It’s that time of year again. The kid wanted something special for the holidays, so you throw on a jersey shirt, load the family into the car all so they can waste their time milling about different venues to not pay attention and buy absolutely nothing of value. Traffic is absolutely insane with thousands upon thousands of hungover and turkey stuffed NASCAR drivers all headed the same direction as you. Your mind wanders to when you actually get there. Parking is going to be insane. The food choices are going to have to be something quick and nasty. Oh, and the money? You know they jack the prices up just so they drop them a tad and then call it a holiday “discount”. You could be lounging at home, doing this online and spending almost nothing at all but instead you’re spending an infuriating amount of time and money, for an inferior product than what they push on you the rest of the year.

You’re going to see a Golden State Warriors game in the Bay Area!

Let’s talk Kings basketball.

When: Saturday, November 24th; 5:30 pm PST

Where: Oracle Arena, Oakland, CA

TV: NBCSCA

Radio: KHTK Sports 1140 AM

For Your Consideration

Wounded Warriors: Okay, now that we’ve got all the Warriors fans out of the preview with that hamfisted opener, let’s talk about how good the Warriors still are, even after the ESPN machine and Twitter tells you that they’re headed for disaster. They… They aren’t. They’re still heavy, heavy championship favorites and even with a slew of weird injuries and completely expected drama at this point in their dynastic hold over the NBA, the Warriors are going to end up being the top dog in the Western Conference and probably by a fair margin. But, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t weak spots in the Warriors’ armor.

The Warriors are currently sitting at 13-7, and are just now snapping out of possibly the worst streak of basketball in the Steve Kerr era: losing five of six games and four in a row, which for Kings fans is… well… not a bad road trip most years. Injuries to Steph Curry’s groin, Draymond Green’s toe (unrelated to Steph’s groin) and to Kevin Durant’s pride have left the Warriors in a bit of a lull. But, again, these Warriors are an entirely different breed and so even though they’ve got more losses now that they did in February of their 73 win season, their stats are still something to behold. Golden State is first in the NBA in field goal percentage at 49.6%, first in three point percentage at 39.1%, as well as first in assists and just to sneak in another first, they’re first in the league in blocks. They’re averaging basically 116 points per game (5th in the league), have the second best offensive rating and run at nearly the league average pace. This team scores and scores efficiently.

Back to those cracks in the wall of the Warriors for a second though. This season the Warriors, for all their amazing passing and unselfishness, have decided to extend that courtesy to the other team; they’re the sixth worst team in the league when it comes to turnovers, where they average almost 15 a contest. This is a particular area of interest for the Kings who have, according to solely my eye test, taken advantage of points off of their opponent’s turnovers in the games they have won. The Warriors make mistakes, and the Kings will have to take advantage of each and every one of them if they want a chance at beating whoever it is Golden State puts on the floor tonight. The Warriors are also in the bottom five in the NBA in player fouls; something that the Kings will once again have to use to their advantage. De’Aaron Fox is turning into an absolute foul drawing machine; going to the line six times a game. If he can boost that number tonight, a thin Warriors squad will have to be digging deep into their bench somewhere to stop the bleeding and down that far, the band-aids come few and far between. Most seasons, most teams could play a perfect basketball game and still lose to an underhanded Warriors squad. But, this ain’t most seasons and the Kings are definitely not most teams.

Prediction

Kevin Durant to the Kings in 2019.

Kings 123, Warriors 119