Sacramento Kings: Keys for the Kings to surge in the season’s second half

The Sacramento Kings enter the second half on the outside looking in on the playoff picture, so let’s take a look at how to maximize their chances.

The Sacramento Kings have just finished up their much-needed All-Star Break.  With guys out, there was a need for rest time for players to recover. Now that the break is over, the Kings look forward to battling for their playoff lives. The good news is they will get one of their injured players back, who they acquired in a recent deal for Dewayne Dedmon, Jabari Parker:

The bad news: Currently Richaun Holmes, Marvin Bagley, and Alex Len could all be out for the foreseeable future. Every game from this time point out is a must-win regardless of the opponent. In order for the Kings to start another winning streak, there are the things that the Kings must do to have a chance at victory in every game till the end of the season.

More from Hoops Habit

• 7 Players the Miami Heat might replace Herro with by the trade deadline
• Meet Cooper Flagg: The best American prospect since LeBron James
• Are the Miami Heat laying the groundwork for their next super team?
• Sophomore Jump: 5 second-year NBA players bound to breakout
• NBA Trades: The Lakers bolster their frontcourt in this deal with the Pacers

48 minutes of solid basketball

The Kings have struggled in games to play 48 minutes of solid basketball for a majority of games in the 2019-20 NBA Season, which is a part of the reason they have lost games. For example, during the 0-5 start at the beginning of the season, the majority of the Kings’ woes occurred in the 3rd quarter and the Kings were outscored 158-95 during this stretch.

Other times, the Kings’ woes occurred because of a bad start, or a bad finish. Whatever the case may be, the Sacramento Kings cannot have prolonged stretch of bad basketball, because losing a quarter by double digits can be tough to come back from and the Kings would have to play catch up basketball all game long.

This 48 minutes of solid basketball also require the Kings to finish out quarters strong. The Kings in some games did not finish out quarters and the other team ended up gaining momentum to take the lead or tie-up games, if the Kings want to finish the season strong, they have to have full 48 minutes of good play and focus.

Defense

The Kings have shown some signs of playing defense. The defense has shown up in wins against teams such as the Boston Celtics, Denver Nuggets, Portland Trail Blazers, Oklahoma City Thunder, and recently the Heat who have all been held under 100 points by the Kings this season. If the Kings want to be able to win down the stretch, then they have to show that they can compete on the defensive end, provide that energy and hustle.

Particularly what the Kings need to do on defense is to be able to guard the threes first as teams have transitioned to preferably shooting the three-ball. The Kings also need to be able to grab rebounds and not allow second-chance points, as this can be a way for teams to lose possessions when it is crucial to get the ball back. Once the Kings have eliminated these mistakes, it will not be as glaring as a hole allowing layup instead of warmup perimeter shots.

Ball movement

The Sacramento Kings do have the individual talent to compete and score, but if the Kings want to win they have to share the ball and not isolate players.

This has been a story all season with guys like Buddy Hield and Bogdan Bogdanovic wanting to isolate themselves. However, winning teams generally don’t resort to playing one-on-one basketball.

For example, teams that do share the ball, such as the Milwaukee Bucks, Memphis Grizzlies, Los Angeles Lakers, Nuggets, Philadelphia 76ers and Toronto Raptors all have winning records and are in the top 10 in assists, but one can make the case these are teams that are doing better than the Kings right now, and the Kings should improve the number of assists they get per game as they only rank 23rd with 23 assists per game.

Overall Thoughts

The Kings have a tough road down the stretch but can still do the impossible as they are mathematically still sit in a playoff race. The next 7 games can tell us if this is a real possibility but till then the Kings need to consider every single game a must win!

The Sacramento Kings have the last 14 out of 27 games at home, where they will need to take advantage as they will have the crowd behind them.