No one said beating the Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets would be easy, but the Kings only lost by six points. And if Sacramento had better defense, they might have walked away with the win. The roster continues to have problems getting that part of the game down, and it'll dog them all season.
With the additions and adjustments made in the offseason, the Nuggets are looking championship caliber for the first time since they won it all in 2023. They are fourth in the Western Conference behind the Lakers, keeping in mind that LA has played two more games than Denver this season.
On the other hand, the Sacramento Kings are looking like basement dwellers at the moment. They're currently 13th in the Western Conference with a slight lead over the Dallas Mavericks. Fortunately, the Kings are in the same conference as the Pelicans, meaning they'll never be in last.
The odd thing is that most of the Kings' games have been close. Outside of one outing, they've either won or lost by less than ten points. The only team to beat the Kings by double digits was the Chicago Bulls. That is a strong indicator that defense remains a big issue for Sacramento.
Sacramento needs to hustle back on defense
This isn't news to anyone. The Kings have not had a strong defensive presence for several years, focusing instead on building a strong offense. If that's the focus, then your team needs to outscore their opponents each game by a fairly wide margin to offset your lack of defense.
This season, Sacramento is scoring an average of 116.3 points per game, which is almost right on the league average of 117. The problem is that the Kings are allowing an average of 121 points per game with the league average this season being 117.2. That math doesn't math for the Kings.
Despite their renewed internal focus on defense, Sactown continues to lose close games because of their weakness on that end of the court. They are losing games by an average of 7.6 points and winning games by an average of 1.5 points. Good defense helps prevent those situations.
While there has been some improvement in the Kings' defense, there's a long way to go. Until they can get the points they're allowing per game under control, Sacramento will remain at the bottom of the Western Conference. Offense wins games. Defense wins championships.