Preview: Spurs at Kings

[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."

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.

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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