Kings vs. Spurs Preview: The hardest test of all

Tonight’s matchup is every Kings fans worst nightmare: A bad team coming into Golden 1 Center, missing their best player.  The Kings have had some inexplicable losses to some of the worst teams in the league this season, so let’s see if they can change the narrative and do what good teams are supposed to do and take care of business.

Let’s talk Kings basketball!

When: Thursday, March 7th, 7:00 PM PT
Where: Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, CA
TV: NBC Sports California
Radio: Sactown Sports 1140

Last Time

The Kings hosted the Spurs not too long ago, coming away with a 127 to 122 victory in the first game after the All-Star break.  The Spurs hung around all game and even took a late four point lead with two minutes left, but then De’Aaron Fox and Malik Monk surged ahead to put the Kings up and over the top.  Devin Vassell was a flamethrower for the Spurs, scoring 32 points on 13-18 from the field, and Victor Wembanyama put together a gaudy statline of 19 points, 13 rebounds, 5 blocks, 5 steals and 4 assists.  Four Kings scored 20 points, led by 28 points and 9 assists from De’Aaron Fox.

Three in the Key

Don’t be the same old story

Look, a playoff team should not have to be more worried about a 13 win team than a 43 win team, but that’s the situation the Kings find themselves in recently.  For whatever reason, the Kings have had some truly miserable losses this year to some bad teams, particularly at home.  Detroit and Charlotte have both beaten the Kings in Sacramento, and both were missing key players.  Most recently the Bulls (who aren’t a bad team but aren’t good), came back from a 22 point late 3rd quarter deficit to beat the Kings.  The Spurs themselves almost pulled off an upset a couple weeks ago.  This is the start of the first real homestand for the Kings since early January; Let’s take care of business and get some momentum going for these final 20ish games.

Dominate the Interior

Victor Wembanyama and his 7’4 frame won’t be lurking about the paint tonight, which should signal to the Kings to attack, attack, attack.  Zach Collins is not nearly the rim protector that Wemby is.  The Kings often get into a bad habit of settling for threes, but the Kings should focus on winning the paint battle tonight. Last night against the Lakers, the Kings won the paint battle 76 to 50.  De’Aaron Fox, Malik Monk and Domantas Sabonis were all relentless in attacking the rim, and that was with Anthony Davis in the middle. The Spurs should have less resistance.  The Kings actually scored 70 points in the paint in their last matchup against San Antonio; the issue was they gave up 72.  The Spurs also know that the Kings don’t offer much resistance in the paint, so it will be up to the Kings to find different ways to keep San Antonio from punishing them with drives.  Personally, I’d like to see Keon Ellis get more time, especially against Devin Vassell.  Ellis was a DNP-CD in the last Spurs matchup.

Trey Day

Trey Lyles has had a rough recent stretch.  In his last 9 games, Trey is averaging just 4.9 points on 37.2% from the field and 17.4% from three.  For the season, Lyles is still shooting a near career-best 38.6% from three.  The Kings need Trey to get out of this slump, so hopefully he can start by finding his rhythm tonight against his former team.

Prediction

The Kings shake off the boogieman and get a much needed blowout win to start off their six game homestand.

Kings 133, Spurs 111

Fan Predictions

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