Mother Trucker.
#25 (-2)
With Willie Cauley-Stein out 4-6 weeks with a dislocated finger, coach George Karl's latest starting lineup (his 12th of the season) has Rudy Gay at the four. The Kings are a plus-7 and have allowed just 100 points per 100 possessions in 148 minutes with Gay at the four and DeMarcus Cousins at the five, but the offense hasn't been great. With just two games in eight days, they have some practice time to work on it.
ESPN
#26 (-2)
Didn't necessarily expect it to be Rajon Rondo-getting-ejecting bad, but we had a feeling the trip abroad might not be so favorable for the Kings, given Mexico City's high altitude and Boston's superior depth to cope with it better. Also didn't expect a funk so royal for DeMarcus Cousins that he'd be ripping himself like we heard Sunday night.
CBS Sports
#27 (-2)
Last week I told you that the Kings were actually 5-5 when DeMarcus Cousins played, and so their problem was Cousins injury. Yeah, they lost three straight this week with Cousins. So that's out.
Sports Illustrated
#25 (-1)
Things just aren’t getting better for these guys, DeMarcus Cousins is becoming self-effacing and the talent isn’t correlating to wins, to the surprise of few. Even their positive storylines come with related issues: Rajon Rondo’s had a nice resurgence on a cheap one-year deal, but now the Kings will likely have to pay up accordingly to keep him.
NBC Sports
#26 (-1)
Willie Cauley-Stein is out 4-6 weeks, so the Kings are going small and starting Rudy Gay again. The Kings’ starting five with Gay is -1.8 points per 100 possessions, which isn’t good but not terrible either. However, Gay isolations to end games — as Sacramento tried and failed against the Thunder — are not a good idea.
Mean Ranking: 25.8
