Looking to bounce back from a close road loss in New Orleans, the Sacramento Kings (25-37) welcome the Cleveland Cavaliers (44-18) to Sleep Train Arena at 7 p.m. tonight.
Monday night’s loss was Sacramento’s third in three games to the Pelicans this season, and the Kings’ sixth loss in its last seven contests.
In each of those seven games, the Kings allowed its opponents at least 101 points, and haven’t kept a team from scoring triple digits since January 23, in a home victory over the Indiana Pacers.
Now, playing against a Cleveland team that starts LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love, and J.R. Smith, Sacramento’s defensive deficiencies won’t be any easier to overcome.
Though the Cavaliers are coming off a Monday night home loss to the Memphis Grizzlies, Cleveland’s 103.2 points per game still ranks ninth in the NBA, and teams with considerably fewer scorers have been too much for this Kings defense to handle.
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And Sacramento’s defense may worsen yet, with Ben McLemore listed as questionable following a non-displaced fracture in his right ring finger sustained during Monday’s game.
Granted, McLemore isn’t exactly the “anchor” to the Kings’ “defense,” but any time Marco Belinelli figures to fill in minutes for literally any NBA player one of Sacramento’s guards, you can bet his team’s defense will trend downward.
For Cleveland, only point guard Mo Williams is believed to be sidelined due to injury, with left knee Chondromalacia.
Tonight’s contest marks the first game of a of three-game home stand for Sacramento, and the first game of a four-game road trip for Cleveland. The Cavaliers have won six of its last seven road games against Western Conference opponents, and have won three of its last four contests against the Kings.
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Unsurprisingly, DeMarcus Cousins, after compiling 40 points and 16 rebounds on Monday, figures to be an integral part of Sacramento’s attack. Cleveland can throw some combination of Timofey Mozgov and Tristan Thompson at Cousins, though defensively, the team lacks front court depth beyond those two.
Offensively, if the Kings post-up DeMarcus early and often, Mozgov and Thompson may fall into foul trouble, thus jeopardizing the Cavaliers’ defense as a whole.
Likewise, Sacramento will need to temper LeBron James’s offensive influence as much as possible, and it will be interesting to see if Willie Cauley-Stein gets time defending the opposition’s star small forward, just as he did against Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder five games ago.
Moreover, Kyrie Irving’s ability to attack off-the-dribble is a threat worth equal attention considering the Kings’ proven inability to contain dribble penetration, so the defense of Rajon Rondo and Darren Collison will be crucial in that regard.