In Doug Christie’s first game as coach, the Kings show that more is needed to turn their season around

On By Littum

LOS ANGELES – Of course, Doug Christie would start his tenure as interim head coach of the Sacramento Kings in Southern California with a road game against the Los Angeles Lakers. That bit of fate was not lost on him ahead of Saturday night’s game.

“This is Los Angeles,” said Christie, 54, addressing the media for the first time since the organization fired head coach Mike Brown on Friday following a five-game home winless streak. “It’s a lot of history here. It’s a lot of history in this building, in that hallway. And for it to be this team, yeah. It’s, wow. It’s about time. And for me to be with my team, yes.”

You see, Christie began his 15-year NBA career with the Lakers on March 12, 1993 after being drafted 17th overall in 1992 out of Pepperdine by Christie’s hometown team, the Seattle SuperSonics. On October 13, 1994, the Lakers traded Christie to the New York Knicks, where he played for Lakers legend Pat Riley. Christie eventually established himself as a starter with the Toronto Raptors before landing in Sacramento for the 2000-01 season, where he earned the first of four consecutive All-Defensive team selections. Christie was part of the Kings teams that lost to the Lakers in the 2001 Western Conference Semifinals and 2002 Western Conference Finals.

Christie played more games with the Kings (355) than any of his other six teams, which also included cameos with the Orlando Magic, Dallas Mavericks and LA Clippers. Getting his first official win against a Lakers team he still hates like every other Sacramento Kings fan would have been a storybook.

“I mean, we’re in Hollywood,” Christie said. “So you couldn’t write a better script … how it will turn out, whether it’s a love story or a horror story, we don’t quite know yet. We’ll find out tonight in a bit.”

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Saturday night, Christie and the Kings learned they will need more than one game after a coaching change to get back in the right direction. The Lakers beat the Kings 132-122, sweeping the regular season series against Sacramento for the first time since 2010. The Lakers’ 132 points tied their season high and were the most allowed by the Kings all season. The loss also marked the sixth time this season Sacramento has scored at least 120 points in a loss. The Kings had just five such games last season.

On Saturday, the first and third quarters were the Kings’ biggest problem as they allowed multiple 40-point quarters in the same game for the first time since their 176-175 double-overtime road win against the Clippers on Feb. 24, 2023. The Lakers led 40-31 through one quarter game in which the Kings allowed 73.9 percent shooting in the first quarter, their worst mark allowed in an opening period this season. Sacramento was able to fight back after trailing by 11 points, taking a 66-65 lead into halftime after a masterful first half from small forward DeMar DeRozan (14 points, 7-of-8 shooting, six assists and no turnovers). But then the Lakers closed the third quarter with a 9-0 run to end a period in which the Kings allowed 42 points, their most allowed in a third period all season.

“It’s been a crazy 24 hours,” Christie said after the Kings trailed by as many as 20 points in the final period. “I liked offensively, there were a lot of things we did. I’m thinking defensively, what I’m asking them to do, the level of intensity that I want to see, it’s difficult. That’s it. I did and I told them. I understand. I want you to play so hard that you put your hand up and say, ‘I’m going out.’

“But I’m proud of the game that they put out and we’re going to be better on both sides of the ball,” Christie said after the game.

Although Christie has grown in NBA renown over the past few decades, he’s looking to downplay Sacramento’s latest coaching change all about him. In the visitors’ dressing room, three words were written on the board: Joy, Compete, Together. Christie wants the Kings to play hard and at pace, while simplifying the overall approach and increasing the atmosphere in some way.

“It’s just basketball is what it is,” Christie said. “It is a super high level and there is a lot at stake. But the ability to keep them grounded and let them know that we’re here to compete at a high level, we’re here to do it together, and we’re going to do that every single night. Trying to do something special isn’t what it’s about. It’s all about them. It’s not about me. So I’m here as a channel to try to get them to be the best version of themselves. That has really been my message to them. And I hope that the level of competition for them stays at an extremely high level every single night. That’s the one thing I can’t shake. And I think they understand that.”

So much of what happens with the Kings starts with their top players. However, all of these players are at different points in their careers. And even against the Lakers, their ups and downs were entirely unique in themselves.

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Domantas Sabonis has made the last two All-NBA third teams and is set to earn $49.9 million in salary in 2027-28, the final year of an extension signed in 2023. The 28-year-old center has had a tough round week. On Thursday, he missed Sacramento’s 19-point lead against the Detroit Pistons because of an illness, marking Brown’s final game as head coach. The same illness caused Sabonis to miss the Browns’ final practice on Friday, which preceded Brown’s dismissal, and Sacramento’s triple-double leader did not fly with the team to Los Angeles. Sabonis joined the team for shootaround Saturday morning and participated in the game.

“It’s hard to get me off the floor,” Sabonis said Saturday night. “If there’s any chance I could play, I wanted to play and be here, especially with everything that happened in the time I was away and Doug being the coach now. I feel like I had to to be here and try to give everything I had today.”

While Sabonis finished with 12 rebounds and seven assists, he scored just 14 points while making as many fouls (six) as field goals (out of 13 attempts). Lakers center Anthony Davis hadn’t won a game against a Sabonis team before this season in 10 tries, but Davis made each of his first five field goals Saturday night while relentlessly targeting Sabonis:

Sabonis was in foul trouble before the break, leaving backup power forward Trey Lyles to be regularly feathered and tarred by Davis:

Then the Kings were really cooked by what is arguably their greatest weakness: their tendency to fail. Sabonis picked up his fifth foul while helping double team Davis with 4:17 left in the third quarter. The Lakers turned a 92-85 lead into a 110-90 lead moments into the fourth quarter. For good measure, Christie burned a timeout and his final challenge on Sabonis’ sixth and disqualifying foul with 5:20 left in the game. Davis finished with a game-high 36 points on 12-of-16 shooting while making as many free throws (11-of-13) as the entire Kings team (11-of-15).

“It’s tough when we lose our biggest guy, our most dynamic guy,” said 16-year NBA veteran DeMar DeRozan, who is in his first season with the Kings. “Somebody out there to give AD some types of problems, especially defensively. When you lose that, it’s tough, especially being undersized. AD did what he had to do. But losing Do definitely hurt us down the stretch. “

When the Kings played their best basketball in their first game under Christie, they ran and ran. Sacramento scored 10 of its 22 fast break points in a second quarter as the Kings outscored the Lakers 35-25. DeRozan was masterful in the second quarter, making all six of his shot attempts, and he was one of three Kings to go along with six assists in the first half. While De’Aaron Fox and Malik Monk each had a turnover in the first half, DeRozan was flawless. In all, 24 of the Kings’ 28 baskets in the opening half were assisted. Sacramento finished with 38 assists, one shy of a season-high, to go with just 10 turnovers. And this was despite the Kings missing 29 of 40 3-point attempts.

Asked DeMar DeRozan about balancing his status as the most experienced player on the Kings roster (16th NBA season) with being one of the new players as well

DeRozan: “That’s the beauty of sports. That’s the beauty of life, you know. You never quite figure it out.”

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— Law Murray (@lawmurraythenu.bsky.social) 29 December 2024 at 01:17

“I mean, we’re top-10 offensively,” Fox said when asked about DeRozan’s acclimatization to Sacramento Saturday night. “It’s a numbers league and the numbers don’t show that we’re struggling offensively.”

That much comes down to Fox, who is now working with his fifth head coach in seven NBA seasons with the Kings. The 27-year-old knows that so much of what needs to be better on the Kings comes down to him: the offense, the defense, the 3-point shooting, pace, clutch-time performance and mood.

“When you look at the NBA, teams that are usually the up-tempo teams are usually not good defensively,” Fox said Saturday night after I asked him about balancing tempo with defensive control. “You want to be able to find that balance because obviously, the faster you play, the more possessions there are. And of course it will be a higher scoring game. But I don’t know, you have to try to find that balance. And when we’re on defense, being able to buckle down. You can play a slower pace defensively, while also once they score or when they miss, you’re able to get out a little bit more in transition.”

There are several things Christie can do in the short term. Guard Keon Ellis has been played more after the Kings outscored the Lakers by seven points in Ellis’ 13:24 of floor time. Ellis said he is close to Christie, while the latter used Ellis as an example of a player he wants to shoot and bring energy:

The Kings also have rookie guard Devin Carter (drafted 13th overall this year), who could debut as soon as next week after being cleared from shoulder surgery. But with a six-game losing streak, time is running out for the Kings. They made a coaching move, but even Fox knows more moves may be necessary.

“Obviously the conference continues to get better,” Fox said after Saturday night. “But us, you know, we got a little stagnant and that’s what it is. We’ve got to find a way to get better. For us, it’s players that aren’t in this locker room or the players in this locker room that we have to be able to buckle down and get better. So at the end of the day, that’s pretty much where it comes down to. I don’t think we’re much worse than we were the year before. But the conference continues to grow as we are have to grow with (it).

(Top photo: Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)