The Kings have won three straight and will look to make it four tonight as they take on the Miami Heat. This is the first of seven back to backs the Kings will have in their final 26 games so hopefully the Kings can take advantage of Miami being shorthanded and a little energy boost from the home crowd to keep their winning streak going.
Let’s talk Kings basketball!
When: Monday, February 26th, 7:00 PM PT
Where: Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, CA
TV: NBA TV, NBC Sports California
Radio: Sactown Sports 1140
Last Time
The Kings last faced Miami as the Heat were in the midst of a season-high seven game losing streak. The Heat responded by beating the Kings 115-106 behind 31 points from Jimmy Butler and 24 points from Josh Richardson off the bench. Keegan Murray led the way for the Kings with a game-high 33 points.
Three in the Key
Too Heated
The Heat will be a bit shorthanded tonight and not necessarily just because of injury. Josh Richardson and Terry Rozier are out due to injury, but Jimmy Butler, Nikola Jovic and Thomas Bryant will be missing tonight’s game due to a league suspension for a fracas in their last game against the New Orleans Pelicans. You’d think this would be a good thing for the Kings, but as all Kings fans know, a team missing its best player is our Achilles Heel. Hopefully the refocused, post-All-Star break Kings can shake that curse and just take care of business at home. Miami still has plenty of weapons, and Erik Spoelstra-led teams always play hard.
Defensive Intensity
The Kings are coming off one of their best wins of the season last night, and defense played a big part. The Clippers scored just 107 points, shot just 29.6% from distance and turned the ball over 15 times. De’Aaron Fox in particular was playing with phenomenal defensive effort and intensity at the point of attack and set the tone for the team in the final quarter. We’ve seen the Kings have good games on the defensive end here and there but they’ve yet to string it together for long stretches. Hopefully last night wasn’t just a one-off.
Aggressive Fox
It’s been really nice seeing De’Aaron Fox return to form of late. The All-Star break looks to be just what he needed because since coming back (and even a couple games before), he’s looked like the StarFox we all know and love that can take over games by himself. The Kings are hard to beat when Fox has it going and he’s been bringing it on both ends lately. In his last four games he’s been averaging 32.8 points on 51.5% from the field to go with 7 rebounds, 7.5 assists and 2.5 steals. The steals number has been going up all season too, and he’s now 2nd in the league in total steals and steals per game behind only Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, more than earning his “Swipa” nickname.
Prediction
Jamie Jacquez and Tyler Herro do their best, but without Kings killer Josh Richardson to provide a boost, the Kings take care of business on their home floor and keep streaking to gain an inch of separation on the rest of their Western Conference counterparts in the playoff race.
Kings 126, Heat 113
Fan Predictions
Link to Leaderboard (Updated 2/21/24)
Even though the Heat’s outlook seemed bleak,
In Miami our effort was weak.
With three guys suspended,
They can be upended.
This time let’s extend our win streak!
*1 Not tonight!
PLEASE DON’T FALL FOR IT
with Butler suspended, I think Jaquez will fill his role. I like the matchup with Keegan and Jaquez. both cool young players. did that summer league matchup start something? ….
JJJ is by far my favorite player from this past draft. I dream that one day he’ll be wearing purple.
Don’t care that tonight is a back to back. If these guys are capable of beating Denver on the SEGABABA on the road, then they don’t have any excuse to lose at home against a team that is missing players. If they’re serious about wanting to avoid the play-in, capitalize on teams missing players and take care of business at home
We’ve won 4 SEGABABA’s in a row and all 4 so far in 2024.
Keep the streak alive!
That’s a pretty wild stat. Didn’t even realizer we’d won four in a row.
Before the game, someone needs to whisper to Fox that Tyler Herro said something awful about his mother. Angry Fox is more powerful than ten hurricanes and any four deities of your choice.
Just looked at the leaderboard for the first time in forever. My PPG is better than any of the forty-eight people ahead of me, but I forget to make guesses for too many games.
And now, changing subjects completely, there should be some consideration for the best PPG average, with a minimum games threshold.
“That’s a great idea, sims!”
Thank you, a lot of people are saying that.
I heard Herro say he was the best Kentucky guard in the league…pass that to Fox, lol
Fox would just laugh for twenty minutes and then be too tired to play.
Nice to label that donnybrook in The Big Easy as a fracas.
One of my favorite matchups: Edrice Femi Adebayo vs. Domantas Sabonis. Bam vs. The Ox. They represent, in my mind, different sides of the same coin.
Within a year of age, they are both “undersized” 5s who play balls to the wall style basketball. Effort, energy and smarts allow them to overcome their limitations. Both are 3 time All-Stars. Where Domas is the stronger on offense, with his assists and scoring, Bam gives his best on defense. I am looking forward to seeing them battle it out tonight (I’m going to this one with Ms. UTG).
What a Wildcat team! John Calipari’s 2016-17 U of Kentucky squad had:
De’Aaron Fox, Malik Monk, Bam Adebayo, Wenyen Gabrial, Hamidou Diallo – all Freshman. That’s enough to make you want to /shaka!
Heat have posted home and road winning records this season without Butler, and they have posted home and road winning records without Herro.
Unless Spoelstra takes the night off, I am counting no chickens until they are hatched.
Even though the KINGS lost the first quarter they kept the Clips under 30 each quarter whilst dishing out 29 assists. Good recipe for success. Bracing for a Duncan Robinson career high tonight. Big D prove my angst wrong. Go Kings!
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