Remember to adjust your clocks before you go to bed on Saturday night! It's KANGZ TIME, baby!
Awards Time
Tony Delk Memorial Award- Cody Martin. With Kelly Oubre busy being Kelly Oubre and PJ Washington injured, a lot of the Hornets' bench duties fell on Cody Martin's shoulders and he responded with a strong performance on both ends of the floor. This award was sealed the second he blocked a Barnes three from behind.
Cory Joseph Award- No one! It's a scoring explosion party!
Luke Walton Vacuum Cleaner Award- Whoever the hell is in charge of teaching the Hornets how to rebound.
WTF Moment of the Game- Refs just sorta give up reffing halfway through the second quarter and start awarding dead balls to whatever team is closest to them.
+++Game Ten+++
Kings vs. Pacers
@Golden One Center
It's an early matinee game at Golden One! While not as early as the 12:00 start the Kings had in Dallas last week, the 3 pm Sunday matinee games have always tended to be a little weird.
Today's opponents, the Indiana Pacers, roll into Sacramento winners of two of their last three after starting the year 1-6. The Pacers, as you may remember, sent most of last season mired in coaching turmoil, having fired Nate McMillan and replaced him with a bad coach who quickly lost the team and let one of his assistant coaches get into a fight with his own player during a game(against the Kings too!). Short story long, that bad coach is gone now and replaced by former Pacers coach and long-time Mavs coach, who was himself cast out of Dallas due to interpersonal turmoil, Rick Carlisle, in the hope that Carlisle could provide some structure and help the Pacers return to the medium heights they were at in the Nate McMillan era.
Carlisle brings with him an adjusted version of the Nowitzki-era Mavs offense, using All-Star big Domatas Sabonis in the Dirk role and surrounding him with a bevy of longer guards and Myles Turner. Malcom Brogdan is celebrating no longer being eligible for a trade for Ben Simmons by putting up the best numbers of his career. He also sat out their game against the Blazers with a knee issue and his status for the Kings game is unknown. Darkhorse rookie of the year candidate, Chris Duarte occupies another of the guard spots, and has been really really good in the 33 minutes per game role Carlisle has put him in. Caris Levert has had injury issues throughout the start to the season (what else is new?) but also remains a handful to defend despite barely cracking the 20% from three.
This is a winnable game but the Pacers are probably a little better than their record would indicate, just not when Malcolm Brogdan, TJ Warren, and Jeremy Lamb all potentially miss the game due to injuries. If the Kings can resist becoming complacent and also not let Domatas Sabonis get going, they could be looking at another victory.
Matchups
Richaun Holmes vs. Myles Turner - Richaun's coming off the first 20-20 game of his career, having absolutely feasted on the small ball + Plumlee Hornets. The Pacers should provide a different challenge as they start two centers. Turner is among the best shot blockers in the league but on offense mostly plays a catch-and-shoot secondary role on the perimeter, where he's shooting ver 40% from the three point line. There's a chance we put Holmes on Sabonis and stick Barnes or Harkless on Turner just to keep Holmes closer to the action. That said, as always, Holmes will need to get his on offense to keep this fight fair. Advantage: Holmes.
Harrison Barnes vs. Domatas Sabonis - This is where things get wonky. Thanks to the Pacers playing two centers, there's a good chance Harrison Barnes starts the game defending Sabonis. There's not a huge size-disadvantage here because Domas is a smaller center and Barnes is a solidly built 3/4 but I'm not sure we're going to want Barnes to expend all his energy trying to body up Sabonis on defense. Domatas's numbers have slipped under Carlisle and he's having the worst three point shooting year of his career thus far. But he is pretty much a mini-Jokic on offense and an all-star so he's definitely worthy of respect. Advantage: Sabonis
Maurice Harkless vs. Chris Duarte - Duarte is having the best year of any rookie not named Scottie Barnes, partly because he's going to be 25 by the time the season ends and partly because he's really good. He's had an amazing year shooting the ball, with the only thing keeping him out of the 50%/40%/90% club being his relative lack of a mid-range game. As a catch-and-shoot player though, he is dynamite. Duarte's also a solid defender, which means he'll probably be on whoever's hotter of Tyrese or Barnes. He can probably give Tyrese trouble but he'll have issues with Barnes's size and strength (lots of defenders do). Advantage: Duarte
Tyrese Haliburton vs. Caris LeVert - LeVert first popped into the spotlight as an NBA player as the crowning achievement of the Nets player development program in the years where they didn't have any draft picks because Sean Marks traded them all for zombie KG, Paul Pierce, and Jason Terry. Unfortunately a series of injuries and a rather serious cancer scare last season have somewhat derailed that career. LeVert is a rangy 6'6" wing-guard who's never really had a consistent enough shot to ascend to star/true plus player status. He's been specially terrible this season, shooting only 22% from three on almost six attempts a game. He's also shooting free throws like a big from the 1990s for some reason. He's got solid defensive tools but is not a particularly solid man-to-man defender. Tyrese feels due for a huge game any day now. I think it's this one. Advantage: Haliburton
De'Aaron Fox vs. Malcolm Brogdan(?) - With Brogdan listed as questionable, there's a chance anything I write here will become moot when he misses the game and the Pacers slide Duarte and LeVert to the sole guard slots and move Justin Holliday into the small forward slot or move TJ McConnell into the starting lineup. Either would be preferable for the Kings to Brogdan playing as he is possibly Indiana's best player at this point. A jack of all trades, Brogdan might best be considered Tyrese Haliburton on steroids, though he is currently having his worst season shooting the ball (yet still averaging 22 points a night). At 6'5"+, he's long on defense thought maybe not exactly what you'd call a fast player. Fox has picked it up over the start of this home stand and is looking closer and closer to a version of the 25/7 guy we saw last season before he caught COVID and missed the last month of games. If Brogdan plays, this should be a fun matchup, if he doesn't I expect Fox to thrive. Advantage: Fox.
Kings Bench vs. Indiana Bench - Another matchup completely predicated on injuries. The Pacers bench isn't terrible but certainly, having to move a player or two into the starting lineup would make it shallower. The Pacers are led by Jeremy Lamb (questionable for the game due to injury) and Justin Holliday off the bench. TJ McConnell's a solid backup point guard but I am confident that Davion is better than him. The other bench player seeing consistent minutes from Rick Carlisle is Torrey Craig, who is essentially older, worse at defense but a slightly better shooter Moe Harkless. It'll be interesting to see if Walton sticks with the slightly expanded rotation he used against Charlotte or if he goes back to a compacted 8-man rotation like we saw against the Jazz and Pelicans. Either way, Hield and Davion is a hell of a one-two punch and the Pacers have been a bad defensive team to start the season. Advantage: Kings.
Final Predictions:
The Pacers aren't a terrible team but they also are running two center lineups and have a bunch of injury concerns and a coach that the Kings have had a lot of success against in recent years for some reason. Last year, the Kings would follow up games like the one against the Hornets with utterly disappointing nine game losing streaks. If they want to prove this year is different, they need to win this one. I believe they will.
Kings 108, Pacers 100
Awards Time
Tony Delk Memorial Award- Cody Martin. With Kelly Oubre busy being Kelly Oubre and PJ Washington injured, a lot of the Hornets' bench duties fell on Cody Martin's shoulders and he responded with a strong performance on both ends of the floor. This award was sealed the second he blocked a Barnes three from behind.
Cory Joseph Award- No one! It's a scoring explosion party!
Luke Walton Vacuum Cleaner Award- Whoever the hell is in charge of teaching the Hornets how to rebound.
WTF Moment of the Game- Refs just sorta give up reffing halfway through the second quarter and start awarding dead balls to whatever team is closest to them.
+++Game Ten+++
Kings vs. Pacers
@Golden One Center
It's an early matinee game at Golden One! While not as early as the 12:00 start the Kings had in Dallas last week, the 3 pm Sunday matinee games have always tended to be a little weird.
Today's opponents, the Indiana Pacers, roll into Sacramento winners of two of their last three after starting the year 1-6. The Pacers, as you may remember, sent most of last season mired in coaching turmoil, having fired Nate McMillan and replaced him with a bad coach who quickly lost the team and let one of his assistant coaches get into a fight with his own player during a game(against the Kings too!). Short story long, that bad coach is gone now and replaced by former Pacers coach and long-time Mavs coach, who was himself cast out of Dallas due to interpersonal turmoil, Rick Carlisle, in the hope that Carlisle could provide some structure and help the Pacers return to the medium heights they were at in the Nate McMillan era.
Carlisle brings with him an adjusted version of the Nowitzki-era Mavs offense, using All-Star big Domatas Sabonis in the Dirk role and surrounding him with a bevy of longer guards and Myles Turner. Malcom Brogdan is celebrating no longer being eligible for a trade for Ben Simmons by putting up the best numbers of his career. He also sat out their game against the Blazers with a knee issue and his status for the Kings game is unknown. Darkhorse rookie of the year candidate, Chris Duarte occupies another of the guard spots, and has been really really good in the 33 minutes per game role Carlisle has put him in. Caris Levert has had injury issues throughout the start to the season (what else is new?) but also remains a handful to defend despite barely cracking the 20% from three.
This is a winnable game but the Pacers are probably a little better than their record would indicate, just not when Malcolm Brogdan, TJ Warren, and Jeremy Lamb all potentially miss the game due to injuries. If the Kings can resist becoming complacent and also not let Domatas Sabonis get going, they could be looking at another victory.
Matchups
Richaun Holmes vs. Myles Turner - Richaun's coming off the first 20-20 game of his career, having absolutely feasted on the small ball + Plumlee Hornets. The Pacers should provide a different challenge as they start two centers. Turner is among the best shot blockers in the league but on offense mostly plays a catch-and-shoot secondary role on the perimeter, where he's shooting ver 40% from the three point line. There's a chance we put Holmes on Sabonis and stick Barnes or Harkless on Turner just to keep Holmes closer to the action. That said, as always, Holmes will need to get his on offense to keep this fight fair. Advantage: Holmes.
Harrison Barnes vs. Domatas Sabonis - This is where things get wonky. Thanks to the Pacers playing two centers, there's a good chance Harrison Barnes starts the game defending Sabonis. There's not a huge size-disadvantage here because Domas is a smaller center and Barnes is a solidly built 3/4 but I'm not sure we're going to want Barnes to expend all his energy trying to body up Sabonis on defense. Domatas's numbers have slipped under Carlisle and he's having the worst three point shooting year of his career thus far. But he is pretty much a mini-Jokic on offense and an all-star so he's definitely worthy of respect. Advantage: Sabonis
Maurice Harkless vs. Chris Duarte - Duarte is having the best year of any rookie not named Scottie Barnes, partly because he's going to be 25 by the time the season ends and partly because he's really good. He's had an amazing year shooting the ball, with the only thing keeping him out of the 50%/40%/90% club being his relative lack of a mid-range game. As a catch-and-shoot player though, he is dynamite. Duarte's also a solid defender, which means he'll probably be on whoever's hotter of Tyrese or Barnes. He can probably give Tyrese trouble but he'll have issues with Barnes's size and strength (lots of defenders do). Advantage: Duarte
Tyrese Haliburton vs. Caris LeVert - LeVert first popped into the spotlight as an NBA player as the crowning achievement of the Nets player development program in the years where they didn't have any draft picks because Sean Marks traded them all for zombie KG, Paul Pierce, and Jason Terry. Unfortunately a series of injuries and a rather serious cancer scare last season have somewhat derailed that career. LeVert is a rangy 6'6" wing-guard who's never really had a consistent enough shot to ascend to star/true plus player status. He's been specially terrible this season, shooting only 22% from three on almost six attempts a game. He's also shooting free throws like a big from the 1990s for some reason. He's got solid defensive tools but is not a particularly solid man-to-man defender. Tyrese feels due for a huge game any day now. I think it's this one. Advantage: Haliburton
De'Aaron Fox vs. Malcolm Brogdan(?) - With Brogdan listed as questionable, there's a chance anything I write here will become moot when he misses the game and the Pacers slide Duarte and LeVert to the sole guard slots and move Justin Holliday into the small forward slot or move TJ McConnell into the starting lineup. Either would be preferable for the Kings to Brogdan playing as he is possibly Indiana's best player at this point. A jack of all trades, Brogdan might best be considered Tyrese Haliburton on steroids, though he is currently having his worst season shooting the ball (yet still averaging 22 points a night). At 6'5"+, he's long on defense thought maybe not exactly what you'd call a fast player. Fox has picked it up over the start of this home stand and is looking closer and closer to a version of the 25/7 guy we saw last season before he caught COVID and missed the last month of games. If Brogdan plays, this should be a fun matchup, if he doesn't I expect Fox to thrive. Advantage: Fox.
Kings Bench vs. Indiana Bench - Another matchup completely predicated on injuries. The Pacers bench isn't terrible but certainly, having to move a player or two into the starting lineup would make it shallower. The Pacers are led by Jeremy Lamb (questionable for the game due to injury) and Justin Holliday off the bench. TJ McConnell's a solid backup point guard but I am confident that Davion is better than him. The other bench player seeing consistent minutes from Rick Carlisle is Torrey Craig, who is essentially older, worse at defense but a slightly better shooter Moe Harkless. It'll be interesting to see if Walton sticks with the slightly expanded rotation he used against Charlotte or if he goes back to a compacted 8-man rotation like we saw against the Jazz and Pelicans. Either way, Hield and Davion is a hell of a one-two punch and the Pacers have been a bad defensive team to start the season. Advantage: Kings.
Final Predictions:
The Pacers aren't a terrible team but they also are running two center lineups and have a bunch of injury concerns and a coach that the Kings have had a lot of success against in recent years for some reason. Last year, the Kings would follow up games like the one against the Hornets with utterly disappointing nine game losing streaks. If they want to prove this year is different, they need to win this one. I believe they will.
Kings 108, Pacers 100
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