A three-day break came at the right time for Sacramento

Nov 21, 2024, 4:31 PM | Updated: 4:31 pm

SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA - NOVEMBER 15: Sacramento Kings head coach Mike Brown directs his players in...

Sacramento Kings head coach Mike Brown directs his players in the first quarter during the Emirates NBA Cup game at Golden 1 Center on November 15, 2024 in Sacramento, California. (Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)

(Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)

BY BRENDEN NUNES

Sactown Sports writer

The Sacramento Kings completed their first 15 games (18% of the NBA season) over 26 days, which included four back-to-backs and little room for practice days. After accumulating an 8-7 record during that stretch, they ran into a much-needed slower portion of their scheduling with three consecutive days off.

They were given Tuesday off after narrowly falling 109-108 to the Atlanta Hawks on Monday. De’Aaron Fox, Domantas Sabonis, and rookie Devin Carter spent the day giving out Thanksgiving meals at separate, individual locations.

DeMar DeRozan (back), Domantas Sabonis (back), and Malik Monk (ankle) have missed the last few games, and Wednesday was an opportunity for the former two to get back on the practice court. DeRozan and Sabonis were full participants that day, and some live-action drills were featured while Monk watched.

That left Thursday as a lighter day together. The team mainly reviewed the film of their loss to Atlanta and re-emphasized critical points on both ends of the floor.

In speaking with DeRozan, Kevin Huerter, and head coach Mike Brown after that practice, you could tell the three-day break was much needed and conveniently timed.

“We had a lot of guys beat up after that last game, mentally and physically,” Huerter said. “It’s a good reset. It feels like we’ve played a ton of games already.”

“I think our bodies needed a day or two to kind of take a deep breath, sleep in a little bit,” he continued. “That was kind of nice. I feel like I’ve slept a lot more in the past two days than I had for the week before that. So, it’s always nice to get these little quick breaks in the middle of the season.”

Coach Brown shared a similar sentiment. “It gave the guys that are hurt a couple more days to get their bodies right,” he said. “It gave us an opportunity to go over some things out on the floor that we hadn’t had a chance to go over. So, it was a fantastic couple of days for us.”

That didn’t necessarily mean implementing new schemes or plays, but, for example, showing film on how they could clean up their transition defense and pick-and-roll coverage with recent examples.

Sacramento has struggled to convert their three-point looks throughout the hectic opening schedule.

Their 34.0 percent conversion rate from three, ranking 24th in the league, is not representative of the shooting talent on the roster. Getting the chance to reset and rest their legs could be what they needed to get right from range.

“In a lot of those games, we didn’t shoot the ball well either, so using (the three-day break) to kind of reset and get our rhythm back shooting the ball, get everybody’s legs back under them,” DeRozan said. “Because those first two weeks were tough with all the traveling and everything. So, now just kind of settling in, settling down and understanding what we need to do and how we need to do it.”

But the NBA schedule moves fast. Their mini, in-season break is met by three games in four days, starting on Friday against the Clippers in Los Angeles. They then return to Golden 1 Center to take on the Brooklyn Nets and Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday and Monday.

Getting back to a clean bill of health will undoubtedly benefit Sacramento, but they’ll need to continue to execute on game nights to remain competitive in the season-long Western Conference race, which already appears to be as competitive as expected.

When is the next game for the Sacramento Kings game?

Sacramento will enjoy a much-needed three-day break before facing the Los Angeles Clippers at the Intuit Dome on Friday night.

The Kings and Clippers will cross paths in another NBA Cup group play game, with Sacramento (0-1) and Los Angeles (0-1) each seeking their first win in the Western Conference Group A standings.

Be sure to catch all of the Kings vs. Clippers action right here on Sactown Sports 1140 AM, with pregame coverage starting at 2:00 PM PT on The Drive Guys before action tips off at 7:30 PM PT from Inglewood.