The story of the Sacramento Kings' season has been defense — or lack thereof.
On Wednesday night against the Atlanta Hawks the defense played better than it had in previous weeks for the first 45 minutes of the game.
Then the Hawks scored on their final seven possessions.
After Cam Reddish missed a 17-foot jump shot with 2:47 left, the Hawks ended their final seven possessions with points in the 108-102 win over the Kings.
Kings interim head coach Alvin Gentry said after the game multiple times that not getting stops down the stretch cost his team a win.
"We didn't start out like we should have," Gentry said. "I thought we did regroup and play like we are capable of playing. In order to win a game like we were in tonight, you have to have defensive stops and we didn't make any stops. We played uphill and from behind. We finally get the game tied but we don't come up with any stops down the stretch. That was the difference in the game."
He added, "The one thing we had to do is come up with stops at the end of the game. We didn't do that."
The Hawks' final three possessions ended in free throws. And they did it without their two best players in Trae Young and John Collins. They were also missing former Kings guard Bogdan Bogdanović, who was in the NBA's COVID-19 health and safety protocols.
It didn't matter. Kevin Huerter had a team-high 25 points off the bench in 32:49 and all five Hawks starters scored in double-digits.
Before the game, Gentry talked about limiting offensive rebounds and turnovers — two areas the Kings struggled in a loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night on the road.
After allowing four offensive rebounds in the first quarter, the Kings limited the Hawks to 10. The Kings also had six turnovers in the first quarter and finished with 11. Both were goals Gentry set.
"We wrote numbers on the board tonight," Gentry said on the turnovers and offensive rebounds. "Those things were good. Somewhere along the lines you have to dig in and come up with stops that put you in a position to win a game like that."
Another theme of the Kings season is playing poorly against a team without some of their starters and bench players. Last week, the Kings squeaked out a 115-113 win over a shorthanded Miami Heat squad, which was missing star big man Bam Adebayo.
"We almost seem to play better if they have everybody," Gentry said. "... every team has gone through (injuries and COVID-19 issues). That should be a nonfactor in my opinion. If you want to win basketball games, you can't have teams score on their final seven possessions."
Kings guard Tyrese Haliburton added, "I feel like we haven't beat a team this season when they're missing their best player. It's an indictment on us. It's completely on us."
The Kings will get a day of rest before traveling to Denver to face the Nuggets on Friday.
