NBA Power Rankings: Here comes the trade deadline

The Kings began their week with a road loss to the Spurs, and while it was nice to see De’Aaron Fox put up 26 points, the thing that was most alarming was head coach Dave Joerger collapsing on the sideline a few minutes into the game. He was examined by members of the Spurs medical team, and treated for symptoms of lightheadedness. He would miss the Kings next game, a road match against the Pelicans, before returning on Friday against the Warriors. The Kings won that game that Joerger missed, closing out their six-game road trip with a 114-103 victory over New Orleans.

The Kings found great success attacking the Pelicans frontline, finishing the game with 14 offensive rebounds as a team while both their starting bigs, Zach Randolph and Kosta Koufus, had double-doubles. They gave themselves a shot in their first game home after the road trip, pulling within one point of the Warriors in the fourth quarter, 89-88, but the Warriors scored 30 points in the next eight minutes to pull away down the stretch. The Kings lost on the second night of a back-to-back, running out of gas in the final quarter against the Dallas Mavericks, giving up a 16-0 run to start the frame to see a 85-81 lead evaporate. You can’t miss 10 shots in a row and not expect the other team to take advantage, but that’s what happens sometimes when you have a young, rebuilding team that hasn’t quite figured out how to win games just yet.