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Knicks at Kings: How & Who to Watch As Western Tour Begins

The New York Knicks will look to start a new winning streak against the Sacramento Kings, who are inching toward ending one of the NBA's most dubious playoff streaks.

Geoff Magliocchetti

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The lights went out on the New York Knicks' nine-game winning streak on Tuesday night. Now, they'll have to force a blackout if they're going to start another.

New York will try to prevent the Sacramento Kings from "Lighting the Beam" on Thursday night as the two breakout squads do nationally televised battle on Thursday night in California's capital. It'll mark the start of a four-game road trip for the Knicks, who also pass through a Los Angeles double over the weekend before things wrap up in the Pacific Northwest on Tuesday. 

Sacramento, seeking to end a 17-year playoff drought (the longest in the so-called "Big Four" North American major sports leagues), has moved into second place in the Western Conference as victors of six of their past seven. That includes a 123-108 win over New Orleans on Monday, a win earned without All-Star De'Aaron Fox, who was held out for precautionary reasons. The Knicks didn't fare as well without their own star point guard, seeing their aforementioned victorious trek come to an end with a Jalen Brunson-free loss to Charlotte. 

This will wrap the annual two-game interconference series between the Knicks and Kings this season. New York is looking for consecutive sweeps for the first time since 1993-95, as they won the first meeting by a 112-99 final at Madison Square Garden back in December.

What: New York Knicks (39-28) @ Sacramento Kings (38-26)

Where: Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, CA

When/Watch: Thursday, 10 p.m. ET, TNT

Who's Favored: SAC -3.5

Keep An Eye On: RJ Barrett

Tuesday's game against Charlotte was perhaps a subtle personification of Barrett's fourth season in blue and orange: with Brunson out and Julius Randle struggling, he put the Knicks on a strong peace in the early going, scoring 17 points in the opening frame. He struggled the rest of the way, however, going 4-of-15 in the second half and missing all but one of his final dozen attempts after the Hornets hunkered down on the pick-and-roll attacks. 

Such rollercoaster efforts have defined Barrett's season, one earned when the Knicks did their utmost to keep him away from Utah's trade requests for Donovan Mitchell disguised as a ransom note. Bursts of being worthy of full-on offensive and defensive duties have lingered but Barrett has struggled to gain any long-term consistency. 

The Knicks are far better off keeping Barrett (and others) in lieu of unnecessarily hitting fast forward on the franchise timeline to bring in Mitchell. But he has to start proving why he was deemed worthy of staying for the apparent good times in the first place. If they opt to keep sitting the relatively ailing Brunson, there might be no better time for him to get rolling.

King to Watch: Kevin Huerter

Perhaps no one was more pleased about Kyden Randle's prescience at the most recent 3-Point Contest than Huerter: the youngster's humorous, if not horrified, reaction to his father's impromptu showing at the All-Star Saturday event perhaps the fact that it was Huerter that came in last. 

Even if Randle was the target of memes in the aftermath, Huerter apparently hasn't forgotten his shortcomings in Salt Lake City, as he has been on a total tear since he got back. He has sunk a dozen triples over the last two games and notably led the Kings in scoring with Fox out on Monday, sinking 6-of-10 from deep.

A formidable challenge awaits Huerter when the Knicks comes to visit: New York has let up nearly 13 triples a game, the fifth-worst rate in the Association, but has made opponents work for them with a success rate of 34.7 percent, the fifth-best in direct contrast.

Prediction

The Knicks have insisted that fatigue is not a factor, but a dangerous quest awaits: New York will be three games over the next 96-plus hours and Brunson is still working off the effects of a foot injury sustained in Miami last Friday. By all means, the Knicks should be able to muster at least a 2-2 mark in the miles-racking quartet, but asking them to start it off with a win against the regally hot Kings seems like a little much.

Kings 107, Knicks 101

Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags

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Geoff Magliocchetti
GEOFF MAGLIOCCHETTI

Editor-In-Chief at All Knicks

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