Defensive woes continue with 125-99 loss to Blazers

The Sacramento Kings have completely forgotten how to play defense as they fell to the Portland Trail Blazers 125-99 Saturday night at the Golden 1 Center. The loss was their fourth in their last five games and dropped them to a season low two games under .500 at 4-6.

Marvin Bagley led six Kings in double figures with 15 points and eight rebounds but had another miserable shooting night hitting just 5-of-14 shots. But the rest of the team was not much better hitting 40.7 percent overall for the game.

After playing strong defense to open the season, the Kings have seemingly gotten away from what was working for them. A lack of toughness has come over the squad and they appear to be afraid to touch their opponents for fear of offending them. As a result, teams are bullying their way through Sacramento’s lackadaisical defense for easy layups, put backs, and wide-open threes.

Tyrese Haliburton did get his first NBA start as Richaun Holmes was a late scratch due to left ankle soreness. The rookie finished with 12 points and eight assists for the game.

CJ McCollum led the Blazers with 37 points, and Damian Lillard added a quiet 17.

Notes

We are featuring Tyrese Haliburton's sneakers for the game as we didn't know what else to say about the game.

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