After an incredibly hot start to the ’21-22 season, the Charlotte Hornets have dropped three of their last four and are looking to regain their sweet-as-honey style of play as soon as possible. Do they score a ton of points? Hell yeah. Do they give up a ton of points? HELLLL YEAAAAAH. The Kings have a chance to beat a truly good team at home and further move themselves away from conversations about a disappointing start to the season. It’s going to take 48 minutes of good basketball tonight, baby!
Let’s talk Kings basketball!
When: Friday, November 5th, 7:00 PM PST
Where: Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, CA
TV: NBCSCA – Kyle Draper (play-by-play)
Radio: KHTK Sports 1140 AM
For Your Consideration
Ball That You’ve Got: I’ve spent a few minutes here trying to think of a way to accurately describe the Hornets in metaphor and found myself struggling for words. They’re sort-of the mullet of the NBA: taking care of their business up front on the offensive side of things, and well, a bit of a party for their opponents on the other end of the court. The Hornets have pulled of something very special to start this season by being the #1 team in the NBA in points per game scoring at 114.7, while also being #30 in the league in opponents scoring at 114.9 points a contest and I’ve got to say, I dig it! Led in scoring by Jerry Reynolds’ favorite Miles Bridges at over 24.1 points per game and spearheaded by passing wizard and fashion icon Lamelo Ball going for 19.4 points, 6.3 assists, 6.0 rebounds and 1.9 steals a game, the Hornets are flashy, they play fast and they’re a hell of a lot of fun.
They’re also completely fallible. Ball and emerging big guy and Kings killer, PJ Washington, are a bit banged up and I’d expect at least one of them to miss the game today (most likely the latter). Outside of the human element, the Hornets are first in the league in shot attempts and first in the league in three point percentage at 39.6% and while in the previous few years, you could nearly rubber stamp the Kings to give up season highs in those categories just strictly based on them existing, the Kings have done a really decent job of defending behind the arc this year! Sure, they give up a metric ton of points in the paint and yes, a guy like Miles Bridges is going to get at least a couple of highlight dunks off of this tonight, but the Kings allow the sixth lowest three point percentage in the league so far this season on just about the league average amount of attempts. If they can continue to strangle a huge source of points for a run-and-gun team like the Hornets, they’ll be in business early in this game. Another factor in this game will be the turnover battle: the Kings are the best team in the league at taking care of the rock, turning it over under 13 times per game. The Hornets being 6th in the league in steals sets up a nice little indicator of how this game could go. If the Kings play loose on one end and get sloppy on the other, this game could get out of hand quick. If they stick to what has been working on defense early this season for them and continue to value possessions? This might be an incredibly fun game to watch.
The Hornets have a high octane offense and screen-door-on-a-submarine level defense. They’re deep, well coached and motivated early this season. If the Kings can pull another win tonight, I might just start sprinkling in some play-in/playoffs hopes early, early in the season.
Prediction
The game lives up to the fan hype and comes down to the final possession. Haliburton comes off of a Holmes screen and hits the game winner.
Kings: 114.9, Hornets, 114.7
Early buzz on the Hornets was loud,
But will they fall back to the crowd?
Now they’re on a long trip,
Have to hope they will slip.
Win streaks for the Kings are allowed!
Absolutely digging the decimals on the prediction. These big time betting “geniuses” are too chickenshit to predict a score down to a tenth of a point.
I wonder if not using whole numbers is an inFraction.
NBA felt bad for Fox and decided to issue him fractions of points just for trying to shoot FTs.
Man, I sure liked Miles Bridges as a prospect.
Man, I sure didn’t like LaMelo Ball as a prospect.
I didn’t think there was a chance in hell that Ball would shoot even at the league average, but unless there’s such a thing as a full-season fluke, his shot appears to be real. Ty & Davion will sort his hash.
Same, I didn’t even think he was a league average player much less an impact player.
Going into every game I have two thoughts:
(1) I am really looking forward to watching the game!
and
(2) Man, I would really, really, really be looking forward to watching the game if the Kings had a different head coach!
Let’s go Holmes, grab some Rese’s pieces and have ourselves a Night-Off!
This is a weird score. But Will guessed a few scores last season perfectly, so I wouldn’t rule it out.
Marvin Bagley must be playing tonight because the score is broken.
Hoping Washington is watching the game in his P.J.’s.
If the Kings play with the same 48 minutes of energy they showed on Wednesday they should win this.
I’m waiting for a game when they go deeper into the bench. Might see Marvin tonight, although I’d see Metu.
Table per 100 possessions for the Kings. I was trying to show the table here instead of typing it all out…but alas it’s not meant to be!
Yes, I get B-Ref is probably not as effective as NBA.com.
thats why you need to hold your bref
01000001 01101110 01100100 01111001 00101100 00100000 01101000 01100101 01110010 01100101 00100111 01110011 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 01110010 00100000 01110010 01100101 01100011 01100101 01101001 01110000 01110100 00100001
Man, those offensive and defensive ratings are not kind to Fox. And Barnes is incredible!
I wouldn’t take too much stock in B-Refs O/DRtg’s for anyone good or bad. The only guy that really looks good on both scales is Holmes….and if you notice there is no wide margins in NBA.com’s scale as there is with B-Ref. I’m sorry, but there’s nobody with a +34 differential in O vs D Rtg’s in real life. That requires adjustments that make sense. And I love Richaun Holmes!
I just can’t explain how NBA.com and B-Ref calculate it without seeing the formula’s for each. I don’t know where to find them, but I know statheads don’t trust B-Ref’s numbers as much as they do NBA.com because of the adjustments made in the NBA formula.
FWIW.
Yeah, DRtg generally measures the team, not the player, at least with BBRef. I’m mostly commenting on the disparity of the numbers there, rather than their value.
Right but the issue is the weights of various parts of the formula. BBRef weights things very differently than NBA.com does.
Also, that DRtg point is true of NBA.com as well.
Since the Stockton Kings play tonight as well, where are Ramsey and Woodard? Did they go back to Stockton after being called up to Sac last game?
(rooting for the Stockton Kings as well!)
https://twitter.com/SeanCunningham/status/1456302205015756801
Thanks, Jman!
Miles Bridges would look better in a Kings Uni than Bagley , but so would Jackson, Doncic, Young, Miles Bridges, Alexander, Porter Jr… ugh go Kings
I am noticing a trend here.
Yes I’m still saddened that Bagley has not lived up to the potential that Vlade thought he had.
About 3/4 of the players in the league would look better in a Kings uniform than Bagley. He’s a DNP-Coach’s Decision player for a reason.
ESPN has kings favored by 2?
also, I hope Ball plays.
gotta make those free throws!
Fearless prediction- De’Aaron “I don’t give a” Fox is going to put it on LaMelo’s Balls tonight!
no game thread ?
game thread
While picking up 4 assists and 0 TOs!
Is this the game thread?
It is tonight.
Greg ruined the game thread……..
The Game Thread is under 500 for being on time this season.
I’m guessing that Greg is simply overworked. It may be time to give this job to another staffer.
Where is the game thread?
Fox now has a higher FT% than TKH does putting up game threads.
What a start!
Mitchell is really good at those step back 3…….
It’s unstoppable
Kings shooting is scorching hot. Even TD is hitting 3’s
Kings are looking great!
Let’s end this before the half. Go up 40 please.
Barnes +20 in 9 minutes. MVP.
as always……leader of the team
Buddy will randomly break out a good handle from time to time lol. Good stuff there and nice pass to Holmes
That three piece move he had on Jae Crowder was finger licking good.
Buddy didn’t want this role last year because…?
Davion did not foul him there.
Finish the quarter guys! Can’t allow that basket at the end there. Hopefully it won’t matter as the game goes on.
NEvermind. BAsket no good! Still can’t have those lapses
Kings are really playing some good basketball. Wouldn’t it be ironic if we became known for our stellar defense?
I know they are having an issue selling seat behind the basket, but number of unsold sets down low is surprising
I thought the same last game, but it later filled up. I don’t know if people are getting food or what it is, but it doesn’t look good..at all.
At the risk of this comment turning into a rabbit hole of COVID political debating, I would love to see how attendance at major sporting events correlates with the political climate/identity of the communities the events are held in, once factors like historical attendance levels and team quality are controlled for. Other things being equal, do teams playing in “blue” places have worse attendance than those in “red” places? Sacramento is very blue, after all–does mean many Sac fans are extra-cautious and choose not to attend Kings games right now?
I don’t really think so, because I’ve watched Warrior, Laker and Clipper games and they all seemed packed. It just might depend on the fact that the Kings ticket prices are just too high compared to the teams results.
I doubt it. The folks in thes “blue” places are just hypocritical, and exceptional at doing mental gymnastics when justifying their actions. I doubt it affects attendance.
I like the Kings chances if they keep shooting 3’s this well all game #analysis
I still need to hear from Gallo.
BUDDY CALLED BANK!
Send Martin back to Reno
Everybody shhh, I don’t think SexyNapear knows this is the game thread.
Lol
The officials are showing their usual bias against the Sacramento Kings, as they always have.
I’ll go tell him.
He probably would be here in post game thread
Maybe he does, but there isn’t too much to complain about.
Game thread?
Challenge!
”Queta killed us in the paint” SCdubs coach at half 64-55
Looks like the refs want the Hornets to make a bit of a run now
definitely……..
How’s the foul on Fox on that drive….crazy
That one too. Makes no sense.
Come on Luke. What a moron. He should have challenged the foul on Fox.
He though he was..Luke is a little slow
What’s the deal with the inconsistent game threads?
Don’t worry, they’ll put it up tomorrow morning.
We can either play defense consistently or have a game thread, not both.
The Fix is in, The Refs don’t want Sacramento to win this game.
Walton should have challenged the Fox play not the Davion one….even though that didn’t look like a foul either
I just said that…
Why are my badges not showing up?
Refresh the page, they will be there.
At this game and on Wednesday. The zebras have been terrible.
Where’s the travel?
disappeared…same as the game thread//…. lol
Refs miss a Hornets travel. They really coming up big on this Hornets run
The NBA is rigged against the Sacramento Kings, always has been.
I don’t need Tim Donaghy’s whistle blowing to know that’s been the case.
No more Buddy initiating the pnr please
Barnes steadying the ship here
HB is so smart..
11 turnovers already for the Kings. Clean that up and they walk away with a W
Hield at least got 2-3 TOs in less than 2 mins
Plumlee should have four fouls.
HALIBURTON TAKEOVER!
It’s all on him….as to retain those 20+ points lead
Can we just run Hali and Holmes every single play, please?
74 first half points…Wow!
Good bellwether game for the Kings. Come out strong in the 3rd, stay in front of your man, make freethrows and put one in the W column
Kenny Thomas is putting me to sleep even with a 20pt lead, on a Friday night
They shot 56.5% from the field and 56% from three
And we shot 80% from the line
Plumlee has been camping out in the paint. Someone needs to tell the refs he’s a cheater.
They know, they just don’t care.
The Warriors have missed 12 threes in a row.
Beware Kings, both Clips and Knicks overcame 20 point deficits tonight.
FOX FORCE 5
Fox!
Ugh stop with the turnovers
Am I the only one that misses Grant and Jerry calling games for kings..
No
Forget his radio show, but he was one of the top play by play guys in the league
Yeah, it has been a definite drop in quality with the loss of Grant and Jerry.
I miss both of them….
really top guys for play by play
Foxes shot wasn’t even close
That one was
The Kings really outsmarted the rest of the league getting Holmes and drafting Haliburton. Still in disbelief of that
Kings would’ve panicked and lost this lead already last year.
And then they would have made a run in the 4th to make it look like they had a chance and of course they would fall short
Holmes is a monster tonight.
Holmes the most important player tonight.
Hornets have no answer for Holmes at all
Uh oh, here comes the Hornets run
Hayward heating up
Kings and hornets have missed a lot of free throws.
Barnes is so smart…..drawing the foul and goes to the line
You guys think harkless or Davis will play the rest of the night?
I am pretty sure the Game Thread is DNP-Greg’d
Smart of Walton to put Davion on Hayward.
You are not allowed to call Walton smart on this site, ever!!
Lock up on defense for 12 minutes and you’re good
Hornets closing the gap with Hayward and Lamelo off the court. Yikes
Going full Kangz now
Well crap.
LTrain is getting nervous
Huge response there
That was a much needed pair of triples.
This is different, This certainly feels different than years past.
Buddy Hield flying around !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Probably up by 30 without all of the turnovers.
Love it…not giving up
Kings with 7 guys in double figures. Can be 8 if TD hits one more shot.
Letting Lamelo get to the rim too easily. Come on guys
Buddy!
I like his pass back to Mitchell ..
really unselfish play by Buddy !!!
This is fun!
Buddy with a nice assist there.
Sharing is caring
How big will Davion be, my goodness. Scoring and shutting Hayward in this quarter
Can Hornet coach raise white flag now ?
I want to see Metu !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Terence Davis, your rotational minutes are in jeopardy
https://twitter.com/BrendenNunesNBA/status/1456833587282464774
I love Louis King
I love him too….
Would like to see him with the main team
Hell yeah Davion! Went right at Plumlee and got him his 6th foul
You love to see it!
Smart play rook
Contract remains an issue with this roster but man it would be great if Buddy fully buys into this 6th man role. He’s thriving this year and is looking like the absolute best version of himself
Making free throws
Hornets waving the white flag
Absolutely not a charge on Barnes, defender was in the circle.
Put Mitchell on Bouknight please.
You guys may not have heard it, but there was a we want Bagley chant.
I thought it was Metu.
Him too.
Put Bags in there!
You want him to get hurt?
Davion taking their hearts.
Davion lol he’s awesome
The Hornets have had an OFF NIGHT!
Ok Luke, please get Buddy and Fox and Holmes out. No need to risk some late game injury
This sure is a lot of fun
TD needs one more shot guys.
Bbmuteman, thank you for the great in game updates from GC1
Davion ruined Bouknight in SL, still hasn’t scored in the NBA.
METU 3 FOR THE RECORD!
Should bench the starters. Not even bagley can screw this up.
Is Kyle Draper purposely lying? I’m like 90% sure the crowd was chanting “We Want Bagley” then Metu gets checked in, and he says crowd has been asking for him. I feel like they are actively not mentioning Bagley. Not that I think he should really be playing, but it’s starting to seem a bit retaliatory how the broadcast team just ignores him. Or did I really just mishear the crowd
What’s going on with bagley? Are they trying to trade him? Punish him? Is he just so far down the bench he can’t get in the game in a 30 point blowout?
I heard Metu.
I think fans would like to see Metu over Bagley….
I know I would.
I think he was referencing the crowd cheering when Metu went to the table.
Based on what people heard inside the arena, fans were chanting for both Bagley and Metu.
This is according to my Twitter account. People like Kevin Fippin and HeuristicLineup.
Okay sorry, Luke saying before the game, “If they want a track meet, we’ll give them a track meet” – and then doing it, might just be his best moment as coach of the Kings.
No Game Thread or post game article?
Badge Legend