Let’s all just forget about that disaster of a basketball game that took place on Wednesday night. The Kings are back in home territory tonight to take on the Portland Trail Blazers in what should hopefully be a more competitive matchup, even if Portland is probably a much better team than the Los Angeles Clippers will be this season.
Who: Sacramento Kings (0-1) vs. Portland Trail Blazers (1-0)
Where: Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, CA
When: 7:00 PM PT / 10:00 PM ET
Watch: NBCSCA / League Pass
Sacramento’s first game was a stinker, and that’s being kind. Domantas Sabonis and Zach LaVine were pretty much the only two Kings who could have come out of that game looking even semi-good. The Kings were outclassed in almost every way, and by a team that isn’t expected to do much this season. Now they’ll look to bounce back against a Portland team with some real playoff hopes, coming off their own blowout win as they beat the Suns by 41 in their opener.
Portland has a few new additions this year, namely Ja Morant who they acquired via trade this summer, but they also have Damian Lillard back and healthy after missing all of last season. Lillard looked every bit like his old self in their first game, scoring 25 points in just under 24 minutes. Deni Avdija is also coming off an All-Star year, Toumani Camara is becoming one of the NBA’s premier 3-and-D players and Donovan Clingan is a 7’2 behemoth anchoring the middle. That’s not even to mention that the Blazers are bringing in guys like Jrue Holiday and Scoot Henderson off the bench; This is a very good and deep team that will give the Kings and many other teams a lot of trouble this season.
But hopefully the home crowd and some introspection will get the Kings fired up. Early season is when teams still have optimism and everything is possible. The Kings are also getting a little bit of reinforcements back as Malik Monk is listed as probable after missing all of preseason and the first game with an ankle injury. That should provide a nice scoring punch off the bench and also relieve Darius Acuff from some of his Point Guard duties while allowing Nique Clifford to play his more natural shooting guard position. Maxime Raynaud and Dylan Cardwell are both still out but the Kings hope to get them back sooner rather than later.
It’s not going to be an easy game, but hopefully it’s at least competitive and the Kings can give their fans something to root for tonight.
Prediction: Kings 112, Trail Blazers 123
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