After what many would wrongly call a professional basketball game ended in defeat for the Kings on Tuesday night against the Lakers, they’ve dragged themselves back to Sacramento to face the yellow and purp’s even less sexy but more stable stepbrother, the Los Angeles Clippers. Decimated by injury and hubris, the Clippers are in a season of extreme flux and yet, are still only two games out of .500 (and the eighth spot). The Clippers are coming off of a game in which Lou Williams sold his soul to the devil pregame for 50 points and 7 assists, and ruined a night in which Kevin Durant became the second youngest player to 20,000 points. We salute you, Lou. Doc Rivers is about to spin the bottle during the team meeting to see who starts tonight, so expect to see Tommy Murdock go off for 15 points in the first half. Let’s talk Kings basketball.

When: Thursday, January 11th; 7:00 pm PST

Where: Golden 1 Center; Sacramento, CA

TV: NBCSCA

Radio: KHTK Sports 1140 AM

For Your Consideration

Loss Angeles Cliphurts: One thing about the Clippers that will keep the Kings on their toes tonight is that they’re so efficient at getting injured that no two halves of basketball ever feature the same rotations. It’s rather sneaky of them, and quite frankly, the forward thinking to be expected from a team owned by the man responsible for squishing that pesky Apple company so many years ago. Now, I’m not good at math (or English, or Science or PE or recess) but the Clippers have used approximately one thousand different starting lineups this season to confuse those teams dumb enough to try to game plan around them, and tonight’s lineup will be yet another addition, as 2K18 generated C.J. Williams is due to sit with a sprained ankle. This to go on top of Pat Beverley being out for the season with a torn meniscus, Danilo Gallinari with a right glute tear and Austin Rivers with a sore Achilles. This isn’t mentioning that Milos Teodosic is doubtful with plantar fasciitis, and Blake Griffin’s status is unknown after being concussed watching the trailer for that new “comedy” he’s “acting” in.

The mainstays for this Clipper’s team remain De’Andre Jordan and Lou Williams, and tonight’s game will be dictated by how well the Kings can neutralize their individual threats. At 11.9 points and 10.6 rebounds, Jordan is what he is; a rebounding machine and ever-present lob threat. He’s down to just a single block per game this season, and tied with Wes Johnson for the team high. Lou Williams on the other hand, is a scoring dynamo. The former Sixth Man of the Year is leading the Clippers in scoring with 22.9 points per game, the highest output in his 13 year career. He’s doing it the Lou Will way too; taking sixteen shots a game and seven three point attempts. I don’t need to talk about him, just go find his highlights from last night as he basically single-handedly dragged the Clippers to a victory over the Warriors. If the Kings can contain his hot hand, and mitigate the terror that two random players will wreak tonight, they have a decent shot at beating a Clippers team in disarray. Today’s preview is a bit shorter, but the Kings play the Clips on Saturday too, so I gotta save some of these heaters for that sordid affair.

Is Harry Giles Playing Tonight? No.

Prediction: A basketball game will be played in Sacramento, CA tonight between two professional basketball teams. Baskets will be scored on both sides. Coaches will call timeouts. Players will break for a halftime after 24 minutes of game play, then resume play for yet another 24 minutes. If the the teams are tied after four quarters, extra time will be allotted for the teams to determine the victor. Clippers fans will marvel at my prognostication skills on various social media platforms. #NeverForget

Kings: More Points, Clippers: Less Points