[Game] 80/82: Kings @ Warriors 07 APR 2026, 7pm PT/10pm ET

[TaxMan]

I didn’t watch the game last night, but KNBR this morning was lamenting that the Kings deployed a “Hack a Curry” strategy in crunch time last night to secure a Lin?

If true, that’s even more shameless than the Jazz. I’m proud of them

I saw Draymond quoted as making this point in an Athletic article today. Implying the Kings are a undignified tanking team. Seems kind of like a self-own by KNBR and Draymond. The crappy kings team had to "throw" a game to lose to the warriors?? There are a lot of stupid plays that happen in every game. Not sure they all are necessarily evidence of explicit tanking.

 

[KingsFanSince85]

I saw Draymond quoted as making this point in an Athletic article today. Implying the Kings are a undignified tanking team. Seems kind of like a self-own by KNBR and Draymond. The crappy kings team had to "throw" a game to lose to the warriors?? There are a lot of stupid plays that happen in every game. Not sure they all are necessarily evidence of explicit tanking.

The next time Draymond knows what he’s talking about will be the very first time.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

You are sensationalizing things. “Crashing out”.

Possibly. Could be that we define "crashing out" differently.

Feels like the contingent who is having a problem with pro-tank forum members are as equally guilty of being on one end of the conversation where everyone is probably closer to the middle. Somewhere.

Eh... YMMV but I typically find myself of the sentiment that the party who is "hit" by the first metaphorical stone is never "equally guilty" to the party who threw it. I guess it depends on whom you think "started" it?

Yep….here’s the other thing with our young guys…I’m happy they are getting heavy minutes but I also have seen players at the end of the year put up big numbers when a majority of teams are in end of year mode.

Except they haven't been playing against teams in end-of-year mode. This has been a season where it's taken a lot of time for things to get settled. Some things still aren't settled. And with the exceptions of the Jazz, Pacers and Nets (each of whom they've only played once in that span), the Kings last eighteen games have been against opponents who have all been playing to win the game for some reason or other, whether it was to clinch a playoff berth, or for playoff positioning, or to avoid the play-in, or for play-in position, or even (in New Orleans' case), to keep their pick from going to another team.

 

[ESP47]

This is the correct take, but even when the above happens and those guys win the game... you have a contingent that bemoan how stupid this franchise is about not even being able to lose properly.

A couple here are an inch away from saying the Kings should intentionally throw the game. Thats just a bad take too

I feel like most of the takes are pretty reasonable but they aren't being interpreted as such. Although I haven't read through 100% of the posts either.

The truth of the matter is that there have been very few games won by the young guys that was just straight on the backs of the young guys. The Pelicans game and Mavericks game were about the only two that were mostly carried by the young guys. The Pels game could have been lost by playing DDR and Precious less but the Mavs game was pretty much the young guys showing out.

The Raptors game was won by Precious, DDR and Monk.

Nets win had Monk scoring 32.

Jazz win had DDR scoring 41.

Bulls win had Monk at 30 and Westbrook 23.

What people are doing is in any of these wins, if any of the young guys also had a good game, they point to that and sarcastically say that the pro tanker must have wanted one of the young guys to get benched or that Doug had his hands tied and just absolutely had to play DDR 34min. None of that is true. Maybe one or two of those 4 games above would have been won if Doug played the vets less minutes but either way it's just not a smart move to let the vets cook like that when the smart franchises are positioning themselves for better odds.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Sacramento being penalized for tanking over (allegedly) intentionally fouling Curry while Washington, Indiana and Utah skate would be hysterical.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

Sacramento being penalized for tanking over (allegedly) intentionally fouling Curry while Washington, Indiana and Utah skate would be hysterical.

Is there league buzz about this or just KNBR talk show complaints?

 

[QWERTYLICIOUS]

Is there league buzz about this or just KNBR talk show complaints?

Sources: Kings' late foul was tactical error, not tanking

The NBA is looking into what team sources say was a strategy mistake by Kings coach Doug Christie -- and not tanking tactics -- during Tuesday's loss to the Warriors.

www.espn.com

 

[Kingz19]

Is there league buzz about this or just KNBR talk show complaints?

It’s part of the “top stories” on espn.com and the NBA is “looking into it”

From the ESPN article

“The strategy was just a misstep, sources told ESPN, as Christie wanted to use a timeout before he automatically lost it when the clock ticked below three minutes. Sources said Christie miscalculated that the Warriors were in the bonus and it would send Curry, an 86.4% career free throw shooter, to the line, despite more appealing options on the floor to foul if opting to hack a player.“

 

[MizzouKing]

Losing by small margins at the end of a very losing season when other teams barely notice your existence is nothing to be confident about. The Kings are a loooooooooooong way from getting to the hallowed ground of mediocrity (.500), much less a winning team that other teams take seriously.

Hey, I said cautiously...

The last time I had this feeling was in the late 90's when we were losing a lot, but just barely. That was right before the start of the glory days seasons. I don't see this team in that stratosphere, but I do think our trajectory has begun an important shift.

 

[MizzouKing]

No, no, no. We can't think that way. The ONLY way out is by losing 70 games a season and banking top-10 picks in perpetuity. Anyone who succeeds too much must be traded for more draft picks that we hope to turn into those type of successful players. Or so I've been told, ad nauseum.

YMMV.

I'm sorry, what on earth was I thinking?!?

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Is there league buzz about this or just KNBR talk show complaints?

You remember that I don't live in California, right? We don't get KNBR where I'm at...

I was glancing at the Bird™ and I saw that Doug Christie was trending and thought, "Why the **** is Doug Christie trending?" So then I clicked on the trend, and saw all these reposts from a segment on NBA Countdown where they were discussing the end to the game last night, and whether Sacramento did it on purpose, as well as remarks from people saying that the NBA was investigating the Kings for intentionally fouling Curry to lose the game.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

You remember that I don't live in California, right? We don't get KNBR where I'm at...

Yes, but earlier in this thread it was mentioned that KNBR was talking about it, so I thought you might have taken it from here. (I don't listen to sports talk radio myself, so I only knew there was any buzz at all from this thread.)

 

[Tetsujin]

Sacramento being penalized for tanking over (allegedly) intentionally fouling Curry while Washington, Indiana and Utah skate would be hysterical.

They didn’t even foul the good Curry Brother AND the guy ended up missing one of his free throws if memory serves me correct.

 

[Caccia]

Sources: Kings' late foul was tactical error, not tanking

The NBA is looking into what team sources say was a strategy mistake by Kings coach Doug Christie -- and not tanking tactics -- during Tuesday's loss to the Warriors.

www.espn.com

"Tanking is the last thing [I'd do]," Christie said after a recent win over the Jazz. "I respect the game too much. These young men, in my opinion, when you do things like that, it hurts them."

I could not have said it better myself.

 

[Warhawk]

Well, now you're starting to veer into the same ridiculous hyperbole that they are... nobody's said that, either.

Sorry, I guess I should have used the sarcasm font to make it clear I was exaggerating.

 

[Tetsujin]

Draymond accusing the Kings of tanking when they have a better record than the Warriors post ASB is potentially peak Draymond hysterics lol

 

[Warhawk]

"Tanking is the last thing [I'd do]," Christie said after a recent win over the Jazz. "I respect the game too much. These young men, in my opinion, when you do things like that, it hurts them."

I could not have said it better myself.

Agreed. Play the youth for development and limit the vets to 20 minutes or whatever? Yes.

Tank, no. There’s a big difference.

 

[Section 101]

Draymond accusing the Kings of tanking when they have a better record than the Warriors post ASB is potentially peak Draymond hysterics lol

The even more funny part about fouling Seth is he missed 1 free throw, so it benefited the Kings.

 

[coolhandluke]

Since when is 3:15 end of the game? That's an eternity in the NBA. Dumb Draymond goes on a rant and everyone latches on it to dump on the laughingstock of the NBA.

 

[TaxMan]

Since when is 3:15 end of the game? That's an eternity in the NBA. Dumb Draymond goes on a rant and everyone latches on it to dump on the laughingstock of the NBA.

It was a dumb foul that says more about Doug as a tactician, but it was definitely not tanking. If the NBA actually issues some sort of fine to the Kings for that, and continues to let the Wiz, Jazz, etc., get away with with the line-up crap they are doing, I just may quit the NBA.

 

[HndsmCelt]

Since when is 3:15 end of the game? That's an eternity in the NBA. Dumb Draymond goes on a rant and everyone latches on it to dump on the laughingstock of the NBA.

Not going to defend the position that the kings are a point of mockery at this stage but if you’re looking for the laughing stock of the NBA, I suggest you tune into the Pacers Brooklyn game tonight. In fact, I suggest Silver be required to watch it.

 

[Tetsujin]

Not going to defend the position that the kings are a point of mockery at this stage but if you’re looking for the laughing stock of the NBA, I suggest you tune into the Pacers Brooklyn game tonight. In fact, I suggest Silver be required to watch it.

Draymond should be forced to watch it to see what real tanking looks like.

 

[Kingster]

Hey, I said cautiously...

The last time I had this feeling was in the late 90's when we were losing a lot, but just barely. That was right before the start of the glory days seasons. I don't see this team in that stratosphere, but I do think our trajectory has begun an important shift.

Gotcha.

With a good draft and the right summer moves I can see this team garnering a shift in fan optimism for next year. It will get more of my attention if such occurs.

I agree about the trajectory part when it comes to win-loss percentage. The bottom is probably in and next year it probably improves a little. We're still in a transition phase, though, and big names like DDR, Sabonis, and LaVine are mere interlopers at this point.

 

[KainLear]

Sources: Kings' late foul was tactical error, not tanking

The NBA is looking into what team sources say was a strategy mistake by Kings coach Doug Christie -- and not tanking tactics -- during Tuesday's loss to the Warriors.

www.espn.com

"The NBA has completed an investigation of the Sacramento Kings and Head Coach Doug Christie's decision to foul intentionally late in the team's game against the Golden State Warriors on April 7. The league's investigation determined that Christie mistakenly believed that the Warriors were not in the penalty and therefore instructed his team to foul in an attempt to stop the clock and utilize one of the team's remaining timeouts. The investigation found that Christie made no intentional effort to give the Warriors a shooting foul, or to cause the Kings to lose the game."

 

[Capt. Factorial]

"The NBA has completed an investigation of the Sacramento Kings and Head Coach Doug Christie's decision to foul intentionally late in the team's game against the Golden State Warriors on April 7. The league's investigation determined that Christie mistakenly believed that the Warriors were not in the penalty and therefore instructed his team to foul in an attempt to stop the clock and utilize one of the team's remaining timeouts. The investigation found that Christie made no intentional effort to give the Warriors a shooting foul, or to cause the Kings to lose the game."

Basketball karma is beginning to line up behind us! AJ here we come!

 

[HndsmCelt]

"The NBA has completed an investigation of the Sacramento Kings and Head Coach Doug Christie's decision to foul intentionally late in the team's game against the Golden State Warriors on April 7. The league's investigation determined that Christie mistakenly believed that the Warriors were not in the penalty and therefore instructed his team to foul in an attempt to stop the clock and utilize one of the team's remaining timeouts. The investigation found that Christie made no intentional effort to give the Warriors a shooting foul, or to cause the Kings to lose the game."

I find it cold comfort that I am relieved like many other fans to find out that the team was not intentionally trying to lose the game, but is really just that bad.

 

[KainLear]

I find it cold comfort that I am relieved like many other fans to find out that the team was not intentionally trying to lose the game, but is really just that bad.

After review, the investigation has concluded that no rules were broken, but rather, this appears to be a case of execution falling just slightly short of professional expectations.

 

[Caccia]

After review, the investigation has concluded that no rules were broken, but rather, this appears to be a case of execution falling just slightly short of professional expectations.

That does not instill broad confidence in the head coach going forward, though, does it?

 

[Capt. Factorial]

That does not instill broad confidence in the head coach going forward, though, does it?

While at Michigan, in the National Championship game, Chris Webber took a timeout that his team didn't have, resulting in Michigan losing the game. Doesn't really instill broad confidence in Webber's future in the NBA, does it?

Or maybe one mistake in an inconsequential game isn't really the best indicator of future success, I don't know.

 

[SacTownKid]

I find it cold comfort that I am relieved like many other fans to find out that the team was not intentionally trying to lose the game, but is really just that bad.

Now it's not even a question is it. haha.