Kings eliminated from NBA Cup after frustrating loss to Blazers originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
The Kings’ quest for an NBA Cup title will have to be put on hold until next season.
Sacramento is officially eliminated from the NBA’s regular-season tournament after losing 115-106 to the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday night at Moda Center.
The Kings’ loss to the Blazers leaves Sacramento as the only winless team in Western Conference Group A, currently 0-3 in the tournament’s group stage. Sacramento has a minus 25 point difference in group play.
Malik Monk led the way for the Kings with 29 points, and Domantas Sabonis and De’Aaron Fox combined for 43, but it wasn’t nearly enough to overcome the lack of scoring elsewhere as Sacramento spent most of the second in double figures was behind. half on Friday.
The Kings’ performance in the second annual edition of the league’s regular-season tournament is similar to the rough start Sacramento has had to begin the 2024-2025 NBA season. deep playoff run.
Instead, the Kings sit a quarter of the way through the season in 12th place in the Western Conference playoffs, with a steep hill to climb in a conference where even the bottom feeders present a difficult challenge on any given night.
Six-time All-Star DeMar DeRozan continues to battle an ailing back and will miss his fifth game of the season on Friday. The Kings are 2-3 without DeRozan, whose absence is evident as Sacramento has struggled to generate consistent offense against Portland.
So far, things are not going according to plan. Coach Mike Brown digs deep into his bag to find a spark for his team, including a startling exchange with a referee who has earned a hefty fine.
Fortunately, there’s still plenty of time to right the ship, and the Kings certainly have the pieces to put together a run.
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