By Sean Kennedy
Like a drunken crime-solving philosopher once put it, much like a Tony Wroten jump shot, time is a flat circle. Just four days after having perhaps their best remaining opportunity for a win against Utah, the Sixers find themselves in a similar situation when they go after not a yellow king, but a group of purple ones, as they host Sacramento. Not only are the Kings currently in a three-way tie with the Jazz and Lakers for last place in the Western Conference, they’re also smack dab in the middle of a seven-game road trip. Sacramento won just 1 of their first four games on the trip, against the lowly Bucks, and also played last night in a loss to the Pistons. Just as with the Jazz, the Sixers are facing a below-average opponent with the schedule entirely in their favor; these are the games they have to seize if they’re going to avoid a historically embarrassing losing streak.
There was initially a lot of talk surrounding the improvement of the Kings following the acquisition of Rudy Gay from Toronto, however, the team has gone just 16-28 since Gay first took the court for them. That’s not to say Gay hasn’t played better in Sacramento, as he’s averaged 20.6 ppg on 49.4% shooting (a mark that would be a career-high if over the course of a full season). With DeMarcus Cousins averaging over 22 points and close to 12 rebounds despite leading the league with 15 technical fouls, the Kings have a pair of offensive weapons difficult for any team to deal with on the defensive end. The Sixers’ biggest challenge will be containing an excellent offensive rebounding team in the Kings, especially Cousins who grabs over 3 per game. Sacramento also started Reggie Evans at power forward last game, and although nothing says developing young talent like playing a 33-year-old you acquired as part of a deal to get rid of Marcus Thornton’s odious contract, Evans will still provide an added difficulty on the boards.
One thing in Philadelphia’s favor is that Sacramento is the 4th-worst three-point shooting team in the league, as well as being down near the Sixers as one of the worst shooting teams overall. Point guard Isaiah Thomas is the only player shooting the long ball at even a league-average rate (and he’s at just 35%). The Sixers should be able to pack the paint to contain Cousins with some success, although we’ve seen all too often this season how their rotational failures have come back to bite them anyway. Sacramento also tends to foul a lot, especially Cousins (averaging close to 4 fouls per game), who tends to reach defensively rather than moving his feet to work for solid defensive positioning. With Carter-Williams and Tony Wroten attacking the rim with great aplomb of late, they should earn plenty of trips to the charity stripe, hopefully earning Cousins an early trip to the bench in the process. The oddsmakers have the Sixers as only single-digit underdogs, which relatively speaking is a modest miracle. The Kings are ripe to be dethroned; will the Sixers grab the crown?
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