Kings must be ready to run when playoff race resumes
The race for the coveted eighth seed in the Western Conference playoffs is not a marathon. It’s a sprint.
Kings coach Luke Walton would be wise to remember that as players assemble this week for mandatory workouts at the team’s Golden 1 Center training facility. For a variety of reasons, the Kings didn’t utilize one of their greatest strengths over the first half of this NBA season. When play resumes following a long layoff due to the coronavirus pandemic, they must be ready to run.
In a truncated end to an ill-fated season, the Kings will play eight games over 14 days at the ESPN Wide World of Sports at Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando. Twentytwo
teams will enter the bubble. Sacramento, which has the NBA’s longest postseason drought after 13 consecutive losing seasons, is one of six teams that will vie for the No. 8 seed in the West.
The abbreviated format and revised schedule have done no favors for the Kings, but speed and 3-point shooting could give them an edge if they unleash the run-andgun game the organization has envisioned since drafting De’Aaron Fox in 2017. The Kings were third in the NBA in pace under former coach Dave Joerger in 2018-19, but a disjointed training camp, Fox’s ankle injury and Walton’s emphasis on half-court execution contributed to a dramatic slowdown at the start of the 2019-20 season.
A preseason trip to India cut into training camp time and might have prevented the
Kings from achieving the level of fitness and conditioning needed to run at full speed. They have an opportunity to correct that starting Wednesday when mandatory individual workouts begin and the number of players allowed in the facility at one time under COVID-19 protocols increases from four to eight. The Kings have a week to prepare for their trip to Florida, where they will hold a three-week training camp before restarting the season against the San Antonio Spurs on July 31.
The Kings (28-36) were 23rd in the NBA in pace over the first 64 games, but they were turning up the tempo and racing into playoff contention when the season was suspended March 11 due to the pandemic. The Kings went 13-7 in their last 20 games and 7-3 in
their last 10. During the latter stretch, they were 13th in the NBA in pace, fifth in 3-point shooting, eighth in offensive rating, 10th in defensive rating and eighth in net rating, all marks of a playoff team.
The Kings got within 3 1/2 games of the Memphis Grizzlies for the eighth spot in the West before the coronavirus shutdown. They are in a virtual threeway tie for ninth, percentage points behind the Portland Trail Blazers and even with the New Orleans Pelicans. The most likely path to the playoffs would require to the Kings to win at least one more game than the Blazers and Pelicans and then beat the Grizzlies two days in a row under a play-in scenario for the No. 8 seed. Even then, the Kings might have to beat the Pelicans twice in seeding games to make sure they hold the tiebreaker.
Many seem to think the Kings will have to go 6-2 to reach the play-in games, but 5-3 might be good enough if the Kings beat the Pelicans twice and the Blazers fail to win more than four games.
Walton discussed his team’s improved play during a conference call with reporters April 22, saying he liked what he saw while reviewing recent game film in the early stages of the shutdown.
“We were really starting to play some consistent basketball, playing and defending and playing the way we really wanted to,” Walton said. “Guys were really understanding each other and knowing, playing, and feeding off each other. You could see it in these games.”
Walton specifically highlighted Fox’s spectacular play at point guard, Buddy Hield’s hot streak and the effectiveness of small-ball lineups with Harrison Barnes at power forward.
“There was some really exciting stuff to continue to build on,” Walton said. “And there were some things that I wanted to try more: 5-out action with some of our smaller lineups that we were getting to; having De’Aaron back and having him play at the level that he was playing at; running more of the pistol action and continue to give Harrison more looks at the four. Some little things like that have been exciting to go back and watch.”
Over the last 15 games, the Kings were second in the NBA in 3-point shooting at 39.5 percent. Hield was bombarding the opposition, shooting 46.9 percent from beyond the arc during that stretch after winning the 3-Point Contest at All-Star Weekend.
“The big difference I think as the season went on, we started to get a better feel for the type of 3point shots we wanted, not just about shooting a lot of 3s,” Walton said. “We wanted to continue to attack the paint, continue to get inside, and then kick the ball out for 3s . ... By the end of the stretch we were at, we were shooting the lights out and it was pretty much every single night.”
Walton’s remarks might give fans a glimpse into his plans for the restart, but some strategic thought should be given to the unique format, compact timeline and all-or-nothing nature of the opportunity in front of the Kings. Walton won’t abandon attention to detail when it comes to half-court execution and defense, but he should recognize the opportunity to gain a competitive advantage if his team can outrun flatfooted opponents following a long layoff.
The Kings’ upcoming schedule:
July 31 vs. Spurs, 5 p.m. (NBCS)
Aug. 2 vs. Magic, 3 p.m. (NBCS, NBA TV)
Aug. 4 vs. Mavericks, 11:30 a.m. (NBCS)
Aug. 6 vs. Pelicans, 10:30 a.m. (NBCS, NBA TV)
Aug. 7 vs. Nets, 2 p.m. (NBCS)
Aug. 9 vs. Rockets, 5 p.m. (NBCS)
Aug. 11 vs. Pelicans, 6 p.m. (NBCS, TNT)
Aug. 13 vs. Lakers, TBD (NBCS)