Well the Kings are still the Kings. We all knew heading into that last one that Charlotte was just weird enough right now to pull off a win despite all of those players being out and well, what do you know? They did. The Kings can’t dedicate much time to it though, because they have a game tonight, against a much better and much younger opponent! Yes this is Issue #1,000,009 of “Will Fawns Over a Rebuilding Team Because His Team Is Too Chicken To”! Don’t go any further if you want to hear about Sacramento Kings basketball because, well, who wants to talk about that drama anyways?!
When: Saturday, December 11th, 5:00 PM PT
Where: Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, Cleveland, OH
TV: NBCSCA – Kyle Draper (play-by-play)
Radio: KHTK Sports 1140 AM
For Your Consideration
The Merit of All Things: I’ll be honest with you tens of peoples still coming in to read about this team on a fine Saturday like today – I didn’t finish last night’s game. With the way things ended in the first half and the general vibe of the team, I turned it off and went and spent way too much for an unlimited salad bar at Sizzlers with my family. We all knew what could happen yesterday… Hell, I dedicated the whole opening to it and the first half just further confirmed what we’d all come to understand about this team. Now in hindsight? The salad was already worth it but not seeing what happened till after the game was over and only between breaks in conversation? Last night was the healthiest I’ve treated myself mentally and physically in like a decade.
Enough about my eating habits: the Kings are in Cleveland and taking on Evan Mobley and Company. First off, I’ve got to just warn you: if you are expecting last year’s Cleveland Cavaliers team to show up against the Kings, it’s time to come to reality. The Cavs are good. Not, “The Cavs are surprisingly good without Colin Sexton”. The Cavs are plain, ol’ fashion good and if Sacramento comes out like they did last night in Charlotte, they’ll get dog walked all the way to Toronto for Monday’s game against the Raptors. Winners in six of their last contests, with their only losses coming by one to Utah and eight to the Bucks, the Cavs employ a massive starting lineup that is due to give the Kings fits. Darius Garland has emerged as a star-in-waiting for the Cavs and Isaac Okoro is still finding the offense to go along with his defensive acumen, but it’s the three headed hydra of Lauri Markkanen, Jarrett Allen and Rookie of the Year frontrunner Evan Mobley that seals the deal for the Cavs. We all laughed at the idea prior to the season – tossing three dudes over seven feet tall in the same starting lineup but, it’s working goddamn it. Even when many wrote off the hot start as dead after the season ending injury to Colin Sexton, this young, spunky Cavs team took the hit and kept trucking. Now the Kings get to face them during the hottest stretch of their season!
Tonight’s game will see Sacramento going from the worst defense in the league to the second best in terms of opponents scoring and the fourth best according to defensive rating. For all their bigs, they aren’t particularly outstanding in rebounding or shot-blocking: 16th and 23rd in those categories, respectively. In fact, there’s nothing that stands out from many of these team stats, save for the fact that they’re all hovering in the middle third of the league. Sure, they’re 1st in the NBA in fouls and they’re 8th in assist and we can cherry pick if you wanna get technical, but the Cavs are just incredibly solid in every way. They’ve got fantastic bench help in Ricky Rubio, Cedi Osman and Kevin Love this season and I’m absolutely stating it as a matter of fact – the Kings are going to have to really work for this win. This isn’t a “Kings lost to a bad team then beat a bad team” situation if they can pull it off tonight. Cleveland is a big team, with a good assortment of young stars, star role players and bench help. If it weren’t Saturday I’d waste at least another half an hour screaming at you about both Darius Garland and Evan Mobley.
Suffice to say, the Cavs rebuild is set and moving forward towards a playoff berth this season with much, much greater things to follow soon.
They started it in 2018.
HAPPY SATURDAY!
Prediction
De’Aaron Fox hits two free throws to seal the game in the final seconds.
Kings: 111, Cavs: 107
Both these teams had to play last night;
For the Cavs the result was all right.
Up front their huge size
Could be our demise.
Without Holmes this could be a long night!
FIGHT FIRE WITH
FIREWATER!Neuter-alize those big dawgs with our little pups.
3-guard Cerberus > 3-headed Hydra
Draper on the call means we win!
I like it!
It’s not like things can get worse, right?
(Narrator: Things got worse.)
Anyone know why our tv commentators are not traveling with the team? Is it a COVID thing that all team broadcast crews are dealing with or is it Kings thing that they’ve chosen to do?
Traveling results in a turnover.
I dunno, I got nothin.
There’s restrictions until the 1st of the year I believe is what Kayte said. It might be the Kings, but I don’t think so. Outside of national media games, I don’t think any of the other crews are travelling right now.
Strictly speaking, tires aren’t necessarily garbage.
Kind of a comi-tragic way of saying that this will be the last thing that you ever write.
The unintentional tank continues tonight!
Thanks for the preview Will. I had no idea that Sizzler was still a thing.
With Golden Corral gone, there needs to be someplace for the next Patient Zero to catch the newest bacteria that turns your innards to explosive pudding.
Will lied again! It’s Mark Jones!
Badge Legend