Warriors at Kings
THE STORY: The Golden State Warriors have not had the quick turnaround that Mark Jackson was looking for when he took over behind the bench. Now that Jackson has had three full days off to practice, maybe the Warriors will have more of an identity offensively and defensively when they host the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday. The Kings, who are one of the few teams in the NBA surrendering more points than the Warriors, will not provide the perfect test case, as their offense has not been a great challenge to defenses of late. In fact, Golden State might have to fight the urge to simply out-score Sacramento, which has allowed an average of 111.8 points in losing its last four games. The Kings’ big problem is in the paint, where they have regularly been beaten up despite the presence of rising star DeMarcus Cousins.
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, CSCA (Sacramento), CSBA (Golden State)
ABOUT THE KINGS (6-14): Sacramento allowed 92 points in the paint in a 122-93 loss to the Denver Nuggets last Thursday - the highest mark since the NBA began tracking the statistic in 2000-01. The Kings cut that number to 48 in Utah the following night but still fell 96-93. Cousins and Jason Thompson are the only true post players getting regular minutes for Sacramento, and the guards have done a poor job of preventing their opponents from getting into the paint. Like Golden State, the Kings have had three full practice days to attempt a fix.
ABOUT THE WARRIORS (6-12): In the perfect position to take advantage of Sacramento is David Lee, who recovered from a tough three-game stretch to put up 22.5 points on 61.2 percent shooting in the last two games. Lee, however, has been on his own among scorers in the front court for Golden State. Andris Biedrins, Ekpe Udoh and Jeremy Tyler combined for nine points on 3-of-8 shooting from the center position in a 120-109 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday.
BUZZER BEATERS:
1. Biedrins continues to start at center for the Warriors but has not attempted a field goal in any of the last three games and had his minutes cut to less than 10 on Friday.
2. The Pacific Division rivals split four meetings last season, with the Kings taking the final two.
3. Sacramento C Chuck Hayes (shoulder) and G Marcus Thornton (thigh) are both day-to-day.