Phoenix Suns @ Sacramento Kings 02/01/2011

Whilst most of the world will (sadly) be watching either the Rams or Seahawks become Champion of the worst Division in NFL history, those hardy, glass half-full fellows down in Sacramento will be venturing to the ARCO Arena to watch one of the worst teams in the NBA instead, the Kings. They are set to battle Steve Nash’s Phoenix Suns in a divisional match-up that has recently fallen the way of the Suns; they are winners of 6 straight against the Kings.   

Neither team have won much lately though, the Suns having gone 3-7 in their last 10 and the Kings a woeful 1-9, their latest defeat being a thrashing at the hands of the mercurial Denver Nuggets. It really can’t get much worse, so we can safely assume that morale won’t be high within the home team dressing room. Rookie DeMarcus Cousin has been impressive lately, though, and earned his first start since December 21^st against the Nuggets, where he had 16 points and 8 boards. Unfortunately, it would seem that it was only Cousins who was rebounding the ball for the Kings, who were outrebounded by no less than 23. After starting the season relatively well, especially in offensive terms by scoring over 100 in its first 5 games, the Kings have since struggled for baskets – scoring less than triple figures in 19 of its last 25. With ‘star’ names like Jason Thompson, Beno Udrih and the wildly inconsistent Tyreke Evans headlining their squad, this stat is perhaps no surprise.

The mere presence of the Kings in this game would obviously point toward an under, although it’s difficult to pull the trigger on that particular selection when the opposition is the perennially up-tempo, high-scoring Suns. Not only do the Suns love to put points on the board, they tend to allow them as well, having giving up more than 100 in 10 of its last 11 games. Up until Friday that is, when the lowly Detroit Pistons could only muster 75 in a Suns drubbing. Alvin Gentry apparently ran a defensively based practice session before the game; a shock to the Suns player akin only perhaps to aliens pitching up in their backyards. Nevertheless, they took to the task well and, switching to a half-court style, put up a meagre 92 on their way to victory.

What can we expect from the Suns this time then? Will they return to their happy-go-lucky approach, gallivanting up and down the court like kids high on fizzy and ice cream, putting up long-range 3 pointers by the bucketload, whilst proud daddy Steve dishes out 20+ assists and watches on proudly? I think not, especially after such good results last time out. Moreover, they seem to lack their previous offensive firepower without Jason Richardson; Vince Carter is not as spritely and Marcin Gortat is…well, he’s Marcin Gortat, and though the likes of Jared Dudley will continue to be streaky I still feel that the posted total of 206 is a few points too high.

~ by cooliosantos on January 3, 2011.