AP Photo/Donna McWilliam
It's been a long time since I pondered whether the Kings had achieved the almighty moral victory. Their latest loss, for the record, certainly counted.
But really, it's not a good thing for them that the question is even being pondered. That's how things were back on Nov. 3, when they were getting blown out in Dallas and I was convinced the entire season would be a nightly question of whether they'd lost with or without their dignity. It's not quite as bad as those disastrous early days right now, but it's far from good.
A strong defensive effort early didn't hold up, as Dallas unleashed a 30-10 run between the first and second quarters in which they scored all their points in a stretch of 8 minutes, 34 seconds. It was much of the same from their recent play, as they've now allowed an average of 113.2 points in the last six games and slipped to 24th in the league in points allowed (103.3 per game). And suddenly, in this season of survival that seemed at least somewhat more promising for Kings fans than the last, they have the same 26-32 record they did under first-year coach Eric Musselman at this point last season.
"It's not what we were expecting to get from this road trip," Kings point guard Beno Udrih said. "Somebody once said, 'You win together, you lose together.' We've got to keep working hard and keep trying to get better.
"Coach said to us, 'If (you) play as hard as you did today, you shouldn't have problems winning.' That was us. I think the last three games, that wasn't really us."
Is that silver lining I hear, even with a 1-4 road trip and a four-game losing streak?
"It's still 1-4," Kings center Brad Miller made clear. "We’ve played pretty good against the good teams all year."
***
In the interest of taking myself off the hook and letting it be known that I kept my end of the bargain, there is no Saturday Q&A session this week because there were only a handful of questions in the mailbag and none were incredibly relevant. We'll blame it on post-trade deadline hangover. - Sam Amick
About Comments
Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "report abuse" button below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.