It’s a Wednesday night matchup between the lowly Hawks and the the Kings, and of course by lowly I mean that they lost four of six games before giving the Clippers the business the other night. Atlanta comes into tonight with approximately 5 future members of the Sacramento Kings if talking heads and hopefuls are to be believed and a record of 16-33. You’ll tune into this one to see Trae Young taking Steph Curry like shots, but you’ll stay because John Collins is low-key your new favorite player in the NBA. Let’s talk Kings basketball!

When: Wednesday, January 30th, 7 PM PST

Where: Golden 1 Center, Sacramento CA

TV: NBCSCA

Radio: KHTK Sports 1140 AM

For Your Consideration

Speed Demons: Tonight you’re going to see basketball in its extreme. The Hawks come into Wednesday night’s game as the only team in the league that plays at a faster pace than the Sacramento Kings, so expect one of two things: a high octane quick shooting and fast breaking scorefest, or an Under 7 local church league game. There will absolutely be no in-betweens. Coach Lloyd Pierce is in the first year of his rebuild and as such, has been trying to take advantage of the youth stacked on this team, but the results have been middling as of yet. Don’t get me wrong, there are individuals on this team that are putting up good numbers this season! John Collins is a 20-10 beast, Trae Young is averaging 16.4 points and 7.3 assists (but please Lord don’t look at his percentages right now), even as a team they’ve got 7 guys who are putting in at least 10 points a game. The recipe is there, the stock ingredients are arriving and the Hawks are on their way back to Eastern Conference relevance.

But, I said they’re on their way. They aren’t there yet, and tonight the Kings can take advantage of a team not half as disciplined as they are. Some big numbers to throw at you that will probably end up being relevant tonight: the Hawks are last in the league in turnovers, and second to last in the league in player fouls. The Kings are a wonderful fast break team and will convert more often than not on a turnover, so tonight there should be plenty of opportunities for that. The Kings also aren’t taking very many free throws this season (7th worst in free throw attempts) but tonight they can pad those numbers with an aggressive mind set. Something else for the Kings to consider is that the Hawks are 8th in the league in 3 point attempts, but in shooting 33.7% from beyond the arc, are only 27th in the NBA in three point field goal percentage. The Kings shouldn’t allow Atlanta extra peeks at the rim from deep, but if they do there’s a solid chance its coming off the rim or backboard. But, they should also be aware that the Hawks, for all the banging and clanging they do, are also the sixth best team in the NBA when it comes to offensive rebounds. It’s imperative that the Kings grab those missed shots and take away the chance for a second or third opportunity to put one down. Lastly, the Hawks give up an average of over 117 points per game. An average. The Kings aren’t like the average NBA team, they move quicker and they score faster. If the Kings are hot after two days of rest, expect a game that the Kings could take easily into the 130’s.

#Lensface

Throwback episode! Okay, so technically, DMC’s last game as a Kings was vs the Warriors... this was his 2nd-to-last last home game. Watch to see how different the Kings feel today compared to back then!

Prediction

De’Aaron Fox flirts with a triple double, Buddy Hield flirts with 40 points, and at halftime the news breaks that Scott Foster, the organist for the Atlanta Hawks, gets offered a lifetime contract to come work his magic for the Kings. Atlanta folds their franchise after hearing their GOAT demanded he be sent to the Kings.

Kings 127, Hawks 114