Home Sweet Home: Looking Ahead to 11/30 thru 1/17

[Bricklayer]

Alright, we are in the final stages now of the month from hell. The next 5 games are absolutely off the charts difficult:

@NOP
@HOU (back to back)
@SAS
MEM
TOR

Hard to imagine any team in the league having a harder stretch. But hey, we're used to it by this point. We got schedule blasted for the roughest start in the entire league. 10 of the first 16 games on the road. 16 of the first 18 vs. the WC, with the other 2 vs. the two best teams in the East. But here's the thing: we survived. And having survived, now that ridiculous start is about to swing heavily in our favor.

There is a remarkable stretch of home games approaching where we will have our chance to truly emerge as a playoff threat if that's what we've got in us. from November 30, until January 17 here are the numbers:

-- 18 home games vs. 6 road games (!)

-- Only one road trip lasting more than 1 game, and it goes through some of the league's patsies, Brooklyn, Boston, Minnesota and Detroit right around New Year's. That trip is the only time we will leave California for the next SEVEN WEEKS.

-- 15 of the 24 opponents are from the East

-- it opens with the last 2 brutal games above (Memphis revenge game, and Toronto) and then only 1 of the next 9 opponents (Houston) has a winning record

Here is the schedule:

11/30 Memphis
12/2 Toronto
12/5 Indiana
12/6 Orlando (rare home back to back)
12/8 Utah
12/9 @Lakers
12/11 Houston
12/13 Detroit
12/16 Oklahoma City
12/18 Milwaulkee
12/21 Lakers
12/22 @Golden State
12/26 Phoenix
12/27 New York (another home back to back!)
12/29 @Brooklyn
12/31 @Boston (1:00 game)
1/1 @Minnesota (ugly back to back, but Boston game is early)
1/4 @ Detroit
1/7 Oklahoma City
1/9 Denver
1/11 Cleveland
1/13 Dallas
1/16 Miami
1/17 Clippers (a 3rd home back to back!)


Now obviously that last stretch gets back to the brutal scheduling of the early season for us, as its entirely possible OKC, Denver, Cleveland will all have gotten healthy/figured things out by then. Giving us not one, not two, but three of the formerly rare home back to backs is weird. Nonetheless I am not sure I can recall any team with a stretch of home local play that long. And by the time we're done with it, we're going to be at the midpoint of the season, 40 games in. There's a clear huge opportunity for us to have a winning record and still be in the race at the midway point (also would guarantee Boogie his All Star slot).

 

[HereWeBoogie]

Wow, things sure do start to look a lot better when November ends

 

[kingsboi]

that's a lot of home games....crazy thought. the Kings can really rack up some wins here if they don't lose focus

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

I wish this poll closed after the Memphis game. I'd rather see our mentality going into that before I decide.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

I'm going to go with 25-15. I feel like a terrible optimist saying that, because we're bound to lose some games we ought to win, but I'm saying it anyway.

 

[Gilles]

Worst case scenario Kings are 8-8 with 6-10 home/away split against very strong schedule after @SAS game, so 18-6 home/away split with soft schedule is doubtful to produce more than 7 losses. Went with "at least 25-15" option.

 

[Gary]

I will go with 21-19 or there about. We will be the surprise team this year in the West, but I can't see us really competing at a high level for the entire season. I wouldn't be surprised to see Malone in the talks for coach of the year if we finish .500.

 

[The Hammer]

If we can mentally adjust to SUCCESS, then yes, just based on the quality of our team we should easily be able to be at least 25-15 after that stretch. The only threat we face is our own inability to act like a winning team.

 

[Gilles]

This team was picking their collective nose first 20 minutes of their last game, then just upped the level of play to high enough level to avoid close ending. If that's not the move of a confident, but lazy team, I don't know, what is?

 

[rainmaker]

23-17 is what I came up with.

That's a cautious estimate and assumes 1-1 splits on back to backs. My disclaimer includes the reality that injuries cannot be predicted beforehand.

My buffer zone is somewhat reliant on Mr. Ben McLemore and can swing from 20-20 to 26-14. He's our x-factor and if he starts putting up 15-18 PPG with 6 reb and solid defense on a good shooting %, we're a significantly tougher team to deal with.

 

[Kingston Jamaica]

I woted for the 28-12 option simply because I believe the Kings are a 0.700 team in this league. Out of 40 games that translates to 28 wins. Simple.

 

[206Fan]

If the Kings can actually continue to play at the level they've been playing at despite competition, I can see them doing pretty well.
Here are the loses I see on our schedule: L vs. Houston L@GS L vs. NY L vs. OKC L vs. Denv L vs. Cle L vs. Miami

I've predicted a total of 9 loses including 1 in our road game. Optimistically, I think we can be around 26-14 after 40 games. That would be a tremendous success. Of course there are maybe a few simple loses, and maybe hard wins, but I think those are the most likely ones we'll lose. All optimistic!

 

[New Era]

I just really hope that all this talk about an easy month of December isn't a huge trap for the team, kind of like how the OKC game was. You can't take anything for granted in the NBA. One of the things I've liked about this tough schedule is that it's forced the team to perform at a high level but we've also seen stretches where our mental focus completely disappears (OKC, DAL, MEM, 1st half of MIN). We are a fairly young team, and we are definitely new to this "winning" thing so I really hope we don't let our guard down, thinking this will be an easy stretch.

 

[Bricklayer]

 

[Tha Kali Way]

Think we have 10 out of 11 at home. Let's go 8-3 please!!

 

[KingMilz]

DeMar looked like he picked up a decent injury to his groin against Dallas so putting that out there before you make your prediction on the Toronto game.

 

[kingsboi]

DeRozan out indefinitely but the Raptors are deep and the Pacers just got David West back and they won't be a pushover, they compete.

 

[Gilles]

Just realized, Kings will be the second game of b2b for Pacers after a trip from Portland (how about great sight-seeing, Maccabi-type of ride ). This should finally be a win, right?

 

[HereWeBoogie]

This thread is making me sad already. What could have been........

 

[HereWeBoogie]

We were supposed to roll through December and be well above .500, Now DeMarcus might not play a single game in December