Los Angeles Lakers vs Sacramento Kings: The Goddess of Defense is crying…

As the title suggests, this is a meeting of two teams who are weak defensively and allow opponents to breach 110-125 points regularly. Here, the Los Angeles Lakers tackle the Sacramento Kings in an inter-conference classic showdown. For a quick overview, head to the “Notes” section.

Their defense struggles a lot: Multiple teams have scored 120 points over this Kings team. Their defense is as bad as teams like the Grizzlies, Lakers, Hornets, etc. and that has been the case for some years. The Kings allow opponents to run through them and engage in a shootout scenario far too often. Their defensive rebounding has let them down and the opponent shave pounced on 11.9 rebounds a game, which is the second-worst in the league. Truth is that they are getting outhustled on the floor during most games.

The frontline is suspect except Barnes-Holmes: The duo of Barnes and Holmes fetch around 35 points and 20 rebounds on most nights. Outside of them, Metu is a fine player but hasn’t filled the frontline well and Marvin Bagley III has recently received significant minutes after lingering on the bench for too long. The frontline has some issues and guard Fox has also struggled from three, shooting below or around 25% many times from there. The team has two talented guards up-front and off the bench as well, but the team has not achieved cohesion yet.

Leaky pot: Lakers allow even poor offensive teams a lot of points. The Pistons have scored both 105+ and 110+ against them, heck even a poor offensive team like Thunder who struggled to get shots in has poured in as much as 120+. The Lakers are not defending well have wasted their favorable schedule, where they played teams with losing records quite often. However, they have lost to Kings and Oklahoma City due to their poor defense. Can the team at least make sure they don’t get taken away for 30 points in a quarter regularly?

Overdependency on LeBron: Lakers have played terribly without LeBron, losing around ⅔ games without him. When he plays, the team is more coordinated, there are fewer errors on both ends, but with him fighting the abdomen injury, the Lakers have embarrassed themselves. With Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook bringing so much offense to the floor, the Lakers should not have been 11-11 right now, they should at least have been 14-8 or something. The team needs to bring some defense at the perimeter and use its wide talent pool better. Is Frank Vogel’s time as a coach running short?

Here are some quick hitters related to the game:

• Lakers have 7 wins and 4 losses with LeBron in the lineup. They have lost 7 games and have won just 4 games without him. It is literally a reversed situation. He is questionable for this game due to an abdomen issue;
• The Lakers are 3-5 away from home;
• Opponents have scored 128, 137(3 OT), 121, 102, 123, in the last five games versus the Kings;
• Lakers have allowed 106, 141(3 OT), 116, 106, 116 in the last five games;
• Kings have scored 101, 141(3 OT), 125, 94, 105 in the last five games;
• Lakers have scored 110, 137(3 OT), 124, 100, 121 in the last five games;
• Sacramento Kings beat the Los Angeles Lakers 141:137 in the triple-overtime meeting just a few days ago;
• Russell Westbrook has breached the 20 points in each of his last five games. He is averaging around 26 points, 9 assists, and 9 rebounds per game for the last five games. He has shot better than 47% in four of those games;
• For Kings, Fox has averaged around 20 while Buddy Hield has chipped in with 16-22 points consistently;
• For the Lakers, Avery Bradley is questionable for the game while Anthony Davis is probable. Kendrick Nunn and Trevor Ariza are out indefinitely;
• These are two of the worst two defensive teams, who average 110+ points allowed per game;
• Richuan Holmes may end up missing another game. Harrison Barnes is doubtful while Maurice Harkless is questionable.

Points Range: What can we say about the points range, two of the worst defenses are meeting, a fountain of points should be expected. However, the Kings may face some major scoring lapse here if Holmes and Barnes are out again. But with the Lakers, you have a chance to improve your averages on the scoring front. This can be one of those 230-245 points offensive galore. The points range that I predict here is 215-227.

Prediction: Feels like the Lakers are due for a win against the Kings after the triple-overtime loss. The prediction is for a Lakers to win the scoreline something like 118:106 in their favor.

• Total: Under 225.5 for 2.08;
• Player Points Milestone: Russell Westbrook: 25 for 3.00;
• Points Spread: Los Angeles Lakers -3.5 for 1.87.