Doug Christie, Kings haunted by appalling first quarter in NBA Cup loss to Suns

Doug Christie, Kings haunted by appalling first quarter in NBA Cup loss to Suns originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SACRAMENTO – Keegan Murray was fairly pleased with how the Kings played defense over the final three quarters on Wednesday night at Golden 1 Center when they limited the Phoenix Suns to 71 points despite their 112-100 loss.

The problem for Sacramento came in the first quarter of the night, when the game got out of hand before many fans had a chance to settle into their seats comfortably.

It was 12 minutes of absolute dysfunctional play on both ends of the court for Sacramento, a complete 180 from Monday’s game against Minnesota when the Kings rallied to stun the Timberwolves.

“Obviously when you lose a quarter 41-16, it’s hard to come back,” Murray told reporters. “We just dug ourselves too big of a hole. It was rough. It wasn’t our brand of basketball at all. The next three quarters, we started to figure it out a little bit, but it was just too late.”

That was the general sentiment everywhere in Sacramento, where fans, in evident frustration, booed the hometown squad for most of the night before heading for the exits with more than two minutes still on the clock.

Kings coach Doug Christie echoed sentiments of disappointment.

“About as disappointing as it gets,” Christie told reporters. “Probably should have called a timeout within the first six seconds with the very first turnover. You can’t dig a hole like that.

“Not only digging a hole that way, but it’s the confidence that you give another team that is just out of control. You can’t give NBA players that type of confidence. Just man for man. It can’t happen.”

The hole was dug, and, as a result, the Kings played from behind all night. The Suns got away with too many easy baskets inside, a result of star big man Domantas Sabonis not playing.

Sacramento was also without its backup point guard and one of its top defensive stoppers in Dennis Schröder.

Regardless of the situation, the first quarter was as bad as it’s been this season for the Kings.

“I guess we were just stuck in the mud tonight,” guard Malik Monk said. “They were hitting shots, we were letting them get open shots, but they were knocking them down. It’s hard to win, man, when you got a big deficit like that.”

It would be easy to shrug this off as one game, but Monk said it’s been a pattern for the Kings ever since he signed with the team before the 2022-23 NBA season.

“I wouldn’t say it’s surprising to me, because that’s been the story of my seasons (since) I’ve been playing here,” Monk added. “We start kind of flat sometimes, and sometimes we don’t. Super disappointing, man, because we know what we can do when we come out, play hard and compete for four quarters.”

The first quarter fiasco against Phoenix was definitely one for the books.

Sacramento scored just 16 points, its fewest in any opening quarter this season. The Kings shot 6 for 17 (1 for 7 on 3s), committed seven turnovers and failed to record a single assist.

For a squad that has been preaching about team identity all season, the Kings really don’t have one yet. If they do, it definitely was missing Wednesday.

“I don’t think we’re showing it right now,” Murray concluded. “I think you saw more in the Minnesota and the Denver game, but we just want to try and disrupt teams. Play fast, be the aggressor, have the other team be on their heels, and just keep punching them. But tonight, obviously, I think we only did that for one quarter.”

It was also just one quarter that proved to be the Kings’ downfall against the Suns.

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