By Charlie O. Mallonee
The Sacramento Kings lost their fifth consecutive game on Monday afternoon in Miami. The Kings took the Heat to overtime but lost 118-113.
The optimist will say the Kings came close to handing the Heat just their second home loss of the season. The proper response at this point of the season is: “Close on counts in hand grenades and horseshoes!”
The situation is going supercritical
The Kings record has fallen to 15-28 for the season. They are now 5.0 games out of eighth place which is the final playoff spot. With the season more than half over, time is slipping away at a rapid rate.
As head coach Luke Walton said over a week ago, “No one is coming to save us.” Sacramento is not going to be able to make one blockbuster trade that is going to change their entire direction for the remainder of the season. They just do not have the pieces in place to make such a deal.
FiveThirtyEight.com gives the Kings just a 2% chance of making the NBA Playoffs. They are projecting Sacramento to finish with a record of 32-50 which certainly seems to be within the realm of reason. That would also put the Kings well short of being a playoff team … again.
The Kings battled hard in this game
After being blown out in Utah to start this road trip, the Kings regrouped to put up a fight against the very talented Miami Heat. In fact, the Kings held a 58-56 lead at the half. The Kings continued to battle the Heat and the game finished in a tie in the regulation 48 minutes after Bam Adebayo tied the game with a layup with less than a second left in the game.
Miami went on a 7-0 run to finish overtime to guarantee the win over the Kings. Miami has lost just one game this season at home and after the game on Monday, the Kings now know why.
Top performers
Kings
- Nemanja Bjelica scored 22 points and pulled down six rebounds
- Buddy Hield put up 20 points, grabbed seven rebounds and added seven assists
- De’Aaron Fox scored 14 points and dished out eight assists
- Bogdan Bogdanovic scored 14 points
- Harrison Barnes scored 11 points and hauled in five rebounds
Miami
- Kendrick Nunn scored 25 points to go with seven rebounds and six assists
- James Johnson added 22 points, six rebounds, three assists and two blocks
- Goran Dragic put up 18 points plus four assists
- Bam Adebayo finished with 16 points, 11 points and five assists
Up next
The Kings will travel on to Detroit to face the Pistons on Wednesday.
The Heat will host the Wizards on Wednesday night.
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