Spurs at Kings Preview 11/15/14
11/15/14
Posted: Nov 15, 2014
By NOEY KUPCHAN
Posted Nov 15 2014 2:19AM
The Sacramento Kings are looking for answers after letting their last two games slip away.
Things aren't about to get any easier with the defending champs coming to town.
The Kings try to avoid a 12th consecutive home loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday night.
Sacramento (5-4) had won five in a row - its longest run since 2007 - before losing its last three, including Thursday's devastating 111-110 loss at Memphis. The Kings led by as many as 26 before getting outscored 35-19 in the fourth quarter.
Sacramento allowed the winning basket on an inbounds play with three-tenths of a second left after breaking down defensively.
"We lost the game, and it didn't come down to that last play," said coach Michael Malone, whose team suffered a similar fate two nights earlier after blowing a 24-point lead against Dallas. "(We) have to learn to play with the lead. I am very disappointed with this loss."
Rudy Gay had 25 points while DeMarcus Cousins added 22 and 12 rebounds. Darren Collison scored 20 after sitting out against the Mavericks with a shoulder issue. The Kings held a 44-30 rebounding edge but had 15 turnovers to the Grizzlies' nine,
"It definitely is heartbreaking," said Gay, averaging 23.0 points, 7.2 rebounds and 3.2 assists, which would all be career highs. "That's the difference in a battle-tested playoff team and us."
Bouncing back won't be easy against the Spurs, who have taken nine straight and 21 of 22 in the series. San Antonio has outscored the Kings by an average of 15.5 points during its last four visits to Sacramento, where it's won 15 of 16 dating to 2005.
Gay had averaged 21.8 points on 50.7 percent shooting over a four-game stretch against the Spurs before finishing with 14 on 4 of 14 from the field in a 99-79 home loss March 21.
The Spurs (5-3) are looking to sweep a four-game road trip after beating the Lakers 93-80 on Friday. Cory Joseph scored eight of his 14 points in the fourth quarter while Tim Duncan added 13 and 11 boards for his sixth double-double in seven games.
"We're starting to play a little better," Duncan said. "Hopefully we can hit a stride and see how we go from there."
Duncan, who became just the 19th player to reach 25,000 points, is averaging 14.4 to rank second on the team behind Tony Parker's 18.1.
San Antonio held Kobe Bryant to 1 of 14 from the floor and Los Angeles to 37.3 percent, including a 2-of-12 effort from 3-point range. The Spurs are limiting opponents to 30.1 percent from beyond the arc to rank third in the league. They're fifth with a defensive rating of 99.0, the number of points allowed per 100 possessions.
San Antonio's defensive rebounding percentage of 80.2 is tops in the NBA, but the Kings are first with a 30.3 percent mark on the offensive glass. Sacramento also leads the league with 29.4 made foul shots per game.
Kawhi Leonard appears to be OK after getting hit in the face Friday, but Spurs teammate Marco Belinelli could be out again after missing five games with a strained groin. Tiago Splitter also remains sidelined with a calf issue.
Are the old guys playing?
Any word on who may be sitting? Getting this one would be nice but after winning the last three it isn't essential.
Jeff McDonald @JMcDonald_SAEN · 10h 10 hours ago
It's not even 7 am on the West Coast and Tiago Splitter (calf) and Marco Belinelli (groin) have been ruled out vs. Sacramento.
We got this.
Hopefully Beli and Splitter are back for the Cavs. Wanna see how the Spurs play them at full strength.
Going to the game tonight, I am hoping no one sits out besides the injured players. Go Spurs!!
have a good time
Looking forward to seeing Cousins try to show up Timmy and get owned again.
ing fell asleep during the 1st qtr last night. Hope I make it through this one.
you missed a lot of kirby bricksing fell asleep during the 1st qtr last night. Hope I make it through this one.
So I've heard.
said Gay, averaging 23.0 points, 7.2 rebounds and 3.2 assists, which would all be career highs
Holy .
You also missed Kirby playing through his "illness"....ing fell asleep during the 1st qtr last night. Hope I make it through this one.
Such aWarrior
All right!
so basically we were just ing with the rockets and TNT
Interesting. It seems that when Pop rests players on some of those back to backs, it's mainly in those nationally televised games. Is that to prove a point to the NBA and the networks? Kind of like saying, if you want a marquee match up, then you can't expect a good game if one team is on the second night of back to back, so why should he bother playing his main players.
It's also good training for the young players to get some valuable court time and experience against the best teams and players.
Was he really sick?You also missed Kirby playing through his "illness"....
Such a
Was he really sick?
What local channel will the game be on? I can't find it on my damn cable menu anywhere. Should be FSSW right?
Was he really sick?
It's on FSSW.
What a load of
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