A night more than a decade in the making is finally here. The Sacramento Kings open their brand new, state of the art Golden 1 Center Thursday evening when they host the San Antonio Spurs in their home opener.
Fresh off a 113-94 win over the Phoenix Suns, DeMarcus Cousins, Rudy Gay and the 2016-17 Kings roster look to make it two in a row against one of the best the league has to offer.
Tim Duncan is gone, retiring this summer after 19 seasons in the NBA. But the Spurs come in loaded with talent and primed for another long playoff run.
Sacramento showed a new offensive and defensive scheme against the Suns. It’s a work in progress, but their opening night results showed promise.
LINE
Spurs by 8.5
Sports
WHERE THEY STAND
Kings: 1-0, first place in the Pacific
Spurs: 1-0, first place in the Southwest
MATCHUP TO WATCH
Rudy Gay vs. Kawhi Leonard -- Leonard has turned into the game’s best two-way player. He’s a perfect fit in Gregg Popovich’s offensive system and he is a one man wrecking crew on the defensive side of the ball. Gay is coming off an impressive opener where he scored 22 points on 9-of-15 shooting. He also came away with four blocks in 33 minutes. Sacramento needs another big game from Gay if they hope to stun the Spurs.
INJURY REPORT
Kings: G Darren Collison (league suspension) out.
Spurs: G Danny Green (strained quad) out.
SERIES HISTORY
The Spurs swept the Kings 3-0 in the season series last year and have now won six straight against Sacramento. San Antonio leads the Kings 112-55 all-time and 84-39 during the Sacramento-era.
QUOTABLE
“I think the biggest difference is everybody is part of the offense. Obviously we have our guys can go get buckets, but when everybody has the freedom to attack and be aggressive and know that there’s time when we get ours, but for the most part, they need to be aggressive too.” -Rudy Gay
