The four game road trip ends with a game in San Francisco. Is it weird that we're closing out three games in the Southeast with a single game on reclaimed land on the Pacific Ocean? Sure, but the schedule makers hate us.
Previously On...
The View From the Other Side
Cool Programming Note of the Night
Awards Time
Tony Delk Memorial Award - Bol Bol. Look, I get why people are enamored with the guy and I can see the tools and think he could be a good player if things break right in his career. At the same time, I don't think he'll ever have another shooting night like the one he did against the Kings, in which he failed to miss a shot until crunch time, including a setback three and-1 against Sabonis and a bunch of midrange jumpers. Oddly, the dude didn't block a single shot despite being 7'2". (He was also completely obliterated by De'Aaron Fox on switches in the fourth and OT.
The CoJo Award - Richaun Holmes. At least it was only a couple of minutes but Richaun once again looked completely out of sorts against a big Magic team, even though he was playing against their considerably smaller bench. Holmes saw no time in the second half and OT, instead getting replaced by Chimezie Metu in the rotation.
Mikki Moore - Davion Mitchell. In his 13 minutes of game time, Davion had an absolutely putrid offensive rating of 17 and was one assist and rebound away from having a Snell.
WTF Moment of the Night- Keegan smiled.
Random Internet Talking Head Crappy KANGZ Take of the Game
https://twitter.com/The_Step_Back/status/1589654471361105920?s=20&t=VYPe-mXniqvCE4VxD1sjSQ
De'Aaron goes 6th after John Collins (huh?), Jarrett Allen (what?), Spida, Bam (why he's somehow getting picked before Mitchell or Fox is beyond me), Tatum (fine with that).
We're Talking Basketball
The Kings face the Warriors for the second time in two weeks, having played them in their third game of the season when the Warriors had seemingly gotten over the whole Draymond trying to decapitate Jordan Poole thing and their bench comprised of nothing but young guys and a rapidly aging JaMychal Green seemed good rather than so disastrous that Steve Kerr had to promise to make rotation changes after their loss to the Magic.
I have no idea what Kerr's new rotation is going to look like. Given the fact that their starting five has still been one of the best in the league despite their record, I'd still expect them to get a hell of a lot of minutes. That bench is probably going to see some changes beyond just benching James Wiseman (who has looked really really bad in his run this season) and playing Jonathan Kuminga (who has occasionally been getting DNP-CDs) more. Donte DiVincenzo has been out for a week with a hamstring injury and Jordan Poole has had some rough stretches this season, leaving Moses Moody as the Warriors most consistent bench player despite not exactly lighting the world on fire. Ty Jerome has gotten quite a bit of burn for them as a two-way player, which might have more to do with their total lack of guard depth than him being good.
Defensively, the Warriors have been the Kings, giving up the most points per game in the league and the second worse defensive rating. At this point, it might be safe to say that they miss Mike Brown, who has the Kings putting up better defensive numbers despite them being the Kings and giving up 82 points to the Warriors in a single half once.
The Warriors have had a few days off and are playing at home coming off of a longer road trip that they went 0-5 on. Given that this is the defending champs we're talking about it's hard to call tonight a trap game but the Kings are probably feeling good after that ridiculous finish to their last game and already looking forward to getting back home after a week plus on the road. Hopefully, Mike Brown will keep them on track and good basketball will ensue.
The Kings are apparently 0-7 in the De'Aaron Fox era when he and Steph are both healthy so you'd figure we're well past due for a win against Golden State here. With the Kings bench playing a little better than it was in the first matchup and the Warriors bench playing like the Kings bench was to start the season, this isn't necessarily a bad matchup for Sacramento. But it's the Warriors and Steph is still Steph and, hey, fun fact- Klay Thompson once scored 37 points against us in a single quarter. The Kings and Warriors have history and none of it has been particularly good for the Kings since, probably, that time John Salmons and Kevin Martin absolutely torched the Nelly Ball Warriors. Until the Kings prove otherwise, I'm bracing for a thorough nuking.
Injury Report
Kings-
None to report
Warriors-
Donte DiVincenzo - OUT (swallowed a LEGO man)
Final Prediction
The Warriors are desperate for a win and playing at home and the Kings are a bus ride away from their homes after their first road trip of the year. This has "Bad Kangz loss" written all over it. Prove me wrong, Kings.
Warriors 123, Kings 107
Previously On...
The View From the Other Side
Cool Programming Note of the Night
Awards Time
Tony Delk Memorial Award - Bol Bol. Look, I get why people are enamored with the guy and I can see the tools and think he could be a good player if things break right in his career. At the same time, I don't think he'll ever have another shooting night like the one he did against the Kings, in which he failed to miss a shot until crunch time, including a setback three and-1 against Sabonis and a bunch of midrange jumpers. Oddly, the dude didn't block a single shot despite being 7'2". (He was also completely obliterated by De'Aaron Fox on switches in the fourth and OT.
The CoJo Award - Richaun Holmes. At least it was only a couple of minutes but Richaun once again looked completely out of sorts against a big Magic team, even though he was playing against their considerably smaller bench. Holmes saw no time in the second half and OT, instead getting replaced by Chimezie Metu in the rotation.
Mikki Moore - Davion Mitchell. In his 13 minutes of game time, Davion had an absolutely putrid offensive rating of 17 and was one assist and rebound away from having a Snell.
WTF Moment of the Night- Keegan smiled.
Random Internet Talking Head Crappy KANGZ Take of the Game
https://twitter.com/The_Step_Back/status/1589654471361105920?s=20&t=VYPe-mXniqvCE4VxD1sjSQ
De'Aaron goes 6th after John Collins (huh?), Jarrett Allen (what?), Spida, Bam (why he's somehow getting picked before Mitchell or Fox is beyond me), Tatum (fine with that).
We're Talking Basketball
The Kings face the Warriors for the second time in two weeks, having played them in their third game of the season when the Warriors had seemingly gotten over the whole Draymond trying to decapitate Jordan Poole thing and their bench comprised of nothing but young guys and a rapidly aging JaMychal Green seemed good rather than so disastrous that Steve Kerr had to promise to make rotation changes after their loss to the Magic.
I have no idea what Kerr's new rotation is going to look like. Given the fact that their starting five has still been one of the best in the league despite their record, I'd still expect them to get a hell of a lot of minutes. That bench is probably going to see some changes beyond just benching James Wiseman (who has looked really really bad in his run this season) and playing Jonathan Kuminga (who has occasionally been getting DNP-CDs) more. Donte DiVincenzo has been out for a week with a hamstring injury and Jordan Poole has had some rough stretches this season, leaving Moses Moody as the Warriors most consistent bench player despite not exactly lighting the world on fire. Ty Jerome has gotten quite a bit of burn for them as a two-way player, which might have more to do with their total lack of guard depth than him being good.
Defensively, the Warriors have been the Kings, giving up the most points per game in the league and the second worse defensive rating. At this point, it might be safe to say that they miss Mike Brown, who has the Kings putting up better defensive numbers despite them being the Kings and giving up 82 points to the Warriors in a single half once.
The Warriors have had a few days off and are playing at home coming off of a longer road trip that they went 0-5 on. Given that this is the defending champs we're talking about it's hard to call tonight a trap game but the Kings are probably feeling good after that ridiculous finish to their last game and already looking forward to getting back home after a week plus on the road. Hopefully, Mike Brown will keep them on track and good basketball will ensue.
The Kings are apparently 0-7 in the De'Aaron Fox era when he and Steph are both healthy so you'd figure we're well past due for a win against Golden State here. With the Kings bench playing a little better than it was in the first matchup and the Warriors bench playing like the Kings bench was to start the season, this isn't necessarily a bad matchup for Sacramento. But it's the Warriors and Steph is still Steph and, hey, fun fact- Klay Thompson once scored 37 points against us in a single quarter. The Kings and Warriors have history and none of it has been particularly good for the Kings since, probably, that time John Salmons and Kevin Martin absolutely torched the Nelly Ball Warriors. Until the Kings prove otherwise, I'm bracing for a thorough nuking.
Injury Report
Kings-
None to report
Warriors-
Donte DiVincenzo - OUT (swallowed a LEGO man)
Final Prediction
The Warriors are desperate for a win and playing at home and the Kings are a bus ride away from their homes after their first road trip of the year. This has "Bad Kangz loss" written all over it. Prove me wrong, Kings.
Warriors 123, Kings 107
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