The opponent wasn’t the Los Angeles Lakers, Dallas Mavericks or Oklahoma City Thunder.
And true to form, the Kings looked down their noses at the Warriors on Tuesday night.
“Evidently we got on the floor and just felt we could roll over this team and steamroll this team and play well,” said Kings coach Keith Smart. “That didn’t happen.”
The Warriors did the steamrolling in a 115-89 rout of the Kings at Power Balance Pavilion.
It was the second consecutive loss for the Kings and the second game in a row they didn’t look impressed by the name on the opponents’ jerseys.
“They’ve got to grow up from that,” Smart said. “They’re grown men when we play against highlight teams. For whatever reason, they can’t seem to understand these teams are just as important as the highlight teams.”
The Warriors (18-21) are still ahead of the Kings (14-28) in the standings. And even though they weren’t at full strength, the Warriors looked like the better team from the start.
Golden State did not play leading scorer Monta Ellis and key reserve Ekpe Udoh, who along with injured center Kwame Brown reportedly will be dealt to Milwaukee for center Andrew Bogut and swingman Stephen Jackson. Guard Stephen Curry was also out with a mild right ankle sprain.
That didn’t matter. Nate Robinson, David Lee and Brandon Rush each scored 17 points as the Warriors shot 50.5 percent to coast to a win.
“We thought because they didn’t have Monta and Steph, it was going to be easy, so we didn’t come to play as a team, and that kind of turned around and kicked us in the butt,” Kings guard Tyreke Evans said.
Kings captain Chuck Hayes called the effort “embarrassing.”
“We were more impressed with was going on in our locker room than what was going on in ours,” Hayes said. “They deserved to win. They kicked our butts.”
The Kings’ inconsistent intensity is perplexing to Smart and some of the players.
The idea the Kings could be overconfident when they have the second-worst record in the Western Conference doesn’t make sense.
The Kings have put forth their best efforts against the best teams more times than not while slacking against sub-.500 teams.
Sunday, the Atlanta Hawks, a playoff-caliber team that lacks the buzz of the Miami Heat, weren’t enough to get the Kings’ attention early in a 106-99 loss.
“I don’t see how we play so well against a contending team like the Mavericks and lay two goose eggs and don’t show no fight in these last two games,” Hayes said. “I don’t know the answers.”
The team’s youth is another reason for the inconsistency. But even that doesn’t sit well with Smart.
“I know they’re young, but they’ve got to be young pros,” Smart said. “These (opponents) are NBA players.”
Kings rookie guard Isaiah Thomas said youth could be an issue, but even he can’t pinpoint the problem.
And the Kings don’t have long to figure that out. They host Detroit, another sub.-500 team, tonight. The Pistons beat the Kings last month.
“I couldn’t tell you,” Thomas said. “My mindset as an individual is the same every time I come out, but as a team we’ve got to have the same mindset – don’t overlook nobody – because we’re really not that good right now as a team ourselves.”
