The Sacramento Kings are in Utah today – arriving victorious after beating what should eventually be the worst team in the Western Conference on Monday night, and looking to get to .500 early this season. To do so they’ll have to take on a Utah Jazz squad that has fought valiantly (well, in two of their first three contests) but ultimately come into their Tuesday night tussle with the Kings winless. Leading the charge will be Cavalier castoffs Collin Sexton and Lauri Markkanen, with a young and hungry supporting cast looking to prove their music is falling on more than deaf ears. Can Fox and Co. capitalize on both teams being on a back to back? Will Lauri Markkanen hide in the Kings luggage after the game is through in an attempt to force a trade? What is the over/under on Collin Sexton flexing like a body builder after a tough layup or two?
Let’s talk Kings basketball.
When: Tuesday, October 27th, 6:00 PM PST
Where: Delta Center, Salt Lake City, Utah
TV: NBCSCA – Mark Jones (play-by-play)
Radio: Sactown Sports 1140 AM
For Your Consideration
Making Your Markk: Alright. We got to see a Kings win and the beam lit for the first time last night against the Blazers and, while we aren’t out of the woods just yet, the monkey is off our collective backs and the much craved cohesion on this Kings roster is slowly but surely coming together. Is their rebounding any better? No, they’re still the worst rebounding team in the league, which, again for these first few weeks, keep in mind the size of the sampling here. Was their bench showing signs of life? No, not particularly. Monk was 3-5 from deep for 12 points in just 18 minutes, but Trey Lyles was 1-4 from the field in 15 minutes, Keon was 1-3 in 14 minutes. Brown’s rotations in general were much better against the Blazers than either of the first two games, but there is still some tweaking to be done before we really get into the meat of the season. Overall though, the Kings that came out to play against the Trail Blazers have the beginnings of what I want to see from them on a nightly basis.
And boy howdy, wouldn’t you know but they have that chance again tonight. The Jazz, now a few years into teasing both a play-in run and the tank, come into tonight losers in all three of their contests, but working hard for those L’s, having lost to the Memphis Grizzlies by two and to the NBA Finals chumps Dallas Mavericks by 8 last night. “Wait Will, they got obliterated by 41 against the Warriors! They only scored 86 points!” I do not recognize good games by Buddy Hield anymore, especially ones where he goes 7-9 from three and has 6 assists in 20 minutes off the bench. I justified that man for too long, and my time is done. That game simply did not occur.
The Jazz are not as bad as their stats scream right now. Yes, they’re last in points per game and give up the fourth most points in the NBA. Yes they are statistically the worst team from inside the arc and the third worst team from behind it. Yes their a bottom six team in terms of turnovers. Ignore all that. Collin Sexton and Keyonte George are legitimately good-sometimes-great guards and without a lock-in game defensively from Fox, Huerter, Ellis, they will find an opportunity to cook you. Lauri Markkanen is now the Mike Trout of the NBA, a supreme talent, in his prime, being wasted by management in this quagmire of non-contending, while also getting paid out the nose for the privilege, but he’s getting paid all that money because he is very, very good. Walker Kessler remains a massive man with a penchant for blocking shots and guys like Jordan Clarkson and John Collins off the bench give the Jazz enough punch to keep them in it with the starters out. This is a team the Kings of old would underestimate, keep them in the game late and then watch the game slip out of their hands in the final few possessions. A team with playoff hopes, with multi-series aspirations cannot do that in a West as wide open as this is. Proceed with caution, Sacramento.
The Small Stuff
Huerter vs. Keon, Part 3: Mike Brown finally let Keon out of the doghouse for 14 minutes Monday, but with Kevin hitting on all cylinders offensively right now, I think the starting role will be a little harder to yank from his grasp than previously predicted. Huerter is averaging 11 points, 1.7 stocks and shooting 42% from deep to start this season and while he’ll never be a defensive stopper, I think the effort he’s putting out is enough to assuage Coach Brown for the time being. Even when the offense or effort on defense slips a little, Keon’s going to have to really show out in order to change Brown’s mind. I’m not sure Brown even knows why, but… it is what it is.
Luftpause: My thoughts are with Utah Jazz forward Taylor Hendricks today as he’s in for a bit of a recovery after suffering a fractured right fibula and dislocated ankle in the game Monday night against Dallas. The kid had a good amount of hype building toward the start of this season and it’s always tough to see an injury of that caliber happen to anybody, but especially someone right at the start of their career. Hendricks will miss the rest of the season.
[Note: If you’re at all squeamish and are curious on how he did it – just know the video is rather nasty – I recommend you leave it to the imagination.]
Prediction
That flowing egalitarian offense we saw in the second hand of Monday night’s game comes out in the first half of tonight. Keegan’s shot returns to him, DeRozan continues to shim and shake his way into insane free throw numbers and De’Aaron Fox and Sabonis keep the ship steady. Danny Ainge tries to retrieve a hot dog from a vendor at half time, but attempts to get the vendor to give him money to take the dog off his hands, then asks for the vendor’s car, his wife, his house before the vendor walks off. A smug Ainge retorts to an empty hallway that he didn’t even want a hot dog to begin with.
Kings: 133 Jazz:109
Off to Utah, our first back-to-back,
Where we have to stay on the attack.
Both teams played last night;
Both had a late flight.
Still our bench needs to take up some slac
+1 Let’s keep the beam…
Some good stuff against Portland, which admittedly should have been the case. Aside from some stagnancy on offense in the second quarter, and a bit of slacking in the fourth, stuck on ninety-nine points for what seemed like days, the Kings began to look more like themselves.
Like you said, it’s not as if Utah doesn’t have talented players, they just don’t have enough of them. Sacramento has a good opportunity to get a win, but they’ll need to cut down on those stretches where no one seems to know what they’re doing.
“…began to look like themselves”
What is that?
Gotta win this one to start the road trip off alright. Utah is going in as a SEGABABA in which they lost to Dallas, and they also lost Taylor Hendricks for the rest of the season, it appears.
Losing Hendricks is a blow to Utah and Ainge. I really think they see him as the part of their future. FWIW, this also makes John Collins less attainable, for anyone still thinking he’d be a good addition to the Kings. If Hendricks had not gotten injured I was 100% certain Ainge would have been dangling Collins in the near future. Who knows, this may make Ainge sell off pieces even faster and go all in on capture the Flagg.
Easy
The only two winless teams in the NBA, as of today, does not include the Sacramento Kings. Utah at 0-3 and Detroit at 0-4 are bereft of wins. Will Sacramento climb to .500 or slip to the cellar with Utah (and if they lost to Utah, that makes them “less than”)
Them young Jazz-ers/-sters/-men/-matazz seemed to have slipped and skidded rather than built and climbed this season. They have the assets to improve but are still hoarding and waiting. Maybe they can’t decide what they are and where they want to go. Maybe it is just a stank and tank strategy (Race for Ace, Capture the Flagg). It’s Danny Ainge’s world and the Jazz live in it.
Of their young pieces, it is easiest to like Keyonte George, IMO. Fiipowski, Sensabaugh, Jenkins (man, that sucks for him), Walker Kessler (11.3 rpg, 2.7 bpg in 27 min/game) and this year’s lottery pick, Cody Williams. It seems a nice haul, but looks a lot like a Detroit Pistons roster, which is to say – good, pretty good (but not pretty, pretty good). Maybe when it’s all said and done they’ll turn out to be as good as Orlando’s young squad, maybe they’ll be Atlanta. I don’t see OKC levels – but I don’t even know what I think I might know.
It’s a 3 Point League:
As a team, Utah is shooting 28.2% on the 34.3 3PA. The eye opener is that The Finnisher (Lauri Markannen) is shooting his 5.7 3PA at a blistering 47.1% 3FG%. It is the second grouping of George, Sexton and John Collins who are taking 16 3PA and hitting for a combined 12 of 38 or 31.6% 3FG.
Sacramento has taken 108 3PA and hit 40 for 37.0%. De’Aaron has shot the most (22) and is just hitting 27.3% – I expect him to clean that up with improved shot selection, but we’ll see.
Light that Beam! Go Kings!
So what you are saying is the Jazz will 43% tonight?
“It’s a 3 Point League”
Not so much a comment about tonight’s game, but I’ve been wondering if this is the year that the league jumps the shark on 3 pointers? Some of the numbers that are being shot are just….over done? In the end, a 3 pointer is just not the most exciting play in the NBA (though still much better than a free throw!). Are we all good with watching four guys stand on the three point line for four quarters? I know, exaggerating to make a point is weak sauce, but still….
Fox shot selection equals run fast and chuck it.
That is what he is told to do and does a pretty good job of it’ And what about his assists. Not to shabby for a guy that just chucks it. I’ll take Fox and his chucks any day. Along with his assists.
PS And he can penetrate pretty good too.
Can we find player number seven that can score?
We need a bench or this team will die out quickly.
Jimmer wore No. 7!!!
Didn’t he score some ungodly amount in China too?
I bet his game would have worked better in this era of the NBA. Just jack deep threes.
That Taylor Hendricks injury was unnerving, that poor guy.
Badge Legend