In the aftermath of a crushing defeat, no NBA player ever enjoys talking about what went wrong. This also applies to top guard De’Aaron Fox of the Sacramento Kings. Tuesday night in Sacramento, the Kings missed a chance to move up in the Western Conference standings when they were defeated 132-96 by the Dallas Mavericks.
The Kings’ 36-point loss on Tuesday was matched for the biggest margin of defeat of the year, and as a result, it dropped them one game behind the Mavs for the sixth-best seed in the Western Conference. The Kings are now in a situation where they really need to get back on track in order to try to avoid having to earn a playoff spot via the Western Conference Play-In Tournament, with just 10 games left on their schedule.
On Tuesday night, everything that could have gone wrong for the Kings did. Despite Sacramento’s poor defense, they were unable to put themselves in a winning position. In the second half, they managed just 43 points from 34 shots attempted. Fox, who was undoubtedly
Fox was not happy with the way things went against Dallas, as he only managed to score 18 points on 6-of-18 shooting in Tuesday night’s lopsided loss against the Mavs. Fox made it apparent that he was just speaking to reporters because he had to when he was questioned about his leadership and using the post-game press conference to convey a message following some of the team’s most significant losses this season.
Regarding speaking with all of you? That doesn’t make sense to me. Nothing comes of that for me. When asked if he makes it a point to face the media following blowout losses, Fox firmly replied, “They ask me, I do it,” via Matt George of ABC10 in Sacramento. “I don’t feel happy about this when we win or lose.” Whether I arrive here in a blowout victory or blowout defeat, my team doesn’t care. It is what it is, really.
Fox also had trouble finding his shooting range as the Kings were unable to create any momentum against the Mavs. Sacramento suffered yet another humiliating defeat, which will now make their postseason quest more difficult. It’s also important to note that Kevin Huerter, the Kings’ starter, will miss the remainder of the season with a shoulder injury.