2023-24 Season | Game #48 | Kings @ Cavs | Feb. 5, 2023 | 7:00 p.m.

[jjvors]

I think we have a 52% chance of victory since we're at home. Okoro will disrupt their guards and we'll fly around the perimeter like we usually do. Sabonis will get his, say 30-15, but we'll make him work more, taking 20 shots to do it.

We'll win through rebounding and fewer turnovers, while matching them from 3. We'll kill them from 2, on the inside.

Donovan may score 40. We'll attack Fox and Monk, as well as Saboinis, as we did Wemby.

Cavs 132-118.

 

[Fish Monger]

Do we have much history of Okoro vs. De'Aaron Fox? I feel like both Fox and Sabonis both wreak havoc against us, but 2 games per season is a small sample.

I don't think anyone slows Fox done very much. I'm sure Okoro would force him into a bunch of tough shots, but I'm just confident Fox would hit his fair share of those tough shots.

 

[shoes22]

Will CPJ get any minutes tonight??

 

[STAT]

I'll echo a lot of what has been said above - this will be a tough one. Matchup wise, I think this is a game where you really need to stagger DM's and DG's minutes on the court as much as you possibly can. With the Kings shooting length (Murray, Barnes, and Huerter) combined with their quickness (Fox and Monk), it will be hard to matchup with them when both DM and DG are on the court. Offensively we should be fine as they don't really have any big time defenders other than Davion Mitchell who doesn't get a ton of run.

Agreed except I would credit Murray as a good defender, too.

 

[Patdatass]

Agreed except I would credit Murray as a good defender, too.

Yea Murray is above average on defense for sure. Think he can eventually be a fantastic all around player. He's already pretty good.

 

[Wham with the Right Hand]

A win here will make me feel more confident about the team. SAC has been a major pain in our butts.

The Kings beat us both games last year by 7 and 11 points. So they've won three in a row. The year before we beat them twice.

Last year Fox played in just one game against us; he had 15 points and 8 assists. He had 28 and 6 against us this year.

Last year five guys (the same starting lineup as this year) all averaged 15-20 points against us and two bench players (Monk and Lyles) averaged 10-12 points. Really balanced scoring.

This team has not changed since last year - they still have Barnes, Sabonis, Heurter, Murray, and Fox starting with Monk, Lyles, and Mitchell coming off the bench. No changes.

 

[Wham with the Right Hand]

Yea Murray is above average on defense for sure. Think he can eventually be a fantastic all around player. He's already pretty good.

Murray is something of an enigma to me. The last two games he scored 5 points each game. The game before that he scored 33 and the game before that he scored 5. He had games in January where he scored 4, 5, 8, and 10 points and other games where he scored 27, 28, 32, and 33. Talk about a box of chocolates.

On Dec. 16 he went 12-for-15 on 3's against Utah, finishing the game with 47 points. He hit all 12 of his 3's in the first three quarters in a blowout win. But in 13 games out of 44 this year he scored in single digits.

 

[Patdatass]

Murray is something of an enigma to me. The last two games he scored 5 points each game. The game before that he scored 33 and the game before that he scored 5. He had games in January where he scored 4, 5, 8, and 10 points and other games where he scored 27, 28, 32, and 33. Talk about a box of chocolates.

On Dec. 16 he went 12-for-15 on 3's against Utah, finishing the game with 47 points. He hit all 12 of his 3's in the first three quarters in a blowout win. But in 13 games out of 44 this year he scored in single digits.

Yea I think that's possibly a second year guy that hasn't put it consistently together and has to usually play 2nd/3rd fiddle to Fox and Sabonis. If he wants to take the next step, he's going to have to find that consistency and become more of an alpha. That's a hard thing to do when you have two other ball dominant players on your team. His situation is kind of similar to Evan's here (obviously completely different games though).

 

[Patdatass]

The Kings beat us both games last year by 7 and 11 points. So they've won three in a row. The year before we beat them twice.

Last year Fox played in just one game against us; he had 15 points and 8 assists. He had 28 and 6 against us this year.

Last year five guys (the same starting lineup as this year) all averaged 15-20 points against us and two bench players (Monk and Lyles) averaged 10-12 points. Really balanced scoring.

This team has not changed since last year - they still have Barnes, Sabonis, Heurter, Murray, and Fox starting with Monk, Lyles, and Mitchell coming off the bench. No changes.

Without looking at the boxscores, I think Huerter has outplayed his season stats when facing us. As mentioned above Sabonis has killed us and Fox has been on and off.

 

[Dr No]

Since they look to outscore people, how we matchup on defense is going to be key. Assuming we have everyone available, Allen should be able to cover Sabonis. Mobley & Strus get Murray & Barnes. I don't know what we do with Heurter & Fox. DG is a bad matchup against either of those guys. I can see a lot of Okoro in this game if those guards get cooking.

 

[bleedwineandgold03]

Dg should be called Mr unreliable

 

[jjvors]

Since they look to outscore people, how we matchup on defense is going to be key. Assuming we have everyone available, Allen should be able to cover Sabonis. Mobley & Strus get Murray & Barnes. I don't know what we do with Heurter & Fox. DG is a bad matchup against either of those guys. I can see a lot of Okoro in this game if those guards get cooking.

I expect to see a lot of Dean Wade, less of Niang. Dean's a good matchup against their forwards.

Our guards are tough to guard too. How will Fox and Monk guard Donovan and Garland? I think our guards can outscore theirs. If they do, we'll win. Also, I think Allen/Mobley will outscore Sabonis/Murray. I don't believe either can stop either.

But I tend to be optimistic. FWIW.

 

[Marcus]

Gonna be a tough one.

The Cavs have taken advantage of a soft stretch in the schedule in order to work guys back in as well as gather a ton of momentum heading into the All-Star break - would love to see them get a decisive win over a good team tonight and defend their home court.

 

[Lee]

Will CPJ get any minutes tonight??

Not if Garland plays

 

[J_J]

We didn’t have Okoro last time and didn’t get a chance much to play against Fox last year. Looking forward to watch Okoro on Fox tonight.

Key is making Fox uncomfortable at stints and don’t give easy 3s especially to Huerter and Murray.

I know this is a tough game but if our players keep playing on how their roles to be, I believe we can win it out assuming Allen is playing. May end up being the 2nd best win this season after the Clippers game.