The roller coaster season continues for the Sacramento Kings.
After almost losing a game to the San Antonio Spurs 14-50, Sacramento dropped Sunday’s game against the Houston Rockets– another sub-.500 team in the Western Conference – in front of a packed house at Golden 1 Center.
Inconsistency continues to be the identity of this Kings team, as Sacramento (36-27) is 15-14 since January 6. For more than two months, the Kings have been playing basketball around .500 as they bounce between sixth and eighth in the West standings.
With just 19 games remaining in the regular season, there is no clear path to the playoffs for Sacramento in a tight conference that features six teams battling for the final two playoff spots.
Here’s what the Western Conference standings look like with just over a month remaining in the 2023-24 regular season:
Western Conference Standings
If it seems like the Kings have started every day over the past few weeks in sixth or seventh place, that’s probably because they have.
After climbing to sixth place over the weekend, Sunday’s loss to Houston knocked Sacramento out of the playoffs, as they are now just a half-game ahead of Dallas and 1.5 games ahead the Los Angeles Lakers.
While the Kings have found success against the Lakers this season (3-0), the two old rivals will meet one last time during this regular season on Wednesday evening at the Golden 1 Center. Sacramento will play the second night of a back-to-back after facing the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday, but Kings vs Lakers will have immense importance as one team will take a game against the other in the standings.
Face to face
Sacramento will face several teams around them in the coming weeks. The state of the Western Conference standings could be very different after these upcoming matchups:
- Kings vs. Lakers – Wednesday March 13
- Kings vs. Mavericks – Tuesday March 26
- Kings vs. Mavericks – Friday March 29
- Kings vs. Pelicans – Thursday, 11th of April
- Kings vs Suns – Friday April 12th
One thing that stands out from the list of notable upcoming games is that they will all take place at Golden 1 Center.
For reasons unknown, Sacramento has struggled to win home games this past season and Sunday’s loss to the Rockets was the latest disappointing performance from a Kings team that was unable to take advantage one of the best home atmospheres. in sports.
11 Western teams have as many or more home wins as the Kings.
Two of those teams (Utah and Houston) are out of the playoffs.
The 3 teams with fewer home wins than Sacramento: Portland Memphis and San Antonio (bottom 3 teams in the West).
– Frankie Cartoscelli (@FCartoscelli3) March 11, 2024
Twelve of Sacramento’s last 19 games will be at home. If the Kings can’t take advantage of this aspect of their schedule, they will likely find themselves in a Play-In scenario in mid-April.
With less than a quarter of the season remaining, Sacramento’s identity as an inconsistent team appears valid. The Kings can beat any team on any night and lose to any team on any night. On paper, “favorable” matchups don’t exist for a team that lost to the Detroit Pistons, Charlotte Hornets and Portland Trail Blazers.
Like last season, Sacramento will lean on its top-ten offense down the stretch and hope to turn the page on its home struggles. Otherwise, a similar ending to 2022-23, or even a Play-In exit, will be a disappointing conclusion to a season that initially held out higher hopes.
When is the next Sacramento Kings game?
Sacramento will continue their six-game homestand Tuesday night when they take on Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks.
The Kings nearly beat the Bucks at home in an overtime thriller on Jan. 14 that ended with Damian Lillard’s heartbreaking triple at the buzzer. Sacramento held a four-point lead with less than 20 seconds remaining, but couldn’t hold off a late charge by Milwaukee.
Be sure to tune in here on Sactown Sports 1140 for all your Kings vs. Kings coverage. Bucks, starting at 5:30 p.m. PST on Game night before an alert at 7:00 p.m. PST from downtown Sacramento.
Upcoming calendar
- Tuesday 12 March – Sacramento Kings vs. Milwaukee Bucks – 7:00 p.m. PST
- Wednesday March 13 – Sacramento Kings vs. Los Angeles Lakers – 7:00 p.m. PST
- Saturday March 16 – Sacramento Kings vs. New York Knicks – 7:00 p.m. PST
- Monday March 18 – Sacramento Kings vs. Memphis Grizzlies – 7:00 p.m. PST
- Wednesday March 20 – Sacramento Kings @ Toronto Raptors – 4:00 p.m. PST
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