Kings vs. Warriors Preview: Back in Action

The All-Star break is finally over and the Kings are back in action tonight after 10 days off to face a very familiar opponent in the Golden State Warriors. Both the Kings and Warriors look radically different than the last time these two teams met up, with big additions on both side.  But regardless of who is on or off the floor, the one thing that has been consistent over the past few years is that whenever the Kings and Warriors meet up, exciting games tend to happen.

Let’s talk Kings basketball!

When: Friday, February 21st, 7:00 PM PT
Where: Golden 1 Center, CA 95630
TV: NBC Sports California
Radio: Sactown Sports 1140 AM

For Your Consideration

The Kings and Warriors enter tonight’s game with the exact same 28-27 record, two games ahead of the 11th place Suns and 1.5 games back of the 8th place Mavericks.  The Kings have won both of the previous matchups this season, so a win tonight would guarantee the Kings win any tiebreaker between these two teams, which could be very important given that the playoff race will seemingly go down to the wire.

Sacramento’s changes are well documented, but the Warriors made some big moves of their own, trading off Andrew Wiggins, Dennis Schroder, Lindy Waters and Kyle Anderson in return for Jimmy Butler.  Butler gives the Warriors a true two-way second star next to Steph, something that’s been missing for a while now.  Butler has done well in San Francisco so far, averaging 21.3 points, 7.0 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 1.3 steals in his first four games as a Warrior, and the Warriors have gone 3-1 in that span including some impressive wins over the Bucks and Rockets.

Curry in particular will welcome the help that Butler will provide, as teams won’t be able to spend their entire time focused on him, as the Kings have done in both games against Golden State so far this season.  In both games against the Kings this season, Curry has only shot a combined 23 times as Sacramento focused the entirety of their defensive energy against him.  I have a suspicion that tonight will be different, as the Warriors now have Butler and Brandon Podziemski (who has missed both games against the Kings this season) to take some of the pressure off.

For the Kings, they’ll hopefully start to look a bit more cohesive than they have been of late since adding in Zach LaVine for De’Aaron Fox.  The Kings have gone 3-3 since integrating LaVine, and have looked pretty sloppy in each game since.  The Kings have averaged 15.8 turnovers a game in those 6 games, well above their season average of 13.3, which is good for 5th best in the league.  The Kings have been very good for most of the season at limiting mistakes (7th in opponent points off turnovers) but over these last 6 games, they’ve been in the bottom-third of the league, allowing 18.5 points off turnovers, tied with the Pistons for 20th.

Sacramento’s had to incorporate a lot more new pieces than other teams however, completely revamping their bench as well in adding Jonas Valanciunas, Jake LaRavia, and now Markelle Fultz, who might make his debut tonight now that he’s had some time to practice with the team.  But Sacramento’s biggest challenge will be with the starters and how to integrate three ball-dominant, defensively challenged players in Malik Monk, Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan.  Arguably one of them should be coming off the bench in place of Keon Ellis, who provides both steady shooting and defense, but it seems unlikely that the Kings would do that given the name value of those players.  This is going to be a tenuous balancing act for Coach Doug Christie, and the biggest challenge of his coaching career so far.

Prediction

The stretch run gets off to a good start as the Kings and Warriors put together an offensive clinic but with Sacramento coming out on top.

Kings 141, Warriors 136