Kings vs. Wizards Preview: Take care of business

The Kings have had a bad habit of dropping games against “easy” opponents in the past. Hopefully, under Doug Christie, they take their opponents, both big and small, more seriously, especially at home. This is not a game the Kings can afford to drop, especially since a loss will see the Kings drop from 9th to 11th.

Let’s talk Kings basketball!

When: Sunday 19 January at 6:00 PM PST
Where: Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, CA
TV: NBC Sports California
Radio: Sactown Sports 1140 AM

For your consideration

Tonight marks the official start of the second half of the season, and while the Kings managed to finish the first half above .500, they will need to be much better than that in the second half if they hope to make some noise in the West. That means not dropping games at home to inferior opponents like the Washington Wizards, something we’ve seen all too often in the past few years.

The Wizards come to Sacramento with the current worst record in the NBA at 6-34. They possess both the NBA’s worst offense and defense. They are also the second night of back to back. But all of that doesn’t mean the Kings can afford to take them easy. We saw the Kings give up home games to the lowly Hornets and Pistons last year, and those games ended up costing them a playoff spot. Every game matters and the Kings must do their best to protect their home court. Right now, the Kings are on a five-game home winning streak, one game away from getting back to a .500 record at home. Sacramento needs to come out strong and then not let off the gas. Don’t give this Wizard team a chance to think they can win the game or that you’re tempting fate. After all, this is a Wizards team that has managed to beat the Kings at least once in both of the last two seasons. It cannot happen again.

This year’s Wizards squad doesn’t have anything in particular that they do so well. The one thing they do is run the ball as they are 4th in the league in Pace. Even with that, they are only 13th in the league in Fast Break Points, and still allow opposing teams to score more on the fast break than they do. The Wizards are giving up the second-most three-point attempts in the league, as well as the most offensive rebounds and second-chance points. Jonas Valanciunas is the only true plus rebounder the Wizards have who plays any meaningful minutes. Rookie Alex Sarr, the No. 2 pick from this last draft, is averaging just 6.7 rebounds in 27.2 minutes a game. He’s also only shooting 40.6% from the field, not a great percentage when you’re 7 feet tall. The Kings should take advantage early and often of Domantas Sabonis’ strength advantage on the interior.

Offensively, the biggest threats the Wizards have are again Jordan Poole and Kyle Kuzma, although both aren’t shooting that well this year. Poole is the only Wizards player averaging over 20 points on 21.9% from the field, and he’s shooting 40.7% from three on just 9.1 attempts a game. If there was one guy the Kings couldn’t afford to get hot, it would be him as he has the propensity to drop 40+. Kyle Kuzma, meanwhile, has killed the Kings in the past, averaging 19.6 points on 47.1% from the field and 36.4% from three in his 19 career games against Sacramento. This season, he’s scoring just 14.4 points a game, his lowest since his last season with the Lakers, and he’s shooting a career-worst 26.5% from three and 43.6% from the field.

The Wizards are also one of the worst three point shooting teams in the league, averaging the second lowest percentage (33.8%) in the league. The only players playing regular minutes for those shooting a decent percentage are Justin Champagnie (42.3%), Jordan Poole (40.7%) and Jared Butler (37.5%). Doug Christie’s version of the Kings still allows opponents to shoot a decent percentage from three (37.9%), but they’ve done a much better job of running teams off the line and limiting attempts, allowing just 36.7 attempts in a game. 10 matches he has coached. That’s down from 39 opponent attempts during Mike Brown’s 31 games. It may not sound like much, but even a few threes a game can be the difference in close games.

The Kings will be without the services of Devin Carter tonight as he deals with a wrist injury, and possibly Keon Ellis, who is listed as questionable after suffering an ankle injury in the previous game after stepping on Domantas Sabonis’ foot . Ellis apparently said on a Twitch stream that his ankle was fine, but for his own safety and recovery, I hope he sits out tonight, especially with a few more days off before the Warriors visit. If the Kings can’t beat the Wizards without Ellis, they don’t deserve to win anyway.

So just take care of business tonight. Protect the home floor and don’t give up. Keep up the good vibes.

Forecast

De’Aaron Fox bounces back from a poor shooting performance against Houston to put together a 50-game hitting streak as the Kings dominate the Washington Wizards to go 2-0 at home.

Kings 131, Wizards 104