[Game] Indiana Pacers @ Sacramento Kings, 1/18/2024, 7:00p PST/10:00p EST

[TaxMan]

It ain't gonna ruin my night or week at the end of the day, but let me put it this way...

It sure as heck has been a brutal enough of a stretch to ruin either or both should I allow it to.

I’m still numb from the suns game so this one is just so so to me.

One thing I’ve tried to get better about after almost 40 years of sac kings fandom….its entertainment. Don’t let it ruin your day and certainly don’t let it impact your relationship with your family. Take a deep breath and move on to other passions in my life.

 

[QWERTYLICIOUS]

This is getting scary. 9 of next 12 games before All Start break are on the road. Yeeesh.

That 7-game road trip is going to tell us everything we need to know about this team the rest of the way.

 

[Tetsujin]

is our pick to Atlanta lottery protected?

We want the pick to convey this season. Both draft class talent-wise and asset-wise.

 

[Rob-The-Great]

Start Sasha, bench Barnes

 

[Showtime]

I am tired of hearing about these trip dubs in a loss.

The thing about his game is that he's not a guy like Embid that when nothing is working, you give him the rock at the high post and just let him get buckets. He's not that type of star. That's always been my criticism after he got exposed against the warriors.

 

[The_Jamal]

Maybe it's an entitlement thing? We're "good" now, so we can just show up and "stomp" these bad teams without effort?

Last year, we were one of the toughest outs in the NBA. The underdog punching above his weight class. Every game vs us was a dogfight and even if we were down big at some point, we almost always surged back and made it a game. And we obviously made you run all game long.

This year, that same intensity isn't there. Domas brings it every game, Malik most of the time, but the rest of the team kind of just takes turns sleepwalking through games. I think Fox settling for so many 3's is starting to affect our overall offense; defenses don't fear him nearly the same when he's not relentlessly attacking the rim.

 

[206Fan]

Possibly, but I'm pretty sure it's FT's and the ball? Or at least that's what broadcast was saying.

Absolutely down in the list of importance this game, but still. It's tragic we deal with this kind of officiating on a nightly basis.

Said this before the game, but Fox either needs to get back to form, or if he's hurt, take 2 weeks off and get right. He's playing like 60-70% of his normal self these last 10+ games and it's killing us. Legitimately nothing else matters if he continues to play like he was pre-Domas.

My theory is that Fox is hurt, but he doesn’t want to sit out/rest because he doesn’t want to miss out on a possible All-NBA bonus. It’d be a 4 year extension this off-season at an average of 67mpy with 70mpy in the final year. I agree with you. He’s legit playing horrible on both ends of the floor. For a game like tonight, we would’ve been better with Keon starting in his spot. Fox let TJ McConnell fly by him and score at will. Fox got the nice stat pad in the 4th quarter when the Pacers were playing to defend 3s.

 

[TaxMan]

I genuinely feel.we may have been a better team last year compared to.this year.

We where way hungrier, played with passion, and swag.

Now we came into.the league thinking we earned something, lost sole cost games and now have lost are identity. This team is lost. Changed must be made

Yes and no. Expectations were different and we played with a more carefree joy. Brown is working to take them to the next level (as he should) and I think it’s grinding on the team. Thinking too much and certainly not as much joy. It makes the losses more of a bummer to watch.

 

[QWERTYLICIOUS]

I genuinely feel.we may have been a better team last year compared to.this year.

We where way hungrier, played with passion, and swag.

Now we came into.the league thinking we earned something, lost sole cost games and now have lost are identity. This team is lost. Changed must be made

We DEFINITELY were a better team last season. No question about it.

 

[The_Jamal]

The thing about his game is that he's not a guy like Embid that when nothing is working, you give him the rock at the high post and just let him get buckets. He's not that type of star. That's always been my criticism after he got exposed against the warriors.

Maybe it should be. The plan is pretty clearly set to give Fox/Monk the 4th quarter and the rest of the guys get out of the way. Might be time for Domas to just go take the ball and start being more selfish.

Again, he's big man Steve Nash/Magic Johnson. His instinct is not to score, it's to orchestrate the offense. It's not his fault the rest of the core (mostly Fox and Monk right now) aren't holding up their end of the bargain.

 

[Tizzy Flip]

Well don’t let this ruin your night or week or year ladies and gentlemen, it’s just basketball after all. If you need to take a bit of a break with another game a few days away, do it. I’m thinking of doing just that. Don’t want my biggest hobby to become a stress bomb.

Not gonna let it ruin my week since I at least have the Niners to look forward to. But god forbid if they lose on Saturday

 

[Showtime]

Maybe it should be. The plan is pretty clearly set to give Fox/Monk the 4th quarter and the rest of the guys get out of the way. Might be time for Domas to just go take the ball and start being more selfish.

Again, he's big man Steve Nash/Magic Johnson. His instinct is not to score, it's to orchestrate the offense. It's not his fault the rest of the core (mostly Fox and Monk right now) aren't holding up their end of the bargain.

And that's fine but people keep bringing up his numbers to compare to the elite bigs and IMO he's not in that caliber of Embid/Giannis/Joker

 

[KF8]

Some positives...

Keegan continues to develop nicely. Would like to see brown be more confident in going to him more. We need more variation in our offense.

Sabonis continues to shine with another triple double.

Huerter could be out of his funk?

I know the bar is set low, but we didn't exactly get blown out and showed some fight near the end. Usually kings fold when they are down by a good margin.

Give credit to the pacers. They are a deep team and seem to be built to play very well even without their star and key players. It's not like the Kings loss to a bad team.

 

[Tetsujin]

Maybe it should be. The plan is pretty clearly set to give Fox/Monk the 4th quarter and the rest of the guys get out of the way. Might be time for Domas to just go take the ball and start being more selfish.

Again, he's big man Steve Nash/Magic Johnson. His instinct is not to score, it's to orchestrate the offense. It's not his fault the rest of the core (mostly Fox and Monk right now) aren't holding up their end of the bargain.

The honest solution might just be to continue to fast track Keegan’s development.

 

[TaxMan]

My theory is that Fox is hurt, but he doesn’t want to sit out/rest because he doesn’t want to miss out on a possible All-NBA bonus. It’d be a 4 year extension this off-season at an average of 67mpy with 70mpy in the final year. I agree with you. He’s legit playing horrible on both ends of the floor. For a game like tonight, we would’ve been better with Keon starting in his spot. Fox let TJ McConnell fly by him and score at will. Fox got the nice stat pad in the 4th quarter when the Pacers were playing to defend 3s.

Something is off, but I think it’s a bit much to insinuate he’s being selfish about his future max contract. He’s been a dog his whole career. Hard for me to fault him trying to play through injuries (if he is injured) while at the same time bemoaning soft players and load management. Coach needs to sit him if it’s in the best interest of the team, but I think we have seen his whole care fox will play whenever he can.

 

[QWERTYLICIOUS]

Yes and no. Expectations were different and we played with a more carefree joy. Brown is working to take them to the next level (as he should) and I think it’s grinding on the team. Thinking too much and certainly not as much joy. It makes the losses more of a bummer to watch.

I'm inclined to say that we're just not quite ready to make that leap. We showed, last season, that we're most certainly heading in the right direction, but, if nothing else, this season has told me that we're not quite there just yet. I wouldn't even necessarily say that we've moved back a little. I just think we're stuck in one spot, and are facing a major pushback heading our way. We just have to figure out how to weather that incoming storm, and plow forward. It might take a little more time than we had originally hoped it would.

If that results in massive gains at the end of the day, then I don't necessarily mind where we currently are.

 

[TaxMan]

The honest solution might just be to continue to fast track Keegan’s development.

This is the only realistic path we have to a significant jump as a team.

 

[Rob-The-Great]

Yes and no. Expectations were different and we played with a more carefree joy. Brown is working to take them to the next level (as he should) and I think it’s grinding on the team. Thinking too much and certainly not as much joy. It makes the losses more of a bummer to watch.

Where is the No part at? How are they better?

What you said is exactly my point. We are still underdogs, who told anyone a 1st round exit makes you that team to beat?

Fox 3s a better but everything else especially fts are down

Sobonis I have no problems with except I feel he's looking for the 10 assist instead of being aggressive when nessasary regardless of the triple double

Murray- small increase, not enough

Hurter- overall major decrease lil better OK defense

Barnes - Trash doo doo

Monk - I don't know what to day about this guy, one min you love him the next you wanna choke him. I can now see why he's not a starter and only a spark plug, but now we are giving him starting minutes and it's starting to hurt us. It's odd I know

Sasha needs more minutes
Mitchell needs some min or be traded
Still need a center upgrade backup

We have not made it! We are still unproven and need to play like the pacers are playing. Hungry and disrespected. Someone tell Shaq to call us Queens again

 

[Tizzy Flip]

The thing about his game is that he's not a guy like Embid that when nothing is working, you give him the rock at the high post and just let him get buckets. He's not that type of star. That's always been my criticism after he got exposed against the warriors.

It was kind of annoying hearing the Pacers coverage whenever Sabonis had the ball down low. They just kept saying over and over again, just cover his left. Sure enough in the 2nd half they would overplay his left and started getting blocks and steals. Was pretty hard watching them call out his moves before he made them

 

[206Fan]

The honest solution might just be to continue to fast track Keegan’s development.

I’ve been calling for a 3rd scorer like Zach LaVine for a while now, but I think it’s clear that scoring is the least of our problems at the moment. I think it’s also clear that we’ve got something special with Keegan. Maybe not this year, but I think he can end up as your 3rd best player on a playoff team if he keeps up the aggressiveness. Consistency has been the only thing holding him back, but he’s played phenomenal these past 2 months.

 

[TaxMan]

I'm inclined to say that we're just not quite ready to make that leap. We showed, last season, that we're most certainly heading in the right direction, but, if nothing else, this season has told me that we're not quite there just yet. I wouldn't even necessarily say that we've moved back a little. I just think we're stuck in one spot, and are facing a major pushback heading our way. We just have to figure out how to weather that incoming storm, and plow forward. It might take a little more time than we had originally hoped it would.

If that results in massive gains at the end of the day, then I don't necessarily mind where we currently are.

I don’t disagree. I think on average we are about the same as last year — which was a year we probably should have finished 6th in a “normal” year vs. 3rd. I guess my point was that as a fan, there were an awful lot of terrible losses last year also but we were the darlings of the league, playing a lot more loose an it was just a fun ride. I mean, I remember being so excited to get to a .500 record last year.

 

[Tizzy Flip]

The honest solution might just be to continue to fast track Keegan’s development.

I wouldn’t mind seeing what he can do in iso in the clutch. Might as well try, just like what Raptors did with Barnes this year. If he succeeds, great we have another option other than a Fox or Monk iso

 

[TaxMan]

Where is the No part at? How are they better?

What you said is exactly my point. We are still underdogs, who told anyone a 1st round exit makes you that team to beat?

Fox 3s a better but everything else especially fts are down

Sobonis I have no problems with except I feel he's looking for the 10 assist instead of being aggressive when nessasary regardless of the triple double

Murray- small increase, not enough

Hurter- overall major decrease lil better OK defense

Barnes - Trash doo doo

Monk - I don't know what to day about this guy, one min you love him the next you wanna choke him. I can now see why he's not a starter and only a spark plug, but now we are giving him starting minutes and it's starting to hurt us. It's odd I know

Sasha needs more minutes
Mitchell needs some min or be traded
Still need a center upgrade backup

We have not made it! We are still unproven and need to play like the pacers are playing. Hungry and disrespected. Someone tell Shaq to call us Queens again

Ok….

 

[Turgenev]

Four straight tough losses. They have lost their focus. Too many distractions with the trade deadline looming. Fox looks hurt and and not nearly as aggressive as he was earlier in the season. And the free throws…OMG, the free throws. Last in the league. The three days off is sorely needed.

I do wonder if there is a trade deadline / rumour effect

 

[Kingz19]

Brown needs to move HB out of the starting lineup

It’s not in the realm of “*it’s not as bad as it seems, look at the percentages!” anymore. He isn’t doing anything. I think only 3 double figures games this month. He doesn’t rebound. He doesn’t create…and most of all, his defense sucks!

That sort of offensive output from a starter with his minutes is only acceptable if they are a stopper. Out of all our players and bad defenders…HB is the one guy that I can’t think of one moment this season where I said “great defense HB!”…and it’s certainly not because I take it for granted lol

Going into tonight’s game he has averaged 8 points and 2 rebounds in 26 minutes in 2024. Math isn’t my strong suit but I don’t think his 2-1 line tonight will make even those meager numbers hold steady.

Start Sasha. He should be playing his minutes with Domas anyway. Otherwise we should’ve just let him stay with Olympiacos and signed somebody to address the dearth of frontcourt size, length, and athleticism instead. No point bringing over to play him at small forward with Len and Lyles. Defense doesn’t matter considering who is ahead of him.

Basically, HB’s last hope is to be an iso guy off the bench. Even back when the Kings needed him to be a 20 a game guy he was prone to become just a number out there. Allowing him to be a “system guy” just made the “is HB even playing?” games more frequent.

 

[Turgenev]

Last year when the Pacers came to play us when blew them away and had Rock Carlisle saying 'I didn't have my team prepared for THAT'. Our record is pretty much the same this year but we do not feel like the same team.

 

[TaxMan]

Brown needs to move HB out of the starting lineup

It’s not in the realm of “*it’s not as bad as it seems, look at the percentages!” anymore. He isn’t doing anything. I think only 3 double figures games this month. He doesn’t rebound. He doesn’t create…and most of all, his defense sucks!

That sort of offensive output from a starter with his minutes is only acceptable if they are a stopper. Out of all our players and bad defenders…HB is the one guy that I can’t think of one moment this season where I said “great defense HB!”…and it’s certainly not because I take it for granted lol

Going into tonight’s game he has averaged 8 points and 2 rebounds in 26 minutes in 2024. Math isn’t my strong suit but I don’t think his 2-1 line tonight will make even those meager numbers hold steady.

Start Sasha. He should be playing his minutes with Domas anyway. Otherwise we should’ve just let him stay with Olympiacos and signed somebody to address the dearth of frontcourt size, length, and athleticism instead. No point bringing over to play him at small forward with Len and Lyles. Defense doesn’t matter considering who is ahead of him.

Basically, HB’s last hope is to be an iso guy off the bench. Even back when the Kings needed him to be a 20 a game guy he was prone to become just a number out there. Allowing him to be a “system guy” just made the “is HB even playing?” games more frequent.

Amen!

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

I genuinely feel.we may have been a better team last year compared to.this year.

We where way hungrier, played with passion, and swag.

Now we came into.the league thinking we earned something, lost sole cost games and now have lost are identity. This team is lost. Changed must be made

I've been telling you guys all year, the resemblance between this year's Kings and the 1999-2000 Kings is astonishing. #Listentomenow #Believemelateron

Kings fans need to be more zen about this: the Kings are still going to make the playoffs. They weren't going get out of the first round, anyway. They aren't close to being in any kind of championship window. McNair needed to see what he had in Murray (meaning specifically that he needed to see whether Murray was going to put in the work last offseason to take the next step, and all signs suggest that he has), he needed to see whether or not to offer Monk that extension, he needed to see what he had on his bench (Monk looks good, Lyles looks good, Ellis looks good, Len looks good, everyone else is a question mark). He needed to see whether anybody became available that would be a good fit with what he's trying to build: anybody he could have gone after last offseason would have been a win-now move, and the Kings aren't ready to win now.

He needed to see how the players on his team (who, with the exception of Murray and - I guess - Sabonis have played for losers their whole career) would react to no longer being the team that was catching other teams by surprise. Like, I know it's been a while for Kings fans, but coaches gameplan differently for you when you become a playoff team. There used to be a time when the Kings might have been able to steal a game like this in mid-January, and the other coach would be like, "Eh, **** it, it's just the Kings, let 'em have this one." Now, it's like, "Oh, we might see these guys again in April, and this game might cost us home court; we better not screw around any more." These players, as a collective, or even at all, aren't used to that kind of scrutiny, and McNair needed to see who can handle it and who can't.

Too many of y'all have "grass is greener" syndrome. The Kings are developing at an acceptable rate, let it play out. If y'all are still in the same situation two years from now, that would be time to freak out.

 

[captain bill]

Starting Sasha over HB has to happen sooner rather than later. At least *try* it. Huerter was actively bad but he was working and active. That can turn around. Barnes is just MIA and wasted minutes at this point.

Sasha also plays similar to Keegan when on the court with Domas, in that they are both good at using their size to get boards and defend but don't clog up the lane and get in Domas's way.

It feels like the team has no plans for Barnes and is just letting him hang out on the court. It's only a matter of time before he plays 20 minutes with straight eggs across the box score

 

[King Baller]

I did not watch this game, could not do it. HB was going to be traded to Toronto until Pascal told the Kings he would not resign here. I suspect that stung HB a little. Did Keegan touch the ball in the last 5 minutes of that Suns game? Dame put a dagger in the team spirit in the Bucks game. Hopefully the Fellas can get their groove back and I hope all of us Fans can as well. Good night.