The Sacramento Kings (3-8) head to Madison Square for a Saturday night showdown against the New York Knicks (6-5).
After a miserable 1-8 start, the Kings have now won two straight. On Thursday, they defeated the Philadelphia 76ers by the score of 109-108 on De’Aaron Fox’s game-winning jumper with 14 seconds left.
The Knicks entered Wednesday’s game against the Orlando Magic winners of six of their last seven, but they knew it would be a difficult game once it was announced Kristaps Porzingis would not be playing. New York ended up falling by the score of 112-99.
Projected starting lineups
Kings: PG - George Hill, SG - Garrett Temple, SF - Bogdan Bogdanovic, PF - Zach Randolph, C - Willie Cauley-Stein
Knicks: PG - Jarrett Jack, SG - Tim Hardaway Jr., SF - Courtney Lee, PF - Kristaps Porzingis, C - Enes Kanter
Team stat leaders
Kings: Scoring - Zach Randolph 13.6, Rebounding - Kosta Koufos - 6.5, Assists - De’Aaron Fox 5.5
Knicks: Scoring - Kristaps Porzingis 30.0, Rebounding - Enes Kanter 10.4, Assists - Jarrett Jack 5.4
Injury report
Kings: Out - Harry Giles (knee), Questionable - Vince Carter (kidney stones)
Knicks: Out - Joakim Noah (suspension), Questionable - Ron Baker (ankle), Probable - Kristaps Porzingis (ankle, elbow)
What Knicks fans should know and watch for
New York has won three straight at home and is currently 5-2 at Madison Square Garden this season.
While it is still very early, the Knicks haven’t had a winning record at home since 2012-13 which is also the last time they made the playoffs.
The Kings have played with one of the slowest paces in the league to start the season and as of Friday, they rank second-to-last averaging only 95.2 points per game. They also attempt the least threes per game at 21.7 and have lost five straight away games since winning their road opener against the Dallas Mavericks.
Despite the Knicks playing improved basketball, the turnover has been a bit of a bugaboo for them this season. Their 16.9 turnovers per game through 11 outings are three more than they averaged last season. It was a major issue in Wednesday’s game as they turned the ball over 23 times which led to 29 Magic points. Jarrett Jack had six turnovers in that loss after only turning it over eight times in his first seven starts.
History of Kings/Knicks
The Kings and Knicks have met 296 times in the regular season with the Kings holding a 153-143 edge in the win column. New York has won 34 games compared to the Kings’ 29 since they moved to Sacramento starting in the 1985-86 season.
The Knicks swept the two-game series last season, but previous to that Sacramento had won four straight in the head-to-head matchup. DeMarcus Cousins went off in the two games despite losing, as he averaged 32 points and 12.5 rebounds. Luckily for the Knicks, he is no longer on their team.
