Sacramento Kings: Game 13 Preview vs LA Clippers
By Tyler Watts
The Sacramento Kings host the LA Clippers on November 18, 2016. This article examines everything Kings fans need to know about tonight’s game.
Tonight, the Sacramento Kings and the Golden 1 Center play host to the LA Clippers. The Kings enter the game on a three-game losing streak, while the Clippers come in with a record of 10 wins and 2 losses. The Clippers are favored by 9 points with a 204 over/under. Let us dive deep into the preview for tonight’s game.
Injuries
The Sacramento Kings injury report is bare as of this writing. Despite the brutal early season schedule, the Kings have been very healthy. Let us hope that continues through tonight’s contest.
LA Clippers’ Scouting Report
The LA Clippers look like one the NBA’s best teams to start the season. The Clippers are posting the NBA’s best defensive rating this season and the 4th best offensive rating. So, they are an elite team on both ends of the floor.
Below is a highlight video from the Clippers last game against the Memphis Grizzlies to give you a look at their recent play.
They are led by star point guard Chris Paul. Paul is currently leading the NBA in steals per game with 3.08 per game and is 4th in assists at 8.3 per game. Expect the steal numbers to regress a little, but the assists should increase. Paul still looks every bit of one of the league’s best players at this point.
The Clippers brought the band back together from last season for the most part but made a few additions to the bench unit. That has seemed to take the team to a legitimate title contender this season. Coach Doc Rivers and his squad need to stay healthy, but they could easily be playing deep into the playoffs.
What to Watch for?
Starting Lineup and Rotations
I discussed this more in depth in my predicting the box score column found here. Coach Joerger mentioned a change could be coming, so it is worth monitoring before tip-off and during tonight’s contest.
Fixing Problems
Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee wrote a great article about the Kings’ last game against the Spurs and all the problems that ensued found here. He discusses in-depth with quotes from players and Coach Joerger about the shoot around being lackluster and how that affects their play during the game.
It is worth monitoring if the Kings can fix these problems for tonight’s contest. They need a little more fire and energy, but they also need to play mistake free. Part of that is keeping your cool and helping your teammates out. The Kings need to get it together fast or it is going to be a long season in Sacramento.
Summary
There you have it, my preview of tonight’s game against the LA Clippers. It was a bit abbreviated today because I was waiting to see if they announced any rotation changes, but I wanted to get it out for you guys well before tip-off. Check twitter before tonight’s game to see any late breaking developments.
The game is on ESPN tonight, so if you can’t make it out to the arena, check it out on ESPN. Root like crazy for the Kings and I am hoping they protect home court and come away victorious.
Next: Opinion: It’s time to end the Ty Lawson experiment
Check back to A Royal Pain for the game recap and everything you need to know about the Sacramento Kings this season. Thank you for reading.