Kings Fall to Clippers, Look to Secure Home Play-In Game Sunday

The Sacramento Kings had a chance to win at the buzzer, but fell 100-101 to the Los Angeles Clippers.

James Mccauley | Apr 12, 2025

Apr 11, 2025; Sacramento, California, USA; Sacramento Kings forward DeMar DeRozan (center) shoots the final shot against Los Angeles Clippers guard Kris Dunn (center left) and center Ivica Zubac (40) during the fourth quarter at Golden 1 Center. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images / Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

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Unfortunately, fans cannot make plans around a Golden 1 Center home playoff game quite yet. The Sacramento Kings lost their penultimate game of the 2024-25 season, falling to the Los Angeles Clippers 100-101 as a DeMar DeRozan missed a last-second shot that went without a whistle.

Sacramento falls to 39-42 after yet another one-point loss to the Clippers, ending their streak of two consecutive winning seasons. Since they moved to Sacramento in 1985, the Kings have enjoyed just 10 winning seasons - 8 of which were during the golden era of Kings basketball under Rick Adelman, and 2 of which were under former unanimous Coach of the Year, and recently fired, Mike Brown.

Sacramento could have clinched the 9-seed, and a home Play-In Tournament game against the Dallas Mavericks with a win tonight. Instead, the destination of the 9-10 game waits until Sunday.

The Kings came into this key matchup without key pieces Malik Monk (calf) and Jake LaRavia (thumb) tonight. Instead of another Doug McDermott cameo, Sacramento opted to tighten their rotation. Only eight players saw the court tonight, with six (the starters and Trey Lyles) playing over 30 minutes.

Importantly, the Kings saw Keegan Murray (back) return tonight. Murray played 32 minutes and finished with 9 points (3/9, 1/6) and 8 rebounds

This game was well within reach. However, the Kings managed to allow four offensive rebounds during a critical late-game possession, leading to a foul and free throws to extend the Clipper lead in the final 10 seconds.

Sacramento was in this game until the end despite poor shooting nights from their best scorers. Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan went a combined 15/43 (5/17 3PT). Despite the poor showing from Sacramento’s offensive forces, there were positives from each - specifically, LaVine continues to both shoot well and incrementally improve his dribble handoff game with Domantas Sabonis, which will be essential to his fit with the Kings.

However, LaVine and DeRozan will need to be better if the Kings want to make any sort of noise in the Play-In Tournament, let alone a playoff series.

The Kings were buoyed by the metronome that is Domantas Sabonis. Sabonis finished with 19/15/4 in a battle with Ivica Zubac, a candidate for both Defensive Player of the Year and Most Improved Player this season. Zubac finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds tonight.

Devin Carter gave the Kings some great minutes tonight, giving his all defending James Harden. Coach Doug Christie justifiably earned a technical foul on a “foul” by Carter in the fourth quarter on a play that bears a striking resemblance to another elbow from a Los Angeles guard that was miraculously called a foul on the Sacramento defender.

Reminder that this elbow to the face counted as a blocking foul against Mike Bibby in game 6 of the 2002 Western Conference Finals, instead of a flagrant foul against Kobe Bryant. This foul call lead to 2 of the 27 free throws that the Lakers attempted in the 4th quarter. pic.twitter.com/rFBYhf1WIp
— Trip (@TripJaw) May 8, 2018

The Clippers enjoyed strong nights from James Harden and Kawhi Leonard. Los Angeles, clearly feeling the pressure of the Western Conference logjam, rode their stars hard tonight. Harden played 43 minutes tonight, and Leonard logged 42 minutes of his own.

The Kings end their season against the Phoenix Suns in a Sunday matinee matchup at 12:30 PM PST. For those who want to scoreboard watch and potentially purchase tickets to a home Play-In game, the Dallas Mavericks play the Miami Heat at the same time on Sunday. Since Sacramento holds the tiebreaker over Dallas, the only scenario that results in the 9-10 Play-In game being hosted by Dallas is if the Mavericks win and the Kings lose on Sunday.

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