The Sports Informant

By Scott Levin
Sports Informant Contributing Writer

The early success of the 2009-2010 season seems like it was ages ago. The Kings have unfortunately regressed as the year has gone on, a discouraging sign for a young team. With Tuesday’s 88-81 loss in Portland, Sacramento is now just 8-29 in its last 37 games — this coming after a 13-14 record following the miracle comeback in Chicago.

It’s hard to pinpoint just what went wrong at that point to cause such a massive dip in production. One explanation could be the fashion in which they lost some of the games following the win in Chicago. Three of the next four losses were absolute heartbreakers. There were the two home overtime losses to league powerhouses Cleveland and the Lakers, both games the Kings had a grasp on. There was then the devastating loss in Los Angeles to kick off 2010, as Kobe Bryant beat the buzzer to sink Sacramento.

It's been an up and down season for Kings coach Paul Westphal. (Photo courtesy Greg Ashman)

It’s natural to think that, as professionals, the Kings could shake off the tough defeats. But with a team as inexperienced as Sacramento, it is possible the losses demoralized the team and killed momentum. Whatever the case, the excitement that dominated the first two months has disappeared.

The positive for the Kings is that there is still time. Sacramento has 18 games remaining on the schedule. Eleven of those are at home, and six are against non-playoff teams. Even the games against the upper-echelon teams (Lakers twice, Dallas, Boston, Cleveland) are chances for the Kings to prove themselves and build some positivity going into the next season.

The next five games are all at home, starting with Wednesday’s matchup with Toronto.