DeMar DeRozan, Kings play up to challenge in crunch-time loss to Magic

On “Kings Postgame Live,” Deuce Mason and Morgan Ragan discuss Sacramento’s 121-117 loss to the Orlando Magic on Thursday at Kia Center.

DeMar DeRozan, Kings play up to challenge in crunch-time loss to Magic originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Video Transcript

The Sacramento Kings fall- to the Orlando Magic, 121 to 117.

But hey, I had a lot of fun.

Morgan, they competed against a team- Yep that was supposed to be desperate, right?

Yes.

An Orlando team that lost sis- six in a row, and they were in this game.

And if it wasn’t for the drought that they had in the fourth quarter, they go from the 11:07 mark of the fourth quarter- Uh-huh to 4:52 without a field goal, and then Orlando goes on a run, and it’s hard to overcome that.

But along the way, we saw some great things, especially from someone like Daequan Plowden, who had- Ah a career night.

That was so fun to see.

And again, we’ve done this, I feel like, maybe three times this season, where the Kings lose, and we feel okay with it because of the way that they played.

I think- Morgan- I go back to that Cavs game that they lost- Yeah in Cleveland, and I’m like, “Oh, man, but what a fun game that was,” and especially in a season where you’re not expecting too many wins.

Yeah.

And I know those guys in the locker room wanna win and all that.

Yes.

But I think we all have perspective watching this.

Mm-hmm.

Like, they just got destroyed by 44 points- Ooh in Charlotte, and it looked like- Yeah they let off the rope a lot.

And tonight, it didn’t feel that way.

You know, the ball movement was great.

Yeah.

They competed.

I thought they made life as challenging as they could against Orlando.

The Magic, a better team.

They got a guy in Banchero who I thought turned it on down the stretch.

Needed to.

And then all of a sudden, they started playing with a little urgency in that fourth quarter.

Finally.

And I wanna talk about Orlando too- Yeah because that is a weird, like- Oh, no.

I mean, this is If you’re a Magic fan tonight, I mean, there’s a Y- you breathe a sigh of relief that you get a win, but- Sure for a huge chunk of this game, I, I’m, I’m perplexed at how disconnected they look at times.

Yes.

And once Banchero went, “I’m a man on a mission- Yep I’m going to attack, get into the paint,” and the ball started moving, things started going much better for Orlando.

Well, let’s take a look at crunch time because that’s when some of those moments were happening for Orlando, a sense of urgency, as you mentioned.

Here, with 4:30 left in the game, Kings have the ball.

Daequan Plowden, a career night for him, excited to talk about his game all night long.

But then you said it, Paolo Banchero going into the paint, but he was missing all those shots like that in the beginning of the game.

Yeah, but I feel like he was settling a lot in the mid-range.

Like, the first couple plays of the game, he played with force.

And this guy, Precious Achiuwa, dude, I love the energy he brought, and they missed him big time last game.

Thought he had some nice moments in this one tonight.

But De’Aaron Fox struggled a little bit in the fourth quarter with the shooting, but it’s the play making.

He ends up with 11 assists in this game.

Yeah, and then Desmond Bane comes down and has that three-point shot with a hand in his face.

I mean, that was a little DHO action, and he was just open enough.

Daequan Plowden with the- Oh.

No, no, no.

Daequan Wowden after that play.

Oh, is that what we’re calling him now?

Daequan Wowden.

Off a jump ball?

Oh, Malik Monk throws it down in transition.

That was the other thing, when the Kings were playing some good basketball, it was all about the pace.

And how about the confidence?

Daequan Plowden.

Whoo, whoo, whoo.

Shout out to Demar, again, making the right basketball play.

Saw Chrissy fired up after that one ’cause Demar’s making the right basketball play there.

And then you see here, Banchero just making the defense shift left to right.

Better ball movement, getting Suggs a wide open three.

Deuce, they end up with 13 threes in this game, and you know my key to the game was keep the- Hold them under 12.

Yeah, keep them under 12.

So if, if they would’ve done it, they would’ve had a chance at winning.

I mean, pretty much.

But honestly, 13, that’s a much better number than, what, 27 that they had- Yes in Sacramento.

but looking at that crunch time stuff, I mean, it really was that gap in the fourth quarter where the Kings went ice cold.

And some of it too was just Demar Derozan started missing some shots- Yeah he was making through the first three quarters.

They had a couple of bad turnovers in there, and then Orlando gets going, and what do you know?

They start playing more w- how they’re capable of playing.

Sure.

And I think that was the biggest thing.

Like, Orlando’s gotta get back to defending again.

I mean- And that was their bread and butter.

I don’t see that on a consistent basis.

And what do you know?

When they defend- Sure they can get out and run a little bit, allow someone like Desmond Bane to get downhill, Banchero.

They have size to defend.

They have pieces good enough to defend better than what we saw tonight from Orlando.

And I say I, I ta- I say it like this because I haven’t watched a lot of Orlando with League Pass.

Like, I’m looking at more fun teams and everything else.

in watching them tonight, it was surprising because I was expecting- Yeah like, this grumpy Orlando team that had just lost six straight.

So what are they gonna look like?

They don’t look connected.

They don’t look together.

And for them to play a bad Kings squad, that also is coming off a very bad loss to the Charlotte Hornets, all professional basketball players, they can figure it out, but no sense of urgency from them until they needed to turn it on at the end.

Yeah.

And, you know, to be fair, they’re down some bodies too right now.

Sure.

You know, Wagner’s out, Anthony Black’s out.

Those are two critical pieces, and I think that’s kinda been the theme for them this year, is not being able to find their identity with so many guys missing time.

You know, Banchero missed time too.

Suggs missed time too.

But it just has looked a, very disconnected.

And credit to the Kings, the Kings fought in this one.

Yes, they did.

I thought they played really well.

I thought they played hard.

They were knocking down shots.

They had 30 assists in this game.

30 assists, that’s a fantastic number, knocking down threes too.

Well, you mentioned it, De’Aaron Fox had 11 of those 30 assists, and he’s our River Rock Daily Jackpot person of the game.

That’s what we’re calling it.

Because, you know, we go with people, we go with plays, but this is the guy that was doing it all tonight, Deuce.

And I know even when he was missing shots, adversity hit, he kept things going.

33 points, 11 assists for De’Aaron Fox.I thought Orlando’s defense was really rough on him.

I was surprised they didn’t send doubles his way often.

Maybe they cheated over a little bit, but DeMar got a lot of what he wanted.

And then, you know, when the defense was a little more aggressive, he just made the right basketball play.

And it helps when I mentioned this at halftime.

I, I give a lot of credit to some of the Kings role players.

Mm-hmm.

Right?

Like, Daequan Plowden is trying to fight for his NBA future, right?

Right.

He’s still on a two-way contract.

He wants to be in the NBA all the time.

Precious Achiuwa was available for anybody- Yeah in the off season.

Daequan Jeffries, who played tonight, has a 10-day contract with Sacramento.

And sometimes these guys come up, and maybe they try to do too much, right?

Sure.

Like, “Oh, I gotta make an impact here,” and they’re trying to score.

Showcase themselves.

These guys just played the right way.

Yeah.

And the right way means go out there, compete defensively, move that ball, move without the ball, and good things happen.

And that was a good example tonight of why the Kings were in this game tonight.

Yeah, and it’s just way more fun to watch.

And actually, Doug Christie, who you saw fired up in that crunch time tape, he spoke after the game.

Let’s hear from him after this loss.

And now for- Yeah played at this level- Yeah what did you see out there from your guys tonight?

the competitiveness, first and foremost.

That, that’s what I told them.

I mean, i- it’s hard.

you know, they, they, they made 28 free throws.

That’s a, that’s a huge number.

And, we gotta play defense without fouling, first and foremost.

That is, that, that is a big time key.

But, you know, a couple bad bounces at the end that just, you know, like the, the heave, you think that that’s not gonna hit the rim, and it’s probably gonna be a air ball.

Touches the rim.

just, you know, sometimes the, the ball doesn’t bounce your way.

But the competitiveness, first and foremost, I thought was, w- was at a very high level.

But, you know, close isn’t good enough.

But I like what I like the approach to the game, I like the mindset prior to the game, I like the attention to detail, when we come to the gym.

And, and I thought it translated to the floor.

We’ve seen Daequan have a big important quarter.

Yeah.

Can you just speak to, you know, he had that down the stretch there?

You know, for, for him, man, I mean, ever since I saw him in the summertime, like, I pulled him aside and, and looked at him, and it was just, like, “Listen, listen to me right now when I’m talking to you.”

You know, I know those are moments that it was probably uncomfortable, but I’m, like, looking at him right in his eyes and I said, “Look, you belong here.”

And he was like And I said, “Not in, in this league.

Y- you belong here, but you gotta believe that, man.”

So to watch him go to the G League, and first to watch him in Summer League, then watch him go to the G League and have the success that he had, then come up and sporadically get some minutes, but you could see, like, I like the defense, I like the gravity.

Like, he wasn’t making shots early, but he took all shots that came his way, which told me he ain’t scared of the moment.

And for him, like, when he’s shooting that, you know, most times i- he’s gonna get a good look, and it looks like it’s going in.

He’s continuing handling the ball a little bit more, out of necessity, and, putting it on the deck and trying to create for others.

Defense is, is his calling card.

That’s, that’s what makes me love him, yes.

What, what do you think happened during that six-minute stretch in the fourth I think 11 your guys then couldn’t hit a field goal?

Yeah.

I mean, you gotta give them credit.

They went, they went to Paolo, and he answered and rung the bell.

He, I think he hit a couple buckets, then he, he got, he got fouled.

We went to the tilt.

and it, it just You know, he, he’s one of those players that if he finds a game, and if he’s getting to the free throw line, it’s, it’s really gonna be a long night.

I don’t know how many he ended up with.

He was, seven for eight.

So when, you know, when you put yourself down in the post, and then they made a couple big shots at the same time.

Some guys made some threes and stepped up, and they hadn’t been shooting a three at a really, really high clip, but tonight they made them.

Daequan- Yeah, they did shoot a lot of free throws in this game, and Daequan Plowden is someone I wanna talk about next though, Deuce.

23 points for him, 8 of 12 from the field, 6 of 10 from three-point land.

Man.

Oh my goodness, and just knocking down some clutch shots at the end.

Everybody’s journey is different, Morgan.

Yes.

And he had to go a different route, the G League route.

Got a two-way contract with Sacramento, played awesome in the G League.

Finally gets some run here with all the injuries, and look how he’s playing right now.

He’s, he’s doing all the right things.

There’s nothing crazy about what he’s doing, right?

No.

He’s a great athlete.

He brings it defensively.

And then he’s been knocking down perimeter shots.

Huge.

I’m so happy for him because I think what he has shown is he’s an NBA player.

Yes.

And whether it’s here or elsewhere, I think he gets an opportunity because he goes about his business the right way.

He’s mature.

Yep.

He plays the right way.

I like what he’s brought.

We always talk about it’s situational for so many- Yes of these guys, right?

Even from the start of their career at times, being around the right cro- coach or program that just works for them in their game.

And someone like Daequan Plowden has been in and out, has seen his failures or adversity, how, challenges, however you wanna put it, and has now found a situation that allowed him to have a lot of opportunities.

But he is making the most of- Absolutely those minutes and the opportunities by playing basketball the right way, by making the right plays.

And that is something that you had mentioned before too, is that there’s so many guys around the league, and we’ve seen it in the G so many times, where guys are just looking to get theirs and show- showcase what they can do.

This is a team sport.

You gotta showcase what you can do as a teammate.

And with- And that’s what he’s done i- it’s understanding what your role could be at the next level.

For sure.

And it doesn’t mean you don’t strive for more.

Mm-hmm.

But if Daequan Plowden’s gonna make it in the NBA- Yeah it’s gonna be because he’s a role player.

Yeah.

He’s not gonna be some star that’s carrying a team.

So if you’re a role player, you gotta do the dirty work.

You gotta make sure you’re moving without the ball, playing physical defensively, not fouling, hitting shots, being athletic.

He checks a lot of those boxes.

And in that fourth quarter, he has 15 points, knocked down four four- Oof from three.

That’s the thing.

We’ve seen so many clutch moments- Yeah from Daequan Plowden.

Absolutely.

and a- at the NBA level too.

And this is another thing, I think, too.

When people see a two-way guy, they automatically go, “Well, isn’t he a young guy?

Isn’t he young?”

He’s not young by NBA terms.

He’s 27 years old.

Oh my goodness.

Oh, he’s so old.

He’s only got a couple years left.

Is he g- Does he have a retirement account?

Yeah.

Like, is he okay?

No, but that is how it is, obviously- Yeah, yeah in the NBA.

And I see that 27, and I look at that, okay, you could be in your prime right now.

So he could be blossoming right here in Sacramento and just showing the NBA world what he is capable of.

Say it again.

Yep.

I tell it to people all the time.

You know, we get young broadcasters hitting us up.

Everyone’s path is different.

There’s no just one way- Yes to go about it.

In a perfect world, would Plowden would have liked to been a first round pick and landed somewhere and- Of course be in the NBA?

Of course.

But his path is different, and now he is showing why he can belong in the NBA.

I’m happy for him.

Well, the Kings do lose to the Orlando Magic, 121 to 117.

When we come back, we’re gonna talk a little bit more about this game, how the Kings defended the threes.

And we’ll look ahead.

That’s all next.

DeMar DeRozan, Kings play up to challenge in crunch-time loss to Magic

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