Sacramento Kings: Game 44 Preview at the Detroit Pistons

By Fansided and Tyler Watts/FanSided via A Royal Pain
Published

Jan 10, 2017; Sacramento, CA, USA; Detroit Pistons center Andre Drummond (0) fouls Sacramento Kings forward DeMarcus Cousins (15) during the fourth quarter at Golden 1 Center. The Sacramento Kings defeated the Detroit Pistons 100-94. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

The Sacramento Kings travel to take on the Detroit Pistons on January 23, 2017.  This article provides a preview of that game from a Kings’ perspective.

The Sacramento Kings face game three of an eight-game road trip against the Detroit Pistons on Monday.  This is the second and final meetings between the teams this season.  The Kings held serve at home and defeated the Pistons 100-94 on January 10th of this year.  Below is a highlight video from that game to refresh your memory on what happened.

Without further ado, below is the preview of tonight’s game between the Sacramento Kings and the Detroit Pistons.

Injuries

Sacramento Kings

The Sacramento Kings have two players listed on their injury report heading into tonight’s contest.  Both players are listed as out for the game.  Rudy Gay is scheduled for Achilles surgery on Monday and will miss the remainder of the season.  Omri Casspi will not be ready for tonight’s contest but could be back from his calf injury at some point this week.

The Kings appear to be healthy other than those two players, so no major rotation shakeups due to injury should occur tonight.

Detroit Pistons

The Detroit Pistons have two players listed as questionable for tonight’s game.  Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Michael Gbinije are both fifty-fifty to suit up in this contest.  Caldwell-Pope has a left shoulder injury and he practiced on Sunday which could mean he is ready for tonight’s game.  Gbinije has a forearm injury and no updates have been reported on the injury recently.

Stay Alert

Please check twitter or tune into the pregame show to get all of the up to the minute information you need to before tonight’s game gets underway.

Jan 10, 2017; Sacramento, CA, USA; Sacramento Kings guard Darren Collison (7) controls the ball as Detroit Pistons guard Reggie Jackson (1) defends during the first quarter at Golden 1 Center. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

Detroit Pistons’ Scouting Report

The Detroit Pistons enter tonight’s game with a record of 21 wins and 24 losses.  That positions them 9th in the Eastern Conference and just 1 game behind the Chicago Bulls for a playoff berth.

The Pistons appear to be hitting their stride recently.  They have won 3 straight games by a combined 29 points.

They have also won 3 straight home contests and have won a combined 12 of their 21 home games this season.

Last time out, the Detroit Pistons defeated the Washington Wizards by a score of 113-112 on Saturday.  It was a battle between the Morris brothers with Marcus hitting the game winner for the Pistons.  Below is a highlight video from that game to give you a glimpse at the Pistons most recent form.

Detroit Pistons point guard Reggie Jackson has been a man with much speculation surrounding him so far this season.  Jackson started the year off with a sprained knee and missed the team’s first 21 games.  Since returning, Jackson has slowly rounded into form but has seen his name pop up in numerous trade rumors.  I won’t bog you down with links or articles to the rumors because most likely none of that will come to fruition.

The Pistons have a special 26-year-old point guard in Reggie Jackson and they need to realize that true starting point guards are not easy to find.  Unless the trade for Jackson nets them another starting point guard, the Pistons are probably better served to keep Jackson and continue their playoff push with him manning the point.

Jan 10, 2017; Sacramento, CA, USA; Sacramento Kings forward DeMarcus Cousins (15) keeps the ball in play against Detroit Pistons center Andre Drummond (0) during the second quarter at Golden 1 Center. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

What to Watch for Tonight

Cousins versus Drummond

The Kings started with Anthony Tolliver at the four and DeMarcus Cousins at the five in the first meeting to ensure this matchup played itself out.  I would not be surprised if the Kings followed suit tonight because Drummond did not have his best game save the 7 blocks he recorded and Cousins played well despite having his minutes slightly limited by fouls.

In 30 minutes in that meeting, Cousins managed to record 24 points, 13 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 three-pointers made, 1 steal, and 1 block.  He was also a plus 7 in the plus/minus category.  Clearly, it was a good showing for Boogie and I expect him to play an even bigger role tonight without Rudy Gay in the fold.

If you want to see the statistical line I predicted for DeMarcus Cousins or any other Kings’ player then check out my predicting the box score column found here.  It is a fast, informative, and a heavily researched column about this game, so please give it a look.  Thank you.

Playing Some Young Blood

More from A Royal Pain

    Coach Dave Joerger has finally reintroduced some of the Kings’ young talent back into the rotation.  Willie Cauley-Stein has seen minutes in each of the last 5 King’s games and Malachi Richardson has played minutes in both games since the Rudy Gay injury.  Both players have only seen limited minutes with the maximum being Cauley-Stein’s 13 minutes against the Bulls.

    I am monitoring this trend going forward.  Will Coach Joerger stick with playing the youngsters even if it is just the end of the bench minutes?  Will Coach play them more as the season progresses?

    Coach Joerger is always a difficult man to predict when it comes to his rotations, but I will be monitoring what he does going forward with the young players.

    Breaking the Losing Streaks

    The Sacramento Kings have numerous losing streaks they are looking to break tonight.  They have lost 5 straight games and 2 straight road games.  They Pistons have also defeated the Kings 6 straight games in Detroit.  According to Land of Basketball, the Kings have not been victorious in Detroit since February 10, 2010.  It has been almost 7 full years since a Kings’ victory in Detroit.

    The Kings will need to play mistake-free basketball tonight and bring the same energy and intensity they brought against the Bulls on Saturday to walk away victorious tonight.  Here is to hoping the Kings can make it happen and end all of those losing streaks tonight.

    Jan 10, 2017; Sacramento, CA, USA; Sacramento Kings guard Ty Lawson (10) drives in against Detroit Pistons guard Ish Smith (14) during the third quarter at Golden 1 Center. The Sacramento Kings defeated the Detroit Pistons 100-94. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

    Summary

    There you have it, my game preview of the contest between the Sacramento Kings and the Detroit Pistons.  The Pistons look to be trending up and the Kings trending down, but that is typically when the Kings come out and snatch a victory.  Let us hope the trend continues tonight in Detroit.

    Be sure to check back to A Royal Pain for postgame content and any information you desire about the Sacramento Kings this season.  Thank you for reading.