Kings vs. Trail Blazers Preview – By the Numbers
The Kings have clinched a playoff spot, the drought is over, and now we have this weird extra time in the regular season that there are more games to play and wait? While the rest of the West battles it out for the 5th-12th spots, the Kings can ease into the Playoffs and look to go in full strength. Standing in their way tonight is the Blazers for the 4th and final time this season.
Sacramento clinched their playoff berth in deciding fashion on Wednesday with a 120-80 win. It was just their 7th time winning by 40 or more Points in franchise history and the first time since January 12th, 2014 when they won by 44. Once again, the Blazers injury report is scattered with players, and has a new addition of Wednesday’s starter Ryan Arcidiacono. But for the Kings, Matthew Dellavedova is out with right finger soreness, so the injury impacts are pretty even.
All jokes aside, the Kings should look to replicate their performance on Wednesday. They cruised to an easy win. Portland’s 80 Points on Wednesday was the fewest any team has scored all season, which I believe means the ‘Kings can’t play defense’ narrative can officially be buried.
Ok now really all jokes aside, the Kings did a great job defending the paint on Wednesday, holding the Blazers to just 36 Points in the Paint on 18-of-38 (47.4%) shooting. In the 2nd half alone when the Kings really picked it up, the Blazers only scored 10 Points in the Paint on 6-of-18 (33.3%) shooting. That’s how you take care of business against a tanking team. Just lather, rinse, repeat tonight and come on home.
Since there isn’t as much to write about for the game tonight, some love to Keegan Murray. He stands alone at the top of the Rookie 3-Point leaderboard with 188 made 3’s in what has been a remarkable season for the young wing. What’s remarkable about Keegan is that he’s been so consistent from beyond the arc all season and in so many ways on the court.
The numbers exemplify how he isn’t a one-trick pony when it comes to his lethal shooting. A lot of players have a preferred spot on the floor, favoring one of the corners or the top of the key, but Keegan will light it up from all three spots.
The defender coverage shows how he takes smart shots that are in the flow of the offense. He’s been predominantly a catch and shoot 3-Point shooter this year, but the 39.4% on his 33 Pull Up attempts shows his room for growth and ability to add to his game. It’s important to remember that he is a rookie and has even more potential than we’ve seen this year.
The Kings are not only in the playoffs this year, but are set up for years of success. Kings fans have been clamoring to just get into the postseason tournament for so long that we didn’t really care how they did it. But for Monte McNair to break the drought and set the Kings up for what looks like a solid 5 year stretch of competitive basketball is really just the cherry on top. Enjoy this Kings fans, because it feels like we’re just getting started.
