The fight for the 12th seed in the west!
The Kings continue their home heavy portion of the schedule with the first end of a back-to-back, starting against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday night.
The Thunder are ravaged by COVID-19 protocols, missing multiple key players and even their head coach, Mark Daigneault. But as we’ve seen with the Kings on multiple occasions this season, you can’t pencil them in for wins even when the other team is missing key guys.
Sacramento and Oklahoma City are roughly the same quality of team this season, with the Kings at 13-21 and the Thunder at 12-20. The sad part about this is that Oklahoma City is pretty actively rebuilding and tanking for the future, while the Kings continue to aimlessly chase the bottom half of the western conference playoffs.
The Thunder are clearly building something that should be sustainable for the future, while the Kings are chalked full of mid-career veterans. The Thunder are a team full of young guys looking to prove themselves in the league despite an overall lack of roster talent, which is something to admire in a mainly bad team.
Sacramento continues to slide down the western conference standings, now losers of seven of their last nine games.
In their last game, Sacramento led 50-49 over the Memphis Grizzlies at the half, before predictably collapsing and losing by 25 points.
Earlier this season, on Nov. 12, the Kings lost to Oklahoma City 105-103, blowing an 18 point second-half lead in devastating fashion. Maybe the Kings recall that game and come out with some fire ready to bury the short-handed Thunder.
After the Grizzlies game, Alvin Gentry noted that he was the most disappointed that he had been in his 34-year coaching career. So, how do the Kings respond tonight? Do they come out with some fire or do they continue to look lifeless? Your guess is as good as mine.
How to Watch/Listen: NBC Sports California, Sports 1140 KHTK
Opposing Perspective: Welcome To Loud City
Spread: Kings -5.5
Moneyline: Kings -225, Thunder +185
SAC injuries/absences: Davion Mitchell – Out (Health and Safety Protocols), Alex Len – Questionable (Health and Safety Protocols).
OKC injuries/absences: Darius Bazley – Out (Health and Safety Protocols), Tre Mann – Out (Health and Safety Protocols), Aleksej Pokusevski – Out (Health and Safety Protocols), Jeremiah Robinson-Earl – Out (Health and Safety Protocols), Aaron Wiggins – Out (Health and Safety Protocols).