Sacramento continues to find ways to fall apart when it matters the most. Here are five takeaways.
The Sacramento Kings could be sitting at nine victories right now.
Or even more than that.
Fourth quarter woes, however, continue to persist. And it showed up in Tuesday night's 100-98 loss to the Dallas Mavericks. The visitors erased a 12-point deficit to will their way to victory in Downtown Sacramento.
Time to dive into five takeaways from the loss, plus how Sacramento must regroup.
1 -- Sacramento is more limited in the closing department than many think
The Kings looked confused in who should take a late shot when Russell Westbrook and Dennis Schroeder traded the ball with one another.
Only one has a deep history of closing...and it isn't the reserve Schroeder.
But Westbrook is short-handed here too. DeMar DeRozan took the final shot and missed. He's another who can bank the final basket. But Sacramento is realizing more and more it's limited on closers.
2 -- Having too many shooters is a bad thing for Sacramento
Seems like Sacramento has an embarrassment of riches when it comes to guys who can score.
It still creates a perplexed state on who gets the ball in crunch time. And often times, the ball ends up in the wrong hands of the player meant to take the final heave.
Doug Christie has a too-many-shooter dilemma on his hands. Leading to this next flaw.
3 -- Rebounding is hurting Sacramento
Dallas came back off this element: Chasing down and collecting the basketball.
Grabbing 43 rebounds in a single game looks great at the college level and definitely during a prep basketball league game. Except Dallas snatched 55 on the night.
Again, the Kings built a roster with more shooters but an imbalance when it comes to rebounding options. Not having Domantas Sabonis in the lineup obviously puts the Kings in a bind. But Sacramento needs to seek more guys who can clean up the glass via trade.
4 -- Relying on long distance can shorten winning probability
The Kings attempted to live and die off the three-ball.
That result ended in nine made threes -- out of 31 attempts. Sacramento ended shooting a measly 29% from behind the arc.
Sacramento even deviated away from pounding the paint, getting 50 points there but choosing to go long in the end.
5 -- Kings prevent Trae Young distraction
As talented Young is, he'd walk into a mess here.
Just as well he's off to the Wizards after weeks of Kings rumors. He's off to the nation's capitol and not California's capitol
Young, though, would've added another shooter in a disorganized lineup.