After a comfortable win against the Phoenix Suns, the Sacramento Kings are back in action tonight and taking on the team that bested them on opening night, the Minnesota Timberwolves. It’s game one of the NBA Cup, so with a new court, newfound joy for winning basketball (and $500k) and new chance to hit a normal, regular ol’ amount of threes, the Kings will be looking to vanquish a Wolves squad still looking to catch their stride and return to the top of the Western Conference.
Let’s talk Kings basketball.
When: Friday, November 15th, 7:00 PM PST
Where: Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, CA
TV: NBCSCA
Radio: Sactown Sports 1140 AM
For Your Consideration
Ant-Man vs. Kangz the Conquerors: Man, I’ve gotta say, the Kings worked quickly to make me look stupid after the preview for Wednesday’s game against the Suns. I finally get a chance to spill my concerns and immediately they come out hot against the KD-less, Beal-less Suns – hitting 15 threes on 28 attempts, all while the bench plays decent sans DeRozan and Monk. Only taking 28 threes is lightly crazy to me, but who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth. Here’s to that game being a get-right game for Sacramento shooters.
Speaking of getting right, the Kings have a chance to get even against their home opener spoilers tonight with the T’Wolves in town. With the new-look Wolves still trying to fit pieces together, they’re sitting directly smack in the middle of the road at 6-6, with three losses in a row courtesy of the Heat and the Blazers (twice) and looking rather beatable in their current state. This isn’t time to dog pile on the Wolves, only to educate here: they’ve got some real issues to start this season. For one, Mike Conley, especially on offense, has fallen off a cliff, averaging 7.4 points on 31.3% from the field with 4.7 assists and nearly a steal and a half to boot. Sure that’s only a drop of four points a game from last season, but it’s also a hair over 14% difference from the field. The guy is slumping something fierce, and as such, and, as a Kings fan, I fear greatly the man with the nothing to lose. If anyone is due for a breakout game, it’s Mike.
As a whole the team just looks very Kangz-ian, in that they’re just not quite there. Adding and removing important cogs to the Kings has born both fruit and frustration and the Wolves did that to an extreme measure and on the weekend before the start of training camp. It should be expected to some degree that it would take more than twelve or so games for a team to adjust, but with a Western Conference Finals return hoped for by some, expected by others in the Wolves fandom, time is not something the Wolves have much of. Julius Randle is filling into the KAT role nicely, within a point of KAT’s average last year while shooting a similar percentage, grabbing a little more than a board less, but dishing an assist more. And yet, only the other side of the coin, Donte DiVincenzo was expected to a strong 6MOTY candidate and he’s averaging 9.4 points while yanking 7.1 attempts from deep on 30.6% from deep. Rudy Gobert’s down a few points, Naz Reid is up, the seesaw goes back and it goes forth and in time it will stabilize. But it isn’t stabilized yet.
Whether they are up or down tonight is solely in the hands of Anthony Edwards. Clearing out KAT, though a move primarily to save money, was also a sign to Anthony Edwards that his time has come, expectations have risen to MVP levels for the 23 year old. He’s averaging a hair under 28 points a game, essentially two points higher than last season. His game has evolved this season – he’s taking nearly double the volume of three pointers and in doing so has upped his percentage, from a respectable 35.7% on 6.7 attempts, to a deadly 42.3% on 11.4 attempts. This while maintaining a nearly identical total field goal percentage, is impressive stuff. Now, did he go 0-9 his last game against the Blazers? Sure. Is he regressing to the mean? Lord I hope so. The Kings 7th worst long ball defense has got to smell like blood in the snow for a wolf like Edwards, and without a stellar outstanding game from the Kings guards, Ant could inflict some major, major pain on them. Nothing we don’t already know but I want to cover my bases in case a 50-burger is incoming.
Okay, rapid fire observations for talking around the watercooler today: Wolves are 8th in defensive rating, 6th in opponent points per game and the Kings are without DeRozan tonight. Maybe, the Kings can push the Wolves faster than their middle of the road, 16th in the NBA pace, especially considering the said all summer, all training camp that they wanted to be top-5 in pace and are currently at, oh, 13th? What else? Well, despite Gobert and Randle manning the middle, the Wolves are 23rd in defensive rebounding and 25th overall, with the Kings at 7th in defensive rebounding and 16th in rebounding overall. Feels indefensible with the Stifle Tower in there. Okay, I think that’s it for this game. Everyone enjoy the new court tonight that’s going.
The Small Stuff
Where It’s Due: Yes, of course, the game I decide to write about the Kings struggling from deep and with production off the bench, the Kings go out there and hit a normal amount of threes and the bench played well generally. I think my official prediction had Trey Lyles hitting 3-4 from deep and the guy went 3-5… so I will take it. Need to see it for more than 22 minutes, but good lord it was nice to the guy making shots at a decent clip. Doug McDermott going oh-fer on the other hand…
Dubious Handle: Listen, I know we’ve got some young fans out there and they’re enthusiastic about the Kings and less so about the Wolves. I beseech you tonight, if you’re anything like the Kings fans sitting behind me and my Timberwolves best frienemy on opening night… Please, find better smack talk than just yelling “Dubious Handle” every 25 seconds of the game. I can handle you yelling “that’s a bad shot!” and “he’s not a winning basketball player!” as he goes 8-10 from the field in the first half, including 4-5 from deep. I can handle you saying a three time All-Star, two time All-NBA, Top 8 MVP vote getter just “isn’t a good at anything”… but for the love of all that is holy about this sport, please, find a better insult than “Dubious Handle”. We get it, it slant rhymes with Julius Randle. It’s really bad. It’s so bad.
Prediction
The game is tied with .7 seconds to go and Julius Randle is at the line to put the Wolves in the driver’s seat. A lone shrill slides out from the crowd, piercing through the buzz of the fans and into the ears of the shooter. It’s unnatural, it’s unsettling. Something deep in his soul bleeds, pierced by the inhuman shriek that no one else seems to mind. It’s been going on for a few seconds, but it feels like hours, like years, like it has always been there, deep within his DNA, since fish grew legs and walked out the ocean in search of an escape from death. How long had he been standing on this line. On this earth. The sound vibrates him into unknowing. Clank. No worries, he has another attempt. The ball returns to him, the routine is set, take a second, a second too long as the noise from the crowd returns. It speaks. “duuuuubious“. His mind is blank: at once tense and totally smoothed, a taser to his front cortex. The ball feels a thousand pounds, his knees like wet sand. Vision blurred, ears ringing, his being screaming loudly to die and be done with this everlasting torture. The ball goes up. “Swish”. The sound stops. He did it. Somehow, through the anguish of all that has come before, he’s won the team the game. All through the next timeout, he can only look upon the breadth of his life, a new man, changed from the eternity of soul twisting he’d felt from the sound leaking from the edges of the arena noise out of a dark, unfeeling universe. Havana Syndrome? Rudy had sent him an InfoWars clip on it. Maybe he’d look it up when he got back to the hotel, or ask Rudy about it or –
Keegan Murray blows by a standstill Julius Randle for an open tip at the rim for the win.
Kings: 119, Timberwolves:118
New court you say? I think I may have missed the promos on that so DON’T BE A DICK AND POST A PHOTO BECAUSE I WANT TO BE SURPRISED.
(new court image appears in replies in 3…2…1… 🙂
I REALLY liked the Sixers blue court the other night. It seems Philly fans and media hated it
which I can’t understand.Anybody else think the NBA Cup is the dumbest, most pointless cash grab ever? They’re playing for nothing, it has no impact on anything. Like what are we even cheering for? The Lakers famously refused to hang conference championship banners because they weren’t NBA championships, but then the league talked them into hanging a banner that was even more pointless. It’s just pure marketing opportunity, just like everything seems with the NBA nowadays.
…at the same time, it’s VERY easy to ignore and just watch another regular season game. It’s one of those things where “hype is for someone else”, like running out to buy those giant Stanley tumbler things a few months back.
It’s easy to ignore except for the court that physically assaults the eyes and references to Emirates every 20 seconds haha. Theyre making it more clear every passing year that players play to sell advertising. The rule changes to promote offense and help keep stars on the court to boost advertising ratings make it feel more and more like the WWE every year. They might as well call the NBA Cup the Intercontinental Championship hahaha. The NBA should be very careful about watering down the brand any further….
I’m pretty sure this is just the way the world works. Advertisers sell ads, people show the ads, everyone makes money
I don’t know if the Emirates Cup/In-Season Tournament is successful in it’s mission to bring more eyes to the NBA and TV audience. The advertisers pay the bills and if there is an uptick on some accountant’s ledger than it is here until that changes. How much change, enough up or too much down otherwise, it sticks as is.
We’re here for the basketball and depending on your preferences, it is either way too loud or something new and different and kinda cool (or somewhere in between).
At least on those Tuesday and Friday nights, no team is playing b2b games. It’s something fun and different to watch and talk about. The End Game isn’t everything for everybody.
Good point about no back to backs, that is a solid positive. Disagree about it being something different though. It’s just a regular season game with no different implications at all. It’s just repackaged to hope we’re gullible enough to think “it’s something fun and different.” They’re reaching and they need to pull back before they dilute the brand further…
Imagine what its going to look like when some big name player’s team makes it to the in-season championship game or whatever its called, a game that isn’t on the schedule and doesn’t count against the season record (hell a game whose stats don’t even go in the season ledger last I understood) and gets a season ending injury in said meaningless game and ends their team’s post season hopes for the year…
The players who win the cup get an extra $500,000. In an effort to keep growing the game though you’re right, at the end of the day it’s just marketing. I think the courts are the coolest part but the “tournament” itself is pretty dumb.
I’m not saying they should do this, because as a fan I currently don’t care about the NBA Cup since I’m not getting the $500,000, but I would be way more interested as a fan if the winning team received an extra 1st round pick. Can’t trade it though, they have to keep it and use it.
Right, at least make it mean something. An extra pick at the end of the first round is a good idea. Or maybe a guaranteed playoff spot. But it has to have real implications otherwise it just feels like they’re trying to put a wig on a pig.
Without putting too much thoughts into it; how about another extra 10M to cap relief. 7.5M to second and 5M to third. They’ll get an extra game in even from the two teams that got eliminated lol
Like the salary cap relief idea!
The only reason I like it is because the players have bought into it. It’s a dumb idea, but the players treat it like something that matters a little bit more than a regular November game. It raises the excitement level of the games, even if I don’t care about whether the Kings actually win the event or not.
Sometimes I wonder of the in season tourney is just an experiment to play with a different playoff format. Maybe the end game is to do away with the current 16 team series. This world cup styled group stage format is a way to include the entire league so maybe, at some point, they switch to that or something else.
What better way to make more money than to have every team make the playoffs.
It is a copy of the soccer tournaments around the world. It generates money to pay players and owners. The irrelevant teams are relevant during the irrelevant tournaments. It is the the only time 99% of the teams are playing for any sort of championship.
This is an old idea that has been used in soccer forever.
Our first In-Season Tournament game—
A win ‘gainst the T-Wolves our aim.
Last time we came close—
Tonight make them toast,
Though we know they’re not easy to tame!
Blow out the T-Wolves!
Felt like the Kings were the better team on Opening Night and feel like they’re still a better team right now, but boy am I nervous with them coming into our arena on a 3-game skid. Just feel like teams always pull together a get-right game against us when they’re down in the dumps.
Either way, I’m pumped to see the new floor. Let’s go Kings!
With DDR out, this game is really going to be a test for the depth on the bench. I wonder who the starting 5 is going to be?
Go Small: Fox, Keon, Huerter, Keegan, Sabonis
Go Big: Fox, Huerter, Keegan, Lyles, Sabonis
Or is it going to be something else?
Could plug in McBuckets again like when Huerter was out.
I hope not. The Wolves would immediately target him to get him switched onto Ant.
I’m leaning towards the idea of Lyles starting, as Minny is big. Put him on Randle and try and get Keegan matched up with Ant and Huerter with McDaniels.
I fear the Kings may have to go deep into their bench if fouls begin to add up. It wouldn’t surprise me to see Isaac Jones or Isaiah Crawford early. Colby Jones may get some minutes at the 3 as well.
Brown usually runs a pretty tight 8 man rotation, but that may have to change with both DDR and Monk out.
With size being such a huge concern I’m waiting them to give Crawford some burn. Having such usage heavy players in Fox, Monk and DDR (when healthy), Domas, and when hot (more and more) Huerter, his size could be helpful on the boards and on D
“if fouls begin to add up”. Who’s reffing tonight?
I would assume Keon because Guard depth is better than Forward depth. Lyles will need to come in and spell Keegan.
Len might get more run because of Gobert.
Need to go at least 3-1 on this four game homestand…got one down against Phoenix, so that leaves Minnesota, Utah, and Atlanta. The teams we have left to play (including tonight’s) are definitely beatable. Would love 4-0 but 3-1 is where we need to go at the minimum.
The Timberwolves City Edition is to highlight ice covered lakes under a moonlight sky…
alrighty then! (what the …?)
The Kings struggle(d) against this last season’s Western Conference Finalist because Minny ain’t Mini. They got the length, they got the strength and they have lots of it – Rudy, Randle, and Reid is a formidable front line. Anthony Edwards plays big because he can soar and Jaden McDaniels is 6’9″. Big Dawgs.
The way to even that vertical advantage is with outside scoring. Luckily, the Kings were one of last season’s most prolific 3 point shooting teams…
It’s a 3 Point League:
Overall, the TWolves shoot 37.5% 3FG on 41 3PA, good enough for 7th thus far. The Kings are no longer at the bottom of the cellar; they are 29th in 3FG% at 31.8% on just 33.6 3PA for 23rd. (Boston has a large margin of difference with 50.4 3PA, 2nd is Charlotte at 45 and Golden State at a measly 41.3. I find that interesting. 9 more 3PA than 3rd place GSW).
It helps to point out that despite the drive and kick and toss a brick offense, Sacramento is 4th (!) in overall FG% 49.1. Imagine that. I give the credit to the amazing improvement in FT% which has bridged that gap an extra 2 or 3 points from last season.
If we can convince, cajole, fool or maybe with the use hypnosis, the Kings players that the 15 foot free throw line has been extended to 23’9″, maybe, just maybe, they can start to hit those suckers at a better clip, more than once every 12 games. Just a thought.
Light The Beam! Go Kings!
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