The Kings hit rock bottom with a catastrophic collapse in a loss to the Pistons

The Kings hit rock bottom with a catastrophic collapse in a loss to the Pistons originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SACRAMENTO – Next stop for the Kings: Rock Bottom.

That is, if they are not already there.

Thursday amazing 114-113 loss to the Detroit Pistons was a perfect synopsis of the Kings’ recent fortunes — their inability to hold onto big leads, their inability to hone in on key details and make plays down the stretch and a general sense of malaise in crunch time.

For the second game in a row, the Kings were booed by the passionate home crowd at the Golden 1 Center, a sign of how bad things have been lately.

It’s five straight losses for Sacramento, the Kings’ longest skid since seven games into the 2021-22 NBA season.

In a campaign of gut punch after gut punch, this one feels like it hurts the most.

The Kings led by as many as 19 and had a 98-83 advantage after Trey Lyles’ 3-pointer with 8:31 left to play. Sacramento’s offense seized like a bad engine after that as Mike Brown watched his team go scoreless over the next 3 minutes.

They were outscored 24-13 over the final 5½ minutes, and that wasn’t the worst part.

With the Kings holding a three-point lead as the clock ticked off in the final seconds, Detroit’s Jaden Ivey lined up in the right corner for a 3-pointer. Fox closed out a little too hard and beat Ivey, who made the basket and the free throw for the game-tying points.

It was a complete breakdown in defensive philosophy that killed the Kings, according to Brown.

“If you’re up three and guys go to the 3-point line, there shouldn’t be a layup. No closing option,” Brown explained. “We were OK with mscoring two at the rim, so you shouldn’t be able to help at all. You have to hug up to your man at the 3-point line. Everyone should. Why was Fox shut down? I’m not sure.

“Tough loss that at worst should have gone to overtime.”

Brown also had issues with the Kings’ pace in the final six minutes — “We completely shut down with about six minutes left. Three minutes left we’re rolling the ball and walking it, going against a solid defense every time,” Brown said.

The Pistons scored 37 points in the fourth quarter after getting just 43 combined in the second and third quarters.

“We have to have some kind of mental toughness,” Brown said. “We get hit by screens and we literally stopped and complained to the referee. That’s not winning basketball.”

Fox acknowledged the frustration the Kings are feeling, especially after letting another game slip away at the end.

“We knew this was a winnable game,” Fox said. “We gave ourselves a chance to win during the fourth quarter and we didn’t do a good job. We have to be able to finish games better.”

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