They came close, but the Sacramento Kings still haven’t figured out how to beat the Charlotte Hornets. After leading by as much as 15 points on Monday, the Kings fell to the Hornets for the fifth consecutive time — this time by a margin of 122-116.
The Hornets went into Monday night’s ranked 15th in the NBA in defense rating while the Kings were ranked last. However, you couldn’t tell that there were 13 teams separating them on Monday. The Hornets let the Kings get just about anything they wanted in the paint and the Kings took advantage of that matchup, outscoring the Hornets 68-54 in the paint.