The Sacramento Kings are in Phoenix today against the Chris Paul and Devin Booker-helmed, Kevin Durant sideline-supported Suns squad that’s hot on the tails of Sacramento for the third and second spot in the Western Conference playoff race. With Kevin Durant’s ankle recovering from a 90 degree detour towards the hardwood on Wednesday night, the Suns now hope to only metaphorically roll out a line-up sans Durant for the next few weeks with all the opportunity in the world for the Kings to put some distance between them and the quickly rising Suns. Can the Kings find a way to keep Deandre Ayton from turning into a vengeful Galactus-level villain against a team that didn’t even have the opportunity to pass on him in the 2018 Draft? Can Chris Paul distract his hamstring long enough to avoid an old guy muscle/ligament lemming-off-the-cliff situation? Do you think a guy like Devin Booker could ever look at De’Aaron Fox with the same eyes, the same way he looks at that European guy from down the street?
Let’s talk Kings basketball!
When: Saturday, March 11th, 6:00 PM PT
Where: Phoenix, AZ
TV: NBC Sports California
Radio: Sactown Sports 1140
For Your Consideration
Don’t Look Now, Book: Prior to this season, I went on every platform I had at my disposal and when asked said that I wouldn’t predict more than 39 wins for this Sacramento Kings squad. The Kings would need home runs in the NBA Draft, in free agency, with trades and most importantly, in hiring a new coach for the Kings to get anything more than that and by the time the summer was up, the Kings had hit ground rule doubles for each of those categories. Keegan Murray was a good player who fit, but didn’t have the upside. Additions like Malik Monk were smart upside moves but not really game changers. The Huerter trade made losing a guy like Donte DiVincenzo easier to stomach and obviously a win for Monte, but not like, a 500 footer to left field. The Mike Brown hire was a relief in the sense that it wasn’t Mark Jackson, but I felt like younger coaches like Darvin Ham and Will Hardy might have better fit the team. Brown was never an underwhelming coach in his tenures in other places, but he was never more than, well, whelming in my eyes and as much praise as I’d heard from the Warriors about him, I’d heard plenty about Walton coming out of there when he was heading to the Lakers too.
Even if everything fell into place, even if the last sixteen years of culture rot got cut away in an off-season and players bought in and played to their utmost potential and they had that rare ignition of camaradie from Day 1 and the defense improved despite the personnel deficiency… It was hard to envision 40 wins in this Western Conference this season.
It was a tweener year in the making. The one where we get one more lower lotto piece in a deep draft and next year we set our eyes on a playoff run. A NINE game improvement to 39 wins if I squint and everything goes right.
My eyes are wide open today, and hot damn, am I glad to be wrong.
Tonight’s game is the first of seventeen tries at win #40, a new playoff drought high-water mark. Everything from here on out, for me, is playing with house money. Regardless of seeding and ultimately who they end up playing and how it ends up going, this season will have been a resounding success, an improbable threading of a needle by Monte McNair, Coach Brown, De’Aaron Fox, Domantas Sabonis and all those in between. What a time to be alive.
On to the implication of tonight’s game: the Suns remain as dangerous as hell. No Durant, no Mikal Bridges or Cam Johnson – no problem. They already beat us down right before the All-Star Break, a game in which Deandre Ayton looked like a god walking amongst men at times – 29 points, 11 rebounds, 4 steals, 2 blocks. Devin Booker that game scored 32 points without a single three point ATTEMPT and Chris Paul wound up with 19 assists. If the Kings are as good as we dream of them being, there’s a decent chance the Kings will meet the Suns at some point in the playoffs. It might not be this year, but, it feels only apropos for the universe to give the once mocked cellar dwellers, now praised Sun-Kings a chance to battle it out for which poor bastards really, truly have made it.
I wouldn’t have expected to say this at the start of this season, but I’m incredibly happy with this team, this franchise right now.
Now, go get one more game for me.
Prediction
#40.
Kings: 127, Suns: 121
We gettin…
https://twitter.com/chewislin/status/1544179637005078534?s=20
Are those the same people who were on video during summer league saying the Kings would get 40 wins?
Wasn’t this from last year?
It was right after the Kings beat the Warriors in a Summer League game this preseason.
Wow. Time flies when you’re having fun.
Wooops–I meant the original video of them walking out was right after that Kings summer league victory.
Yes.
Yes, those are two of the awesome dudes.
Sean Chew is the asian guy, who the Athletic interviewed here:
https://twitter.com/TheAthletic/status/1634572386291838978?s=20
With the Suns having lost KD,
They won’t have much depth, so we’ll see.
But if our D’s a sieve,
That’s too much to give—
Plugging up all the holes is a key!
Unfortunately, I have an event tonight. So I’m having to record the game and won’t get to watch it until about 11pm.
If we all could please refrain from posting spoilers until tomorrow, I’d appreciate it.
SPOILER ALERT!!!
OR what if we all just skip the game today, and watch it tomorrow? 😛
big game, looking forward to it.
apropos of Will’s “tweener” prediction, it’s really too bad that the word has gained a negative implication because in baseball, that’s a single, which keeps the rally alive.
Confidence is such a peculiar thing.
Early in the season when it became obvious that this team was different from recent years, I found myself hoping it wouldn´t fall apart and that they could maybe compete for a playoff spot.
Later on, I went into games more and more expecting them to find a way to pull it off, whether they were a favorite or underdog.
For the last few weeks or so, I have been convinced that this team will definitely make the playoffs.
Now I hear that the Lakers are looking forward to playing us in the first round, because it would be their best matchup. And I just think to myself “bring it on, I would love to see them try and beat this team four times”. Things have changed around here.
Go get em, no need to fear the Suns. LTB!
For some of the Kings fans who weren’t watching games back in 2005-2006 or earlier. Tonight might be lucky.
It might happen tonight
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Maybe it’s my Kangz fan PTSD but I’m not gonna declare this until at least win #42.
Badge Legend