Brown, Kings ready to be ‘hunted’ in season’s final stretch originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea
In so many seasons where they’ve just tried to make it into the forest, the Kings are now the ones being hunted in the wild, wild West.
With the NBA All-Star break over and players and teams refreshed and ready for the final stretch of the regular season, Sacramento will look to hold onto its current No. 3 seed.
But coach Mike Brown and Co. know that won’t be an easy task.
“Everybody’s going to be scrambling now,” Brown told reporters after practice Tuesday. “Before this, you see guys sitting out, [getting] rest, not playing as hard as they could at certain times. The desperation is not there as much prior to the break.
“Now with us sitting in the third spot and everybody bunched together, people are gunning for us because they want what we have.”
Sacramento has 25 contests remaining in the regular season, and it’s not an easy final stretch, to say the least.
Thirteen games will be on the road. Twelve of them will be against a (current) top-seven team in either conference. There are a couple of three-games in four days scenarios.
But the Kings have a coach with championship expertise. Unlike this Kings team, Brown has been here before. For the most part, he knows what to expect.
“Being the ‘hunted,’ as you say, is going to be a little bit different now than what it was in the first two-thirds because of the intensity of the games, and everything else that comes along with it,” Brown said. “So it’ll be great to see how we respond to these last 25 games.”
Not only is the West stacked after team’s blockbuster moves at this year’s trade deadline, but everything is so close in the standings that really anything can happen. For reference, just 3.5 games separate the No. 3 seed (Kings) and the No. 9 seed (Golden State Warriors).
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With so much uncertainty ahead, one thing is for sure — Brown and his players will be ready.
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In just his second year in the league, Davion Mitchell is eager for what’s to come.
“It’s going to be really important for us, but it think it’s going to be really fun, too,” Mitchell told reporters. “The West is kind of close, everybody’s close to each other in the standings so we know its really important.
“Each game is going to be like a playoff game.”
The Kings haven’t made the playoffs in an NBA-record 16 seasons. That soon could change, and it all starts Thursday vs. the Portland Trail Blazers.
