The Sacramento Kings’ early onslaught of a schedule continues tonight against the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder. It’s going to be a tough matchup for the Kings, who will once again be undersized as they go up against a lengthy Thunder team.
And the Thunder are picking up right where they left off last season, having won all four of their games so far this year.
It’s going to take a hot shooting night for the Kings to take them down, but if there’s one player on the team who can catch fire and lead them to a surprise win, it’s Zach LaVine. But Sacramento will also have to do their best to slow down last year’s MVP in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
The two may not necessarily be going head-to-head, but will likely get time on each other throughout the game, or at least matchup as the two star guards from a perspective standpoint.
Zach LaVine: 31.0 PTS, 2.7 REB, 0.7 AST, 0.0 STL, 0.3 BLK, 53.0 FG%, 35.7 3P%Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: 35.8 PTS, 5.8 AST, 5.5 REB, 1.5 STL, 1.0 BLK, 51.0 FG%, 24.0 3P%
LaVine has gotten off to a great start to the year, scoring a great 31 points per contest so far. He’s not shooting as efficiently from three as he did last year, but he’s taking 9.3 threes per contest, which would be a career high for the 12-year veteran.
That’s the type of aggressiveness that the Kings need from LaVine. They need him to shoot as much as possible for them to stay in games. He’ll have a hard time tonight against the Thunder, who boast the league’s best defense early on in the season, but he’s one of the best tough shot makers in the league.
While LaVine’s scoring has been great, him getting on the boards and finding teammates might have even more of an impact. He only has eight total rebounds and two assists through the first three games.
Facilitating and rebounding aren’t his main skill sets, but he’ll have to provide more in areas other than just scoring for the Kings to succeed, especially against the defending champs.
For Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, he’s picked up right where he left off last season, if not played even better. He’s somehow increased his scoring even more so far this season to an absurd 35.8 points per game, up from his league-leading 32.7 last season.
While he isn’t hitting his outside shots, shooting just 24.0% from deep, he excels at getting to his spots inside the arc and getting to the line. He’s averaging 11.5 free throw attempts per contest through the first four games.
For the Kings, they’ll have to do their best to defend without fouling tonight, something that was difficult against the Los Angeles Lakers in their last game. The Lakers shot 46 free throws to the Kings’ 18, resulting in a huge discrepancy.
Twenty-two of those attempts came from Austin Reaves, so unless the Kings want a repeat performance tonight, they’ll have to make adjustments from their last contest. But that’s easier said than done when going up against someone as talented as SGA.