Kings vs. Hawks Preview – By the Numbers
The Kings win another close game against Utah, this time on a go ahead De’Aaron Fox bucket, and will now come home to take on the Hawks for the 2nd time this season. Atlanta walked away with the 115-106 win in Georgia last time they faced off, so the Kings will be hoping for a different result this time in Sacramento.
De’Aaron Fox was sensational for the Kings against Utah, particularly in the 4th quarter.
Fans expect their franchise players to take over games, and take over is exactly what Fox did. He was getting pretty much anywhere he wanted against the Jazz and showed his league leading speed and athleticism with some highlight plays. We’ll hope for a repeat performance against the Hawks, who held him to 18 Points on 7-of-20 (35%) shooting last time the two teams played.
The Hawks come into the game with 1 day of rest, compared to the Kings 0, the 21st ranked offense, and 15th ranked defense. Part of what is hurting them on offense is their 3-point shooting. Their 33.3% shooting from deep ranks 27th in the NBA. Trae Young is down to 31.0% on the season, which would be a career low, but someone to keep an eye on is former King Bogdan Bogdanović, who is shooting 40.8% from deep. Kings fans know more than most, when he gets on a heater, he can be hard to slow down.
With the Hawks not taking and making as many 3’s, they lead the league in 2-Point FGA’s per game. The hard part about that for them is that their 2P% of 53.4% ranks 22nd in the league. The area of the court they seem to be the best in is the mid-range. They take 15.8 mid-range FG’s per game, 2nd most in the NBA, and make them at a 43.9% clip, 6th highest. Sacramento will have to be mindful to guard the mid-range area with a little extra attention against Atlanta.
For the Kings, they’ll be on the 2nd night of a back-to-back and coming off of a game where they had to rely heavily on their starters. Huerter played 31:44 minutes, but every other starter played at least 37. The starters made the most of their time, scoring 109 Points compared to the Bench’s 8. Last time the Kings and Hawks played, Malik Monk had 27 Points. With the back-to-back situation, it would be the perfect game for him to get going again.
An area Sabonis and the Kings may be able to take advantage of is on the offensive glass. The Hawks allow 14.6 2nd Chance Points per game, 7th most in the league. Sacramento has quietly climbed to 17th in the league with 13.0 putback points per game after being in the bottom of the rankings earlier in the season. Sabonis is averaging 3.0 Offensive Rebounds per game, but over his last 12 games, he’s up to 4.4 per game. It may not seem like much, but an extra possession and a half could be huge, especially with how many close games the Kings have been in this year.
It seems like almost every game at least one of Fox or Sabonis gets going. They are a dynamic duo with such different skill sets that it makes it extremely difficult for opposing teams to shut both of them down. It’s a great position to be in for the Kings, especially with the All-Star game and campaigning going on strong. The two have stepped up lately and will hopefully be rewarded for their strong play.
