March Madness can wait, the Kings are back in action tonight to take on the Washington Wizards in our nation’s capital. The Kings are coming off their biggest blowout of the season and will hopefully be able to deal the same kind of punishment to a Wizards team sporting the worst record in the league.
Let’s talk Kings basketball!
When: Thursday, March 21st, 4:00 PM PT
Where: Capital One Arena, Washington, D.C.
TV: NBC Sports California
Radio: Sactown Sports 1140
Last Time
The Kings and Wizards last faced off in Sacramento a week before Christmas in what was a high scoring, defense optional game. The Kings scored a season-high 143 points to win 143 to 131. De’Aaron Fox scored a game-high 30 points and Domantas Sabonis notched one of his many triple-doubles this season with 28 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists. The Kings scored 46 points in the 3rd quarter alone in that game, three points shy of the franchise record for points in a quarter. Jordan Poole scored 28 points to lead the Wizards in scoring with Kyle Kuzma chipping in with 27 points and 8 rebounds.
Three in the Key
Lather, Rinse, Repeat
Given how the season has gone when the Kings have faced bad, shorthanded teams, last night was a breath of fresh air. The game entered garbage time even before the final quarter and Keegan Murray was the only Kings player who played even 30 minutes. For the second night of a back to back, the Kings should be relatively fresh as a result. The Wizards tonight are even worse record wise than the Raptors (in fact, they have the worst record in the NBA) and are facing their own slew of injuries. This is another game in which the Kings should hopefully take care of business quickly and efficiently.
Take care of the ball
If there’s one thing that the Wizards have been good at this season, it’s been forcing turnovers and making opponents pay on the other end. The Wizards rank 6th in opponent turnovers for the season at 14.3 a game, 4th in points off turnovers at 17.7 and 2nd in fastbreak points at 17.7. They play at the fastest pace in the NBA as well. Jordan Poole has had a miserable season but also has the potential to turn into a flamethrower if he gets comfortable. If the Kings can simply take care of the ball and not let the Wizards get easy points in transition, they should be able to prevent them from scoring too much.
Maintain the Defense
On March 1st, the Kings were ranked 20th in defense. The Kings have held teams to under 100 points just eight times this season: three of those games have come in the last week. Keon Ellis’ addition to the rotation has obviously played a big part but defense is a team wide effort and the Kings have been putting in the work lately. Over the last 10 games the Kings have gone 7-3 and rank 4th overall in defensive rating. For the season, the Kings are 14-3 when holding opponents under 110 points and 17-2 when holding opponents to 45% or worse shooting. Mike Brown was brought in as a defense first coach but his Kings tenure has mostly been defined by offense. If this defense is real and here to stay, look out.
Prediction
Domantas Sabonis notches yet another triple-double in his belt and the Kings also manage to hold the Wizards to under 100 points.
Kings 131, Wizards 98
Fan Predictions
Link to Leaderboard (Updated 2/21/24)
