Kings at Timberwolves
Point guard Rajon Rondo makes his return to the court for the Sacramento Kings on Friday as they begin a four-game road trip in Minnesota. Rondo will probably hear plenty of criticism from fans along the way after serving his one-game suspension for making homophobic slurs at NBA referee Bill Kennedy earlier this month.
As long as he can block out the distractions, the star guard will have a chance to build upon a pretty good run; he leads the NBA in assists per game (11) and has double-doubles in three of his last four outings. "Other than the Mexico City game [in which he was ejected by Kennedy], I can't remember the last bad game he's had," coach George Karl recently said of Rondo. "He's played above my expectations. He's played at an All-Star level. His numbers say you should talk to him about him being on an All-Star level." That play has enabled the Kings to turn around a woeful start, as they've gone 9-8 since opening 1-7. However, one of those eight losses came at home against Minnesota on Nov. 27, but the Timberwolves are 1-8 since then.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, CSN California (Sacramento), FSN North (Minnesota)
ABOUT THE KINGS (10-15): Darren Collison had 14 points and 13 assists while starting in place of Rondo in Tuesday's 107-97 win over Houston, which gave Sacramento three straight victories and continued to alter the conversation for the perennial losers. "Before we do our film sessions in the morning, the board is up and it tells us how many games we're back," Collison told the Sacramento Bee. "We want to make the playoffs, that's our whole goal this year, nothing else." That hasn't happened since 2006 and the team's chances might become more clear after it completes its next 10 games, which include seven on the road and visits to Toronto, Indiana, Golden State, Oklahoma City and Dallas.
ABOUT THE TIMBERWOLVES (9-16): Rumors have surfaced that Minnesota is looking to trade veteran swingman Kevin Martin, who sat out Wednesday's 107-102 loss in New York. One reason for the move is to get more playing time for second-year standout Zach LaVine, who is averaging 16 points this month despite playing fewer than 30 minutes in each contest. LaVine had one of his six starts in the win at Sacramento last month, scoring 19 points and grabbing eight rebounds in 29 minutes.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Timberwolves SG Andrew Wiggins is averaging 26 points and seven rebounds in four career games versus the Kings.
2. Sacramento PF DeMarcus Cousins has recorded a season-high four straight double-doubles.
3. The all-time series is tied 50-50.