With just 12 games left in the season, and the race to the bottom in a dead heat, the Kings facing off against the Celtics could not have come at a better time for Luka Doncic’s purple jersey needs. Are the Kings playing .500 basketball over their last ten games and at possibly the worst possible time they can? Absolutely! Will that allow me to accept a reality in which we do not get a #1 or #2 overall pick? HELL NO. We’re getting both actually! I won’t spoil the secret as to how the Vladfather is going to manage that, but suffice to say it involves lots of dead-eyed frowning from the GM. Now, you may be thinking that the tank has this game in the bag: Brad Stevens, a mix of wiley veterans and rising stars playing with the second best record in the East? How could the Kangz possibly screw this up and win?! We’ll get there below the fold, but t’will be quite the stretch of our collective imaginations, I’m sure.

Let’s talk Kings basketball.

When: Sunday, March 25th; 3:00 pm PST

Where: Golden 1 Center; Sacramento, CA

TV: NBCSCA

Radio: KHTK Sports 1140 AM

A Few Things to Consider

Curse Be Upon Ye: The Celtics are having themselves an unexpectedly great season of basketball considering the second best player on their team, Gordon Hayward, turned one of his lower legs into a bendy straw earlier this season. With Jaylen Brown and Jason Tatum being far better than advertised this early in their careers and with head coach Brad Stevens earning the aura around his hype, the Celtics have looked like a team vying for an Eastern Conference Finals spot most of this season. As the time draws nigh, however, a series of injuries to their team have put all those hopes and dreams at risk. Kyrie Irving was feeling something wonky in his knee, and after resting it for a few weeks, he’s decided to go ahead and have surgery on it; keeping him out for the first week and a half of the playoffs. His job would then fall to human boxing glove Marcus Smart, but he’s our an extended period of time after tear a seam in his left thumb. The second leading scorer on this team is Jaylen Brown, in just his second year in the NBA. A great story this season right up until he rocked his brain into the hardwood following a dunk. If you have the heart for it, look up Jaylen’s concussion and then just how textbook perfect that Fencing Response was. A+ in Bell Ringing for Jaylen this semester. Luckily for Mr. Brown (and all Kings tank hopefuls), he’s some concussion protocol test away from returning, and could be in the game tonight in Sacramento.

This game on paper is a blow out. Kings lose this nine out of ten times. But when a team is missing the pieces their missing, and the Kings are at 5-5 in their last ten, you just never know right. Here’s to the Celtics getting healthy, sooner rather than later, and preferably by 2:30 this afternoon.

Prediction: De’Aaron Fox dunks on Al Horford. Buddy Hield is the best shooter out their on the floor and I find a few white hairs in my hair after I pull most of it out.

Kings: 104, Celtics: 101