Doug Christie has Kings playing together in climb back to .500

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In his first two weeks on the job, Sacramento Kings interim head coach Doug Christie has quoted Bob Marley and Deepak Chopra. He’s talked about using smelling salts on the bench and he’s taken the team to the roof of Golden 1 Center to see the Beam up close and personal. 

Christie has a different approach to the game. He also has a different approach to life outside of the game. He sees basketball through a lens that has a purple tint, but is also focused by years of study as a player, analyst and now coach.

When the Kings started 5-1 under Christie, national media members poked holes in his accomplishment by pointing to wins over shorthanded teams like the Mavs, 76ers, Grizzlies and Heat. The win over the Warriors? Well, they were on the second night of a back-to-back.

There was no mention of the Kings playing two of those games without Keegan Murray or the last three without De’Aaron Fox, who currently ranks sixth in the NBA in scoring. 

After the Kings walked into Boston and thumped the mighty Celtics on Friday night, maybe that noise will quiet down. Boston was playing at full strength. They hadn’t played since Tuesday and their 27-10 record coming into the night was second best in the Eastern Conference and third best in the NBA behind the Cavs and Thunder.

Playing without Fox once again, who sustained a right glute contusion in the team’s win over the Grizzlies earlier in the week, the Kings were the team hunting a victory. They held their own through the first half against the reigning champs and when the third quarter opened up, it was Sacramento that punched first and never stopped.

Maybe the Celtics had an off shooting night. Maybe they are in the dog days of a long season and aren’t sweating a January loss. It doesn’t really matter. Christie’s Kings walked into TD Garden riding a five game win streak and pushed it to six with a 114-97 dominating performance.

The turnaround has been sudden. Christie has found a way to reach into the soul of an underperforming squad to lead them back to the .500 mark at 19-19. His message of love and togetherness, which he honed as a player in Sacramento during the early 2000’s, is resonating with the team. They are pulling in one direction when many teams would have splintered. 

With 44 games remaining on the schedule, the Kings have found a reset button. Over the last two weeks, the team has climbed from 12th in the Western Conference standings to a tie for ninth with the Golden State Warriors. Sacramento currently sits a game and a half out of seventh and three and a half games out of fourth place.