The Sacramento Kings have continued their ascension from NBA basement dweller to Western Conference contender this season, and have hopes of returning to the postseason this year as one of the higher seeds. But they’ve fallen on hard times lately, and have now lost four games in a row for the first time since the start of last season.

NBA: The Sacramento Kings Have Had A Very Tough Week

DAMIAN LILLARD CALLED GAME pic.twitter.com/RTPdQFTX2L

— DraftKings (@DraftKings) January 15, 2024

All teams go through rough stretches, but how they’ve lost their games has been especially hard to swallow.

It started with a loss against the shorthanded 76ers, who were without MVP candidate Joel Embiid. The game was broadcasted on national television, and the Kings were never in it before losing by 19.

They were in Milwaukee two nights later, and put up an impressive fight against one of the top teams in the NBA. But 3 missed free throws on 4 attempts in the final 18 seconds left the door open for Damian Lillard, who slammed it shut with his first buzzer beating 3-pointer in a Bucks uniform.

During the next game, it looked as though Sacramento had gotten back on the right track, as they led the Suns by 22 points with 8 minutes left in the 4th quarter. But Phoenix came storming back, completing the biggest comeback in that we’ve seen in the NBA since 2020. Teams that were leading by 22 or more in the 4th quarter had won in the previous 1,244 instances.

Free Throws The Culprit Again In Loss To Pacers

Kings finished the game 18-32 from the FT line, horrendous

— KingsMuse (@kings_muse) January 19, 2024

Home cooking didn’t seem to help, either. On Thursday, the visiting Pacers were shorthanded due to the Tyrese Haliburton injury as well as the Pascal Siakam trade, but that didn’t matter much. The Kings were poor defensively all night, and were down by as many as 16 with less than 5 minutes left in the fourth quarter.

They fought back and made it a close game in the final seconds, but missed free throws again doomed the Kings. On a night in which they lost by 5 points, they missed 14 of their 32 free throws.

With the loss, the Kings drop out of the top-6 in the West, and are just 2.5 games up on the Lakers who sit in the 10th and final playoff spot.

Sacramento will have three days off before they host the Hawks on Monday.