BOSTON - The second quarter of Wednesday's 99-81 loss to the Boston Celtics was as bad as any quarter the Kings have played this season.
A brief recap
*The Celtics shot 80 percent (16-for-20), the best shooting percentage of any Kings opponent this season.
*The Celtics made their first 14 shots in the quarter. According to Elias Sports Bureau, the most consecutive fields goals made this season is 15, by Utah against Miami on Jan. 14. Boston's first miss came with 2:29 left in the quarter. Avery Bradley missed a lay up.
*The Kings were outrebound 9-5. Paul Pierce had four rebounds in the quarter. No King had more than one.
*The Celtics had 11 assists. The Kings had one.
*The Kings committed seven turnovers that led to 13 points for Boston.
*The Kings shot 5-for-18.
*The quarter began with Boston going on an 8-2 run to take a 30-26 run with 9:49 before halftime.
Kings coach Keith Smart called a timeout. He subbed in Travis Outlaw for Francisco Garcia. The remaining players on the floor were Chuck Hayes, Thomas Robinson, Aaron Brooks and Marcus Thornton.
Smart on why he didn't go back to the starters at that time:
"It was still relatively early. So I didn't think it would get away from us like it did. We started off slow in the first quarter so I needed the starters to be able to close the gap a little bit so we didn't go into the second quarter being down so much. So I couldn't take those guys out because we had to play catch up in that first quarter. We didn't want to go into the second quarter being down 10. So I had to play those guys and try to get out of the quarter and then obviously our second unit played well, they have played well in the past. And obviously tonight was not one of those nights. And their bench did a great job and put the game in a comfortable place for them."
*It's not uncommon for Smart to go with five reserves in the second quarter. He played all five starters the entire first quarter Wednesday.
*Tyreke Evans, DeMarcus Cousins and Jason Thompson replaced Robinson, Hayes and Thornton with 6:25 left in the quarter. The Kings were down 41-31. Isaiah Thomas and Garcia checked in with 5:45 on the clock and the Kings down 43-31.
*Boston would then close the quarter on a 16-7 run.
*The Kings' reserves shot 2-for-7 with a rebound, an assist, a steal and two turnovers.
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