The Sacramento Kings have averaged 140.5 points in their past two games and 127.2 points over their past five games.
The New Orleans Pelicans have allowed an average of 122 points in their past four games.
The potential for lighting up the scoreboard will be high when the Kings visit the Pelicans on Thursday night.
The Kings rolled to a 141-97 victory against the Utah Jazz on Sunday after posing a 140-113 win at San Antonio two days earlier.
“The ball was touching the paint and getting sprayed,” Sacramento coach Mike Brown said of the Sunday game. “We were spacing correctly. We were getting off the glass and running, and we didn’t get bored with it. And that’s why the game resulted in what it did.”
Perhaps the most eye-opening statistic was that Sacramento made 22 of 44 3-point attempts, with Doug McDermott and Kevin Huerter each making six long-range shots off the bench.
Brown said he hoped “the story isn’t about making threes.”
“I hope the story is about how we played defensively,” he added. “Our guys did a hell of a job defensively for 48 minutes, and whether you make threes or you miss threes, if you bring an effort like that, especially on the defensive end of the floor, and you try to get out and run, you’re going to find a way to win.
“We didn’t change anything when it came to making the threes. We’re telling them the same thing. Touch the paint and spray it … and if somebody closes out to you, then drive, kick, swing … and if you’re open, shoot it.”
The Pelicans have averaged 115.8 points in their past four games, but they lost three times in that span because their defense has been lacking. They also have lost 11 of their past 12.
“We’ve got to guard the ball better,” coach Willie Green said. “We’ve got to keep teams out of our paint. We’ve got to do better in transition. We haven’t been good in those areas.”
Green is trying to take advantage of practices during an unusually light schedule amid the NBA Cup to focus on weaknesses.
“It’s almost like a training camp for us,” he said.
Both teams will have had three days off ahead of the Thursday matchup. Each team then plays again only once more before Dec. 19.
“It’s great for us in the sense that we got a day off to fill our cup, rest, recover,” Green said. “We had two high-level, detailed practices. It allows you to take a step back and look at some of our concepts that we’re doing well and areas that we can improve in and try to pick some of those to go work on the floor and work on.”
While Brown is trying to downplay the Kings’ 3-point shooting success, Green is trying to get the Pelicans to embrace long-range shooting more. He said the squad’s 13-of-38 performance from behind arc in a 121-116 loss at San Antonio on Sunday was “closer” to his goal of taking 40 “quality threes.”
Trey Murphy III led the way for New Orleans with four 3-point buckets and 25 points.
New Orleans won all five matchups against Sacramento last season. The teams will face off three more times in February.
–Field Level Media
