Preview: Spurs at Kings
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[October 27, 2016]
The San Antonio Spurs opened the
season by annihilating the Golden State Warriors and now will
partake in the first game of the Sacramento Kings' new arena.
Thursday marks the first NBA contest inside the Golden 1 Center, a
17,500-seat facility in downtown Sacramento.
The Kings will be looking for a 2-0 start after pounding the Phoenix
Suns 113-94 on Wednesday in Dave Joerger's debut as coach. San
Antonio looked superb during its season-opening 129-100 trouncing of
Golden State on Tuesday. Small forward Kawhi Leonard led the way
with a career-best 35 points and last season's MVP runner-up looked
in midseason form. "He basically tells me what he wants to do now,"
Popovich told reporters of Leonard. “He'll take the ball. He'll send
the screener away. He'll decide if he wants to go one-on-one with no
screen, no pick. He is much more demonstrative, looks for his shots
more. He knows he has a green light. I think that's the difference."
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TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, FSN Southwest (San Antonio), CSN California
(Sacramento)
ABOUT THE SPURS (1-0): Power forward LaMarcus Aldridge has heard all
the chatter about how he doesn't fit in but he thrived in the opener
with 26 points and 14 rebounds. "It's just one game," Aldridge said
afterward. "We didn't win a championship or anything like that. It
was about getting better. It was a nice start for us." San Antonio
received a surprise breakthrough performance from reserve shooting
guard Jonathon Simmons, who scored a career-best 20 points off the
bench.
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ABOUT THE KINGS (1-0): Sacramento built a 19-point halftime lead and
was never threatened while throttling Phoenix in the opener.
All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins scored 24 points and small forward
Rudy Gay added 22 to provide the offense while Gay had four of the
Kings' five blocked shots. Ty Lawson is filling in as the starting
point guard with Darren Collison serving an eight-game suspension
for a domestic violence incident and Lawson had nine points and
seven assists against two turnovers against the Suns.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Spurs went 3-0 against the Kings last season and have won the
past six meetings.
2. Veteran SF Matt Barnes, a Sacramento native, had 14 points and
seven rebounds off the bench in his Kings' debut.
3. C Pau Gasol had just two points in 18 minutes against Golden
State in his San Antonio debut.
PREDICTION: Spurs 106, Kings 104
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