I feel like a lot has happened since my last post, so this might be a little news heavy. But hey! That’s what the GameDay Notebook is for.
The Kings lost to the Dallas Mavericks 108-104 in overtime on Tuesday night. Was it perfect? No, but that was a good loss against a good team. The Kings competed hard, faced adversity (Gay was injured in the first half, Cousins fouled out and missed overtime), and ultimately delivered a very solid performance against one of the best teams in the NBA.
It was probably one of the better Kings games this season from an entertainment standpoint. There was the aforementioned Rudy Gay injury that forced the Kings to play Derrick Williams a little more than they probably wanted too. There was the Tyson Chandler flop that fouled out DeMarcus Cousins. There was the absolutely horrific clock management by Tyrone Corbin at the end to seal the deal for Dallas. This game had it all.
You can check out our complete postgame coverage here, if any of that sounds interesting to you.
Hassan Whiteside and the Miami Heat (no, really) are in Sacramento tonight. And despite the fact that the Kings will probably be without Rudy Gay, this is a great opportunity for another home win.
In all likelihood, the Heat will be without Dwyane Wade tonight, forcing the Kings to turn their defensive attention towards Chris Bosh, and to a lesser extent, Luol Deng. Bosh is a dynamic player who can burn you in the post or on the perimeter, but Jason Thompson has had the luxury of defending both Kevin Love and Dirk Nowitzki in back-to-back games. Those players pose similar perimeter threats, so expect Jason Thompson to be ready for whatever Bosh is going to throw at him.
Statistically speaking, the Heat play at the slowest pace in the entire league. Their offense is not nearly as potent as it used to be, and all of their offensive numbers don’t take into account the fact that Wade will likely sit this game out. If the Kings center their defense around shutting down Bosh, they should be able to outscore this team. But this is the Kings we’re talking about here. A consistent defense effort is not their strong suit.
This is real life, and Hassan Whiteside has sort of taken the NBA by storm. I can’t believe I just typed that out.
In all seriousness, since the Heat started playing Whiteside about 20 minutes per game (his last six games) he’s averaging 13.8 PPG / 10.2 REB / 3.5 BLKS with a .717 FG%. It’s a small sample size, sure, but still impressive.
And I’m happy for him. He was never really given an opportunity to play here, and he probably wouldn’t have been ready for it if he was, but he always seemed like a pretty good guy. He’s clearly been working hard. Kudos.
His block numbers are impressive, but he’s always been a shot blocker. I only mention that to say I would be legitimately shocked if DeMarcus Cousins doesn’t torch him tonight. If Cousins does to Whiteside what I think he’s going to do to Whiteside, the Kings should win this game tonight. The Heat shouldn’t have an answer for him inside, and without Gay, I’d expect an even heavier dose of Cousins than usual.
A few more notes:
Fan voting for this year’s All-Star game closes on Monday. DeMarcus Cousins needs your vote! How can you do that? Tweet something that looks like this –
DeMarcus Cousins. #NBABallot .. Because of his strong headband game. #SacramentoProud https://t.co/aQ8y2GN8Rs
— Tony Xypteras (@TonyXypteras) January 16, 2015
Nik Stauskas had an eventful night on twitter Wednesday when he basically offered up his girlfriend as a prom date if the proposing high school student could get 10,000 retweets. He did. Here is Bomani Jones on the story.
That’ll do it for today. Check back in to A Royal Pain after tonight’s game for our postgame coverage.
Sacramento Kings vs. Miami Heat
Where: Sleep Train Arena – Sacramento, CA
When: 7:00 PM Pacific, 10:00 PM Eastern
Broadcast: Comcast Sportsnet California
Radio: KHTK Sports 1140 AM