Can we interest you in a beam lighting? Perhaps a Stephen Curry heat-check on national TV? Wednesday’s late game pits the red-hot, purple-lit Sacramento Kings against the star-filled but slumping Golden State Warriors.
How to watch Golden State Warriors at Sacramento Kings
The hosts are 9-2 since swapping Mike Brown for Doug Christie at head coach, with particularly impressive wins against the Rockets, Celtics and Grizzlies. Since Christie’s installation, the Kings are first in points per game and second in rebounding. They’re also second in clutch time defensive rating. Sacramento opened the New Year 12th in the West, loaded with bad vibes and public tension. But this team suddenly kind of rules? They’re pulling up with swagger and are absolutely floating in catch-and-shoot action.
DeMar DeRozan is up over 23 points per game this month. Domantas Sabonis has been especially locked in across his last 10 — averaging about 20 points, 16 rebounds and seven assists on 62 percent shooting. Malik Monk has career-high averages in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks. It’s hard not to dig what’s going on in Sacramento.
Golden State is the Dan Aykroyd to Sacramento’s Eddie Murphy, of course. They’ve been the ones living well for at least the past decade. It’s particularly disorienting to see a Warriors offense so listless. They’re 21st in scoring and 25th in field goal percentage. Jonathan Kuminga’s absence has been a huge bummer, while Dennis Schröder’s presence thus far ranges somewhere between awkward and calamitous. Buddy Hield has all but fallen off. Draymond Green is out with a calf strain.
After this quick trip to Sacramento, Golden State will host six straight games. At 21-21, they’ll need to maximize that stretch amid a crowded Western Conference.
“We’ve been in situations where we’ve had to chase down the stretch after the All-Star break,” Curry told Anthony Slater. “I think two years of that, it takes a lot out of you. So you have to find a way to stay in the race and the standings. Nobody’s counting game-by-game type thing, but this six- to eight-game stretch can kind of define where we are going forward the rest of the season.”
Inversely, the 22-20 Kings will hit the road for six consecutive games after hosting this one. That run includes strong opponents like the Nuggets, Knicks and Thunder.
It’s a cool broadcast crew for this game. Mark Jones does play-by-play for Kings games on NBC Sports California, while Bob Myers was the general manager of the Warriors’ dynasty.
Starting five of players to wear both jerseys
- G — Mitch Richmond
- G — Harrison Barnes
- F — Jerry Lucas
- F — Chris Webber
- C — DeMarcus Cousins
Warriors at Kings odds
(Photo of Domantas Sabonis: Eakin Howard / Getty Images)
