Kings vs. Clippers Preview – By the Numbers

November 29, 2023

After a raucous comeback against the Warriors last night, the Kings have a quick turnaround to face the new look Clippers at home. Los Angeles has seemed to figure things out as of late, winning 4 of their last 6 games after losing the first 5 games of the Harden era. These two teams have completely different styles and will be a clash of passing and fluid offense vs. talented isolation scorers.

The Clippers are loaded on offense, but are making their mark on defensive side of the ball with the 6th ranked defense and 20th ranked offense. They make their living in the passing lanes, leading the league with 9.6 Steals per game and score 19.4 Points off of them, 4th most. The Kings are doing a good job of taking care of the ball with 13.8 Turnovers per game (18th) and limiting opponents to 18.0 Points off of them. That officially makes Points off Turnovers the swing stat of the game. It’s another one where the Kings don’t necessarily need to win it, but they have to stay close and can’t the Clippers run away with the stat.

Now for the aforementioned style differences. The Kings have one of the most free flowing offenses in the game, as shown by passing and dribbling stats below:

  • Assists: 27.3 (7th)
  • Potential Assists: 52.3 (3rd)
  • Passes: 316.0 (1st)
  • Average Second per Touch: 2.80 (1st)
  • Average Dribble per Touch: 2.15 (t-2nd)

And now for the Clippers:

  • Assists: 24.3 (26th)
  • Potential Assists: 40.4 (30th)
  • Passes: 251.3 (30th)
  • Average Second per Touch: 3.30 (30th)
  • Average Dribble per Touch: 2.51 (t-26th)

Just a slight difference between the two teams. Last night the Kings were tested with defending the Warriors pass heavy offense, and tonight they’ll have their individual point of attack defense. Between Kawhi, Paul George, Harden, and Westbrook, the Clippers have multiple players that can and will attack off the dribble.

Another difference that comes out of the styles is the ability to create the coveted Wide Open 3’s. Sacramento continues to be near the top of the league with 23.9 per game (2nd), while Los Angeles is at 14.6 (28th).

Individually for the Kings, De’Aaron Fox continues to have big game after big game, Domantas Sabonis does a little bit of everything, and Malik Monk is thriving off the bench. But the story of last night is the emergence of Sasha Vezenkov in the 2nd half.

The offensive production was to be expected, but his impact on defense has been a huge surprise, with 2 more Blocks last night. If he can continue to be productive on defense, he may force Mike Brown’s hand to keep him in the rotation.

The good news is that the lineup of him, Trey Lyles, and Sabonis looked great together. It’s a front court filled with shooting, cutters, and above average rebounders. Time will tell if they have the athleticism to hang with more athletic wings, but it gives the Kings a big lineup that they haven’t had in quite some time. Once they get Keegan back in the mix, they’ll have yet another tall lengthy option to add to the mix. I can’t wait to see a small ball lineup of Sasha, Lyles, and Keegan in the front court, and hope we get to see it soon!