but for the most part struggled Malik monk struggled right Keon Ellis Davon Mitchell Harrison Barnes Keegan Murray everybody offensively struggled to get into a rhythm tonight so I can’t just separate them or separate Kevin herder point at him and go you didn’t do anything it’s

Your fault be banished from the starting lineup tonight was not enough for Mike Brown to change his decision even if I disagree with his decision he’s not gonna take Kevin herder out of the starting lineup because of what happened tonight maybe you feel like he should and you’re entitled to your

Opinion 100% but what I think it’s going to take and hopefully it doesn’t get to this because if it gets to this things are probably not going well for the Kings what it’s going to take is a string of two or three games where the Kings offens or defensively are just in

Shambles and Kevin herder is continuing to be targeted over and over and over again while Kevin continues to struggle on the offensive end of the ball if that’s happening like that might Force Mike’s hand to put Keon Ellis into the game none of us should be rooting for

That even if we would be proven right for Keon to be a starter so I’m I’m chilling on Kevin hder a little bit tonight because it wasn’t acceptable it’s not good enough the Kings need more from him offensively but the Kings needed more from everybody offensively tonight so to single Kevin out

Specifically feels wrong now you best believe if he puts up another zero points or one point or two-o performance over the next two or three games yeah now the alarm bells are going to be really going off because Kevin’s at that point literally not giving you anything the primary strength of your starting

Shooting guard is gone at that point and if that continues to happen we’re going to continue to see nights like tonight where hell I don’t even think Kevin would get to 16 minutes if that keeps happening overall though I’m not a huge fan of the plus minus stat but sometimes

It does tell the story Kevin herder was a minus two tonight so again when he was on the floor the kings were not getting killed they just weren’t getting anything out of him Keon Ellis he had good moment played good defense against Jaylen Brunson but I can’t celebrate Keon Ellis’s defense on a

Night where Jaylen Brunson went for 42 points and shot 60% from the field not all of that was on Keon some of that was on dearen Fox as well but like whether it was the play at the end of the game where Keon was looking for the screen

And Jaylen blew right by him and Keon was was caught with his eyes off the prize or whatever like this was not a defensive showcase game from Keon that makes you go you know what point proven he absolutely has to start again I still feel like he does I have not wavered on

That but I didn’t see anything from tonight’s game to make me go like I know I’m right this is a disaster it’s staring you in the face Mike Brown get Kevin her of the hell out of there and put Keon Ellis in I’m just being honest I’m being real with you I

Did not see that tonight and I know some fans are looking for something to kind of latch on to and blame so they’re going to naturally go to the guy who didn’t score a single point I get it I’m just not there right some of you also may be going to the

Officiating and wanting to blame the officiating now I will say this there were definitely frustrating moments tonight with the officiating especially consistency with the officiating right I thought for a decent portion of this game I thought the officials did a good job kind of letting things go right they they let both teams

Play physical the only problem is I think that plays more into the hands of the New York Knicks than it does the Sacramento Kings I know a lot of Kings fans felt like the Knicks were doing things physically on the defensive side of the ball and not

Getting called for and then the kings were getting called for playing physical on the offensive side but here’s the reality of the situation the Kings shot 10 more free throws than the New York Knicks did and that number that margin came down the Kings had like a 12 or 14 free throw

Advantage late in this game so I’m not I’m not blaming the officials for this loss could the officiating have been better could it have been more consistent absolutely but we could say that about every game this is the style of basketball that they know the New York Knicks play this is

The reputation that the Knicks have so officials are going to let it go more that’s something I talked about after the uh the Lakers game because the kings were getting called for a lot of ticky Tac fouls because they were trying to play more physical in that game they

Were kind of being punished for it because officials are not used to the Kings playing that way so the Kings need to kind of trade change officials Minds a little bit and if the Kings can do what they were doing in the playoffs which naturally in the

Playoffs officials let more go if the Kings can do that and the Kings can establish themselves and play the physical style of basketball that they played not just tonight but over this four game stretch consistently for the remainder of the season and into the postseason I think that helps solve some

Of their foul issues but I’m not going to to blame tonight’s loss on the officiating there were poor moments there were frustrating moments especially with 50/50 balls Malik monk being called for a foul bumping into Divan chenzo when both guys were going for a 50/50 ball and then

Like two or three minutes later Monk and Hart go for a 50-50 ball and they don’t call a foul on Hart who does the exact same thing running into Monk and then they call out of bounds off of the Kings and it’s it’s Nick’s ball so I get the inconsistencies and how they’re

Frustrating right but that’s not the reason the Kings lost this game you might feel like the the officials letting things go for the Knicks threw the Kings off their game maybe you’re right I would argue that’s more of a king’s problem than it is an officiating problem if that’s how the officials are

Going to call the game adapt to it easier said than done but that’s what you’re going to face in the playoffs you have to adapt to it nobody’s going to feel sorry for you at that point and the Kings know that from the best of seven series they played against the Warriors

Adapt and figure it out that’s what they have to do and hopefully that’s the context that they got from this playoff likee game against the Knicks tonight night today’s episode of the lockon Kings podcast is also brought to you by Stitch fix you know the instant confidence boost that you get from an

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Get started today at stitchfix.com lockon that’s stitchfix.com lockon stitchfix.com lockon it sounds crazy but maybe the biggest test in this stretch of games for Sacramento is coming up with these next three games despite the Kings beating the Milwaukee Bucks winning a very important game against the Los Angeles

Lakers going toe-to-toe with a a top team in the East like the New York Knicks the Memphis Grizzlies Toronto Raptors and Washington Wizards the the latter two of those three being on the road that might be kind of the true test for the Kings right let’s call it the

Kings test the Kings have been playing so much better basketball over these last four games or have specifically been playing with the effort and physicality that Mike Brown expects and wants out of this team the Houston Rockets game things could have absolutely been better and there was a

Lot that we weren’t happy with after that loss specifically losing to the Rockets again and losing to them in your own building right but there were things about that that you could still take positive positives away from and the physicality that they played within that game carried over over the next three

But will the Kings step up to the plate and play physical and play hard and play the way that they’ve been playing against a Grizzlies team who’s playing for the sake of playing at this point in the season they’re not a team that you can take lightly I think

Desmond Bane is coming back they’re still a physical difficult team they still have jiren Jackson junor right so it’s not a team that you just can expect to roll over but if the Kings play that the way they played specifically against the Bucks and the Lakers against the

Memphis Grizzlies on Monday night here in Sacramento they should be taking the fourth quarter off meaning the game should be out of hand and comfortable enough to where dearon Fox damont sabonis and the main Kings guys can give it a rest early same thing with the Toronto Raptor games and especially the

Washington Wizards games on the road as part of this three-game road trip the kings are about to go on these next three games will the Kings play the way we know they’re capable of playing and have shown their capable of playing over these last three or four games here in

Sacramento or will they do what Unfortunately they kind of always do will they fall into the same Pitfall Pitfall of very winnable game very weak opponent or weaker opponent I should say and they just play down to the level of competition they don’t show up I think

All of us are very interested to see that and I think all of us rightfully should be nervous about that right can the Kings figure because that’s something they can control right if the Kings go into Washington and shoot the ball terribly they battle hard but shoot

The ball terribly yeah there’s maybe a chance they lose that game and we’re we’re feeling pretty crappy about the offense again but I have a feeling the Kings play like they did tonight against the Washington Wizards even if they’re not shooting the ball well if defensively they’re playing that well

Against the Wizards there’s no jayen Brunson to score 42 for them or they better not be like Kyle kman shouldn’t be doing that or Cory kissper shouldn’t be doing that or certainly not Jordan P should be doing that so play the way you know you’re capable of playing it

Doesn’t matter what team is lining up against you doesn’t matter what’s on their Jersey or who’s suiting up play the way that you know you can play control what you can control your effort your intensity your physicality is everything that has only to do with you and nothing to do with your opponents

You do that there’s a great chance you go three and0 during this stretch and that’s amazing because after this three- game stretch you have the Orlando Magic to wrap up the road trip you beat the Magic in overtime here in Sacramento that’s a really good team in the Eastern

Conference then after that you got the Philadelphia 76ers we know how good they are and then back-to-back games against the Dallas Mavericks the Mavericks who by the way are half a game behind you in the standings right now in the eighth spot the Kings fell unfortunately back

Down to seventh the suns are back in sixth they’re half a game back of the Suns in sixth but those two Mavericks games are Beyond massive I don’t need to explain it to you but maybe you can give yourself a safety net for at least one of those

Games by handling your business in these three very winnable games like the expectation for the Kings should be three- 0 bare minimum should be two- one that’s not being uh like that’s that’s not being cocky that’s not being arrogant that is the expectation at this point in the season unfortunately you’ve

Wasted your get out of jail free cards and burnt your safety net to the ground with your bad losses to bad teams earlier this season you can’t do it anymore you have to go and win these three games and you do that by playing the ball that you’re capable of playing

I don’t care what any of those teams do I don’t care who’s on those teams good players or bad players g- Leaguers or potential future stars I don’t give a damn play your style of basketball if you do that you should go three and 0 or

Bare minimum two- one because you got to set the table for preparing to either hold the Mavericks off or maybe even put the Mavericks away The Season’s winding down now the good news is the Kings could potentially get some help tomorrow the Phoenix Suns take on the

Milwaukee Bucks tomorrow so of course go bucks if the Suns lose the kings are right back in sixth Happy Days the nuggets are taking on the Dallas Mavericks so go defending champs go nuggets do the kings a favor beat the Mavericks give the Kings a little bit

More wiggle room half a game worth of wiggle room also if we care the Atlanta Hawks are taking on the LA Clippers I fully expect the Hawks to lose that game the Kings aren’t really trying to catch the Clippers necessarily but it’s something else that we can root for in

The Western Conference but the two big games are Bucks versus Suns nuggets versus Mavs hopefully they can get some help but the rest of the season to me is all about controlling your own destiny and you control your destiny by going three and 0 against the Grizzlies at

Home and then the Raptors and the Washington Wizards on the road handle your business control what you can control we’ll see if the Kings can do that I want to hear your thoughts on tonight’s game let them fly if you’re watching on YouTube get loose in the

Comment section down below if you want to send me uh your your thoughts on Twitter you can reach me at Matt George sack you can DM me as well even if we don’t follow each other there or you can email me at anytime Matt jports gmail.com appreciate your support as

Always can’t wait to have you join me on the next episode of Lockton Kings until then my name is Matt George you’ve been listening to the lockon Kings podcast part of the lockon podcast Network

Matt George reacts to the Sacramento Kings loss to the New York Knicks, in a gritty, hard-fought defensive battle.

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Potential Playoff Problems Revealed in Sacramento Kings Loss to the New York Knicks
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCer6XxOVaMbmW2HBLpuLkzQ

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