Kings vs. Warriors Preview: Come Out to Play!

The blogger in me really truly wanted to follow-up last night’s surprise win against the Brooklyn Nets with a preview subtitle of “DO THE KINGS HATE CHARITY??”, thus fully completing my transformation into Sacramento’s J. Jonah Jamison. I’ll be kind because well, more than the Brooklyn Nets lost that game, the Sacramento Kings actually won it. They played timely defense, withstood any and every push that the Nets made in the 4th quarter… they won that game! They did.

That being said, they’ve got absolutely zero time to celebrate the termination of their longest losing streak of the season – they’re in San Francisco today and looking down the barrel at a game against the Golden State Warriors. With a few of their stars taking games off recently and a slew of role players joining Draymond Green on the the sideline tonight, one can squint and see space for a second victory in a row for the Ki- THEY’VE WON SEVEN IN A ROW???

Let’s talk Kings basketball!

When: Wednesday, February 3rd, 7:00 PM PT

Where: Chase Center, San Francisco, CA

TV: NBCSCA – Kyle Draper (play-by-play)

Radio: KHTK Sports 1140 AM

For Your Consideration

You Warriors Are Good, Real Good: I don’t think we need to talk much about the Warriors and their return to the top of the heap in the Western Conference. Steph’s supernova hot start has cooled recently, Klay Thompson is still feeling out his body after missing years of with injuries and Draymond’s play remains the keys to their well oiled Ferrari. With their struggles to stay afloat the last few seasons, the Warriors were able to suss out a nice group of role players to go along with their incredibly young war chest of up-and-comers and as with everything out of the Bay Area since Steph’s arrival – it’s worked spendidly. Sure, they could have nabbed LaMelo instead of Wiseman (or taken my advice and drafted Okongwu) but with Steph still Steph, these picks were playing with house money – sure they could have a 20 year dynasty if one guy gets nabbed over another but they’re worried about the here and now, with a championship in reach without any of those youngin playing key cogs just yet. Andrew Wiggins has been great for them these last few years, vindicating himself within a culture that could have have Charles Manson leading interpersonal therapy sessions with enough time around coach Steve Kerr and court time with Steph. They’re a great team with a great culture and with the goo of the superteam cleansed from their collective body through the fire and brimstone of the last couple of seasons, I find myself simply enjoying the way they play basketball again. Guys like Gary Payton Jr. and Jordan Poole having career years, Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody showing brilliant flashes when they get time here or in the G-League – I can admit with no hint of jealousy that this team is a joy. A good number of their fans? A whole other story, but that’s for a more spiteful article that I’m bound to writing next year once they fully come back from being Laker’s fans this season.

Operation: M.C.N.A.I.R. Update:

With the Kings winning last night, no official donation push was made, which of course means that Kings fans dropped another hundred dollars anyways for kicks and giggles.

Shout out to Jim Patrick who shared our story today in the Sacramento Bee. Momma, we made it.

Prediction

Tyrese Haliburton goes for a 30 point triple double and Bryant West cries as Moses Moody gets play during the middle of the Kings rage filled blowout and winds up with an efficient 21 points. Monte McNair crumples his tank pros and cons list as the Kings go into the weekend looking for three wins in a row.

Kings: 121, Warriors: 102