Kayte Christensen on why the Kings loss to the Hornets wasn’t the worst of the season

Kayte Christensen on why the Kings loss to the Hornets wasn’t the worst of the season

Joining us right now the TV analyst for your Sacramento Kings she joins us each and every Wednesday at 8 A.M Katie Christenson Katie we had a uh a guy in the chat earlier which is a a dumpster fire say that he’s never met a woman that’s passionate about sports like guys

Are so we’re kind of going with that theme today is uh you are nothing if not passionate uh and you had to watch that driil and try to entertain us along with your broadcast partner last night good morning how are you oh good morning I feel like Tuesdays

Have not been good good gang days because I feel like I talked about some bad losses recently yeah a lot of them they’ve had a few we uh we we we coined a phrase yesterday this is how bad it is when we actually spent a couple segments yesterday talking about the fact that

Charlotte had lost 11 in a row coming in where they were missing serious pieces on that Squad and coming in on the second night of a back toback when the king have had a day or two to rest and uh would this be what we call the woi

The worst loss of the year uh that would take over from Portland woi which took over from the Boston woi uh which took over from the New Orleans Cup game at home woi uh and 80 78% of Kings fans said that last night is the new reigning

Woi we just don’t have any explanations for it Katie well I mean I don’t really look at this as the worst loss or relo whatever the heck you guys are using um I thought Austin was a bad loss because I thought they they just didn’t play well like I thought I think

There’s been some where I don’t feel like they they play with the requisite energy last night was a weird game I thought that they did such a great job of scrambling on defense like they were brilliant on the boards they did a lot of the hustle plays those typ YP of

Things but there was some things like the turnovers that were so uncharacteristic of this team um that you know it was just like oh wow it it never felt like they had formed any kind of flow in their offense you were just kind of waiting for them to start to

Feel like they were starting to click there was a ton of of turnovers I mean demontis had what 11 and I I I would say four of those were were offensive foul you know like it it it had a very weird flow to it in terms of the offense um

But it doesn’t and yes I mean you look at the whole scope of things like you look at oh they they had lost 11 in a row it’s this team playing with a lot of in uh injuries so on and so forth but like that’s also to

Me I don’t know a little bit disrespectful because a team is not going to lose 82 games um like like when when you’re on a losing skid like that and you’re going through stuff like it kind of builds this weird energy and you can become really dangerous as a team um

Any team on any given night can beat any other team in the NBA I don’t care who you are what the story is so I think that we have a tendency to look at those things like record that kind of stuff and be like oh it’s just a terrible loss

Well you know I don’t know I I try to look at the bigger picture and to me I thought there was good things last night but it had just a really really weird feeling on the offensive end and there’s going to be games where it’s just like

Wow that was they just didn’t have it you know yeah on on something Katie Dave and I were talking about earlier and we were and you were closer to the floor and I’m not saying you know exactly what happened because you were working you’re trying to sort it all out we were trying

To figure out the whole situation with Malik Monk and Mike Brown um for Malik to only play five minutes in the first half was very curious I know coach Brown talked about it postgame saying yeah you know that Malik and I have gotten into stuff before it won’t be the last time

Either but um do do you know any more about what that might even be and and kind of what led to to any of that last night with those two no no clue um I I will say like I looked at you know before halftime it was like I looked

Kind of at the stat sheet one of the timeouts I was like Wow mik’s only played like five minutes like think it was like actually 459 he played in the first half and and there was no indication at all I didn’t catch anything that was going on um and you

Know he played well in the second half he came in he hit a couple threes he looked at the bench he looked at Mike Brown and and um like then like after all of that I mean there was some stuff that happened on the floor and Mike and

And Malik were talking and Malik was like that was right in front of us and it he was super receptive it was normal like I don’t I don’t know that anything did happen I didn’t see anything happen but like I kind of felt like okay is this potentially happening because he’s

Now altered the the starting lineup which a lot of people were wanting him to do let’s just be clear about that like can’t tell you how often media is asking about with Kevin herder’s shooting struggles like anyway you’re going to change the starting lineup it’s like okay so he changes the starting

Lineup and you put Chris Duarte in there well then now you have to figure out what your rotation is off the bench because you’ve had the same rotation for a while now how does when do you bring Kevin and when do you bring Malik in and

And I think that I kind of looked at it as like okay maybe this is just him trying to figure it out um but I I don’t know that anything specific happened and I think if it did I don’t I don’t know that either one would ever share it uh

Ktie Christenson joining us King’s TV analyst and let’s zoom out to 50,000 ft Katie you know we joke about it but this is incredibly frustrating I it’s teams really I’m really starting to dislike them because I I I hate when it’s one thing if you suck and the other team’s

Better but this is not the case with this team and we can go back through um you know as we just did whether it’s Charlotte whether it’s Portland uh whether um it’s not showing up for Boston not showing up against the Clippers um there’s like eight or nine

It seems like really bad losses they come back home Charlotte again has lost 11 in a row I understand what you said about them being dangerous I don’t disagree with that they’re NBA players too they’re they’re missing major pieces last night and they played the night

Before in Denver Mile High how the hell is this team losing to the Charlotte Hornets how are they losing these weird games against lame teams consistently um I mean am I supposed to have an answer that makes you I get it I get it

No and I I I’m not looking to you for I can talk about the X’s and O’s I can talk about the things that went wrong but I kind of already covered that in your first question to me um I understand like you know that this this

Is you want an improvement on next year I mean I think if if I’m not mistaken we’re going into the the new year with the same the same record that they had a year ago going I think it’s like 19 lens going into the you know the turn of the

Calendar year so this team is awful I just think that this team has you know it has much higher expectations than it did a year ago so they’re it’s more frustrating to to people when they lose and and more frustrating when they have a bad game but over the course of 82

Games you’re gonna have some bad games and like I don’t know like like I said I felt like tonight what doesn’t last night didn’t qualify as like one of their worst games of the year because I thought there was really great things that I haven’t seen from them they scrambled and played energetically

Collectively on the defensive end did some stuff on the glass on the on both the offense and defensive glass following plays better than I think I’ve seen them all year I really do believe that last night they just D on offense they just couldn’t they just could not

Develop any kind of flow you have to give you have to give Charlotte some credit for that um it was a team playing that was desperate but it was also like there’s going to be nights where your offense isn’t you you’re not going to be able to rely on it as this you

Know crazy offense that that that we know the Kings can have like where they’re hitting 23 threes you know like it’s not going to be that night in and night out like I understand the frustration but I guess I also look at it is is the fact that if this team

Wants to do anything in the postseason they have to be able to defend teams they have to be able to collectively do some things and cause some damage on the defensive end on the glass do some of those hustle things the energy things and they have to do that well and

Consistently and you know everyone complained about their defense a year ago rightfully so because they were they were among the bottom in the league like going into yesterday’s game they’re 19th in the league and defensive rating after being the bottom of the barrel last year they’re making progress and trending in

The right direction and sometimes the way that that happens when you’re doing that you’re sacrificing some other things it’s a process for them to figure out how to play at both ends of the floor like we’re 30 some odd games into the season this isn’t happening in game

You know 75 I think I’d be a little bit more concerned but I think they’re figuring some crap out truly okay Katie when the coach makes the move to put Chris dwarte in the starting lineup granted I get it it’s two games so we’ve only got the two game sample size but

The one game was probably their most complete performance in Memphis than last night was as you described just they were off collectively do you think coach Brown’s getting what he wanted so far again two games of the L roster tweak to the starting lineup but do you

Think he’s getting what he what he kind of wanted out of that I mean I think so I that I you know that’s that’s something that if I had to bet if we asked him that question that it would be you know I want to see a

Larger sample size of it um you know I think that Chris DTE it adds something different to the starting lineup because defensively he’s able to do some things and have some different guard matchups which in essence takes a little bit of pressure off of dear Fox to have to be

Guarding someone like Trey young or John Morant for an entire game right um but offense isn’t the problem in the starting lineup but certainly isn’t but having someone consistently that can play defense and I think that that’s kind of why the change came gave they gave Kevin an opportunity to pick up his

Defense I think that he tried he did his best um he’s made some strides um in that direction but he it was also happening while simultaneously he’s really struggling offensively so it’s like okay they gave him a sufficient amount of time to be able to kind of

Turn things around on both ends and if you’re not turning it around specifically on the offensive end then okay we’re going to make a change here and go for defense and I do like what Chris has brought so far um but I think there’s an adjustment period I really do

So we’ll see we’ll see what it looks like after like say a five game sample size if if if you know the rotations and how he does in the scoring in the offense um obviously scoring was not an issue in Memphis and he was in the starting lineup while they scored you

Know just over 100 points last night so do you blame that on the on the you know roster or the you know the lineup change I don’t think so but they’re gonna you know take a look at everything well you know Katie as we wrap up I’m going to give you some

Flowers as hard as it is for me to do um there are two things you do that I hate more than anything one is I can’t ever get you to decide between two things you know the give me a grade or yes or no and then a lot of times after

Frustrating losses like this you come on and you know you’ll give us reasons um which I call excuses and you call reasons as to why so I had set up a whole bingo card as to things I thought you were going to throw out as far as

Excuses as to why and I even did a follow-up question to try to lead you down the road I think you did one which was actually not even that exciting because it was pretty was actually a pretty decent reason you you seem I don’t want to put words in your mouth

But it sounds like you are it’s kind of a combination like the rest of us you’re at a loss for answers and also frustrated like the rest of us with what what you’re seeing in the inconsistency you’re giving me my flowers for that I’m I’m saying that I

Expected you to come on and make me angry because you were going to have like these logical reasons as to you know why they I even made a list Katie made a list of things that I thought people were going to say not just you I

Made a whole list and you didn’t really cover any of these first came back from a trip uh when Hornet’s players are injured others will step up to the opportunity we’re adjusting the new starting lineup can’t win them all the holidays are tough Pete Youngman came in

And said he offered himself up as as someone to blame along with the Maloof uh Sean Thomas said the refs um and the whole hey they could be not in the playoffs and they have a good record I I I can’t remember the one said but it was one ID actually said earlier

I think we repeated each other and I’m telling you you didn’t hit any of the Bingo stuff and I’m saying I think I can hearing your voice I don’t think you’re having it this morning I think you’re I correct me if I’m wrong but you sound frustrated uh I’m not frustrated I think

The frustration comes from and I but here here’s the honest to God truth like I get it like I understand watching this team and and looking at opponents and losses and you look at the Boston loss oh it’s disgusting it’s just like no I’m sorry I I just I don’t react the same

Way I think as a lot of other people do and I don’t I don’t you’re not going to get me to be super angry about this game it sucks you move on you have another one you’re going to beat teams that you’re not supposed to beat in situations where you shouldn’t beat them

You’re going to lose to teams where you know on paper you shouldn’t lose to them I think for me I’m okay with people being frustrated I’m not frustrated the frustrating thing to me is kind of having to go through kind of the whole thing right of like okay like you know

In the end like I I played the game Dave and I know people don’t like to hear that it’s like it’s an excuse It’s like I look at this a little bit differently and I’ve been in some stinkers I’ve played in some stinkers and there’s some

Where it’s like man that sucks we lost we shouldn’t have lost but you can’t freaking dwell on it like you can’t you have to take the lessons you can from it and you have to move on so I guess for me the frustration is not from the loss

The frustration is with like the immense frustration all the time over a loss they’re going to happen they’re not GNA they’re not going to win 82 games like I’m not pushing back on you because you do look at it differently and I respect that I do and real talk I’m not messing

With you right now I I I think for me and I’m just speaking for a lot of fans out here here as we’re having and we’ll go a little long on this because I think this is important the frustrating thing is that this is it’s not every every

Team we Jason and I talked about this earlier the 2002 era you know you could look up on those great teams five six seven losses a year to crap teams like it happens we get it why I just don’t understand why it’s happening so consistently and I’m not asking you to

Answer that I’m just saying that’s where my frustration personally comes from is like dude I can’t trust this team to win and I can’t trust them not to lose like I don’t know what the hell is going to happen with this team I think the reality is like to me

There’s a lot of things that have kind of shifted with this team this year and I’d prefer them to figure it out right now instead of the second half of the Season or to be dealing with the struggles in the second half of the season if we look at it logistically

Keegan Murray has come into this year he’s been playing much better defense he’s someone they rely on that and his offense has been hot or cold like it’s terrible to look at a stat sheet at the end of a game and we we had that happen in Portland where damont sabonis and

Dearen fox combined for 70 plus points and nobody else is in is in you know double figures right to me we’ve had multiple people struggle struggle offensively um and I truly believe those struggles are because of what they’re being asked to do on the defensive end

Mike Brown couldn’t ask them to do these things last year it was his first year he’s implementing a new system a new offense he’s trying to figure out his team the players he knows we know Mike Brown he is not new to the league he’s a defensive minded coach but you have to

Coach the Personnel that you have so when it came into the team last year it’s like listen like I’ve got to make this offense high-powered play to the play to the style and abilities of the players now he knows the players you’re not going to do defense and offense in

One year right players know the system he’s added a few tweaks to it offensively you have to because teams have caught on they know things now you have to do the counter to that and add some tweaks so that you can still have the advantage offensively but you’re

Also asking them to do a lot more defensively because you went to the playoffs and you lost in the first round because you couldn’t defend anybody so there’s early Seasons you don’t snap your fingers and this stuff happens you don’t make an a player a defensive player after 30 games like there’s a

Process to it and I think he’s still there’s some new pieces Chris warte is a new piece I think he’s still figuring out what does he have what is the right balance of offense and defense and how can they make this team be be good at

Both at the same time not a defensive lineup and an offensive lineup so I would prefer them get this figured out now right have some losses that hurt and sting than to lose in the first round of the playoffs yeah okay you know so is this like a caterpillar

Butterfly thing kind of where because we have talked about this earlier where like I I thought and I think a lot of other people thought that the best performance of the year most complete performance of the year was against Memphis which is another reason why this

Loss is is pissing me off because that was like offensively defensively you look at their defense in the second half against Atlanta in both cases they were held to what like 40 something and I think 39 uh in in Memphis like that Memphis game everybody was healthy from

Memphis John Morant was there and they absolutely boat raced them and played amazing defense and then you come into this game and and you you have this inconsistency so what I’m what I’m trying to take from what you’re saying which I think is important is and because we’ve talked about this

On the show is the whole butterfly caterpillar into a butterfly thing that that Mike Brown seemingly is not purposefully but sacrificing some stuff here right now for the long term which is being a team that can shut down defensively other teams in the playoffs and pick up on what they uh couldn’t do

Last year that’s a good analogy I do want to I do want to point out like johnar was back but Memphis wasn’t even close to healthy they’re playing without steveen Adams which I think is the person that makes the difference on that team from them being the number two team in the

West last year to being what they kind of are this year despite kind of yeah they’re they’re bottom of the barrel mempis is a team you don’t really know they’re playing without Brandon Clark as well who’s very important to them Memphis is a team that you can’t even

Look at their record or their standing you know their place in the standings and know what they are because they’ve would been without John Morant for 25 games but jaw’s back so I think a lot of people look at it as like well now they’re full strength you know um that

Also was a game that the Kings should have gone in there and beat them and they did they did that but you know then they come home and and they have a game like this to to Charlotte and you know they had an 11 game losing streak listen

I I understand I know I look at the things and it’s like wow this one it sucks like they should have taken care of business you know like I get it um but I’m also not going to get caught up in the the fury if you will um because

What I see with this team is like they’re trying to make the right changes to be a better team in the postseason and I really believe that and so I hang on to that well that doesn’t help my narrative when it comes to wanting to have a Wine Fest this

Morning oh well I’m sorry I’ll let you guys continue having the Wine Fest and I’m gonna go make my daughter breakfast all right go make your daughter breakfast surprised that she hasn’t come in here once during this interview so well try to be consistent on the

Breakfast and if you don’t make a good breakfast then pick up some lessons from today’s bad breakfast and improving your next breakfast okay oh my gosh all right no wine okay all right talk to you later all right you guys have a good one thank you Katie bye bye I didn’t expect

That not g to lie no I’m not setting up my read I mean really I did I I Katie wasn’t screwing around this morning I wanted I wanted to screw around a little bit because I thought she would that’s generally what she does and again she I asked her Point

Blank a couple times Jason are you frustrated she’s like no I I I’m not saying she in any way talked me down but I do I will say I appreciate the Outlook that and and and a lot of it is because we’ve gone down this road earlier I’m and I’m not excusing what

Happened last night because there is no excuse for it but I do appreciate the road of are you making these crazy hard is the reason why so much of this is unexplainable that is that Mike Brown is is trying to play CH chess and not Checkers and is he trying to is he

Trying to lay in some lessons now and some habits now you know which they completely crapped the bed defensively last night after doing so well against Memphis is this we’ve talked about body blows in boxing before and how they pay off in the championship rounds some

Weird way are these those body blows I don’t want to hear it I don’t want to excuse it but is that the reality maybe I don’t know I mean like I know I I you know and I think we say this a lot like you can’t tell a fan

How a fan so some are going to be over the top some are GNA say it’s no big deal like I’m probably more on the optimistic side generally I I thought the kings were awful and I don’t know of what net win there was from that performance last night for the long term

I I just I just don’t see it in front of me doesn’t do mean there isn’t something hidden in there that that could be um I I think all the principles that they’re trying to teach I’m sure defensively that that were in play in other games where they’ve been better defensively or

Worse um I don’t understand the turnovers I agree with some of the stuff Kat said like they were off there was a bunch of that but I I didn’t think they played a smart game I think they played with fire all night long I think they thought they could just turned it on

Even if it was for five minutes and win they never turned it on and they played with fire I thought they deserved everything they got last night yeah and and if that’s a a meaningless coach player spat in there or maybe a bigger deal in there they deserve that if it’s

Um you know sabonis and all those offensive fouls and his turnovers I mean they they they asked for it and I just didn’t think they played a smart game they’re better than that but not last night and so when you play with fire like that to a team that’s not very good

And if it was a good team I think it would have been a an a night we’re talking about about a 30 Point loss but they played they played the perfect team to escape they just didn’t escape and they deserve the loss well they better bring the energy tonight because Orlando’s coming into

Town off a back to back which as we know if a team is coming off a back toback they’re almost certainly going to beat the Kings especially at home Orlando’s coming in off a backto back the Kings better bring energy tonight or they’re going to get boat

The Sacramento Kings were 15-point favorites heading into Tuesday night’s game against a Charlotte Hornets team that had lost 11 straight games.

Unfortunately for those in attendance at Golden 1 Center, the Kings suffered a 111-104 loss in what many are calling the worst loss of the season.

NBC Sports California analyst Kayte Christensen joined The Carmichael Dave Show with Jason Ross on Wednesday morning to give her take on whether or not Sacramento’s latest loss is “the worst of the season,” give her take on Mike Brown’s rotation changes, and much more.

Thank you for watching. Don’t forget to hit the thumbs up and subscribe!

#sacramentokings #kingsvshornets #kaytechristensen

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