Kings Look To Avoid Dreadful Trend From 2023-24 Season

The Sacramento Kings struggled on back-to-backs last season, but aim to avoid that trend on Tuesday night against the Utah Jazz.

Oct 15, 2024; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Sacramento Kings forward Domantas Sabonis (11), forward Keegan Murray (13) and guard De'Aaron Fox (5) react to a play against the Utah Jazz during the second quarter at Delta Center. Mandatory Credit: Rob Gray-Imagn Images / Rob Gray-Imagn Images

After a home win against the Portland Trail Blazers, the Sacramento Kings head to face the Utah Jazz for their first game this season on zero days rest.

Games on the second nights of back-to-backs were a struggle early in the 2023-24 season and became a talking point after the Kings started the year 0-4 in such games. It didn’t help that all four losses were not close, starting with a 93-129 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans.

They followed that game up by losing 117-131 to the Los Angeles Clippers, 99-119 to the Clippers again, and 98-110 to the Minnesota Timberwolves on the second night of back-to-backs.

Each game followed the same trend of the Kings falling behind in the first half, with an average deficit of 17.3 points at halftime.

The Kings squeaked out a double-overtime win against the Orlando Magic in their fifth back-to-back game and finished the season 6-9 in such games, but avoiding the early season woes on nights with no rest would be a huge improvement in the loaded Western Conference.

Especially when going up against a winless team in the Utah Jazz, the Kings need to take care of business. That’s one of the things that bringing in six-time All-Star DeMar DeRozan should help with.

He’s a 16-year veteran who is as consistent as they come. We saw him almost single-handedly bring the Kings back into the game against the Los Angeles Lakers after they went on the 21-0 run, and scored 19 points in the first half last night against the Trail Blazers while the offense struggled.

If the Kings come out flat tonight, look for DeRozan to lead the way. But in an ideal world, Sacramento comes out hot as a team and takes care of business to change the trend from last season.

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