Even though the Sacramento Kings wound up losing to the Warriors in their first playoff run since 2006, their players held their heads up high and felt proud of their season overall.
Proof of this was how the Sacramento crowd kept chanting songs to lift up their squad’s spirit even though the last game at the Golden 1 Center was already decided in the final minutes against Golden State. The truth is, the team deserves an ode for their hard work throughout the campaign, and the players realized this in spite of the loss.
“This is definitely something that you build on… we had a good season.”
🎙 De’Aaron Fox explains how the First Round matchup against the Warriors is going to help this team grow in the future@kpthrive | #FeelTheRoar pic.twitter.com/jmxIvVX2pq
— Sacramento Kings (@SacramentoKings) May 1, 2023
One of their main stars throughout the tournament, De’Aaron Fox, was one of the first to step up to the press and admit their faults, but also interpret their latest defeat as an opportunity to improve for the future, as Sacramento still hopes to continue their revolution for next season.
The young point guard averaged 27.4 points and 7.7 assists in his first postseason appearance.
“Being at the age that we are, you have a lot of basketball left to be played,” the 25-year-old said. “You’re entering your prime, you want to have the best years of your basketball career coming up. Losing to this team, you just learn from it.
“You take everything that they did to us, that they taught us, you try to be better at those things and just continue to work at it.”
In general, it was a weird night in Sacramento, as Fox couldn’t emulate rival star Stephen Curry’s three-point shooting, teammate Malik Monk precision was also off, and big man Domantas Sabonis wasn’t the strong presence we are used to seeing from him.
“It’s going to sting for a long time, but you have to come back ready from the get-go, from training camp,” Monk said. “I definitely want to be playing again at this time next year […] You can’t dream of anything like this unless you’re doing it.”
After the game, both squads showed mutual respect for each other after an intense seven-game battle
“I wanted to pay my respects,” Golden State’s Draymond Green said after the match. “We’ve been in a lot of playoff series against a lot of guys, and if I’m honest, you leave with less respect for a lot of guys … There are some you gain respect for. Fox is one of those guys.”
On the other side of the court, Monk simply showered Curry in praise. “Steph being Steph; that’s it. Kudos to Steph,” he said.
Take a look at the Warriors star’s historic exhibition, as he dropped 50 points against the Kings this Sunday:
“Obviously, we wish we were still playing, but this is part of the sport,” coach Mike Brown said about his team. “We’ll be better from this experience going forward. Our guys are definitely hurting right now, which obviously they should be. But I have a lot of gratitude for every man in that locker room.
“You wish you could have gotten more, for the city and for the fans, but nobody in our organization should be dropping their heads right now.”
