Kings vs. Rockets Preview: Houston? We have a problem.

The Sacramento Kings are at home once again, their playoff paddle stream is taking up the waters of the Western Conference, an embarrassing end to this Spurs game means the Kings have now lost seven of their last nine games and are sinking fast. Some kind of players’ meeting has already taken place. Screams were reported from the locker room. Mike Brown has already removed the “emergency pause” option. Now come the Houston Rockets – winners in 10 of their last 12 games, a half-game out of first place in the West and absolutely ready to obliterate a team that was already completely under their control last Year when the self-confidence of this Sacramento team was still high. Can the Kings prevail against a Rockets team? Can Keegan Murray finally break out of his annual November slump? Is there anyone else out there who isn’t mentally capable of starting the tankathon this early in the season?

Let’s talk Kings basketball.

When: Tuesday, December 3, 7:00 p.m. PST
Where: Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, CA
TV: NBCSCA
radio: Sactown Sports 1140am

For your consideration

Moonshots: I have become weak with age. Only three years have passed since I was so upset with the Kings that we raised tens of thousands of dollars for Sacramento charities out of sheer spite, and I’m having a hard time mustering the courage necessary to talk about this version of the Sacramento Kings . Too much has happened. The Warriors’ playoff series, the Beam, won 46 games and called it a disappointment: Peacetime has made me soft. Since the Kings are unexpectedly bad, maybe not in record time, but definitely in the mood, I’d just like to avoid talking about the NBA entirely. Well, that’s not true: I do want to point out that the top two teams in the West and two of the top three in the East were teams that chose to total tank around the same time as the Kings, who chose We decided to take the more difficult option, but that’s more of an old reflex at this point. There’s a lot of history to write about these teams and the Kings, and I’m not trying to be an “I told you so” guy, at least until a few of these guys win championships thanks to this strategy. Anyway, we know the mood is getting worse when I, the self-proclaimed canary in the coal mine, have PTSD flashbacks to Operation: MCNAIR and the tank wars of yesterday. There’s not much oxygen down here in 12th to keep me going, and yet here I am, chirping away until everything else harmful about the discourse finally drops me to the bottom of my cage once and for all lets.

Now, I guess, about the game.

Houston is a nightmare game for the Kings. They’re much better defensively, much longer, much more athletic, and anything the Kings can throw at the Rockets, they can throw right back at the Kings, and then some. Do you want athletic guards who can score 40+ in a game? Here are some from Fred VanVleet and Jalen Green for you. You need a triple-double threat in the middle. Who can get you 14 assists or 20 rebounds on a given night? The former future king, Alperen Sengun, is your husband. Annoying defender? Dillon Brooks. Too disgusting? Tari Eason. Not sporty enough? Amen Thompson. More of an offensive variant? Jabari Smith Jr. Oh, and just in case these guys all struggle, there are veterans Jae’Sean Tate and Jeff Green in the starting lineup or the uber-talented, newly young Cam Whitmore waiting on the bench. The Rockets have, I shit you not, five small forwards. They have three other power forwards. Worse, each of these key Rockets forwards has a specialty that is as good or better than any of the Kings forwards currently in action. Given the way Mike Brown has played him so far this season, and generally how much the Kings rely on him as a forward, I’m not kidding when I say tonight is Keegan Murray’s worst night Could be a career.

Houston as a whole is a well-balanced team, they are 11th in points per game, holding teams to the third-fewest points total and running at the seventh-fastest pace, nine spots better than the “We definitely shouldn’t be at the top . “five on pace” Sacramento Kings. They rank 8th in the NBA in steals, 6th in blocks, and are the best offensive and defensive rebounding team in the league, while also ranking 6th in the NBA in turnovers. They attempt the second-most free throws in the NBA, but luckily they are the seventh-worst in the NBA when it comes to making these bad boys. But honestly, that’s really not what you’re here for. For the Kings and their fan base, there is only one statistic that matters right now: three-point percentage. For the record, before we get there, they are in the bottom third of the NBA in attempts, but that doesn’t matter either. The three-ball defense is so bad in Sacramento, so absolutely bad, that we all know they’re going to get what they want from deep at this point. If they want to take fifty, they will. If they want to take 20, they will. They’ll get what they want there, all that remains is how high that percentage will rise above their season average, which is currently 33% – bottom five in the NBA. At this point, everything else is out of control – this is the only statistic that matters. If the Kings can maintain odds of 33%, which is an average rate for Houston, they have a chance to win this game. In my opinion, every full percentage point is higher than average and the Kings are 10% less likely to win. Unlike their opponent tonight, the Rockets can afford to be a poor three-point shooting team, not only because they are young, but also because they are dominant defensively and do their detail work well. They get steals, they rebound well, they block shots. They do the things great teams do.

The Rockets are an impending juggernaut, built for the future, built like a team that is prescient about the league’s problems will It will take five years and they are full of talent to make up for it.

The Kings are built like they’re trying to play the 2016 Rockets by heart.

forecast

Fox is Harden. Keegan is (well) Ryan Anderson. Sabonis is Hakeem’s dream. Monk is Jordan’s alternate universe, drafted by the Rockets. Every king, everyone plays like a top random rocket comparison throughout history and the multiverse. They still mess up in the third and need the entire fourth to get it under control.

Kings: 114, Rockets: 111