Are Kings the hunted or are they still hunters in the playoff chase?

The hunters become the hunted.

This line has been used many times in many different contexts. Head coach Mike Brown has thrown out this idea to describe how different the post All-Star break schedule will look for the Kings.

“I told this to our team from the very beginning. It’s going to be easy for us to get to a certain point in the standings. I said, once we’re there, as the season goes along, it’s going to be harder to maintain it and or even to move higher, just because you’re going from hunting to being the hunted,” Brown told The Kings Beat. “And once you become the hunted, people start circling the date that you’re going to play them and they take you serious, not just from the tip, but the day before in practice, the morning shootaround, the film session before the game and then they let it hang loose come game time.”

Beginning last Thursday, the Kings had 25 games to make their case that they belong in the 2022-23 NBA postseason. The sample size is small, but it appears that Sacramento isn’t ready to be hunted just yet.

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