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Sacramento Kings

Kings at Magic Preview – By the Numbers

By espn1320 Nov 05, 2022

The Kings head to Orlando to face the Paolo Banchero and the jumbo Magic lineups as they look to get back in the win column following a tough loss to the Heat. Last time Keegan and Paolo faced off we saw Summer League fireworks, and the Magic coming away with the win. Hoping for another fun game with a different result this time.

Paolo has lived up to all of the hype of being the top overall pick, leading all rookies with 21.8 Points, 7.7 Rebounds, and 3.6 Assists per game. Keegan may not have the raw numbers that Banchero has, but he has the edge in all shooting percentages. Murray has shooting splits of 48.6/42.9/86.4% compared to Paolo’s 44.4/25/73.6% splits. The two young players should be squaring off against each other for years to come, and will be fun to watch throughout their careers.

The Magic’s jumbo starting lineup of Jalen Suggs (6’4”), Franz Wagner (6’9”), Paolo (6’10”), Wendell Carter Jr. (6’10”), and Bol Bol (7’2”) that they rolled out against the Warriors is one of the most intriguing lineups in the NBA. The concept may be better than the reality though. The lineup has been outscored by 15 points in their 19 minutes together. Switch out Suggs for Terrence Ross though, and that lineup has outscored opponents by 32 points in their 36 minutes on the floor. It will be interesting to see how the Kings deal with the extra length of Orlando. If they keep up their ball movement, 310.1 Passes (6th) and 27.4 Assists (9th), and can get the Magic in rotation, they should be able to capitalize from beyond the arc. The Magic allow 37.3 3 Point Attempts per game, 5th most in the NBA, and the Kings are shooting 38.7 a night, 5th most. On paper, it looks like a good matchup for the Kings offense.

The Kings did a better job controlling the ball on Wednesday against the Heat, limiting to Miami to 13 Points off of 12 Turnovers, but they are still allowing an average of 20.4 Points off TO’s on the season, 3rd most in the NBA. The Magic are only scoring 14.3 Points off Turnovers per game, least in the NBA. This is great opportunity for the Kings to continue to improve in an area of the game they’ve been struggling early in the year. Contrarily to Points off of Turnovers, the Kings have been doing a great job limiting Fast Break Points. They are limiting opponents to 12.3 Fast Break Points per game, 6th least in the NBA, and the Magic are averaging 10.2 per game, last in the NBA. It would be great for the Kings to capitalize on this advantage and win the Fast Break battle, especially if Fox is able to play.

An interesting thing to compare between the Kings and Magic is their difference in the Clutch stats. Clutch time is defined as the last five minutes of a game when a team is leading or trailing by five points or fewer. The Kings have played 18 minutes fitting the definition, and the Magic 19. The Kings have actually shot pretty well over their 18 minutes, shooting 43.8/42.9/100% splits, and have a +/- total of -1. The Magic on the other hand, are shooting 32.3/18.2/90% in their clutch minutes, with a +/- of -39, the worst mark in the league. On Thursday against the Warriors though, Jalen Suggs stepped up and went 3 of 4 from the field with an Assist and a Steal, helping seal the win for Orlando. The Magic’s struggles down the stretch aren’t a great surprise given how young they are, but the Kings have struggled to close games over the years, and have to take that next step to continue to grow as a team.

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