Two weeks, the Kings were 6-10, a win against the Knicks salvaging what had been a rough stretch of play. Sacramento had the 13th-best offense in the league but the NBA’s worst defense. In fact, their defense was a full four points worse than the 29th-ranked defense; that gap was equal to the difference between the 20th and 29th-ranked defenses.
The Kings were supposed to head out on a six-game road trip immediately after that New York contest, tough sledding for a team that was already reeling. Instead, they got a reprieve. The Grizzlies had been hit by Covid, and the NBA shut them down for 10 days to avoid transmission across the league.