Sacramento Kings head coach Doug Christie highlighted his team’s execution in the fourth quarter after their 111-98 victory over the Houston Rockets on Sunday night.
On Malik Monk stepping into the backup point guard role, Christie said, “Yeah, I mean, Malik played the last game as well. I mean, the hats goes off to him. I wanted him out there with Nique as well to allow him to handle the ball. So, we had a few people out there could handle make sure try to get Debo out there as well. But Malik did a a fabulous job. He played to the standard and like love him and commend him for that. That’s big time respect for that.”
Christie also praised his team’s late-game execution. “We go over it all the time. Unlike what you may think, but we talk about closing packages and the ability to close quarters. I thought we did a fantastic job of that tonight. Making sure that the ball gets where it needs to get and in whose hands it needs to get into and that can vary. Most times that’s DeMar. And making sure that guys are are ready to shoot the basketball if there’s a double team or whatever it is. But when we do that, we played with poise and and we made sure that we put everyone in position to be successful.”
Christie singled out Dylan Cardwell for his impact on defense. “Dylan he has an energy about him. Whenever we talk basketball, whether it’s me sitting down with him and showing him film or him coming up and saying, ‘Coach, let me have it. What you got for me? How can I get better?’ I mean those are moments that as a coach I personally love because there’s teaching, there’s communication. But watching him rebound the basketball, play with joy, physicality. And I think personally our team is very confident when he is protecting the paint.”
On his rookies’ adjustments against Steven Adams and Alperen Sengun, Christie noted, “It’s huge because those guys are like playoff, you know, pros that they know how to play. They know angles. They know leverage. They’ve been in big moments. And to watch our young guys, you know, they’re going to make mistakes, but they step to the challenge. The one thing that I probably love the most out of all that, they did not back away from the physicality.”
Christie reflected on the team’s performance after a tough start to the season. “There was a level of physicality for 48 minutes. Playing to that standard consistently is a tough thing. One of our pillars is toughness. It does mean physically, but it also means mentally in those moments where we need to have poise like we did tonight to close the quarters. Like if we do that, we put ourselves in position. And tonight, we put ourselves in the position, we capitalize on it, and we won.”
He also noted the team’s strong work on the offensive glass. “You want to win a possession game… Our young guys, they did that whether they were batting the ball out, getting it to themselves, spraying the ball out for extra opportunities and then, you know, the opposite side of that is you want to put teams in position to turn the basketball over and you want to get out in the open court and run. Just a really good effort from our guys.”
Looking ahead, Christie emphasized focus over celebration. “The win is for the team. I take all the shots. As soon as I walk out of here, I’ll be thinking about the Lakers. Doesn’t mean I don’t love it and appreciate it, but it’s on to the next.”
