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Sacramento Kings

Kings vs. Rockets Preview – By the Numbers

By espn1320 Jan 11, 2023

By Will Z

Sacramento is back on beam watch for the Kings and Rockets matchup in a game that should hopefully have similar results to the previous game against the Magic. The 10-win Rockets come to town with the 29th ranked offense and 28th ranked defense, meaning that the Kings really need to only hit on at least one side of the ball tonight to walk away with the W. Let’s see what they can focus on to get that done.

The Rockets are owners of the leagues worst Field Goal percentage of 44.3% and 2nd worst 3P% of 33.0%. They average the 2nd fewest Assists per game at 21.8 and the most Turnovers with 17.0. The two main things that stand out as things they are good at are offensive boards and getting to the line. They grab the most Offensive Rebounds in the league with 13.2 per game, which leads to 16.9 2nd Chance Points per game (2nd). Their 25.4 Free Throws per game is 4th most in the NBA. That all equals out to a pretty simple formula for the Kings. Crash hard on the defensive glass and try to keep them off the line, and you should be good.

On the individual side, the Rockets have some very exciting young talent. Jalen Green is averaging 21.2 Points, 4.4 Rebounds, and 3.6 Assists, but relying more on volume than efficiency still in the early stages of his career. He’s shooting 40.6% from the field and 32.3% from beyond the arc. A similar thing can be said for Jabari Smith Jr., who is averaging 11.8 Points on 38.3% shooting from the field and 32.1% from deep.

Someone else who often pops up on highlight reels for his flashy passes is Alperen Sengun. While his volume of Assists isn’t through the roof with only 2.6, the young big has a nice flair to his game that can get some oohs and ahs on any given night.

For the Kings, they should look to get out and run against this young Rockets team. Due to the aforementioned Turnover problem, Houston allows 21.6 Points off of Turnovers and 17.5 Fastbreak Points per game, both of which are most in the NBA. The Kings have slipped a little to 7th in the league with 15.3 Fastbreak Points per game, but seem to be at their best when they get out and run. They are 12-6 when they score at least 16 transition points. Getting back on defense is usually an effort and discipline thing, so if the Kings can catch the Rockets sleeping early, they may be able to end this game early.

The other area that the Kings should have an advantage is in their bench. Prior to the Magic game, the bench units had been struggling, but they showed out in the blowout win against Orlando.

When Sacramento was rolling in the beginning of the year, they were getting consistent production from their reserves. On November 30th, aka 20 games into the season, the bench was averaging 42.7 Points per game, 2nd most in the NBA. In the 19 games since, they have averaged 31.1 Points per game. Luckily the starters have picked up the slack, but it will for the Kings’ long-term success to get back to their well-balanced attack.

If none of the above seems to be working, just make 23 3’s again, and that should do the trick.

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