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January 13, 2013
The Morning After: A lot is going wrong for Kings, lately

There are a myriad of reasons why the Kings have lost four consecutive games.

*The defense hasn't been stellar. They've allowed 117.8 points per game.

*In the last four games the Kings haven't outscored an opponent in the paint. In their 13 wins, only one has come when they've been outscored in the paint.

DeMarcus Cousins said the Kings have lost their identity of late and the lack of paint points is a sign. When the Kings were playing well, they were scoring a lot in the paint with Cousins leading the way.

*The Kings have had 33 shots blocked in the last four games.

*The team just has looked off over the last week. Whether it was fatigue (Brooklyn), a better teams (Memphis, Miami) or stagnant offense and poor rebounding (Dallas) the Kings don't look like the team that had played so well before returned home hoping to use this five-game homestand to build momentum.

"We've got to get the chemistry back on our team," said Kings coach Keith Smart.

Smart knew the chemistry would be disrupted adding Tyreke Evans and Marcus Thornton back into the lineup after injuries.

Both have been coming off the bench but Smart said he would go back to starting Evans to help establish the continuity that has been missing lately.

*Thomas pointed to the defense and turnovers as the biggest problems.

"If you lose by 20 you're definitely not playing defense," Thomas said. "That's probably the main reason. Our defensive concepts, we're not hitting on the right cylinders right now ... and we're turning the ball over a lot."

The Kings allowed a season-high 34 points off turnovers in Saturday's loss to the Miami Heat.

*Thomas on his career-high 34 points. He scored 21 points in the third quarter but the game was out of reach by halftime:

"My teammates were finding me; I just was knocking down shots. Like you said its irrelevant - career highs and points and all that - when you lose like we did."

*The Kings trailed by 38 points against the Heat. That's the biggest deficit they've faced this season. The previous worst was 36, last Monday against Memphis.

*FYI: You might need to turn the volume a bit to hear Thomas in the video.

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