Kayte Christensen on Keon Ellis & poor officiating in Kings vs. Knicks

Kayte Christensen on Keon Ellis & poor officiating in Kings vs. Knicks

Is ready to go and uh no secret we’ve known Katie a long time yes and uh like anyone who travels full-time There’s You Know Places you I won’t name any of those places you don’t want to go you know you know certain stops and there then

There’s places you love to go to and I know Katie is a huge fan of this road trip joining us right now the analyst for the Sacramento Kings The Talented the intelligent the temperamental the recovering from a foot injury yes one only uh makes her own dog food not for

Her but for her dogs Katie Christenson good morning good morning oh my goodness I threw like nine jokes in there and two of them were very hidden did you get every one oh my gosh you’re just lame as long as you find you funny I guess that’s okay come on there’s some good

Ones in there my favorite ones are the ones that are jokes but then they have another layer to them that I know you get oh congratulations bab I’ll Pat you on the back thank the problem is is that more often than not they fly right over her

Head and then I get mad because she didn’t get them and I don’t really listen to you yeah that’s a great point that that now that is the truest thing uh ever said Katie if the Kings lose tonight will it be the worst loss of the Year oh

Gosh um sure da does that answer your question does would it be a worse loss than Detroit at home in your opin w why why do you why why do we start this off this because Toronto is missing they’ve lost seven in a row and they’re missing half their

Team and the Kings seven in a row nine of their last 10 but they went to Denver and they were up 20 against the nuggets in Denver so the dangerous thing about teams that are missing a lot of guys as we well know is that the guys that are

Available are playing incredibly free um so yeah I mean this is this is I I love how people determine like you know you look at the the record and and so on and so forth and it’s like oh yep that’s a win and the win column like you have to

Go out and play every single game and it would be an incredibly disappointing loss yeah it would but I don’t know if it’s you know worst ranking worst losses of the season yet while we’re still in the middle of it we call it ody worst

Loss of the year would it be the best win of the year though Dave if they won no oh no just it would be a win a very work like easy not easy but uh routine Road win over a bad team by a serious team and not unserious team a serious

Team looking to make a postseason run that’s what tonight’s win would be they’re favored by 11 and a half yeah if if you’re wanting to to you know be where your goal is which is postseason and preferably to have to not have to do it via the play in yeah this is a

Must-win game tonight but you know this is a this is a rough road trip like uh it they have to they have to really you know buckle down and take it seriously you’re playing at 7:30 tonight in Toronto and then you play tomorrow night in Washington DC which I don’t know if

Anyone wants to do the math in terms of how late you’re going to be getting into Washington DC traveling to Canada is no joke like we left at 10: am yesterday and I think we got to the hotel about 7 PM last night and so you know when you

Think about like tonight we go through customs like everybody else we go through the main airport you take all your bags the whole thing and you’re doing that at what time 11:00 at night like this is an an interesting backtack that the league scheduled so you know

When you when you look at schedule you have to look at all of the components other than just the other teams you know when loss record who they’ve got all these things like this is a challenging road trip and they have to take it incredibly seriously the other night

Katie um the worst part about the game ended up being in the first two minutes the injury to Kevin herder just it it it didn’t look good when happened maybe the news I don’t know maybe the news is slightly better I I don’t even know how

To quantify it because I don’t know that we know for certain what the overall outcome and how long he would be out but um I don’t know what you know about that part and then secondly just um him going through that that as a former player yourself that is just the worst part

When you get hurt at any point but certainly this late in The Season’s got to be really rough for herder yeah incredibly rough and I don’t know any of the details yet in terms of length and what’s going on and and all of that like um that’s just something

You kind of got to you know hope for the best and and we’ll see you just you want him to be healthy I think the hardest thing as a player is that he hadn’t played incredibly well in the game before against New York and so you know

If you’re you’re gonna go down you would prefer to have it be while you’re playing well versus when you’re trying to kind of you know Garner up some or you know muster up some kind of momentum um but injuries are tough and the Kings have you know over the last two years

For the most part been really really healthy and you know the injury to Trey and now the injury to to Kevin herder like it’s put the kings in a position where they have to be able to rely on kind of some of those you know second unit guys that you know haven’t had

Consistent minutes throughout the season but I have to take my hat off to to Mike Brown because I talked about it on the broadcast the other day like a lot of coaches in this league like in the beginning of the Season they’ll kind of give some you know kind of second third

String guys some different opportunities and if they don’t take advantage or don’t play kind of the way that the the coaching staff wants them to play you don’t see them again they’re kind of bottom of the bench guys that you know you see a couple minutes in blowout

Games right but Mike Brown has been really really good about with Davon Mitchell Keon Ellis Chris Duarte like those guys like he’s been great with going back to them and not you know waiting long stretches of time going back to them giving them another opportunity they play you know you know

Maybe 10 games where they’re playing really well so it kind of keeps them a motivated to be involved um keeps their confidence up and they’ve grown and those guys specifically those three I think this kind of segment of the Season kind of post All-Star break I think they’ve been fantastic and so that

Bodess well when you look at some injuries that are going on and you know with kind of two of the you know bigger guys if you will um Kevin herder is someone that can kind of float two three and sometimes in small lineups he’ll put them at power forward but not really and

Then you’ve got you know you’ve got Trey Lyles who he can play three four five basically based on kind of small or big lineup you’re going for um and so to have those guys be the ones that are out like I’m curious now to see what it’s

Going to look like rotation wise and and how Mike Brown is gonna handle it um but I think that you know Davon Keon um Chris those guys have stepped up and I think that they have a lot of faith in them Katie Christenson joining us um I

Just want to go back to your previous answer just to kind of clarify some stuff we’re seeing on the chat and I I get it when you say this is a difficult road trip you’re you’re talking schematically like on paper this is an incredibly easy road trip with the

Exception yeah like they there they should buy factor into it right all of those things factor into it um it it it isn’t just about like oh we go to the gym and we play a game and it’s this is their record and this is he’s available

No there’s there’s a lot of other things that factor into kind of difficulty level and when you look at the king’s um strength of schedule from the very beginning of the season third most difficult schedule in the NBA and the reason that is is you look at road trips

Like this you look at distance travel to play an opponent you look at how many days the opponent has had off like all of those things factor into strength of schedule and the Kings have the third most difficult schedule in the NBA and you look at this road trip and then you

Look at the road trip that they have in April they’re going to go and they’re going to play um in New York then go to Boston come back to New York then they’re going to go to OKC like those are top opponents back to backs like those types of three and four

Days against top level you know opponents like those things factor into strength of schedule so that’s what I’m referring to Katie as far as you know we just uh referred to her her and being out we don’t know how long but that does mean opportunities for others whether

It’s uh deeper in the rotation guys if that’s Davon or dwarte but certainly Keon Ellis what have you liked most about watching him play consistently now in with this group I just love his defense like I love love love his defense and the fact that he’s gonna he

He actually gives um dear an opportunity to not have to to be kind of on the toughest perimeter um opponent to start the game he allows um dear to kind of take a step and defend somebody else and obviously there’s a lot of switching and stuff but to be the primary Defender to

Start off on on kind of you know the main guy like the Jaylen Brunson of the world if you will um and he you know he picks them up he’s a dogged Defender and he’s gonna give it to them you know uh a consistent approach and and be tough on

Them the entire time but then he also from an offensive standpoint I feel like he’s gained a lot of confidence and um I think a lot of that is the way this offense works is you know every ‘s going to get opportunities and no matter what

They want you to take shots if you’re open you take the shot like sometimes when you’re coming in it’s kind of like a second third string gu when there’s injuries like you almost hesitate because yeah it’s an open shot but am I supposed to take it do they want me to

Take it but that’s not how this offense works and so I think that there’s a lot of things that have kind of um built up his confidence but the thing I like about him the mo he had five blocks the other night I mean come on like he is a

Really really really good Defender Katie Christensen joining us talking about Toronto we haven’t talked to you since a couple of pretty uh pretty good games I guess I’d say the uh Grizzlies game which was good despite the fact that it shouldn’t have been and the Knicks game

On Saturday let’s go back to the Knicks game playoff atmosphere there’s blood in the air it was physical as heck uh I had made the comment to Jason we talked about this that uh that referee crew there are a lot of different ref Crews that would have called that game

Completely differently and we probably would have had a different result that crew decided that night to let a lot of things go in that case you and I haven’t talked about it yet but uh what was your thought on the ref Saturday um well you did get a very

Angry phone call from me that was my joke let me let me stop you I I Won’t Say I’m not going to say what was in the conversation because I’ll talk about it CU she calls me right after the game’s over I didn’t even think she was done

Yet I get a phone call seconds after the game’s over and it was one of those calls where I immediately went outside because I I put it on speaker so I can hear better and I held the phone like five feet away from my ear and I wanted

To make sure my kids weren’t listening to Aunt Katie talking to me about the game yeah no um I I’ll start this off by saying I have complete Nutter respect for officials because they have you know a very difficult job and I I don’t think

I don’t think poorly of any of them as human beings or individuals or anything like that just like anybody else and any other career everyone can have a bad day and that was the worst officiated game I’ve ever been a part of in my entire nearly two decades in the NBA it was

Complete and utter dog crap it was awful and they let it get out of control they had you know they did not manage the game well you know damont Fus got slapped in the face twice on a triple team in one possession and they call him for a double dri

Like I Kyle was talking about the last two- minute report um in that game uh following it against Memphis and I didn’t even bother looking at it it was just aw it infuriated me to a level where I thought it was just ridiculous and to call a game like that is really

Difficult because you never want to pile on to officials you don’t want to do that and there is a you know a certain component of it where normally those games even out they look at things they review things at halftime and they’re like oh we’re missing some stuff we’re

Going to do it the first play of the game if memory serves correctly was um hartenstein pull and deont bonus to the ground from the waist it was completely obvious and Doug Christie Mike Brown domos I saw multiple times those three guys talk to the officials showing them

What they were doing to domas in the low block and it was like complete utter denial of that taking place like they didn’t fix it they didn’t make it better they didn’t make adjustments and the way that they let the game get out of control the physicality of that

That’s how players get hurt and were you surprised there wasn’t a fight that night or at least a frus you know Tre L were available we said like we don’t really have guys on the team that are like that like at one point domos was so frustrated it was after

That getting smacked in the face twice and then being called for the the double dribble like it was end of the game situation um he kind of just threw his hands up in the air and shook his head like we don’t have personality and that’s not a bad thing you know we don’t

Have many personalities on this team that are going to get to it but you know even seeing Malik monk when he got fouled sit on the courtside seats and just take a a breath like take a beat he was so angry you could tell the look on

His face he was so angry with what was going on um that he like he had to like kind of self-regulate for a second and it it kind of hearkened to it made me immediately think and I think I said it to Kyle in the break of like malice in

The palace when Ron test laid on the scores table and if anyone’s seen the documentary on that he was talking about like he was seeing seeing a therapist during that time and he was having a hard time self-regulating and she was like Hey whenever you feel yourself

About to kind of implode if you will lay flat take a moment take a breath and that’s when the beer was thrown and that’s when it went into utter chaos but that moment with Malik sitting on the sideline it reminded me of that because I could see the frustration in Malik and

Him trying to self-regulate and just don’t say anything don’t do anything take a breath calm yourself down for a split second that was how out of control that game was and I think it’s a complete utter failure by the officials to let a game go that way win or loss I

Don’t care even if the Kings had come out with the win it doesn’t matter the way that game was officiated is dangerous and that’s how players get hurt and from my perspective that’s the worst part about the whole thing because you don’t want to ever as a player have

Your livelihood or your season put in Jeopardy because the officials lose complete control of the game you know okay as part of that game one of the takeaways I had was New York obviously was physical we’re talking about that the way it was officiated or or they had

They let things go but I thought the Kings handled the physicality and if that’s been a question of them um I was encouraged by that even though it ended up in a loss and so I think it was good for them to go through that kind of game

Yeah I I thought that they handled it well I thought they matched it I think they have really over the last four or five games if you really look back um trying to remember that all runs together um with the the Milwaukee game the New York game like there’s been

They’ve done a really good job defensively here I mean going into the game against uh Memphis the the three previous games they were averaging you know holding their opponents under 100 points a game like defensively I think that they have kind of you know picked it up in terms of their physicality um

Their attention to detail and that’s a great thing and I thought they did a great great job in the Memphis game as well in terms of the physicality of it so there has been some things that have come out of you know say this last five

Four or five game stretch that I think are really really promising when you look at and we’ve this has kind of been a theme all year when you look at a game like the Knicks you guys just alluded to in a game like the Grizzlies I you know

I I like a lot of people sit on the surface and go well if they play like they did against Nicks they’re going to beat the Grizz by 25 the Grizz are missing like kind of like tonight the Grizz are missing pretty much their team

And uh you know next thing you know what what was the guy’s name Lawrence Arabia Jake laravia Jake laravia yeah Corner what whoever um you know like can you put your I I get the whole like everyone gets paid these are all NBA players uh people have opportunities but like ultimately it’s

Talent on Talent like if you’re saying other players get opportunities and they’re going to step up then isn’t the counter to that well our guys are getting complacent and not playing to the best of their ability mentally and physically because I think that’s easy that’s like

An easy place to take it um but is it wrong I think uh well if you’ll let me answer I’ll you interrupted me last time we’re having a conversation jeez well I mean I know where your question is going so instead of waiting three minutes I

Was just G to go ahead and W Canadian cable sucks no I mean I see where you’re going with it obviously that I think that’s a component I’m not going to deny that it’s not but I also want to just from a from you know the standpoint of looking

On the other side of it one of the benefits of you know players that are playing and and stepping up when there are injuries is there’s two things a they’re playing incredibly free right which is what Memphis does which is 100% what Toronto does which is why they’re

Dangerous and they’ve they’ve played in really close games during this you know last 10 game stretch of theirs where they’ve only won one game but again it’s like they lack experience because there’s a lot of injuries so the thing about it you play free but also you

Don’t have a great Scout on a lot of these guys and so much of the scouting in this league is about you know understand like it’s so it’s so expensive like hey in these situations if he comes off of this screen action he’s gonna go left if he comes off this

Screen action he’s going to go right and he’s going to pull up to his left like it’s they do an incredible amount of scouting and and just a deep dive into you know Tendencies and things like that and I have to give credit to the players

Like they know it like they they pay attention they drill it um they watch specific film on the guys that they’re going to be defending like there’s the extensive Scout to that degree that really helps you prepare for a game and you know to be honest with a lot of

These young guys that are fing with injuries you just don’t have them so I think it kind of goes to there’s a lot of things that factor into it and then of course there’s the mental standpoint where it’s like oh whether you’re aware of it or not you’re

Like oh this is second third string guys like it’s you know not going to be as difficult not going to be as challenging and that’s where you can kind of set yourself up for failure sometimes so uh how is your health how’s the foot from Kyle stomping on it the foot is okay

Kyle is very concerned he actually checked in with me yesterday make sure my foot is okay it is totally fine Kyle is very gets very very excited and that’s what you know makes him Kyle is that he in those like I might talk with my hands or whatever Kyle when he makes

A a call on a very exciting play like he jumps up out of the chair he’s very excited excitable um and so I I just apparently my foot was was a collateral damage in that but it is all good um how many hasn’t he broken multiple chairs

This year I think we’re like two or three you know they got wheels on them and so sometimes when you jump up and like the wheel like he snapped a wheel or two yeah and uh finally well two questions number one we’re getting comments are you at a are you at a zoo

Or a dog park no yeah I apologize but I was at Team film when I had to come on this interview so I stepped outside so while we’ve been on this interview like it’s on the floor where there’s conferences and now the players are coming out from breakfast and film and

So this is the reality no no need to apologize you got to do what you got to do just sounded like a bunch of dogs uh which by the way if you want another if you want a puppy uh let’s talk when you come back dog sucks is the new puppy uh

Giving you some difficulty dog sucks that we need doggy Prozac it won’t go to sleep uh and then the question from the audience which I think is a good one Katie because you do travel so much other than like clean socks and undies the obvious stuff what’s like the one

Thing you travel with that you can’t live without hm well I’ll tell you what I forgot my airpods on this trip and I’m realizing how critical those are yeah yeah all right no I mean I I’ve been doing this for so long like my bags are like I

Always keep my toiletry packed like when I unpack when I come home from a trip I repack the toiletries and and um yeah I don’t know I mean probably my airpods like they’re it’s pretty yeah like for plane flights you know buses like all that it’s um I’m I’m learning that

They’re pretty important they don’t have they should have like team issue extra airpods it’s an NBA team worth three billion dollar let’s go oh my gosh a little Kings logo on them remember when we got the Kings logo to headphones yes I do it’s great moment

Yeah you were so excited about those on the plane trip to China they were there were headphones with the king’s logo on it how you’re wearing now how are you no these I made I actually ordered the stickers and put them on myself no they were like brand on there and Katie’s

Like yeah their headphones Dave get over it well that was a fun 17 hour plane flight yeah CU that was when you had really not been flying for your whole adult life and then all of a sudden you got to go on this long trip and I got to

Be your seatmate and it was like everything was so exciting to you it was they had they wor cookies a menu act like You’ been here before yeah I’m like no I’m like the kid with the golden ticket the the Willy Wonka thing I’m doing somersaults and so it really was

Like traveling to China with a four-year-old I’m not I’m not over exaggerating that on that note Katie Christensen from her favorite stop on any trip Toronto Canada joining us to analyze and then some hey uh Katie have a have a great trip and uh we’ll see you

When you get back all right bye y’all don’t forget your airpods bye bye love you she already did she did also get off the wallet and wow buy a pair I’m pretty sure they oh yeah they’re all airpods we’ll take a break when we come back Jason what to watch in the West

NBC Sports California analyst Kayte Christensen joined The Carmichael Dave Show with Jason Ross on Wednesday morning to talk about Keon Ellis’ emergence in the Sacramento Kings’ rotation, break down what makes Ellis effective in the lineup, and much more.

Plus: Kayte says that the officiating during Sacramento’s loss to the New York Knicks was “the worst officiated game that she has ever seen.”

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