The Kings have just three games remaining on the season. After Tuesday’s brutal road loss in Oklahoma City featuring yet another blown 20 point lead, the Kings have zero margin of error. The 6th spot and a guaranteed playoff spot isn’t quite out of the picture, but the Kings would likely need to win out. It helps that two of their final three games are against other teams fighting for that spot, starting tonight against a New Orleans Pelicans squad that has already beaten them four times this season.
Let’s talk Kings basketball!
When: Thursday, April 11th, 7:00 PM PT
Where: Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, CA
TV: NBC Sports California
Radio: Sactown Sports 1140
Last Time
The Pelicans have had the Kings number this season, winning all four games and none in more dominating fashion than their last matchup in the first round of the in-season tournament knockout stage; The Pelicans came to Sacramento and absolutely wiped the floor with the Kings, winning 133 – 100 in a game that Zion Williamson didn’t even play in. CJ McCollum led the way for the Pelicans with 30 points and six other Pelicans players finished in double digits. No Kings players finished with more than 17 points and De’Aaron Fox had one of the worst games of his entire career, scoring just 3 points on 1-10 shooting.
Three in the Key
A Play-In for the Play-In
These final three games might as well feature as a mini Play-In tournament themselves. The Kings face the Pelicans tonight and the Suns tomorrow, the teams directly ahead of them in the standings. A loss against either of those teams guarantees the 6th spot is completely out of the picture while a win against both at least gives the Kings a chance. The Pelicans would guarantee at least the 7th spot with even a single win since they own the season tiebreaker with the Kings. Their final schedule also features games against the Warriors and Lakers after this. Those two teams are hot on Sacramento’s heels as well and the Kings need to avoid slipping into those 9th and 10th seeds where one game would mean elimination. These final games should have a bit of a playoff feel to them as they’re vastly important to both teams. The Kings have the homecourt advantage though, and they need to take care of business.
Get De’Aaron Fox going
A few years ago it seemed as though De’Aaron Fox enjoyed playing no team more than the New Orleans Pelicans, scoring 43 points twice in the same season against them. This season has been wildly different however as the Pelicans have used their superior length and physicality to give Fox a ton of trouble. Against the Pelicans this season, Fox has averaged just 18.3 points on 35.7% from the field and 20% from three. Herb Jones, Dyson Daniels and Jose Alvarado have done as good a job defending him as any players ever have. The Kings can’t win this game with Fox playing sub-optimally, especially without Malik Monk to alleviate the pressure. Sacramento needs to do whatever they can to free Fox up and get him going.
Who else is going to step up?
Since Malik Monk has gone down with injury, the Kings have struggled to find someone to score consistently aside from De’Aaron Fox. Domantas Sabonis doesn’t particularly look for his own shot and does most of his damage around the rim. Keegan Murray and Harrison Barnes have both been inconsistent and Keon Ellis is mostly defensive minded. Sacramento’s bench has been missing a spark without Malik although Davion Mitchell and Trey Lyles have been performing admirably of late. The Kings need someone to step up these last few games and shoulder some more of that scoring responsibility.
Prediction
It’s a grueling knockdown affair but in the end the Kings finally overcome their Ornithophobia and beat the Pelicans.
Kings 107, Pelicans 103
Standings Watch
Aside from the Kings own game against New Orleans, there’s only one other game tonight that could affect Sacramento’s standings:
The #10 Golden State Warriors take on the Portland Trail Blazers. On paper this should be an easy win for the Warriors. If the Kings lose tonight and the Warriors win, the Warriors will move up to a tie with Sacramento and put the Kings in real danger of falling to 9th or even 10th in the Play-In race.
Fan Predictions
Link to Leaderboard (Updated 2/21/24)
