The Kings have stabilized a little bit after losing three in a row and now look to keep a perfect homestand as Donovan Mitchell and the Cleveland Cavaliers come to town. Will De’Aaron Fox be back? Will the Kings manage to make any three pointers? We’ll find out tonight!
Let’s talk Kings basketball!
When: Monday, November 13th, 7:00 PM PT
Where: Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, CA
TV: NBC Sports California, NBA TV
Radio: Sactown Sports 1140
Three in the Key
Defense wins games
The Kings right now are far from the team that was setting the league on fire last year offensively. In fact, right now the Kings are 24th in the league in offensive rating. A big part of that is missing leading scorer De’Aaron Fox (the Kings averaged 125.3 points in the three games Fox played, compared to just 102.6 points in the five games since) but it’s also been an epic shooting slump. The Kings are 3rd in the NBA in three-point attempts but only 27th in percentage. Against the Thunder on Friday, the Kings started 4-8 from distance but then missed 21 in a row and finished the game making just 29.7% of their total attempts. They won thanks to their defense though, holding the Thunder to just 98 points and 23.3% from three themselves. Last season, the Kings were just 3-12 in games which they shot worse than 30% from three, and the three wins still saw the Kings shoot over 50% from the field. This year they’re 2-1 in those scenarios and that’s without shooting over 50% from the field once this season. Sacramento’s defense has improved, and they’re up to 14th in defensive rating through 8 games. The uptick in defensive effort has been noticeable, and it will help win games when shots aren’t falling. This team is too talented offensively to not get back on track on some point (especially when Fox and even Trey Lyles come back), but hopefully the defense is here to stay.
Spida-Man
Donovan Mitchell is one of the most explosive scorers in the league and that hasn’t changed this season. He’s averaging 29.5 points per game so far which would be a career-high if he kept it up. Last season, Mitchell only played the Kings once but managed to score 38 points in that game. Sacramento won but it took a huge team effort and double digit scoring from seven players to do so. Mitchell will likely get his, but the Kings will need to make life as difficult as possible for him so he doesn’t get too comfortable.
Twin Towers
The Kings have had the size advantage for a couple of games in a row but that won’t be the case tonight against Cleveland’s jumbo-sized frontcourt featuring Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley patrolling the paint. Mobley in particular is an intimidating presence, able to seamlessly transition between defending the perimeter and the paint. He made the All-Defensive 1st Team last year in just his third season and looks poised to make regular appearances on All-Defensive Teams throughout his career. Allen is no slouch himself and is only a touch shorter than Mobley at 6-11. Together, those two will make life difficult for Sacramento to get easy shots in the paint. The Cavaliers rank 6th in the league so far for fewest points in the paint and the team right behind them, the Houston Rockets, gave the Kings fits already just last week.
Prediction
De’Aaron Fox comes back and doesn’t look like he missed a step, dropping 40 points to lead the Kings to a come from behind victory at home and complete the perfect homestand.
Kings 126, Cavaliers 120
I know I’ve not been part of much discussion on here lately but actively watching the Kings. Has Vezenkov’s usage been explained much yet? I am a little perplexed why he isn’t seeing more minutes, especially given some of the struggles to replace Fox’s missing point contribution. My assumption is that Mike Brown doesn’t like what he sees from him on the defensive side of things.
Defense was my thoughts. He looked more fluid shooting last game, so maybe that will get him some minutes moving forward.
I’m not 100% certain its the defense. I’ve actually been a little surprised by Sasha’s defense, to be honest. It isn’t great but he’s also not the worst defender on the team when he’s out there sometimes. And occasionally he’s actually quite good on the defensive end.
That said, I don’t know about Coach’s rotations sometimes. And I’m not certain Coach knows, either, sometimes. He mostly seems to ride the same 7-8 guys or he’s doing weird experiments, there’s not much in between.
He hasn’t earned it. He hasn’t been aggressive with his shot and hasn’t been able to significantly impact in other ways. Brown gave Edwards a shot and he was able to bring solid defense at least. If Sasha isn’t shooting and making shots, he doesn’t add much. Coach wants him to let it fly.
At home we’ve won two in a row
And our offense is starting to flow.
Tonight at G1C,
Let’s let the Cavs see
Our win streak is just starting to grow!
+1 Rope in a win over the Cavs!
First game of the year tonight, looking forward to seeing Fox’s triumphant return to the lineup. 🙂
My first game of the season as well. Hoping to see the Sacramento DMitchell limit Clevelands’. And it’s the SacTown return of Tristan Thompson!
Let’s Cave the Cavs!
Keegan is much improved since that game early last season when he was matched up with Donovan Mitchell.
If we don’t find a way to break into the paint and we get stuck shooting 3’s all night we’re going to have a hard time beating a tough Cavs team. Hopefully the extended home cooking has these guys dialed in tonight.
Go Kings!
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