Defeat prohibited for the Kings next night. The Californians welcome the Blazers with the aim of ending a series of three consecutive defeats. Including one, from a point on the Warriors floor, then two others, much less glorious, on the Rockets floor: -18 then -25 two days later!
“ I need to evaluate some things “, warns Mike Brownon a potential evolution of his starting five, adding: “ I have to make sure I continue to put five guys on the field who will do what we ask, which is to say play together and correctly, while playing fast and bringing physical dimension. »
Deprived of De’Aaron Fox (ankle) over these last three games, the Kings coach favored the Davion Mitchell option in his five. But he did not shine with his skill as a starter (8 points at 37% on shots).
Giving himself time to think, the Californian coach assures that “ no one occupies a sacred place on this team. It is obvious that Fox and Sabonis (Domantas) have greater room for maneuver than others. But everyone is paid very well to perform. […] But we have to play as we are capable of », Claims the reigning coach of the year.
Put five players who believe in identity
Namely playing fast and scoring a lot of points, as was the case last year. But not only. “ We want to play fast, we want to play physical and we want to play well together. We know our identity. The question is whether we can put five guys on the field who believe in it and who will embody it. »
The team’s most capped player, JaVale McGee is well aware of the stakes. “ We just have to play harder, more physical. We have to impose it on the other team before they impose it on us. […] At the moment, we are in the reaction, we let them decide what they are going to do and we react. We can’t play like that », recommends the interior, whose team experienced up to… 40 points behind in the second meeting in Houston.
The three-time NBA champion considers this adjustment “ is not difficult at all. You have to make an effort, damn it. We are adults and we face adults. Some people don’t have it in them, but they can do it. You just have to work at it. I feel like in practice you can work on it and you can set some guys’ butts on fire. »
To see if the method works for the Kings who occupy a modest 13th place in the West (2 wins – 4 losses).
| Shots | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | L.F. | Off | Def | Early | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Party | Pts |
| De’aaron Fox | 3 | 35.5 | 48.6 | 37.5 | 81.0 | 1.0 | 3.3 | 4.3 | 6.0 | 2.7 | 1.3 | 0.7 | 4.0 | 31.3 |
| Domantas Sabonis | 6 | 33.3 | 53.7 | 25.0 | 60.0 | 3.3 | 9.8 | 13.2 | 5.7 | 3.0 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 3.0 | 15.8 |
| Harrison Barnes | 6 | 31.1 | 51.0 | 46.4 | 76.2 | 0.3 | 2.0 | 2.3 | 1.2 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.7 | 13.5 |
| Malik Monk | 6 | 21.8 | 42.6 | 40.0 | 87.5 | 0.8 | 1.2 | 2.0 | 4.5 | 1.8 | 0.2 | 1.0 | 1.7 | 13.3 |
| Keegan Murray | 6 | 33.8 | 35.8 | 26.0 | 75.0 | 1.7 | 4.3 | 6.0 | 2.0 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 0.7 | 2.7 | 12.8 |
| Kevin Huerter | 6 | 24.0 | 32.7 | 24.2 | 60.0 | 1.0 | 4.0 | 5.0 | 2.5 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 2.0 | 7.8 |
| Javale McGee | 6 | 12.7 | 63.6 | 0.0 | 71.4 | 1.5 | 1.8 | 3.3 | 0.2 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 7.8 |
| Chris Duarte | 6 | 17.1 | 33.3 | 33.3 | 72.7 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 3.3 | 5.7 |
| Sasha Vezenkov | 6 | 14.3 | 38.2 | 27.3 | 100.0 | 0.2 | 2.0 | 2.2 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 5.5 |
| Davion Mitchell | 6 | 20.6 | 33.3 | 30.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 1.8 | 2.0 | 2.8 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 2.3 | 5.0 |
| Keon Ellis | 3 | 5.7 | 62.5 | 57.1 | 25.0 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 5.0 |
| Colby Jones | 5 | 10.0 | 47.1 | 25.0 | 100.0 | 1.0 | 1.4 | 2.4 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 1.0 | 3.8 |
| Jordan Ford | 3 | 3.7 | 50.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.3 |
| Kessler Edwards | 4 | 3.8 | 20.0 | 33.3 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 1.0 |
| Alex Len | 3 | 4.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
