The Sacramento Kings are set to take on the Washington Wizards at home, what will it take to get a win?
The Sacramento Kings are currently 2-3 and looking to reach .500 since the 2016-17 season when they started the year 2-1. They’ve got a good chance to get there against a Wizards team that currently sits at 1-3 and making the long journey from Washington D.C. to the California capital.
What to watch for
Can De’Aaron Fox continue his hot-streak? Sure, he struggled mightily against the Denver Nuggets, but he rebounded quite nicely to the tune of 21 points, eight rebounds and six assists on 7-16 shooting in a win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday.
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For the season, Fox is averaging 17.6 points, 4.8 rebounds and 6.6 assists on 46.9 percent shooting. The Kings are gonna need him to keep it up against a Wizards team that was expected to make the playoffs before the season if they want a chance to steal one at home.
Will Frank Masson III get more run in this one? FM3 has been fantastic in limited minutes this season so it’ll be important to see whether or not Head Coach Dave Joerger will give him an expanded role in this one.
Keep an eye on Harry Giles in this one as well. He’s coming off of a season-low seven minutes against the Grizzlies and hasn’t played well so far this season. The Wizards could be without Ian Mahimi and Dwight Howard which might give Giles the chance he needs to perform well against an injury-decimated Wizards team.
Other notes
Washington is currently 23rd in the NBA in defensive efficiency and 16th in offensive efficiency. On the flip-side, The Sacramento Kings sit at 28th defensively and 11th on offense.
Buddy Hield is third on the team in points per game at 16.2, if Bradley Beal is forced to miss tonight’s contest and John Wall is forced to guard Fox, Hield could be in for a big night.
The Washington Wizards are a poor rebounding team and consequently, the Sacramento Kings have five players averaging five or more rebounds per game (Fox is sixth at 4.8 rpg). Sacramento should be able to clean the glass better than a Windex commercial and use that to take control of this game early.
Prediction
With a (mostly) healthy team — and a better scoring and rebounding one at that — the Sacramento Kings should be able to grab a win tonight.
The Kings are considering an underdog by ESPN’s BPI which gives the Wiz a 55.5 percent chance to win. I think the Kings prove that wrong and take down a struggling Wizards team coming off an absolute drubbing the Dubs.
Final: Sacramento Kings – 109, Washington Wizards – 98