SACRAMENTO -- The Pacific Division champion banners will have to wait.
The Kings fell 142-134 in overtime to the lowly San Antonio Spurs on Sunday at Golden 1 Center. Sacramento, already heading to the NBA playoffs, could have made its first division title since the 2002-03 NBA season official, but defensive woes plagued the lackluster Kings all afternoon.
It wasn’t pretty to start. Or to finish. At halftime, the Kings trailed the Spurs – a team riding a six-game losing streak -- by five points and were shooting 22.7 percent from 3-point range. Kevin Huerter had a chance to win the game at the buzzer, but his 27-foot 3-point attempt clanked off the rim.
The Spurs outscored the Kings 19-11 in overtime to steal a victory on the road.
Earlier this year, Sacramento coach Mike Brown stated he breaks up the 82-game regular season marathon into five-game mini seasons. The Kings (47-31) began the first game of their final five-game mini season on the wrong side of the win column.
Here are three takeaways from the Kings’ disappointing loss to the Spurs:
NBA
Problematic defense
The Kings’ defense has some serious issues. They couldn’t buy a single stop all game long.
Julian Champagnie, a two-way player for the Spurs with 12 NBA games under his belt, went off for a career-high 26 points on 9-of-14 shooting. He had just two previous double-digit point games entering Sunday -- 11 points against the Atlanta Hawks and 12 points against the Washington Wizards last month.
Spurs veteran wing Doug McDermott scored 22 points on 7-of-10 shooting in the fourth quarter and overtime alone, edging out Kings guard De’Aaron Fox, the Clutch Player of the Year frontrunner.
It’s no secret the NBA playoffs call for more defense. It’s also no secret how much the Kings’ defense needs to improve to make a deep postseason run.
Len-sanity?
Kings center Alex Len played in his fourth straight game for the first time all season.
He entered the game with 2:34 remaining in the first quarter when Domantas Sabonis checked out and played eight minutes in the first half, logging two points, six rebounds and one assist.
Len's lone first-half basket was a thunderous put-back slam.
Continuing an audition to find his way onto Sacramento’s playoff rotation, Len finished with six points, seven rebounds, two blocks and one steal in 13 minutes.
Before the game, Brown lauded Len’s 7-foot, 250-pound size and great length around the rim. He called him perhaps the best screen setter on the team.
When it comes to size alone, Len has the upper hand -- literally -- on the Kings’ other backup centers in Richaun Holmes and Chimezie Metu. He might have passed them up on the depth chart, too.
Missed opportunity
The Kings had a chance to be just one game back of Memphis for the No. 2 playoff seed in the Western Conference after the Grizzlies fell 128-107 loss to the Chicago Bulls on Sunday.
With four games to play, Sacramento stands two games behind the Grizzlies (49-29) for the No. 2 spot.
Sacramento will play against New Orleans, Dallas, Golden State and Denver to wrap up its regular season. All four of those teams are in the playoff chase, although the season finale against the Nuggets could mean nothing to Denver if it clinches the West’s top seed before that game.
Memphis will finish off its regular season with clashes against Portland, New Orleans, Milwaukee and Oklahoma City. The Trail Blazers are out of the playoff picture, while the Pelicans and Thunder likely will be playing for their play-in tournament lives down the stretch. The Bucks still are trying to secure the top seed in the Eastern Conference.
RELATED: Why Kings will be ready despite perceived playoff inexperience
With the playoff berth behind the Kings, there’s still some meaningful basketball to be played before that playoff bracket becomes official.
