Those are some harsh words coming from Gentry, but given Sacramento's performance Sunday night, you can understand why he was so furious.
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After the Sacramento Kings recorded their third straight loss Sunday night against the Memphis Grizzlies — Sacramento’s seventh loss in the past 10 games — interim head coach Alvin Gentry lit into his team after the 25-point blowout defeat.
“This is the most disappointed I’ve been in 34 years in the NBA,” Gentry told reporters following the 127-102 loss. “I can honestly say that. That performance was absolutely ridiculous. We didn’t play hard. We didn’t compete. We gave up 19 offensive rebounds for — I don’t know — 37 points or some astronomical figure. We didn’t guard the ball. We didn’t guard screen and rolls. We didn’t follow the game plan — all of those things — and to be honest with you, it’s the most disappointing game that I’ve been involved with.”
WFT was so bad last night that Alvin Gentry ripped them after the game.
oh wait …https://t.co/wlxNzTz0Ck
— John Hollinger (@johnhollinger) December 27, 2021
Those are some harsh words coming from Gentry, but given Sacramento’s performance Sunday night, you can understand why he was so furious with the Kings’ performance. At one point Memphis got out to a 30-point lead, as Sacramento gave up 72 points in the paint en route to the loss. Even worse, this loss was a home game for the Kings, making the lack of effort even more discouraging.
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“You can’t get a reputation in this league of being a team where you can come into their home gym and do what they just did to us,” said Gentry, who took over after Luke Walton was fired in November. “I’m just telling you that will stay with you in the NBA if you let teams come in and do what they did to us. They basically toyed with us, and we’re not that team. We’re not a team that people should be able to come in here and toy with us. So, yes, if you ask me if I’m upset, disappointed, you’re damn right I am.”
Though Gentry has a right to be upset, it’s not as if the Kings are exactly protecting home court on a nightly basis. Sacramento is just 7-11 at home this season, and even worse on the road so far with a 6-10 record. The Kings also employ one of the league’s worst defensive units, ranking 29th in the NBA.
Even the defensive prowess of 2021 first-round draft pick Davion Mitchell can’t help this team cover the many glaring holes it has on that end of the floor. Sacramento provides no real interior threat on defense, allowing a league-worse 53.8 points in the paint per game. The Kings also allow 15.8 second-chance points a night, which is the second most in the NBA this season.
But these issues on defense are nothing new for Sacramento, as this team has consistently ranked near or at the bottom of the league in that category for over a decade. You would have to flip the calendar all the way back to the 2005-06 season to see the last time Sacramento employed a defense in the top half of the NBA, when the Kings ranked 11th in the league. For reference, that was back when the Seattle SuperSonics were still a thing, so yeah it’s been awhile.
Even through countless head coaches, many roster turnovers and new front office executives, Sacramento has remained a poor defensive team, and that issue was exacerbated Sunday night against a Memphis team with the fifth-ranked offense in the NBA this season.
