Sacramento Kings: 3 Keys To A Successful Road Trip
Steal A Game
Because of the dreadful loss to the Bulls, the Kings find themselves needing to steal a game against a superior opponent in order to keep pace for the final playoff spot.
The first two stops of the road trip take place in Portland and San Antonio, who are both nipping at the heels of the Kings in the standings. Given how they played on Monday evening, Sacramento doesn’t have much of a chance of winning both games. They will likely take one of the two, both if they can get lucky.
But even if they start the road trip 2-0, the Kings will have to beat one of the Western Conference’s elite teams to make it a winning trip and inch closer to the .500 mark overall.
The Kings will visit the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday, December 8th. The Mavs are currently 13-6, good enough for fourth in the Western Conference behind the stellar play of Luka Doncic. The Kings would love to be able to put a clamp on Luka and the talk that surrounds him, and it would be even sweeter if Bagley were on the floor to contribute.
Sacramento will then travel to play the Houston Rockets who are tied with the Mavericks with an identical 13-6 record. The dynamic duo of James Harden and Russell Westbrook is a nightmare for any backcourt, and especially for one as thin as the Kings’. Cory Joseph has been giving solid defensive performances against opposing guards, so watch for that matchup no matter who he ends up guarding.
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Defeating either one of these teams has proven to be a difficult task, but the Kings will have to steal a game from one of them if they want to deem the upcoming road trip a successful one.