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NBA action continues on Friday night with a matchup between the Sacramento Kings (17-12, 15-12 ATS) and the Atlanta Hawks (12-18, 7-23 ATS). Sacramento is currently 5th in the Western Conference, while the Hawks are back in 12th in the East. The Kings just lost a road matchup in Portland, going down 130-113 as 8.5-point road favorites. Atlanta is also coming off a home loss, losing to the Bulls in Chicago 118-113 as 2.5-point favorites. This is the first of two matchups between these teams this season. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 EST from the State Farm Arena in Atlanta.
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The Sacramento Kings are one of the better teams in the Western Conference, but recently hit a rough patch as they have lost three of their last four games. Sacramento lost home games to the Celtics and Blazers, and also dropped a game in Minnesota. Their one win in the stretch came against the surprisingly struggling Phoenix Suns. The recent losses were not due to injuries, as the Kings currently do not have any players listed on their injury report. In their last game, De'Aaron Fox had 43 points, but it was not enough to defeat the Blazers as they lost by 17.
Fox is 5th in the NBA in scoring at 30.2 PPG, while adding 6.1 APG and 4.6 RPG. He has had 20 or more points in each of the last six games, including two games where he went over 40. Fox continues to improve his outside shot, he is knocking down 3.4 threes per game on 39.6% shooting. Domantas Sabonis is a smart post player, he averages 19 .4 PPG and leads the team with 12.1 RPG and 7.4 APG. He has had a double-double in his last 12 games, including four triple-doubles. The two stars are surrounded by shooters on the perimeter, Keegan Murray is the top scorer out of them with 15.8 PPG, and the two other starters are Harrison Barnes (11.7 PPG) and Kevin Huerter (10.6 PPG).
Malik Monk is a big scorer off the bench, he leads the second unit with 14.0 PPG and often stays in during crunch time. Trey Lyles gets minutes off the bench as a stretch four adding 6.1 PPG. The Kings rank 10th in the NBA in offensive efficiency, and 22nd in defensive efficiency according to dunksandthrees.com. The Kings play at the 10th fastest tempo in the league based on their pace of play.
Injury Report: None listed