[Game] Play-in Tournament 9/10 game: Kings vs. Mavericks 16 APR 2025, 7pm PT/10pm ET (ESPN)

[iowamcnabb]

Where we were? We had a single fluke of season where everyone had career years, no one got hurt, everything went right … and then we still lost in the first round.

That team was never who we were, no matter how purple your glasses are.

48 and 46 wins is incredibly hard to do in the Western conference. Even 40 wins is difficult

 

[TaxMan]

Maybe the worst half I can remember seeing Domas play. Nothing working, no chemistry with Zach, feels like he might be checked out.

 

[ShastaKingsFan]

It seemed like the last couple of matchups Davis turned the tide. Davis used to get owned by Domas.

It changes things a lot, when he can play the 4 next to Lively and Gafford

 

[iowamcnabb]

Well it’s not over. I mean it’s certainly possible to get this to 12 by the 4th but how do we get there?

 

[SacTownKid]

Great play call, Christie.

The only real mistake by DC so far is not sticking with the bench longer. The starters are shook. Flat out. You have to send a shocker to them by sitting them down and being a little bit mean. I'm sure the halftime speech is going to be brutal but you need to send that message before it's out of hand.

 

[Srzly]

Domas with quite possibly the worst half in Kings franchise history. 5 points, 5 boards, 4 assists somehow, on 2-8 shooting with four turnovers while every single guy he’s been tasked with guarding has absolutely cooked him.

I think our only hope is if he sits the second half.

 

[fansinceday1]

Maybe the worst half I can remember seeing Domas play. Nothing working, no chemistry with Zach, feels like he might be checked out.

Kind of giving me that fox feeling right before he got traded. Dude checked out a long time before.

 

[Tetsujin]

Also wasn’t a fan of Doug pulling DC after the first quarter. Dude was rolling on both ends and Doug went back to Keon after five minutes anyways

 

[Makaveli]

So when is the lottery?

 

[Caccia]

I'm so angry.

Flabbergasted and dismayed. I thought this team had some experience in the pressure cooker, even without Fox.

 

[ESP47]

They can't make simple passes, it's not their defense. Spacing and angles are bad.

They have all our players bottled up. Especially DDR. It's over.

Doug needs to just go with the twin towers and see what happens.

 

[Bosnian Diehard]

Utterly embarrassing performance and deserved boos. DeRozan, Ellis and Carter the only ones who weren’t scared of the moment.

Trade Sabonis, LaVine and DeRozan and kickstart this rebuild. I won’t suffer through another year of this.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Silver lining time: the Mavericks have a lot of choke in them. If the Kings can cut the deficit in half by the end of the third, they still have a shot.

 

[SacTownKid]

Well it’s not over. I mean it’s certainly possible to get this to 12 by the 4th but how do we get there?

If Domas is going to play with this kind of effort then it's not possible. You could clone Ellis and Carter and it still might not make up for it on the defensive end. If his ankle is having a bad day, sit him.

 

[TaxMan]

For all the crap Kings fans have taken this year, this feels like an appropriate way to go out. If any fanbase deserves a miracle ping pong ball to reset a franchise, this is it.

 

[ShastaKingsFan]

Domas with quite possibly the worst half in Kings franchise history. 5 points, 5 boards, 4 assists somehow, on 2-8 shooting with four turnovers while every single guy he’s been tasked with guarding has absolutely cooked him.

His lack of shooting from mid and longer range, when matched up against quality length, has reared it's ugly head again

 

[QWERTYLICIOUS]

Well, it was most certainly "fun" while it lasted, gang!!!

 

[Tetsujin]

Utterly embarrassing performance and deserved boos. DeRozan, Ellis and Carter the only ones who weren’t scared of the moment.

Trade Sabonis, LaVine and DeRozan and kickstart this rebuild. I won’t suffer through another year of this.

Keon has hit some shots but he was also singlehandedly responsible for 2017 Klay showing up.

 

[TheMobb]

It’s not a coincidence Domas played a bad half. Everyone including the Dallas fans clown the trade for Luka. But they went all in on a beastly frontcourt. And we’re seeing the results of that.

 

[Joshyjosh31]

Probably the worst Domas has ever looked on the Kings. He usually plays well against the athletic shot blocker types but Dallas has about 4 of them so maybe it’s too much

He usually sucks in the playoffs

 

[gunks]

Lol ESPN calling the Kings a bunch of sissies that dont want to fight from 10th

 

[Tetsujin]

His lack of shooting from mid and longer range, when matched up against quality length, has reared it's ugly head again

The dumb thing is that he was shooting those shots all season but randomly decided to stop taking them over the last month or so.

 

[QWERTYLICIOUS]

Lol ESPN calling the Kings a bunch of sissies that dont want to fight from 10th

Are they incorrect in their assessment, though?

 

[hrdboild]

I think we finish top 12 pick if we lose, right?

If we'd lost the last game of the regular season to Phoenix that might have been true. As things stand currently, we would also need Miami to beat Atlanta on Friday pushing them (Atlanta) out of the playoffs and we'd also need Dallas to beat Memphis on Friday and then we would have to win a coin flip with Atlanta pre-lottery and not have Atlanta or Memphis leapfrog us when the lottery selections are actually made. But it's not un-possible.

 

[ShastaKingsFan]

For all the crap Kings fans have taken this year, this feels like an appropriate way to go out. If any fanbase deserves a miracle ping pong ball to reset a franchise, this is it.

This is exactly what we all thought when they were gifted the #2 pick in that draft........Marvin Bagley is an end of the bench roster filler for Memphis

 

[gunks]

Are they incorrect in their assessment, though?

Nope!

 

[Bosnian Diehard]

Keon has hit some shots but he was also singlehandedly responsible for 2017 Klay showing up.

It’s not his fault no one was there to cover for him when he got eaten up by a screen. Not sure if it was Doug’s coverages or laziness by teammates a simple screen freed him up so easy.

 

[ShastaKingsFan]

The dumb thing is that he was shooting those shots all season but randomly decided to stop taking them over the last month or so.

He doesn't believe in it as a best option. Always wants to defer

 

[gunks]

This is exactly what we all thought when they were gifted the #2 pick in that draft........Marvin Bagley is an end of the bench roster filler for Memphis

I would feel pretty comfortable with Monte in the top 3 vs whoever we end up with after Vivek fires him in the next week or so. Say what you will about his roster construction or trades, he's been the best drafter we've had since early era Petrie.

99.5% chance it's a moot point though haha

 

[Tetsujin]

It’s not his fault no one was there to cover for him when he got eaten up by a screen. Not sure if it was Doug’s coverages or laziness by teammates a simple screen freed him up so easy.

Going under screens has been Keon’s MO for most of the season though. He does it to try to bait guys into throwing the ball into a lane he can get his hands on but when the ball gets to his guy it leaves him wideass open