Game Preview: Sacramento Kings Face a Telling Home Test

By Zack Zolmer | Feb 1, 2016

Nov 25, 2015; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Sacramento Kings forward Rudy Gay (8) during the game against the Milwaukee Bucks at BMO Harris Bradley Center. Sacramento won 129-118. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports /

Back in August, after its flurry of offseason moves, the 2015-16 Sacramento Kings were coined the NBA’s “Suicide Squad,” complete with its own trailer to parallel that of the DC Comics movie coming out later this year.

But working off a 47-game sample, I’d liken the Kings more to Harvey “Two-Face” Dent. There’s the esteemed public servant, the handsome district attorney, the team that allows only 96.4 points per game during a five-game winning streak. Yet soon thereafter, there’s the fallen idol, the evil eyesore, the team that gives up 119 points per game during a (current) four-game losing streak.

At 7:00 p.m. tonight, against the visiting Milwaukee Bucks, Sacramento will try to keep that losing streak to four.

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As Jason Jones points out, change needs to start at the opening tip. Per Jones, the Kings have given up a combined 73 first-quarter points in the last two games, putting themselves in a hole from the get-go. We know this team can score with the best of ‘em (Sacramento ranks third in the NBA, behind only Golden State and Oklahoma City, in points scored per game with 106.6), but its opponents score 108.2 points against them, on average, which is more than any other team concedes.

Milwaukee’s offense ranks 24th in the NBA in points scored per game (with 98.1), which will help the Kings’ cause. Still, the Bucks’ best outside shooters, forward Khris Middleton and point guard Jerryd Bayless, are respectively shooting 42 and 41 percent this season from three, and each holds a career three-point percentage of 45 percent or better in games against Sacramento.

I mean, I’m not trying to plug DraftKings, but if that’s your thing, based on the Kings’ track record defending three-point shooters, I’d say Middleton and Bayless are sound bets.

Inside the arc, big man Greg Monroe is having an efficient season, averaging 16.4 points per game on 52 percent shooting from the field. The Bucks also start Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jabari Parker, two dynamic young forwards.

For the Kings, All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins is day-to-day following an ankle injury sustained and then exacerbated during Saturday’s loss in Memphis. This season Sacramento is 1-7 in games where Cousins does not play, so playing without him would certainly hurt the team’s chances.

But who really knows? Just when the Kings seem to establish a pattern of winning or losing, they almost immediately trend the other way.

And as the conflicted Mr. Dent once said, “The night is darkest just before the dawn. And I promise you, the dawn is coming.”

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