The similarities are too obvious to ignore. Sacramento, like Denver, has an unselfish center who is an expert passer. Sacramento, like Denver, has a point guard who can score from all three levels – in the paint, up the middle and from three. Sacramento, like Denver, has shooting all around the perimeter.
And Sacramento, like Denver, continues to beat the Lakers.
“It’s a top team, man,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said of the Kings on Tuesday. “The beautiful thing – well, losing to them is not beautiful – but when you experience a game against them or any other team that forces you to do something different, it allows you to add something to the war treasure. And allows you to improve in different areas.
There’s optimism ahead of the Lakers’ game in Sacramento against the Kings on Wednesday, as the defensive answers they’re looking for might at least be transferable to Denver.
The Kings have won six of their last seven games against the Lakers. Denver, of course, has won eight straight against the Lakers, including last season. four-game sweep in the Western Conference final.
The Kings don’t have a player as dominant as Nikola Jokic, but Domantas Sabonis is something of an avatar. Jokic and Sabonis are fourth and fifth, respectively, in assists this season. And both players are paired with a dynamic guard and plenty of shooters.
In the last seven games the Lakers have played against the Kings, De’Aaron Fox has torched the defense. He’s averaging 32.6 points over the last two seasons against Ham’s defense and is coming off a 44 point game in Los Angeles last week.
“Sabonis, his playmaking ability, his passing, his downhill game, his game up to the paint. His physicality. And De’Aaron, the shots you want to try to give up, he’s the master at — those two contested mid-range shots, he hits them in his sleep,” Ham said. “So definitely we have to be ready to play. We have to be…on the details, really focused and stay consistent with the details.
The Kings’ (and Nuggets’) style of play contrasts with that of the Lakers, who rely heavily on LeBron James and Anthony Davis to create mismatches and advantages with their supreme one-on-one advantages.
“Everything they do is systematic. It’s a credit to their coach, their players, their style of play,” D’Angelo Russell said of the Kings. “When you look at Denver and compare them [to Sacramento], it’s an excellent comparison. Only a few teams in the league have a system in play. Many other teams may have star power, so it’s quite difficult to implement a system because their stars are too good. That’s what you see here. You’re not going to let Bron and AD waste time on the next guy. We don’t need them to do this.
Lakers forward Anthony Davis, left, tangles with Kings center Domantas Sabonis for a rebound during last week’s game.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
“For a lot of teams, it’s difficult for them to implement that. So for them to find a way to implement a system with the players they have, you see it completes the game.”
One way to slow Sabonis down? Get him off the field with problems. The Kings are 5-10 in the 15 games where he has played 33 minutes or less.
“You take Sabonis off the field, it’s a different team. You take Jokic off the court, it’s a different team,” Russell said. “Bad problems can cause them to take off. Just things like that, I feel like you really have to attack when you’re playing this team, these teams, because they’re so dominant. Like I said, their systems are run by their big guys. So that would help us. It would be in our favor, that’s for sure.
Against the Kings – and the Nuggets – the Lakers must find answers.
“This is something we need to address,” Ham said.
