sk-logo
hero-image

Sacramento Kings: Destroyed by a Rocket

By Ryan Rodriguez

So I sat down last night, glass of whiskey in hand, thinking that I would enjoy a potential season series win against the high-powered Houston Rockets with a little buzz on. Well, there was no enjoying that took place, as James Harden almost immediately killed my buzz single-handedly in the first quarter by scoring 22 points en route to a 43-point night in a 129-103 win.

This might have been the worst I have seen the team play all year, as they completely took the night off on defence and allowed the Rockets to form a full court layup line. The Rockets ran fast break after fast break as the Kings either only got one guy back in transition, or even worse, nobody at times.

The Kings did nothing to take the Rockets off of their game either. It is widely known that the Rockets want either threes or layups and the Kings proceeded to let them get 91 of their 129 points from beyond the arc or in the paint. When you factor in the Rockets shooting 36-42 from the free throw line, you see that they scored 127 of their 129 points from the exact places they want to.

The type of defensive showing the Kings put up yesterday is simply inexcusable  for a team that needs to build some kind of an identity on that side of the ball. I am not saying that they are going to become a top 10 outfit overnight, but through schemes, effort, player awareness, or some combination of these three needs to be a steadier improvement than the team has shown.

Two freaking points from the place the Rockets want to shoot the least (midrange)?! Are you kidding me? You couldn’t force the Rockets into even 10 midrange shots? I knew this was a bad defensive performance, but I couldn’t believe just how horrible it was. The team showed absolutely no pride last night, simply rolling over and taking the beating the Rockets were administering.

The other thing that was really disheartening to me was Boogie’s behaviour in the third quarter, as he self-destructed, receiving two technicals and getting ejected. For all the technicals and poor attitude showings Boogie has had this year, this was by far the worst and most unsettling display. In the first half, ‘Sports with Biers’ editor Josh Biers and I had a conversation about how much better Boogie was looking overall this year, both with play and attitude, so you can imagine how disappointed and sad I was when everything unravelled in the third.

I understand getting bothered with calls that refs make, especially from Boogie’s perspective who gets the short end of the stick more often than not, but I cannot understand getting mad at a ref when you push a guy in the midsection while he’s trying to dunk. If you don’t want the foul, Boogie, or if you didn’t push Dwight, why put your arm around him in the first place? It looks like a foul and you are you. Then to compound it by talking loud enough for the ref to hear after you just had an over-the-top reaction to the foul call is acting for a foul.

From that point it was all over because Boogie felt it was okay to continue an aggressive conversation with official Courtney Kirkland, push James Harden as he ran through a Harden screen, then shove Terrence Jones in the back on a layup attempt for his 5th foul four minutes into the third. I thought Boogie was done after coach Malone called a timeout shortly after the foul on Jones, but as Malone was talking passionately to Kirkland,  Boogie felt the need to get up from the bench, go over and yell at Kirkland, like he wasn’t going to get another tech.

It really just sucked to watch the complete meltdown that DeMarcus had in this third quarter. I hate armchair psychologists and I will not play one here. Rather, I will simply say there is still a ways to go for Boogie in learning how to handle his emotions when he gets pissed off. Let’s just hope he can bounce back for the game Thursday night against the Timberwolves.


This tweet is something that DeMarcus never would have put out in years past. It is refreshing to see him take accountability for how he handled the situation in a public forum, even if he felt he could have been in the right. It might take longer than some people would like, but he is showing more signs of leadership, even in ugly situations like last night’s.

You may also like