Thunder at Kings
The Oklahoma City Thunder are locked into the No. 3 spot in the Western Conference and are preparing for the playoffs by making sure their players get plenty of rest. The Sacramento Kings, who host the Thunder on Saturday, were eliminated from playoff contention weeks ago but are resting their best players as well while preparing for a long offseason.
Sacramento All-Star DeMarcus Cousins was not planning on playing road games the rest of the way but sat out Thursday at home as well along with point guard Rajon Rondo. The Kings are sacrificing wins at the end of the season in the hope of finishing with one of the 10 worst records in the league and hanging onto their draft pick, which would go to the Chicago Bulls if it falls outside of the top 10. Maneuvering for draft position is not something Oklahoma City is concerning itself with of late, and sitting four starters in a loss at Portland on Wednesday was more about the near future. The Thunder return home to host Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday before finishing off the regular season at San Antonio on Tuesday.
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, FSN Oklahoma, CSN California (Sacramento)
ABOUT THE THUNDER (54-25): Oklahoma City is just waiting to see who it will face in the first round and is experimenting with some different rotations as preparation for the playoffs. Reserve center Enes Kanter got more responsibility in the offense with Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook out on Wednesday and responded with 33 points and 20 rebounds in the 120-115 loss. “Enes gave us a scoring punch where we could throw the ball inside,” Thunder coach Billy Donovan told reporters. “We felt like with (Portland) being small if we could play with both bigs, we could get some post feeds for him. He scored in a variety of ways. He was really aggressive and Enes gave great effort on both ends of the floor.”
ABOUT THE KINGS (31-48): Resting Cousins and Rondo seems to be a decision made by the front office, and head coach George Karl does not seem 100 percent on board with the idea. “Yes, we know we ask the fans to be more understanding of our philosophies or plans or paths,” Karl told reporters. “Everybody’s doing it. I’ll say, ‘Well, I’m old school. I like playing every game like it means something and everything has equal meaning,’ but everybody’s doing it. Philosophically, I can see the good in why you do it, and I can see, philosophically, with the fans, why they’re upset.” The benefit is to a player like Seth Curry, who is getting extended minutes in the backcourt and averaging 14.7 points over the last eight games.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Kings G Darren Collison is averaging 19.7 points on 50 percent shooting in three games this month.
2. Thunder G Dion Waiters is averaging 21.5 points in the last two games.
3. Oklahoma City has taken three of the last four in the series and earned a 131-116 victory in its last trip to Sacramento on Feb. 29.