The Sacramento Kings dropped to 5-16 Sunday in a loss to the Utah Jazz. After the game, there were a few noteworthy comments made by Doug Christie and Malik Monk.
Let’s start with what Christie had to say about Maxime Raynaud. The rookie had his hands full against Zach Edey, as did the rest of the team, but he played with heart (as he always does) and you can see his development happening as the season goes on. Christie was asked following the game if with Domantas Sabonis continuing to be out with an injury if the rookie might get more minutes. Here is what he had to say:
“Yeah, absolutely, I think Max has done a great job. He comes in, he’s highly attentive to the game plan, trying to execute the game plan at a high level. Understanding, he communicates really well. But he’s a young player so when it comes to leverage and physicality and some different things that he is learning right before our very eyes that can be tough, especially with a big guy like Zach Edey and Jaren Jackson Jr. These guys are huge, but he’s beginning to hold his own and you can see that the game is slowing down for him so as it slows down and he continues to improve his minutes are going to go up for sure.”
Raynaud is averaging 6.2 points (47% from the field), 3.5 rebounds, .7 assists, and .4 blocks in 14.5 minutes per game.
After the Kings failed to hold off the Grizzlies down the stretch, Monk was asked about what went wrong. He mentioned a lack of ball movement.
“We were playing too much one on one instead of trying to find the matchup, swing, and then drive-kick. I feel like the ball just stayed, and I played a little part in that too, but yeah it just stuck too much,” he said.
And when asked how to fix that he paused a bit and then said: “Pass the ball. Simple as that. Easier said than done though. A lot of guys have been in the league for a long time, been making shots, making plays for a long time so we’ve just got to figure out when to take the shots or when to play off each other.”
Careful wording there, but interesting comment.
From 4:51 on in the fourth quarter (in a one-point game), this was the Kings offense:
Zach LaVine misses running pullup jump shot
Zach Edey blocks Keegan Murray ‘s 7-foot layup
Maxime Raynaud misses 24-foot three point jumper
Malik Monk misses 14-foot two point shot
Malik Monk misses 27-foot three point step back jumpshot
Zach LaVine misses 19-foot pullup jump shot
Keegan Murray makes free throw 1 of 2
Keegan Murray misses free throw 2 of 2
Maxime Raynaud misses free throw 1 of 2
Maxime Raynaud makes free throw 2 of 2
Maxime Raynaud makes 3-foot driving floating jump shot
Zach Edey blocks Maxime Raynaud ‘s 5-foot two point shot
DeMar DeRozan misses 27-foot three point pullup jump shot
So, an offensive collapse there. Monk was right to call himself out as part of it, but LaVine and DeRozan are part of it also. Murray got one attempt and a set of free throws, and Raynaud has never been in that crunch time situation before on an NBA court (and was the only one who made a shot).
Anyway, on to the next.