LA’s other, other, other team is in town today and after a vengeful fourth-quarter drubbing from Aubrey Graham’s traveling sportswear models, Sacramento will look to quench the unquenchable: a thirst for wins, especially against a Clippers team that trying to keep his head above water. With Kawhi Leonard out and James Harden healthy, the Clippers are vulnerable and if the Kings are serious about being one of the best teams in a stacked Western Conference, they will have to take into account every advantage presented to them . Can the Kings snap a second three-game win streak before the 10-game mark is up? Will that Raptors fourth quarter be the spark in the powder keg for the Kings to come? Can someone please tell me what the hell Norman Powell is doing this season?

Let’s talk Kings basketball.

When: Friday, November 8, 7:00 PM PST
Where: Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, CA
TV: NBCSCA – Mark Jones (play-by-play)
Radio: Sactown Sports 1140am

For your consideration

…It’s Powell you finish: Yes, we’re going to jump right into thinking about the meaning of life as we stare at the subconscious that comes from staring at Norman Powell’s statistics for too long. Simply put, Stormin’ Norman is about to start the season. This guy is a ten-year vet, career averages of 12.5 points per game, averaged 13.9 points in 76 appearances with the Clippers off the bench last season and 17.0 points in 60 appearances the season before. He is one of the better options off the bench in the league. I won’t deny him that. He’s also a celebrity and at 31, his best basketball days are now here. The milk is definitely not old, but use it in the coming days, otherwise your housemates will ask questions.

So conventional wisdom would say that Norman Powell shouldn’t average 25 per game over eight games this season. Yes, with Paul George abandoning ship and Kawhi playing a game of Operation with the salad tongs, Norm should get more minutes – 7.2 to be exact. But this man is taking a fraction of under seventeen shots per game, three more than his career high. He’s hitting them at a 53.0% clip, 6.9% higher than that career high, all while knocking down 8.5 threes per game at a 48.5% rate on top. The man is the leading scorer on a team with James Harden, a healthy James Harden, a James Harden who now has a greener light than literally any stop since he was traded to Houston. In the wake of the Leonard injury and the opening of the fifteen trillion dollar Intuit Dome, Steve Ballmer certainly wants to win as many games as possible and that’s good for Steve, good for Harden’s agenda, but… who has this piece of eight games under Powell’s fire? ass?

Is it short-lived? Um probably. Regression to the mean, Harden getting jealous, Kawhi coming back – there are so many things you can expect that will drag Powell back down to earth. But for now, I can’t say I don’t enjoy seeing a roleplayer explode like this, even if the brightness is doomed to be more flash than fire.

As for the rest of these Clippers, they’re staying afloat to start this season. They are the third slowest paced, seventh in defensive rating, and hold opponents to the fourth lowest scoring average in the league. They hold their opponents to the lowest number of two-point attempts per game and rank in the top ten in steals, while ranking in the low third in blocked shots. This team isn’t an atomic bomb, it’s a noose. They try to set the pace, they take advantage of the turnover and they slowly choke the life out of you, mistake after mistake. On offense, they rank seventh-lowest on the season, have the twentieth-best offensive rating, and when they shoot, they hover just above or below league average in three points and two points, respectively. If you think Harden’s dirty merchant routine has rubbed off on the rest of his LA teammates, that’s not the case. They rank in the bottom third of free throw attempts and are the third worst at three-point attempts. What about Harden’s passing? Yes! They’re 13th in assists, but 29th in turnovers, so Harden certainly scores well there.

Speaking of James, I can’t say he’s struggling to start the year. He’s averaging 20.8 points, 9.4 assists and 8.1 rebounds, along with 1.8 steals and 1.3 blocks, so he’s still a top player in the league, but he’s not quite the Harden from yesteryear. Harden is shooting 37.6% from the field and 28.4% from deep, but still shooting at Harden levels. He just hasn’t adapted to being Houston Harden for a team that would absolutely love to see this guy appear this season.

The Clippers are a good team. Don’t let one injury here determine your expectations for the season. They might fall off a cliff at some point, but for now they’re a .500 team, with guys who can score, rebound and play Ty Lue defense. They are a good mix of youth, athleticism and toughness and the moment you think about the Kings Cake Walk tonight is the moment when the rope goes taut and they snap the rope tight around their necks.

The small stuff

DeRoz to DeTop: Congratulations to Deebo for completing Chris Webber’s streak of 20 point games to start a Kings career. It’s only eight games and there’s still a lot of basketball to be fought for, but every time you break a record that Webber held in Sacramento, you’re doing something right. This is to continue to prove the talking heads wrong.

Prediction

Zubac and Sabonis both end up tonight with pronounced tiger scratches on their arms, one from Derrick Jones Jr. or Kai Jones catches an ESPN Top 10 worthy body tonight, and the match is close late with Harden pulling a Harden at a critical moment that allowed the Kings to close it out.

Kings: 108, Clippers: 104