Kings fans will buy more Doug Christie stock after eye-opening resurgence claim

Not even a month has passed since then The Sacramento Kings fired former head coach Mike Brownand already, it seems that every night a completely different team takes the floor. In a situation like this, there are often a number of factors that go into a team turning things around after firing their head coach, but in Sacramento’s case, it’s easy to see why interim head coach Doug Christie gets the lion’s share of the credit.

Christie had to get the benefit of the doubt from Kings fans, if only because he spent four and a half seasons with the team as a player, starting at point guard during the most successful stretch in franchise history. Sacramento went 230-98 in Christie’s four full seasons with the team, advancing to the second round of the playoffs three times and once pushing the Los Angeles Lakers to the brink of elimination in the Western Conference Finals.

But the good vibes in Sactown have nothing to do with what happened twenty years ago. It’s all about what Doug Christie and the Kings have been up to over the last twenty days or so. The Kings are 10-2 since Christy replaced Brown, and that stretch includes wins over Dallas, Memphis, Miami, Boston, Houston and a pair of wins over Golden State, one of which came Wednesday night when they rallied from a 17-point halftime deficit. . turned into a 123-117 victory over the struggling Warriors.

Incredibly, it was Sacramento’s third comeback win after trailing by 15 or more points since Doug Christie took over on Dec. 27. According to OptaSTATS, Christie is the first coach in the history of the league to have three 15+ point comebacks in his first ten games as an NBA head coach. But don’t tell Christie he’s the catalyst for this turnaround. He won’t hear any of it.

“This is all about them, not me,” Christie bluntly said after Wednesday night’s comeback win, per ESPN’s James Hamm.

Even if it was Christie’s presence in the big box that unlocked this wave of success, it was Sacramento’s effort The big four it made this turnaround easier. Since Dec. 28, when Christie made his head coaching debut, De’Aaron Fox, Domantas Sabonis, DeMar DeRozan and Malik Monk are everything average at least 20 points per game. It is safe to say that there is no other team in the league that can boast of such a result. But maybe that’s to be expected when the vibes change overnight.

“I think everybody’s in good spirits,” Fox said late last week after Kings practiceper Trista Rodriguez of NBC Sports. “Obviously, whenever you’re winning, those things pick up a little bit. But Doug is that kind of guy. He lights up the room.”

Domantas Sabonis shared a similar feeling about Sacramento’s interim coach.

“He has a huge heart.” He loves Sacramento deeply and will give anything for the Kings. You can see him everyday in practice, film sessions and games. The players feel it and want to fight for him,” Sabonis said recently, reports Donatas Urbonas from Basket News. He also noticed that Christy had changed the Kings defense and allowed Sabonis, Fox, DeRozan and Monk to have “more freedom” on offense.