Inside The Kings

Kings-Suns Matchup of the Game: Just Find a Way to Win

In the final regular season game of the season, the Sacramento Kings need to find anyway to win against the shorthanded Phoenix Suns.

Will Zimmerle

Apr 11, 2025; Sacramento, California, USA; Sacramento Kings forward Domantas Sabonis (11) during the fourth quarter against the Los Angeles Clippers at Golden 1 Center. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images
Apr 11, 2025; Sacramento, California, USA; Sacramento Kings forward Domantas Sabonis (11) during the fourth quarter against the Los Angeles Clippers at Golden 1 Center. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images / Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images
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It's not win or go home, but it's win or possibly go to Dallas for the Sacramento Kings in their final game of the regular season. With the Phoenix Suns missing all of their stars, the matchup of the game almost gets thrown out the window in the season finale.

The Kings would host the first Play-In tournament matchup with either a win or Mavericks loss, but with Dallas' opponent, the Memphis Grizzlies, resting their stars as well, the Kings would be better to take matters into their own hands.

The good news for Sacramento is that they are relatively healthy. Malik Monk and Jake LaRavia are out, but getting Keegan Murray back is a huge boost for a team lacking wing depth.

The other benefit of the Suns resting their key players is that between Domantas Sabonis, DeMar DeRozan, and Zach LaVine, the Kings have arguably the three best players that will step on the court today.

Losing home-court advantage to Devin Booker and Bradley Beal is one thing, but losing to Tyus Jones and Mason Plumlee would sting and hinder momentum going into the postseason for the Kings.

Jones lit up the Kings the last time these two teams faced off, scoring 20 points on a perfect 6-of-6 from beyond the arc. Jones is much easier to slow down when he's the main focus of the defense than when he's working off of the Suns' stars.

For the Kings, expect a high volume of shots between DeRozan and LaVine. In the last seven games, the duo has combined for an average of 41.3 field goal attempts per contest, with DeRozan attempting 21.4 and LaVine 19.9.

That's almost half of the Kings' shots over the stretch, as they are averaging 89.7 shots per contest.
You can throw in Sabonis' 14.4 field goal attempts per game and 62% of the Kings' field goal attempts are coming from the three All-Stars,

The Kings end of the season formula seems clear. Play hard on defense and let the stars do the work.

It's a solid strategy at this juncture of the season. It's possible that we see a Keon Ellis or Murray explosion from three, or a sneaky game from Jonas Valančiūnas, but it feels like the game will start and end with the stars.

This feels like an easy win for the Kings, but after a season filled with uncertainty, no one would be surprised if the Kings let this one slip and had to travel to Dallas. Securing the ninth seed and hosting the first game of the play-in tournament wasn't the goal heading into the season, but missing that mark today would be a huge disappointment after a season filled with ups and downs.

Expect the Kings to come out aggressive and energized in the season finale, but don't be surprised if they don't.

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Will Zimmerle
WILL ZIMMERLE

Will Zimmerle is a staff writer covering the Sacramento Kings.

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