Kings at Heat
The Sacramento Kings are surprisingly scrappy in the early going and might be coming together quicker than anticipated. The young, rebuilding club will try to make it three consecutive wins when the Kings open a four-game road trip by visiting the Miami Heat on Monday.
The Kings own one of the youngest rosters in the NBA and are trying to turn all of that talent into a team that can compete for a playoff spot in the near future, and second-year guard De'Aaron Fox is stepping up into a leadership role. "I think right now, everybody kind of looks at me," Fox, who is averaging a team-high 17.7 points, told the Sacramento Bee. "(In crunch time), coach wants the ball in my hands, even if I’m not shooting the ball, just create for somebody else. I’ve embraced it and guys have embraced it for me to be a playmaker. They trust me, so I’ve got to go out there and trust myself." The Heat will try to stop Fox and company with a defense that held the Portland Trail Blazers to 42 percent shooting in a 120-111 victory on Saturday. "Guys really stepped up tonight," Miami coach Erik Spoelstra told reporters after the win. "Even giving up 111 points, it sounds funny, but our defensive efforts and commitment on that side of the floor against two really dynamic playmakers, I thought was very good."
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, NBCS California (Sacramento), FS Sun (Miami)
ABOUT THE KINGS (3-3): The average age of Sacramento's roster is just over 25, making 30-year-old forward Nemanja Bjelica one of the team's elder statesmen. Bjelica, who never averaged more than 6.8 points in three seasons with the Minnesota Timberwolves and was set to return to Europe over the summer before signing a three-year deal with Sacramento, started each of the first six games and turned in his best effort on Friday with 26 points and 12 rebounds in a 116-112 win over the Washington Wizards. "All my life, all my career I was underrated," Bjelica told reporters. "But I don’t have a problem with that. I just love the game of basketball and I worked really hard to be here today."
ABOUT THE HEAT (3-2): Miami center Hassan Whiteside is averaging 11.8 points and 14.6 rebounds and is finding ways to impact games when he struggles on the offensive end. Whiteside was held to five points on 2-of-8 shooting on Saturday but blocked six shots and grabbed 16 rebounds. "He even mentioned it to me right before I walked in here (for the postgame interview)," Spoelstra told reporters of Whiteside. "He mentioned that he was just trying to do whatever he could to put his fingerprints on this win. And down the stretch, that was a couple big contests to force some misses and a couple big rebounds. And even the offensive rebound. That’s winning basketball."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Miami PF Kelly Olynyk is shooting 54.5 percent from the floor and scored a season-high 19 points on Saturday.
2. Kings C Willie Cauley-Stein recorded a double-double in each of the last two games.
3. Sacramento took both meetings last season by a total of five points - one in overtime.