The wheels are coming off the bus in Kingsland. After another bad loss, this time by the final of 128-119 at the hands of the 13-38 Brooklyn Nets, DeMarcus Cousins went cryptic in his postgame press conference, something he has done a few times in the past.
“I’m not going to keep blaming the guys in the locker room,” Cousins said following the game. “Energy and effort is a huge part of the game, but we’re not going to keep blaming it on that. We’ve got a bigger issue and we need to figure it out as a team.”
What are those issues? Cousins wouldn’t elaborate, but clearly the team is tired of shouldering the blame for every loss. As one of the leaders of this team, Cousins made it clear that there are much larger problems facing this team at this point in the season.
“I’d rather keep it in-house, but we’ve got bigger issues than just energy and effort,” Cousins added. “That can’t be the excuse every night.”
[RECAP: Instant Replay: Defense falls apart in Kings' loss to Nets]
After climbing back into the playoff race just two weeks ago, the Kings have now lost six of their last seven, including Friday night’s loss in Brooklyn. The Nets had lost 15-of-17 and have the league’s second-worst offense. That didn’t stop them from torching the Kings from the perimeter, a common theme this season.
Brooklyn’s 128 points, are 10 points higher than any other game this season and more than 32 points higher than their season average. The defensive woes for the Kings have reached an all-time high over the last seven games where they are surrendering 116.4 points per game.
“Shooters get going and in a lot of ways, we never got a defensive mentality going in the game, we tried to do a shootout mentality,” George Karl said. “And we sit here very empty right now.”
Bojan Bogdanovic dropped in a career-high seven 3-pointers on his way to 23 points off the bench. The Nets hit 18-of-28 from long range as a team while the Kings crowded the paint on most possessions.
“We seem to have some type of career-high from an opponent, every night it’s the same story,” Cousins said.
The Kings have three more on the road before getting a week off for the All-Star break. Change in one form or another is likely on its way as a promising season is once again on the brink of disaster.
