“We Were Just Soft”: Despite De’Aaron Fox’s 40, Kings Teammate ‘Harshly Introspects’ Back-to-Back 20+ Point Deficits

The Sacramento Kings have been part of some extremely grueling competition in their past two contests. Firstly, De’Aaron Fox and Co. suffered a 24-point deficit against the Golden State Warriors but managed a 1-point comeback win in the end. On the second night of their back-to-back games, the Kings trailed the Los Angeles Clippers by as much as 25 points, and eventually, suffered a tough 117-131 loss.

De’Aaron Fox had a huge night. Despite being guarded by some of the best defenders in the league, the 6ft 3” point guard finished the contest with 40 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists. However, despite recording his 2^nd 40-point game of the 2023-2024 season, Fox was unable to keep the Kings’ win streak going at home.

Following the loss, Fox’s teammate Malik Monk spoke about the team trailing by 20+ points on both nights of their back-to-back games. Monk, who hit the game-winner against the Warriors on Tuesday night, admitted that the Kings were being “soft” and allowing their opponents to dictate the flow of the contest.

“We can’t get down 20 (points) in two games on the back-to-back… We were just soft and letting them do whatever they want to do. Then we try to fix it. It worked for us last night, but tonight, definitely didn’t work. So, gotta figure some things out,” he told Kings beat Sean Cunningham.

De’Aaron Fox states that the Kings have to be better in back-to-back contests

Playing more than 78 minutes of physical NBA basketball in two consecutive nights is no walk in the park. Which is why, understandably, De’Aaron Fox looked gassed during the postgame conference.

However, Fox did speak about the team’s lackluster performance during the second night of a back-to-back.

“Everybody in the league plays back-to-backs, so that’s nothing that we can really complain about,” Fox said. “We have to be better in back-to-backs and we’ve been blown out in both of our back-to-backs, so we just have to be able to come back and be ready.”

According to Sasha Vezenkov, Mike Brown’s boys were not just physically, but also emotionally drained from the emphatic In-Season Tournament win against Stephen Curry and co. on Tuesday night. However, Vezenkov, who had an exceptional performance against GSW, did give the Clippers due credit for their blowout win.

“It was obvious that we were emotionally empty after the comeback game yesterday… The Clippers played an amazing game. We weren’t physical and let them shoot 50% from 3,” the 2023 EuroLeague MVP told reporters.

The Kings will play against the Denver Nuggets before they take on the New Orleans Pelicans as their In-Season Tournament quarterfinal matchup. It’ll be interesting to see how the California side redeem themselves after losing three out of their last five contests.