Coach Mike Brown still searching for defensive identity after Kings get belted by Celtics

Kings coach Mike Brown has been saying it for quite some time now.

His team has to find a defensive identity without losing its way offensively.

Brown is still searching for that balance after the Kings ended a three-game road trip with a 122-104 loss to the Boston Celtics on Friday night at TD Garden.

Jayson Tatum had 30 points and eight rebounds for the Celtics (15-4), who have the best record in the NBA. Jaylen Brown added 25 points.

De’Aaron Fox scored 20 points on 6-of-17 shooting for the Kings (10-8), who will return to Sacramento to face the Phoenix Suns on Monday. Domantas Sabonis had 18 points, 10 rebounds and six assists.

The Celtics shot 49.4% from the field and made 16 of 37 (.432) from 3-point range while holding the Kings to 41.4% shooting. Kevin Huerter, Keegan Murray and Malik Monk went a combined 2 of 18 from 3-point range.

“That’s going to make it tough to begin with, but I felt we had too many turnovers — unforced turnovers,” Brown said. “To have 18 on the road against the best team in the NBA for 27 points is hard to overcome. In situations like this, if the ball’s not going in, you’ve got to be sound with the basketball and you’ve got to be good defensively.”

The Kings went 2 of 12 from the field to start the game. They missed their first eight 3-point attempts, committed 10 turnovers and trailed by 14 after giving up 36 points in the opening period. Adding to their frustrations, Fox and Brown were whistled for technical fouls after officials missed a tripping violation that sent Fox sprawling to the floor, resulting in a turnover and a breakaway layup by Derrick White.

Boston led by as many as 16 early in the second quarter before Sacramento battled back. Sparked by their bench, the Kings staged a 9-0 run to cut the deficit to four. They briefly tied the game on a three-point play by Fox and only trailed by two at the half. In the second period, the Kings shot 64%, outscored the Celtics 40-28, outrebounded them 11-6 and gave up zero offensive rebounds, giving Brown a glimpse of the balance he hopes to achieve at both ends of the floor.

The Kings tied the game on a basket by Barnes early in the second half and took a 66-64 lead on two free throws by Huerter, momentarily silencing the Boston crowd. Marcus Smart, Brown and Tatum all picked up their fourth fouls in the third quarter as Sacramento surged ahead, going up 82-76 on a 3-pointer by Davion Mitchell.

Everything seemed to be going Sacramento’s way, but then it all went wrong. The Celtics held the Kings scoreless over the final four minutes, closing out the third quarter with a 16-0 run to take a 94-84 lead. Sacramento’s struggles continued in the fourth quarter as the Celtics pulled away to go up by as many as 27 points.

The Kings have been lighting the beam and lighting up scoreboards for weeks, but Brown, ever the stickler for details, keeps bringing the conversation back to defense.

“I think, defensively, you have to have an identity on that side of the ball, and we have to form an identity on that side without losing what we have offensively,” Brown said earlier this week. “We may lose a little bit — I don’t know — but if you form an identity on the defensive end of the floor, you’ll have a lot of fun during the regular season. It’ll be fun to watch. Score a lot of points. Fans will enjoy it. The media is going to enjoy it.”

Defend. Rebound. Run. Shoot. Score.

Power the lasers and light the beam.

That’s the formula for success in Sacramento.

If the Kings can do that, they might fulfill the prophecy of the summer league bros, who declared “WE’RE GETTING 40 WINS THIS YEAR” while Sacramento was going 3-0 at the California Classic. The Kings are seeking their first 40-win campaign since the last time they made the playoffs in 2005-06, but that’s not all they want.

“We’re not just playing to win regular-season games,” Brown said. “That’s the start of where our journey is, and in order for us to get to where we want to get to, we have to have some sort of defensive identity.”

The offensive identity is already there. Fox, the reigning Western Conference Player of the Week, has been an absolute assassin, shooting career highs of 54.1% from the field, 39.5% from 3-point range and 81% at the free-throw line. There are times when he takes over games and there’s nothing anyone can do to stop him.

Sabonis is averaging 16.9 points, 11.2 rebounds and 6.2 assists, combining with Fox to orchestrate the offense beautifully. Huerter is having a career year in his first season in Sacramento, averaging 16.5 points and 50% shooting from the field and 49.6% from 3-point range.

Kings general manager Monte McNair emphasized shooting in the offseason, knowing he had to put some snipers around Fox and Sabonis to optimize spacing and efficiency. He drafted Murray, traded for Huerter and signed Monk as a free agent.

The results have been rather stunning.

Going into Friday’s game against the Celtics, the Kings were No. 1 in the NBA in scoring (120.0 ppg) and field-goal percentage (.496). They were No. 2 in offensive rating (116.8), effective field-goal percentage (.577), true shooting percentage (.612) and assist ratio (19.8); No. 3 in assists (28.1); No. 4 in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.89); No. 5 in assist percentage (.652); and No. 10 in 3-point percentage (.373).

Defense has been a different story. The Kings are 25th in the NBA in defensive rating (113.7) and 26th in opponent points per game (116.8).

Some defensive metrics might suggest the Kings are doing a good job in certain aspects of the game at that end of the floor. They are No. 1 in opponent offensive rebounding (8.8); No. 2 in defensive rebounding percentage (.752); and No. 4 in opponent second-chance points (11.4).

But that’s fool’s gold. Why? Because other teams don’t have to grab offensive rebounds or score second-chance points if they’re getting to the rim and scoring at will on their first attempt.

That’s what is happening to the Kings, who are 26th in opponent points in the paint (53.6); 29th in opponent field-goal percentage (.495) and 3-point percentage (.383); and 30th in blocked shots (2.9).

The Kings will try to find the balance they hope to achieve when they face Phoenix on Monday at Golden 1 Center. The Suns (12-6) have the best record in the Western Conference. They are 11th in the NBA in scoring (107.4 ppg) and fifth in scoring defense (107.4) with a league-best point-differential of plus-7.3.

Open looks and easy baskets could be hard to come by against the Suns, just as they were against the Celtics. The Kings know they can’t always expect to score 131.5 points per game, as they did over the first six games of their seven-game winning streak. They have to be able to defend.

“You don’t want to rely on your offense,” Fox said recently. “This being a make-or-miss league, you can come into a game and just not have it offensively, but if you can hang your hat on the defensive end and gets stops when you need it, and string stops together, that makes you that much better of a basketball team.”