Sacramento Kings: Game 6 Preview at Orlando Magic
By Tyler Watts
The Sacramento Kings travel to take on the Orlando Magic on November 3, 2016. This article examines everything Kings fans need to know about tonight’s game.
The Orlando Magic host the Sacramento Kings on Thursday, November 03, 2016. This is the third straight road tilt for the Kings. They enter the contest riding a two-game losing streak. This is a five-game week all on the road for Sacramento. The early schedule has not been kind, but they face a winnable game Thursday against Orlando.
Without further ado, let us get to the game preview for the contest against the Magic.
Injuries
Omri Casspi has missed the last two games with an illness. No word yet on whether he will able to suit up for this contest, but he has been on the fringes of the rotation, so it should not be a huge loss for the Kings either way.
Darren Collison serves game six of his eight-game suspension on Thursday evening. He will be back to start next week.
Orlando Magic’s Scouting Report
The Orlando Magic had a great deal of turnover this offseason. Coach Scott Skiles left the team and in came former Indiana Pacers Coach Frank Vogel. The Magic traded away Victor Oladipo and Ersan Ilyasova. They allowed Dewayne Dedmon to depart as well. They acquired the services of Serge Ibaka, Bismack Biyombo, D.J. Augustin, Jeff Green, and Jodie Meeks this offseason. It is a very different team for last year, to say the least.
Orlando enters Thursday’s contest with a record of one win and three losses. They picked up a hard fought victory against the Philadelphia 76ers 103-101 on Tuesday. Below is a short highlight video from that game to give you a small taste into what the Magic bring to the court.
The Magic are led in scoring this season by Evan Fournier. Fournier is averaging 16.8 points per game this season at age 24. Expect Fournier to continue to grow and evolve as the season rolls on and potentially blossom into the Magic’s go-to option for the coming years.
What to Watch for?
Point Guard Rotation
The Kings threw a potential monkey wrench into their rotation on Wednesday by re-signing Jordan Farmar. Expect Farmar to play some minutes as a reserve point guard, but there is no word yet on how many. Ty Lawson will still be the starter and get the lion’s share of the minutes, but this is something to monitor.
DeMarcus Cousins Puts on a Show
The heading says it all here. I wrote my predicting the box score column which can be found here where you can see exactly the stat line I think Cousins puts up. The match-up against Nikola Vucevic is just so tantalizing to me. I think Cousins has his way with him and I am predicting a monstrous double-double from Boogie tonight.
Defense
Sacramento has held the opposition under 100 points in only one game this season. That was the opening game victory against the Phoenix Suns. The Magic scored over 100 points for the first time Tuesday at Philadelphia. They are averaging 94.5 points a game this season. If the Kings come out and play solid defense tonight they should walk away with a victory, but that is a big if. The defense has not been very good in the early season, but there is hope that tonight we see a better performance.
Summary
There you have it, some information to get you ready for tonight’s contest against the Orlando Magic. I am expecting a competitive game. Both teams enter the game with losing records, but the potential to play better. Both teams have struggled on the defensive end of the floor in the early season and being under new head coaches that is not shocking. Here is to hoping, the Kings take advantage of the Magic on Thursday night and even their record with a victory.
Next: Sacramento Kings: Reactions From Yesterday’s Loss To Miami
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.