Coming off a pair of crazy come from behind victories, the Sacramento Kings travel to Los Angeles looking to tack on another win against the Clippers.
Riding the hot hand of Buddy Hield, the Kings continue to defy the experts. The Kings' starting shooting guard is averaging 31 points per game over the team's previous three games and has pushed his season scoring average to 20.4 points.
The Clippers lost a tough, two-point game to the Golden State Warriors on Sunday and are just 3-7 over their previous 10 games.
Kings Pregame Live on NBC Sports California begins at 7:00 p.m., with tipoff scheduled for 7:30. All coverage can be seen on the MyTeams app.
Sacramento will fly home following the game to host a Lebron James-less Lakers team on the second night of a back-to-back. They'll finish off the calendar year back at Staples Center on Sunday against the Lakers. It is unknown at this time if James will be available on Sunday after tweaking his groin the LA's win over the Warriors on Christmas day.
Line
Clippers by 5.5
Sports
Projected Lineups
Kings
PG De'Aaron Fox
SG Buddy Hield
SF Iman Shumpert
PF Nemanja Bjelica
C Willie Cauley-Stein
Clippers
PG Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
SG Avery Bradley
SF Danilo Gallinari
PF Tobias Harris
C Marcin Gortat
Injury Report
Kings
PF Marvin Bagley III (left knee) out.
Clippers
SF Luc Mbah a Moute (sore left knee) out.
Rotation Outlook
Kings: The Kings took a much-needed break for the holiday, before reconvening Christmas night to fly as a team to Los Angeles. They come into LA looking to snap a six game losing streak to the Clippers.
The three-headed backcourt of Fox, Hield and Bogdan Bogdanovic are coming off a big game. The trio combined to score 71 points and dish out 19 assists in the team's victory over the Pelicans on Sunday.
Marvin Bagley III is getting closer, but the team has yet to set a date for his return. Rookie Harry Giles III played rotational minutes against New Orleans after spending time last week int he G League.
Clippers: Los Angeles ranks No. 9 in the league in pace and they boast the third highest scoring average per game. They also allow 114.6 points per game, which ranks 25th in the league.
The Clippers length has been an issue for the Kings in the past. They struggle to contend with the size of both Harris and Gallinari at the forward positions and Gilgeous-Alexander is an interesting matchup at the point.
