Kings vs Warriors Preview: Third Times a Charm?

After a quick scrimmage against the Los Angeles B-Team on Friday, the Kings are home again for a little hoops action against the rich neighbor down the road who just won’t stop knocking on the door to shoot hoops because no one else in the neighborhood likes him. Yes, the Kings are playing the Warriors again, again. Yes, the end to their previous game is still a bit of a stinger. No, we shall not be discussing the What-if scenario. Okay, it’s a Sunday and we’ve all got places to be and giant, ominous lasers to light up the night sky.

Let’s talk Kings basketball!

When: Sunday, November 13th, 2022, 6:00 PM PT
Where: Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, CA
TV: NBC Sports California
Radio: Sactown Sports 1140

For Your Consideration

There’s a Yellow Rose in… San Fran: So, coming into tonight’s game against the Warriors the Kings have pulled themselves out of their early record woes and wound up… exactly where they were at this time last season. Yes, they’re rocking the exact same record as they took into game 12 last year and doing so in a way that feels a bit more… sustainable? Is it great that they had to rely on an incredible closing performance from De’Aaron Fox to get get by limping Lakers squad? Or an incredible closing shot from Fox to get by the worst team in the Eastern Conference? Mmm-no. But, I guess I can also flip that and say, the Kings have won most of these games without contributions from the major players on this team. Barnes has woken up a bit these last few games. Richaun Holmes has slipped down the depth chart but in his wake we’ve seen guys like Trey Lyles and Chimezie Metu step-in and start producing off the bench. Monk has absolutely exploded these last few games. Things are legitimately trending upward for a squad that’s still learning each others habits, including Coach Mike Brown. It’s still too early to call them good, still to tentative a situation to declare anything fixed but it’s nice to watch a watchable Sacramento squad and have them come away with wins (ugly or otherwise) roughly half the time.

Tonight’s game against the Warriors should be an offensive (offensive, not, you know, offensive) slug fest. For one, neither team, despite individual talents, play good defense. The Kings have improved all the way up to the 25th ranked opponent points per game this season, the Warriors have dropped from the 3rd last season all the way to 30th. For two, they both play fast, with the Kings rocking the 11th fastest pace and the Warriors sitting pretty at #1 in the league. They’re both bottom 10 rebounding teams, above league average from deep and overall, match-up really well against one another. One team has a Steph Curry, which, unfortunately, ain’t Sacramento, but also, the other side has an NBA quality bench, so hey, that’s nice.

We’ve played this team twice already. You know the deal. Contain Steph and you have a chance. Allow him to run over you, particularly in the second half, and no lead is safe. Don’t let the bench outperform their averages, out perform your averages and hey, things will be looking pretty good from up here.

Alright, happy Sunday, everyone. Enjoy those grey jerseys!

Prediction

De’Aaron Fox continues his fantastic play, Domantas Sabonis and Steph get into a “flex the guns after a big play” competition, Jordan Poole gets called for two illegal dribbles.

Kings: 125, Warriors: 118