Despite head coach Mike Brown’s efforts to improve the Sacramento Kings defensively, the strength of the 2023-24 roster still revolves around its offense. Spray threes are a vital part of their production, and a few of their recent opponents have recently found ways to limit these looks.
The Miami Heat and Houston Rockets particularly excelled at packing the paint defensively, forcing Sacramento’s stars into turnovers. De’Aaron Fox recorded a season-high seven turnovers 121-110 defeat against the Heatwhile Domantas Sabonis had nine on Sunday 112-104 loss to Houston.
From the Kings’ perspective, the game plan involved getting rid of the ball early on during penetration and two-footed play, but their execution was flawed. Both instances led to a lack of threes for surrounding shooters, and the aforementioned turnovers often led to easy transition points for their opposition on the other end.
During Monday’s practice, Coach Brown shared the different types of three-way sprays they look for and how they are generated in the offensive flow.
His explanation began with “every time you touch the paint,” which is key to cutting down the defense and providing perimeter help to defenders trying to contain dribble penetration.
Hitting the paint and spraying (passing) the ball to shooters is an example of this. But it doesn’t have to come solely from pick-and-roll, dribble-handoff, or possession isolation.
“When that ball comes to me and a guy gets close to me, that’s when the instant drive is available,” Brown said. “The snap drive isn’t always available for me to score, because they may still be there after collapsing the first time, but the snap drive now can be I take one, two (dribbles), I put this paint on, and now I spray it, and now this guy maybe hit him.
Third, there are short-roll situations. Thanks to Sabonis’ high-caliber playmaking ability, the Kings often find him in the short roll after a dribble or in the pick-and-roll, that is, before he rolls all the way to the basket , usually in the form of a pocket pass of the ball. handler after one or two dribbles.
And the fourth and final example of spray threes comes after offensive rebounds, which Sacramento once called “dagger threes.”
When a player gets an offensive rebound, defenses are often left out of position when chasing the board or simply guarding the ball in anticipation of an offensive opportunity in transition. This leaves a good opportunity to spray for shooters on the perimeter.
“It’s the different ways of spraying the basketball, and we’re not doing a good job of that,” Brown continued. “We have to be better than what we did in the last three games.”
Only the Memphis Grizzlies attempt more catch-and-shoot triples per night than Sacramento’s 28.0 per game. But the Kings converted just 37.3 percent (20th in the NBA) on those attempts. When the shots are falling, the Kings are a tough team to beat, but the opposite seems true.
Sacramento is 28-8 in games where they shot over 35 percent from beyond the arc, and 12-28 when they failed to reach that mark – including 4- 10 in games where they shot less than 30 percent from three.
“We have a lot of guys that can finish, make spectacular plays, things like that, but really they’re just making an extra pass,” Harrison Barnes said after Monday’s practice. “I think that’s one of our biggest things and/or not playing into crowds and not turning the ball over. I think those are probably the two main areas where we can improve.
They are 31-4 when scoring 120 or more points, but 5-23 when scoring fewer. Once again, this is a team that relies heavily on its offense, ranking 13th (116.8) in season offensive rating and 5th (118.0) after the All-Star break.
This is largely due to their defensive deficiencies, where they rank 20th (116.5) in defensive rating this season, including 26th (118.5) in their nine games played after the All-Star break.
As Barnes mentioned, turnovers can sometimes be an Achilles heel for this team. Due to the aforementioned defensive struggles, the Kings must not make life more difficult on that side of the court by giving their opposition transition opportunities.
Taking care of the ball and spraying it towards the shooters is crucial, whether the shots are successful or not. It’s the nature of the NBA – some nights the shots will simply miss, but Brown believes in sticking to their offensive identity and aiming to clean up the defensive side of the ball to allow more room to maneuver .
“These are the areas that top teams win most nights; defensively, then the possession game,” he said. “Because I played with top teams and the ball doesn’t always go in, even if you play the right way. It’s just the nature of the game.”
With just 19 games remaining in the 2023-24 regular season, the team from the California capital will need to maintain their offensive identity and style of play by finding three-way shots, providing consistent and determined player and ball movement and by limiting turnovers. In the meantime, any way to improve defensively is a plus.
When is the next Sacramento Kings game?
Sacramento will continue their six-game homestand Tuesday night when they take on Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks.
The Kings nearly beat the Bucks at home in an overtime thriller on Jan. 14 that ended with Damian Lillard’s heartbreaking triple at the buzzer. Sacramento held a four-point lead with less than 20 seconds remaining, but couldn’t hold off a late charge by Milwaukee.
Be sure to tune in here on Sactown Sports 1140 for all your Kings vs. Kings coverage. Bucks, starting at 5:30 p.m. PST on Game night before an alert at 7:00 p.m. PST from downtown Sacramento.
Upcoming calendar
- Tuesday 12 March – Sacramento Kings vs. Milwaukee Bucks – 7:00 p.m. PST
- Wednesday March 13 – Sacramento Kings vs. Los Angeles Lakers – 7:00 p.m. PST
- Saturday March 16 – Sacramento Kings vs. New York Knicks – 7:00 p.m. PST
- Monday March 18 – Sacramento Kings vs. Memphis Grizzlies – 7:00 p.m. PST
- Wednesday March 20 – Sacramento Kings @ Toronto Raptors – 4:00 p.m. PST
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