A frustrated Kings locker room took matters into its own hands after Wednesday’s loss to the Denver Nuggets, another lopsided affair that pleased no one despite coming at the hands of the defending NBA champions.
That’s how high the standard is in Sacramento.
Those frustrations led to a 35-minute players-only meeting Thursday before the Kings boarded a plane to Minnesota, the Chris Biderman of the Sacramento Bee reported.
The players-only meeting was the first since Mike Brown took over as Kings coach last season.
“We had a team meeting to discuss [how] we have to take this seriously because we have 23 games left now,” Kings guard Malik Monk told the Sacramento Bee on Friday. “The coaches are going to say what they are going to say, but we are eliminated, they are playing.
“We knew we had to come together and surpass someone.”
The self-imposed wake-up call preceded a whopping 124-120 overtime win over top-seeded Minnesota Timberwolves Friday at Target Center, and Brown appreciated his team’s call to action.
“I love it,” Brown shared with the Sacramento Bee. “It’s me, I’ve talked internally to our front office, to our coaches and even to our team, [saying] “We will not reach the heights we can reach until you take ownership.” As a head coach, you can only push and carry the group so far. There must be a moment in time where it comes from within.
“And they talked to each other, held each other accountable, and they took ownership of everything that happened in front of them. And so for them to have that for the first time, man, I went out and had a drink last night.
The Kings have been an anomaly this season. Sacramento has suffered a handful of blowout losses and has a history of underplaying its opponents, while rising to the occasion and taking on the league’s elite teams.
Thursday’s players-only meeting allowed a hungry Kings team to refocus its energy on fighting until the final buzzer night after night.
“I think a lot of it is just being on the same page,” Kings guard Kevin Huerter told the Sacramento Bee. “I think it was time for us players to speak up and take ownership of what we do. Talk about things that we think were successful for us that happened on the field, things that weren’t — and just do it away from the coaches so we can talk about it. So it was productive.
“We were saying we just need to come together,” Davion Mitchell added. “We can’t just lay down when teams are running. We can’t put our heads down when we’re not scoring the ball. We just have to play harder.
Sacramento (34-35) is currently the seventh seed in the Western Conference and is one game behind the New Orleans Pelicans (36-25) for the sixth and final guaranteed NBA playoff spot.
With 23 games remaining, the Kings still have plenty of time to better position themselves for the playoffs, but it’s never too early to establish a sense of urgency.
