This is it folks, it all comes down to the winner take all Game 7. The Kings dominated Game 6 from the jump and will look to bring that momentum home to Sacramento in front of the raucous crowd. Let’s see what they can do to take the series and move on to a matchup against the Lakers.
The Kings finally hit their shots in Game 6, and most notably Kevin Huerter appears to have broken out of his slump with a 3-of-8 (37.5%) shooting night from deep. It may not seem like much, but if that’s enough for him to get confidence back for the deciding game, I’ll take it. He doesn’t have to hit 50% of his 3’s, but if he can be in the 35-40% range, it should be a huge boon to the Kings offense that has been missing all season.
The other main storyline from Game 6 other than the shooting is Mike Brown turning to Terence Davis and leaning into Trey Lyles as the small ball center. The Warriors have been playing the Kings in drop coverage all series, allowing Kevon Looney and Draymond Green to roam the paint and wait for the Kings to attack. With Trey Lyles setting screens though, that game plan has to be thrown out the window due to his shooting prowess. Lyles had 12 Points, 9 Rebounds, and 2 Steals on 50% shooting from the field and 33.3% shooting from 3 off the bench in Friday’s game.
The other big player who stepped up off the bench was Terence Davis. In the first 5 games, Davis played a total of 12:33 minutes. In Game 6, he played 19:24. He didn’t light up the box score, with 7 Points, 2 Rebounds, 2 Assists, and 1 Steal, but he did play with effort and hustle. He used all 6 of his fouls with his physical play and Brown seemed to have no problems with his aggressive defense. It’s the type of game that is likely to lead to a similar look for Game 7.
The interesting thing about Lyles and Davis getting so much run off the bench is the lineup Brown decided to use. The 5-man unit of Fox, Monk, Davis, Keegan, and Lyles played 16.8 minutes together in Game 6. They didn’t play a single minute together in the regular season or the first 5 games of the series.
Brown’s confidence to go to a completely new lineup affirms his Coach of the Year award. The playoffs are all about adjustments and he threw out a huge one that the Warriors didn’t have an answer to. The hard part about it moving forward is that the Warriors now have time to make adjustments of their own. Steve Kerr has been through this before and will surely have a new game plan drawn up for the Kings small-ball lineup.
The biggest thing I’ll be looking at for the final game is how Domantas Sabonis responds. He’s had a tough series capped off with fouling out of Friday’s game. Sabonis is averaging a nice 15.5 Points, 11.5 Rebounds, and 4.3 Assists, but his efficiency has dropped off big time against the Warriors. His Field Goal percentage has dropped from 61.5% in the Regular Season to 47.0% in the Playoffs.
A big Sabonis game is something we haven’t seen yet in this series and could still come out of the woodwork for any game. Much like waiting for Huerter to make a few shots from deep, Sabonis making his shots at a 60% clip would be huge for this team, especially with the Warriors likely being ready for the small ball lineup on Sunday.
No matter what happens, this has been a dream season for the Kings. Going up against the defending champions in a winner take all game is something I’m sure none of us imagined coming into this season. Take it all in everyone, and let’s light this beam one more time and move on to the 2nd round.