Happy December 26th, everyone. A day where all your co-workers are “sick”, all your kids are disappointed and every Rockets fan in America has a new Westbrook or Harden jersey sitting in a box that will remain unworn in public for at least another couple of games. The season of giving continues as coworkers toss out Tylenol to one another, grandkids give those fake airpods back to the Customer Service counter at TJ Maxx and websites making millions of dollars on the backs of talented writers are giving out pink slips to even the most talented of us all, Sactown Royalty founder and overall dynamo, Tom Ziller himself. You’ll find a link to his now independent newsletter below. Show proof you subscribed to him and I promise I will punch Brad in the arm with relative strength the next time I see him.

The Kings are playing today too by the way, I bet you’re wondering a bit about that! Their post-Christmas holiday game has them facing off against the Timberwolves, a team laden with talent and waterlogged with L’s over the last month – they’ve lost 11 straight games coming into their last three games of the month. The Kings aren’t playing so hot themselves, tossing their last four games in the trash like torn wrapping paper into the hefty bag held by the grumpiest uncle in the room. Barring a true disaster, not just the two on the court, one of these teams has to win the game tonight. I know, I checked the rule book just-in-case. Let’s talk Kings basketball!

When: December 26th, 7:00 PST

Where: Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, CA

TV: NBCSCA

Radio: KHTK Sports 1140 AM

For Your Consideration

Chasing Your Tail: There is a heavy sense of disappointment when you consider the collected talents among the two teams slap-fighting in the sandbox of the Golden 1 Center tonight and the records they currently hold. There’s a solid case to be made that the better match-up tonight will be between both franchises’ social media teams. The Kings and Timberwolves have long been the dueling stars of suckitude in NBA, rising and falling at roughly the same times, each passing on All-Star level players for middling neverbeens. The Wolves sold their playoff souls to the demon inside Jimmy Butler’s chest for a playoff spot a couple years back and have since sank back down into the mud with all the talented draft picks in the world and lots of hope to pass around for the future. To any Wolves fans reading out there (Hi, Leo!), don’t get me wrong. The Kings have been consistently worse for the last decade and change. For every David Kahn there is a Pete D’Allesandro. For every Dwane Casey, Randy Wittman, Kevin McHale (again), Kurt Rambis, Sam Mitchell and Tom Thibodeau there is a Kings fan who is about to get pissed on Twitter if I roll out the last decade of Kings coaches. I left out Rick Adelman and Flip’s second attempt because there were other forces of nature that stacked the card against them there. The point is, our teams, as a collective, suck. There is no other team I want to succeed more in this league than the Kings, but if there was an honorable mention, it will always and forever be the the true kings of the North.

Tonight fans will be able to watch the revived Andrew Wiggins, a player who was all but given up on in many circles and who has now roared back into the eyes of the NBA, averaging 25 points, 5 rebounds and over 3 assists a game. Wiggins is playing inspired basketball and has cemented himself as one weird ass story in the NBA today. Karl-Anthony Towns is a question mark to play tonight, but he himself is showing out this season. 26.5 points, 11.7 rebounds, 4.4 assists, over a block and a steal a game and is shooting over 40% from three on 8.5 attempts per game(!!!). He’s a beast and I would love to see Richaun Holmes hustle the hell out of him tonight. Everyone else for the Timberwolves, is middling at best right now. Josh Okogie is an absolute lock down defender and could really bother a struggling Buddy Hield, but isn’t much on the offensive end. Prized rookie Jarrett Culver has struggled in his first season. Jake Layman is their fifth leading scorer. That ain’t great.

This game is going to be a mess. It could be a Jackson Pollack painting, it could be seagulls mass-vomiting on a board walk. The beauty is in the eye of the behold and in the tolerance of the beer holder.

Prediction

You’re going to go to this link and subscribe to Tom Ziller and the Kings will win in glorious fashion. Everything will be as it should be and a 10 game win streak will ensue. Also, Brad’s arm will hurt sometime in the near future.

https://ziller.substack.com/p/rip-gmib-long-live-gmib

Kings: 103, Wolves: 101