Preview: The ailing Dubs must beware a dangerous trap game vs Kings

Game information

Who: Golden State Warriors (15-5) versus Sacramento Kings (5-14)

When: 7:30pm PST - Monday, November 27th

Where: Oracle Arena - Oakland, CA

How to watch: CSBA, CSNCA

How to listen: 95.7 THE GAME

Enemy’s blog: Sac Town Royalty

Injury report

Warriors: Kevin Durant (ankle, questionable), Stephen Curry (hand, questionable), Draymond Green (foot, questionable)

Kings: Harry Giles (knee, out)

The defending World Champion Golden State Warriors are stomping up the staggering, volcanic mountain range that is the NBA’s regular season with their usual, deadly aplomb. This is their fourth straight season suffering suffocating scrutiny and fiery pressure as they perpetually receive the best shots the league can offer. After the 73 win season, and the 16-1 playoff tour de force of 2017, Dub Nation has become addicted to absolute basketball perfection.

The dreaded Trap Game looms

This season, there have been a few lulls from “absolute basketball perfection.” Sometimes the (potentially) greatest team in modern basketball history appears a bit too consumed with their final goal of hoisting a third trophy in four years to be bothered with 48 minutes of maximum effort on random November nights. This can spell trouble when a desperate team of professional basketballers are willing to give their souls in order to besmirch the Golden Empire.

We call these, “Trap Games.” These are games in which the determined hordes aim to catch the Dubs slacking on their macking. Tomorrow evening’s showdown with the Sacramento Kings certainly counts as a trap game, especially in light of this alarming report from Golden State.

Heavens, no! That’s three future Hall-of-Famers with three MVP awards (one unanimous) and a Defensive Player of the Year trophy between them, questionable to compete in this harrowing trap game. Folks, we need to analyze exactly what we’re going to be facing tomorrow night in “The Town.”

The Fallen Kings

The Kings are a curious collection of unproven youngsters and depreciating veterans. A quick glance at their team stats this season leads me to make some snap, Gold-Blooded judgments.

• Their offense ranks dead last in points per game (94.3). They are third-to-last in field goal percentage per game (43%). This means they are a terrible offensive squad.
• Defensively, they are ranked in the bottom five in opponents field goal percentage (47%). They also are the next-to-worst ranked team in opponents’ three-point percentage (39%). This means their defense pretty much allows whatever shot their opponents want.
• Okay, so they should be a pretty easy victory for us, even if we’re missing three All-Stars, right?

Wrong. They boast victories over the 76ers, Thunder, and Trail Blazers. The young sniper Buddy Hield, a cornerstone of the Demarcus Cousins trade, is balling in his new role coming off of the bench. Check out this footage of him going “Super-Saiyan” in the 4th quarter of a brutal battle against the Los Angeles Clippers Saturday night.

16 points in the 4th quarter?! This second year player is finding his groove, and that’s bad news for his opponents. Per ESPN, the young fella is averaging 15 points a game in the ten games he’s been a reserve.

Then there’s the highly touted rookie De’Aaron Fox, who has been moved to the starting point guard position for head coach Dave Joerger. Fox is explosive, creative, and actively learning on the job. With each second of court time, his confidence grows, and so does his potential threat level. Look at this kid’s effortless athleticism in a marquee rookie matchup against Lonzo Ball.

I haven’t even mentioned that old killer Zach Randolph, the eternal thorn in the side of the Warriors. He’s only a short ten months removed from this can of whup-ass he unleashed in Oakland as a Memphis Grizzly.

Stopping this crafty, burly, offensive genius normally takes all of super-defender Draymond Green’s intellect and power. Without Green, our big men by committee will have to join forces to keep “Z-Bo” from catching fire and having a flashback evening.

The trap is set

If we don’t have three of our Big Four available, it will free up minutes for our hungry role players. Also, Klay Thompson might go for 60. Either way, it should be fun to watch as the Warriors test the true powers of “Strength In Numbers.”

I expect for the Dubs to gradually take the Kings out into deep waters before viciously dragging them to a final end in the deep, dark cold of the Splash.

Gold-Blooded Prediction: Warriors 104-Kings 90

Are you ready for this clash of Northern California basketball entities?