A good loss?

Could the Kings’ loss on Monday end up being a good thing? That might be a silly premise, but seeing the players smiling, laughing and having fun at practice today — to a much greater extent than in the past few days — made me wonder whether there had been a certain burden lifted by no longer being on a long winning streak. Were the Kings “playing not to lose” Monday? Perhaps it’s valid, or perhaps it’s silly. Dustin Brown at least entertained the thought today, but Terry Murray dismissed it with a laugh. Here’s what they said…

BROWN: “Obviously there’s a little bit of pressure added to the already pretty heavy pressure that we’re feeling, and that every team is feeling these days. Obviously we lost a game. The mindset that we need to have is that there’s an opportunity for us to start another streak. Most importantly, there’s a streak we can’t let begin, and that’s two losses. Ultimately, we have another opportunity tomorrow night to win a game and get back on track. There’s only two games left before the break. We need to focus in on those two games and have that mindset of must-wins.”

MURRAY: “No. I don’t want to lose. I want to keep winning. You want to keep going. You want to keep building on it. That’s where you learn how to get to the next level, as an individual and as a team. You keep pushing yourself harder mentally. You know that it’s very demanding on the physical side of things, but that’s the way it is, and now you need to adjust. Now you need to think about it and `What am I going to be able to bring tonight, to execute the right way, so that the team can win again?’ That’s an important lesson to learn, and that’s part of the process that teams have to learn in order to get to a higher level.”