The Kings are in Miami tonight to take on a Miami Heat team that has lost seven games in a row, the longest losing streak of the Erik Spoelstra era. Can the Kings maintain their perfect road trip or will they be the salve that Miami needs?
Let’s talk Kings basketball!
When: Wednesday, January 31st, 4:30 PM PT
Where: Kaseya Center, Miami, FL
TV: NBC Sports California
Radio: Sactown Sports 1140
Last Time
This is the first time the Kings face the Heat this year, but last season these teams faced off twice in the first seven games of the season, with both teams winning on their home floor. Miami came away with the most recent victory in controversial fashion, winning 110-107 on a Tyler Herro three pointer that the NBA ruled in their last two minute report shouldn’t have counted because he traveled.
Miami has been one of the toughest places for the Kings to play historically; The Kings have won just five of their 35 games in Miami ever, dating back to Miami’s first season in the league in 1988. De’Aaron Fox has been here for two of those wins though, including this spectacular finish during his rookie year.
Three in the Key
Don’t be the Medicine
The Heat are reeling right now, losers of seven in a row, with only one of those losses even being particularly close. The Kings on the other hand have responded to their season-worst four game losing streak with a four-game winning streak. A win tonight in Miami would guarantee the Kings a winning record on this seven-game road trip, but it’s going to be a hard fight. This Miami team knows how to fight and they’re angry and looking to right the ship. The Kings will need to be at the top of their game to come out of Miami with a win.
Value every possession
The Heat are not a prolific offensive team, but they also do their best to make sure their opponents aren’t either. The Heat are among the league leaders in allowing the fewest second chance points, fast break points and points in the paint. They also play at one of the NBA’s slowest paces and don’t tend to foul much. With fewer possessions and usually only one chance to score, the Kings have to be better at taking care of the ball. Against Memphis in particular, the Kings were very sloppy, turning the ball over 19 times. The Kings do tend to play up or down to the quality of their opponent however, and since the Heat are mostly healthy, maybe they’ll play with a bit more focus than they had on Monday.
Malik Funk
While the Kings have seen a resurgence from guys like Harrison Barnes and Kevin Huerter of late, Malik Monk has been having one of the worst stretches of his season. Over the last six games, Monk is averaging just 8.5 points a game and shooting 36.2% from the field and 22.7% from three. His 3P% over the entire month of January is just 31.7% after he had been making 41.2% of his threes prior to that. Malik’s still been able to make an impact as a playmaker (5.9 assists over January) but the Kings really need him to find his shot since he’s one of the only reliable scoring threats the Kings have on the bench.
Prediction
There’s no controversy this time as the Kings keep the Heat reeling and win thanks to yet another Domantas Sabonis triple-double and a vintage Malik Monk game.
Kings 119, Heat 111
Focus for the win
They say Miami at night is live;
Hope our Kings avoid that to thrive.
The Heat’s sliding of late;
Let’s make their skid reach eight
As tonight, our win streak hits five!
+1 Keep the Heat down!
Damn, we have a 5-30 all time record at Miami. Those numbers are something….
And the fact that the Heat are on a seven game losing streak, you know they are gonna come out and try to play hard to end that. Can’t coast play like how we did in Memphis.
Does MIA stand for Miami or the prediction leaderboard link being missing in action?
Yeah, the leaderboard link has been missing for a while. I’m thinking that I have such a substantial lead that it’s just too depressing for everyone else.
OT: Draft is now moving to two nights instead of one.
Gives them time to put some thought in to those 2nd round picks instead of just rapid fire them. Be interesting to see how that affects what teams will do.
They will still pick players and make trades, no?
And we will only know 3 years down the road who did right, but we’ll still give draft grades the next day?
Yes, Rik. They will still pick players and make trades, and we won’t know for many years if they did well or not.
I was more referring to the fact that the 2nd round is so fast paced with only 2 minutes to make a pick, that teams don’t have much time to think about potential trades being offered, which players actually will agree to the 2nd round contracts, etc.
Maybe there are no differences, idk. But I am curious if it changes how teams operate.
It’s all about the money.
With most teams having a G League team, expanded rosters and 2-Way contracts, I’d be for expanding the draft back to 3 rounds. Maybe add another contract type for just G League players, but tied to the parent team. Make the 2-way contract use more fluid during the season.
Gives them more time to sell advertising.
Yup, it has nothing to do with improving the Draft as an NBA viewing product, it’s a middle finger to fans in order to sell more ads during more commercial breaks (you can’t sell ads without a product, so stretch out that product). One of the best things about the NBA draft was the fairly fast pace and that it could be completed in one night. Teams needed to make decisions quickly and the quality of your GM was evident and paramount to success.
IMO, this is a dilution of a good NBA product for no better reason than greed and since I believe this allows them to eventually add a 3rd round to the mix (for no reason other than to continue stretching the product), and I don’t think we’ll ever be able to go back. All hail the great green God!
I suspect more time to think about trades, and bundling second round picks… who knows. Seems like a way to extend it out for the teams while making a buck off the publicity.
Is anyone going to bother watching the 2nd round? I feel like most of the 2nd round players already have wink wink deals in place and know how things are going to play out. I’d imagine most of the picks will be leaked by Woj or Shams before the 2nd round even begins.
Let me tell you, I’m so excited to devote a whole extra night in the summer to writing up a quick posts about guys I’ve never heard of.
Just recycle a Cash Considerations piece, because I’m sure there’s a good chance the Kings pick him again in the 2nd round.
More cash grabbing. If there’s one thing you can say about Adam Silver’s stewardship it would be that he definitely has maximized revenues. Whether that’s good for the game long term is another discussion entirely. But if there’s someone interested in buying some aspect of the league that doesn’t compromise the league’s ‘sovereignty’, he’s absolutely willing to sell it.
ESPN/NBA cash grab. As though one night of ESPN’s self-promoting coverage wasn’t bad enough. I’ve never been happier that we’re not in the lottery. Monte, you have my blessing to trade all the picks.
You know that the promotion will tell of
Nikola Jokic
Draymond Green
Manu Ginobili
Khris Middleton
Dennis Rodman
Maurice Cheeks
Mark Gasol
Michael Redd
and of course, Sacramento’s own Brock Purdy, Isaiah Thomas, except ours was also a Pizza Guy, among others.
and so on and so forth.
So that by trading those picks, Sacramento might just be trading away a future Hall of Famer, (or two!). The draft is on a Thursday – so what better way to spend a Friday night?
Not sayin’, jus’ sayin’
Maybe follow it up with an undrafted night!
Avery Johnson
Fred VanVleet
Udonis Haslem
Bruce Bowen
John Starks
Connie Hawkins
Ben Wallace
and of course, Sacramento’s own All-Star (2x) B-52, Brad Miller.
Brought to you by ESPN for Saturday night! (my idea, don’t steal it!)
“Sacramento’s own Brock Purdy”
are you being satirical? Cuz what the fk is “Sacramento” about that guy?
I’m wondering if the Kings will be allowed to win?
Over/Under on the FT disparity, +20 MIA?
I picked the Heat to win tonight. 7 game skid and poor offense is the perfect storm for the Kings to allow 120 points to the Heat, on crazy efficiency stats.
Same.
When playing roulette, if I have money on red, and it hits red several times in a row I know it will lose eventually but I keep putting money on red until it does.
Kings have won 4 and the Heat have lost 7, personally, I don’t like betting against streaks.
It’s not just steaks, it’s also trends. Sac does not play well in Miami.
Can anyone who has followed the Heat more closely explain why they are on such a skid? On paper they look like a top 3 team in the East. What gives?
They traded Kyle Lowry and have been losing? That’s all I got.
It’s a reminder that even great coaches, like Spo’, can lose games they shouldn’t lose.
Anyone else find it funny that the only people complaining about the league’s new 65-game eligibility rule are the ones who can’t stay healthy (or their fans/teammates).
I don’t understand how they think they can miss nearly a quarter of the season and still be eligible for awards and such. Most NBA players are dealing with hurts and injuries every night, some won’t (or can’t) play through them but the ones that do are eligible, either get tough or get healthy.
It’s because many of those awards also come with pay bonuses and super max contracts. That being said, I agree there should be a game minimum for eligibility, same with All-Star selections.
In regards to other Western Conf games tonight (Top 8):
DAL (7) vs MIN (1) – Doncic, Irving,& Lively are out
DEN (2) vs OKC (3)
LAC (4) vs WAS
PHX (6) vs BKN
NO (8) vs HOU
Jokic out for DEN (only 2nd game missed this season)
Badge Legend