Mike Brown admits he complained ‘way too much’ to officials in Kings’ loss

Brown admits he complained ‘way too much’ to refs in Kings’ loss originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea

Coach Mike Brown and the playoff-bound Kings lost a heated battle Wednesday night.

Behind 19 fourth-quarter points from superstar guard Kyrie Irving, the Dallas Mavericks — on the brink of elimination — kept their postseason hopes alive by defeating Sacramento 123-119 at American Airlines Center.

There were plenty of spicy moments throughout the game. De’Aaron Fox was visibly chippier than usual, exchanging words with Mavericks guard Tim Hardaway Jr. in the third quarter and tossing an annoyed glance at Luka Dončić for arguing a clear foul.

“Shoot, they even had me complaining all night. I was complaining way too much to the referees,” Brown said to reporters after the game. “Maybe they might have missed a couple of calls, but at the end of the night they’re human. You’ve got to kind of look past that.”

One impactful call that originally didn’t go the Kings’ way occurred with 5:13 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Kevin Huerter was whistled for an offensive foul for shoving his defender Hardaway to the ground. Not one to normally have many words for officials, Huerter clearly was upset and immediately argued his case to the nearest official.

Before he could communicate that Hardaway prompted the shove by poking him in the face, Huerter was gifted a technical foul.

After Brown challenged the call, the offensive foul was overturned into a Hardaway personal foul. The officials, however, upheld Huerter’s technical foul, and Irving drained the technical free-throw attempt for a five-point Mavericks lead.

It just so happened that the Kings were down four points with 15 seconds remaining in the game. That one point could have made a huge difference.

“They had us all complaining about this missed call, that missed call,” Brown said. “So, you give [the Mavericks] credit. They turned their physicality up in the second half, and they got the win.”

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The Kings balled out in the first half and built an 11-point lead at the break. But it quickly disappeared when Hardaway Jr. came out scorching hot with 11 points in the opening five minutes of the third quarter. Irving took over from there.

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“We came out as the aggressor. They hit us back coming out of the second half,” Fox said after the loss. “For us, it’s just trying to be able to keep your foot on the gas. We were in control of the game most of the first half, and they went on their run and pretty much never looked back.”

The Kings missed an opportunity to creep closer within one game of the No. 2 playoff seed in the Western Conference, as the Memphis Grizzlies lost to the New Orleans Pelicans in overtime. With two games left, the Kings (48-32) remain two games back of the Grizzlies.

All odds point towards the Kings landing in the No. 3 spot in the playoff bracket. They might not have much to play for Friday against the Warriors and Sunday against the Denver Nuggets, but a couple more tastes of a playoff atmosphere like Wednesday night in Dallas can only help Sacramento moving forward.