It’s wild to think that the Sacramento Kings have just 8 games left in the regular season. The realities begin to settle in. Even an 8-0 finish would have a minimal impact on the Kings overall place in the standings, and yet every win and loss remain critically important to the jockeying at the bottom of the playoff bracket. This final stretch will be full of challenges for the Kings, starting tonight with the Los Angeles Clippers.
Let’s talk Kings basketball!
When: Tuesday, April 2nd, 7:00 PM PT
Where: Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, CA
TV: NBC Sports California, NBA TV
Radio: Sactown Sports 1140
Last Time
The Kings went down to Los Angeles and beat the Clippers 123 to 107. It was Sacramento’s first win against the Clippers this season, as LA had won the previous two contests. De’Aaron Fox had 33 points.
This Time
The Clippers come to Sacramento having faltered a bit recently. Where LA once seemed entrenched in the West’s top 4, the Clippers now find themselves in danger of falling to 5th, as they hold a 2 game lead on the charging Dallas Mavericks. The Clippers have gone 6-4 in their last 10 games, same as the Kings, as both teams have shown cracks down the second half of the season. Both teams have some injury concerns as well. The Kings will be without Malik Monk and Kevin Huerter, but luckily have Trey Lyles and Sasha Vezenkov back. The Clippers will be without Kawhi Leonard, who is missing this game with knee soreness, but recently got Russell Westbrook back from injury.
Sunday’s win over the Jazz was a good showing against a worse team missing lots of players to injury. It was nice to see the Kings handle their business even without Monk, but the Clippers will be a different test entirely. Looking ahead at the remaining schedule, there aren’t many “easy” wins left ahead. The Kings will need to go out and earn their wins if they want to maintain their place in the top bracket of the Play-In. And yes, right now that’s the most likely outcome. It would take a small miracle to take back the 6th seed, and the Kings would need help from other teams collapsing. All those squandered opportunities against inferior teams have come back to bite the Kings in the ass. All that’s left to do is to handle business for 8 more games.
Prediction
The Kings take advantage of Kawhi’s absence. Fox and Keegan Murray combine for 60. Domantas Sabonis has a triple double. The Kings win, the Beam is lit, and all is right in the world.
Kings 115, Clippers 108
