Tonight’s matchup against the Washington Wizards was the Kings’ third game in four days. The Kings played Minnesota on Friday and Toronto on Sunday, with the games standing in stark contrast to one another.

After the loss to Minnesota, Coach George Karl questioned the team’s professionalism and effort in a sluggish start against the Timberwolves. The team seemed to respond to Karl’s challenge with a win that was earned through a spirited effort and a strong start against Toronto.

With the Sacramento Kings playing the second night of a back-to-back, and the inconsistent road trip they’ve experienced so far, it was unclear which team would show up for the guys in purple and black as they took on the Wizards.

It would’ve been easy for the players to make excuses for a lackluster start in this game (especially considering the team hasn’t won consecutive road games in over a year). However, the Kings led after the first quarter, which brings up the first of tonight’s three takeaways:

REBOUNDING AND SECOND CHANCE POINTS

Despite Washington shooting 59 percent from the field in the first quarter, the Kings were the team on top after twelve minutes of basketball. How so? Rebounding and second chance points belonged to the Kings in the opening quarter, with Sacramento outworking Washington 14-6 on the boards. Such qualities can keep the Kings in games when their offense isn’t clicking and further demonstrates the fact that the Kings received Karl’s message about being professionals. Unfortunately, as nice as the squad played in the first quarter, they fell apart in the fourth.

“I thought we did a hell of a job until the beginning of the fourth,” Karl told the Associated Press. “They went up eight on us and that fatigued us.”

THE KINGS CRUMBLED IN THE FOURTH QUARTER

The Kings have had an issue with closing out games and playing a full 48 minutes of basketball all season. Tonight was more of the same. After keeping it close for three quarters, the Wizards outscored the Kings 29 to 15. While the immediate reaction might be to assume this is another case of how the “Kings are going to be the Kings” (and it wouldn’t be entirely wrong to do so), fatigue seemed to play a role in the last 12 minutes, as the Kings struggled to not only play adequate defense, but also failed to convert any shots in an ugly stretch to finish the game.

“I don’t feel we made any adjustments when it was needed at the time,” Cousins told the Associated Press. “I mean, they came out early, but we still managed to keep it a game the entire game, at least up until the end.”

Every team has grueling points in their schedule throughout the NBA season, and none of them should use it as an excuse. However, the reality is three games in four nights likely catches up with the players. The Kings shouldn’t view this game as “the one that got away this week.” That distinction still belongs to the stinker they played in Minnesota.

TUFF JUICE

Omri Casspi got into early foul trouble and had to go to the bench earlier than expected. Casspi’s pine ridin’ paved the way for Caron Butler, who is still a fan favorite in Washington, to enter the game to much fanfare. In just six minutes of play, Butler tallied four points on 2-of-3 shooting, two rebounds and an assist.

Butler is a professional, who is widely respected around the league and stays ready for his number to be called. Butler’s on-court spark and off-court mentoring will be missed as the Kings have reportedly agreed to trade the veteran to a team that can provide him with more playing time. Although his stay will have ended up being shorter than expected in Sacramento, I’m glad Butler was able to be a presence in the locker room and a veteran on the floor while donning a Kings uniform this season.

The Kings are off to a 1-2 start on the current road trip, which wraps up Wednesday night against the 16-10 Indiana Pacers. A (2-2) road trip would be considered a success, and they’ll need a win against the Pacers if they want to prevent from slipping further behind in the standings. The post-season isn’t out of reach for Sacramento quite yet, but unless they start playing at least .500 basketball, it soon will be.