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By Aman Sharma
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Sacramento Kings standout Darius Acuff Jr. admitted to USA TODAY Sports that the losing has taken a real toll on him after the Orlando Magic won 107-100 on Nov. 10.
It was Sacramento’s fourth defeat in a row, and the 1-10 record equals the franchise’s worst-ever 11-game opening.
Acuff is the centerpiece of the team’s rebuild, and the Kings still haven’t won inside Golden 1 Center, sitting 0-6 there. His 29 points on 10-of-21 shooting didn’t ease the sting, and neither did his six assists or four boards across 40 minutes.
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Asked how heavily the defeats weigh on him, the point guard didn’t dress it up.
“A lot,” Acuff said. “I’m not a loser. So it’s not fun.”
Effort, he said, hasn’t been the problem.
“I don’t know what to do man, I feel like we’re trying,” Acuff said. “Everybody as a whole, we’re just not coming out with the win. I don’t know man, 1-10 just don’t sound right.”
Few newcomers have produced like him. Through 11 games, Acuff is putting up 25.9 points a night, and his 259 points over his initial 10 outings are the most for a first-year player since Michael Jordan’s 273 in 1984-85.
Not since 1983 had an NBA rookie launched 20 or more shots in each of his first 10 games.
Against Orlando, the Kings coughed the ball up 21 times, and Acuff, guilty of four of those giveaways, owned his share.
“We’ve been saying it for five games now, it’s kind of hard to keep saying that without actually doing it,” Acuff said. “We just got to go out there and actually do it. We’re on the court playing, there’s nobody to blame but ourselves.”
Zach LaVine paced the Kings with 31 points. He has backed the rookie’s shot volume and says he’ll work away from the ball or take catch-and-shoot looks to help him.
“Darius is special,” LaVine said. “This isn’t for me anymore.”
His message to the locker room was about sticking together.
“From the front office down, we all have the same record,” he said. “It’s us versus everybody, that’s how we have to look at it.”
Following the Nov. 8 defeat against the Miami Heat, Acuff said in comments that he was picking up “a few lessons every game” and insisted “things will get better real soon.” Sacramento’s second win would be a start.
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