Why Kings should remove Christie’s interim tag after hot start

[ad_1]

Why Kings should remove Christie’s interim tag after hot start originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SACRAMENTO – If it wasn’t clear before, it’s about time for Vivek Ranadive to remove the interim tag from Doug Christie’s title.

The Kings owner had a birds-eye view of Sacramento’s latest stepping stone with Christie guiding the ship, an impressive 132-127 victory over a very good Houston Rockets team that went into the night with the second-best record in the Western Conference.

Sitting alongside team vice president of basketball operations and long-time NBA coach Alvin Gentry, a few chairs down from the owner’s normal seats which were vacated to make room for the TNT television crew, Vivek saw a team looking very much like the contender everyone expected them to be under Mike Brown when the season began.

With the exception of a Keon Ellis’ foot injury the Kings guard suffered late in the third quarter, everything came up roses at Golden 1 Center.

“We’re not second-guessing ourselves,” said Malik Monk when asked about the Kings’ play-making during crunch time. “We know exactly what we want to do, and we get to it. We’re confident in whoever has the ball.”

Almost from start to finish, the Sacramento led comfortably and never really was threatened.

Although it got a little dicey toward the end, the Kings ultimately did what they’re supposed to do against short-handed squads. Spurred by another outstanding effort from Domantas Sabonis, Sacramento’s starting five all scored in double figures while Ellis and Trey Lyles provided solid minutes off the bench.

More telling, when the Rockets made their best run of the night in the fourth quarter the Kings didn’t wilt under the pressure like they have so many times this season. They brushed themselves off, bowed their back and made the plays at the end to hold on for the win.

It’s extremely clear that the Kings’ players have fully embraced Sacramento’s recent coaching change and have responded to it exceptionally well.

There was some criticism early that the Christie-led Kings were benefiting from playing teams missing their best…

[ad_2]
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/why-kings-remove-christies-interim-224703643.html

Author : NBC Sports BayArea

Publish date : 2025-01-16 22:47:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.