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Kings go for 5th straight win at Atlanta

The youthful Sacramento Kings will be going for their fifth straight win on Thursday when they visit the even-younger Atlanta Hawks at State Farm Arena.
The Kings (5-3) rolled over the Orlando Magic 107-99 for their fourth straight victory on Tuesday, the last two coming on the four-day East Coast road trip. Atlanta (2-5) has dropped three straight games, including a 136-114 loss to Cleveland on Tuesday, since posting back-to-back victories.
Sacramento will be trying to break an 11-game road losing streak to the Hawks. The Kings haven't won in Atlanta since 2006. The two clubs split their two-game series last season.

The Hawks have struggled with consistency and have been prone to putting together strings of turnovers.

Young, a first-round pick from Oklahoma, leads the team in scoring (19.1) and assists (6.6). The Hawks have gotten consistent scoring from forward Taurean Prince (16.7 points, 5.0 rebounds) and guard Kent Bazemore (15.0 points, 4.9 rebounds). Perhaps the biggest surprise has been the development of Alex Len, the burly sixth-year veteran from Maryland. Len had a season-high 22 points against the Cavs with nine rebounds and two blocks.

TSX

Scouting report on the enemy:

Sacramento is scorching hot at the moment, riding a stunning four-game winning streak...no one projected a 5-3 early record from Sacramento and this is an opponent playing quality basketball at the moment.

The headline-worthy match-up of the evening comes at the point guard spot, where 2017 top-five pick De’Aaron Fox comes to town to take on 2018 top-five pick Trae Young. Fox enters this game averaging 17.5 points and 6.9 assists per game on the season and, if nothing else, this is a chance to watch two very intriguing young players facing off against one another for much of the night.

Elsewhere, the Kings are receiving high-end contributions from Buddy Hield (18.9 points, 44.7% from three), Willie Cauley-Stein (17.4 points, 9.0 rebounds) and Nemanja Bjelica (15.1 points, 6.0 rebounds) this season. There are certainly signs that the Kings are playing a bit over their heads at this moment but, in the same breath, Sacramento does have a reasonable level of talent and a few advantages over Atlanta in a world that does not involve John Collins on the floor.

Peachtree Hoops

I'm happy for Kings fans, their team is looking good in the early going. Young vs. Fox should be fun.

Sacramento Kings: Three things to watch for against the Hawks

The Kings (5-3) and Hawks (2-5) split the season series last year, with each grabbing a win by double-digits.

The Hawks and Kings are first and second in the NBA in pace, respectively, but the big difference, is that the Kings have a +0.4 net rating while the Hawks sit at -7.1.

The Sacramento Kings also sit at 14th in the league in offensive rating, boasting a 109.0 rating, while the Hawks sit at 29th with a 100.1 rating. Defensively, the Hawks are 12th in the NBA with a 107.2 rating while Sacramento checks in at 15th (!) with a 108.6.

The Kings and Hawks are two of the youngest teams in basketball. This, should provide a good test for both teams as young teams are prone to mistakes this game will be decided by who takes advantage of the others miscues more.

This game will also provide Sacramento a chance to redeem themselves after a 46-point drubbing in the ATL last season.

Sacramento Fansided

ATL Boy wrote:I'm happy for Kings fans, their team is looking good in the early going. Young vs. Fox should be fun.

DeAaron Fox was my pick for best PG in that draft (which was loaded with good PGs like Fultz and Ball). I am so glad to see him playing well. Yes, the match up should be a lot of fun. Fox is really good on defense.

Divac stealing Bjelica led to Hawks trading Musky to Philly. Can Justin Anderson beat out VC? With Bjelica playing so well, Philly must be very upset even tho Moose is playing quite well.

Bogdan hasn't even played yet.

Maybe Divac was just faking incompetence to tank? Without a pick he gets serious?

They've got a good coach.

ChokeFasncists wrote:Divac stealing Bjelica led to Hawks trading Musky to Philly. Can Justin Anderson beat out VC? With Bjelica playing so well, Philly must be very upset even tho Moose is playing quite well.

Bogdan hasn't even played yet.

Maybe Divac was just faking incompetence to tank? Without a pick he gets serious?

They've got a good coach.

Good call on the Bjelica situation leading to Philly trading for Moose.
I hope the Kings keep playing well so the pick they owe to Philly/Boston isn't in the high lottery.

Whole team is turning the ball over.

Lin has always been a good shot blocking guard.

Great comeback, this team is sick of losing. Bad lapse at the end of the half tho.

It's nice to have Poyz back, can play better D at the 4 than old Vince.

Nice drives by Bemsry&Dorbey. Lin is getting to the Line.

Poor Koufos, no pt for him even when he plays well. Even poorer Huerter, got injured getting fouled......hope he's OK.

Kings' fans have been suffering but they have fantastic commentating to compensate!

Trae is just not comfortable at the rim tonight.

Dang......another third quarter collapse.....46-23 this time.....better than 31-13?

Fox is amazing both ways, too bad they don't have Fox Sports showing their games.

Congradz Shumps to find his place with the Kings after not doing very well serving the King.

Nice to see how much the young Kings love VC.

Finally a great play!
Too little too late.....

Another 3rd quarter Beatdown! 3rd game in a row.

That's on coaching:  other teams adjust at halftime, i have no idea what Pierce is telling these guys.

Defense has been awful. And it's hard to score when you turn the ball over as much as we do. Offense isn't good at all either. I'll give it until Collins is back to really see what we got.

Just one of those nights for Trae with the TOs. Usually, he's surehanded. But 3Q was a disaster. Fox had a crazy game for the Kings. Prince has to step it up. Collins will make a big difference. Dedmon had an off game but so did a lot of guys. Hope Huerter isn't out too long.

Hopefully, for Lin, absolute dominance in trash time is gonna have him play a bit better during the next real game. That way, Trey can have more rest, this team plays at such high pace, maybe he's having some fatigue issues.

Young starting PGs are bound to have TOs issues, tons of film sessions! Unfortunately, TOs is the biggest weakness for Lin; Prince and Baze aren't good as well.....

When things are tight, Len is a bit slow to everything, block shots, rebounds, defensive rotations, put backs, receiving passes, maybe it's time for Dedmon to start if his ankle is OK.

Prince needs to bounce back quick somehow, he needs to be the leading scorer.

VC at the starting 4 is getting exposed, Olynyk next. If Collins doesn't come back soon, maybe start Spellman or Poyz?

Hurter is hurt......probably it's nothing serious.

Another interesting rookie in Bagley, he's pretty good all around, just have two good vets in front of him.

Poor Pels, losing Buddy and then Cousins to injury. What if they have Buddy on that team right now?

The hawks are playing embarrassing basketball, absolutely clueless on defense... neither did they show any interest and efforts... can't believe LP is known for coaching defense...