Sacramento Kings head to Chicago to face the Bulls
The Sacramento Kings travel to Chicago, where they face the equally struggling Bulls. There’s plenty to discuss going into this game so read on!
The Sacramento Kings, 6-15, will face the 3-16 Chicago Bulls in Chicago on Friday in a match-up of two of the most-struggling teams in the league this season.
The Bulls have lost six straight after their 104-99 loss to the Phoenix Suns, while the Kings are coming off a 112-87 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks.
Here are the preview points for Fridays game:
The Play of Lauri Markkanen
There’s no doubt the rookie Laurki Markkanen has struggled these past few games. Although he has scored the teams most points this season with 271, he’s currently facing a rookie slump. To put it in statistics, the last five games have seen Markkanen average 10.6 points while shooting 25.4 percent from the field. His three-point field goal percentage is at 34 percent on the season, but during the last five games, he is shooting the three ball at only 28 percent. In the Bulls previous game, Markkanen was only 3-11 from three and 1-4 from two.
He’s been one of the few bright spots on a Chicago team that has only managed three wins out of 19 games. If the Bulls want a shot at their fourth win of the season, Markkanen needs to get his head back in the game.
Kris Dunn
A player who has been largely inconsistent this season, Kris Dunn has displayed all of the abilities to become a big player in this league. However, he needs to find some consistency. He’s been a valuable asset to this team, averaging 11.5 points, 4.1 assists and 4.7 rebounds per game.
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Not to forget, he is also shooting 41 percent from deep. He will be playing a Kings’ team filled with guards who were absolutely horrific in their last game. George Hill, De’Aaron Fox and Frank Mason were all struggling against the Bucks so this is a prime opportunity for Dunn to have another solid outing.
He scored a personal best of 25 points in their loss to the Suns.
Kings Point Guards
After they all played great against the Golden State Warriors, the trio of Hill, Fox and Mason ran out of gas against the Bucks the last time out. They shot a combined 5-of-21 from the field and displayed little effort.
The play of this trio needs a major bounce back against a bad Bulls team, especially Fox. He shot just 2-of-10 in the last game with only one rebound and two assists and could use a major game here to get back on track.
However these guys shouldn’t be the only ones that will run the point.
The Shining Duo
One of the funnest things us Kings fans have been delighted to see is the amazing chemistry between rookie Bogdan Bogdanovic and big man Willie Cauley-Stein. It seems as if every game they have had together features an explosive play on offense, especially with those lobs.
Their connection really took off against the Lakers at home but against a Bulls team that really only has Robin Lopez as a threat to contain Cauley-Stein, the Kings should attack heavily with this duo.
Next: Kings Knock Off the Warriors
Not to forget, these two have the same exact birthdays of August 18th!
Prediction: The Kings just beat the Warriors on the road, so they should be able to beat the Bulls by a score of 105-95.