"I wouldn't point to that because we had the ball in the right people's hands at the right time down the stretch, and we just got real lackadaisical, and/or we just couldn't finish, or we didn't stick with our principles," said Brown.
It doesn't stop the Kings coach from thinking that the team can learn anything from its most recent setback heading into the 2023–24 NBA season.
Brown would prefer not to see Domantas Sabonis rendered helpless in a battle with Kevin Durant at center in the last seconds of the game, since it prevented Sacramento from securing another victory.
"Well, we've got to take care of any mismatch we have, like most teams do," stated Brown. Therefore, we need to find a way to score when playing inside.
Just because they don't have a big in the game doesn't mean we're going to score over the top when we kick the ball out or somebody else drives the basketball.
The last five, six minutes of the game and a team's coming back and the crowd's in it, you can't be lackadaisical with your turnovers and you have to be sharp offensively."
In spite of the setback, Sabonis continued his impressive season with a triple-double against the Suns—21 points, 12 boards, and 11 assists—good for his eleventh in fourteen games. Fox shot 12 for 24 from the field and 6 for 10 from beyond the arc to score a game-high 33 points.
After suffering two devastating losses on the road—to the Milwaukee Bucks and the Suns—the Kings will have a lengthy flight home. Their road trip finished with a 2-3 record. On Thursday, the Kings will host the Indiana Pacers at Golden 1 Center to begin a two-game homestand.