Knicks (1-5) Look To Protect Their Home Floor Against The Sacramento Kings (1-5) Preview

Image from the Rookie Wire, Copyright: 2019 NBAE (Photo by Ned Dishman/NBAE via Getty Images)

The Knicks are listed as 1.5 point underdogs at home against the Sacramento Kings Sunday Evening at 6:00pm Eastern Time.

Starting Lineups

The Knicks will be shaking up their starting lineup once again with Fizdale electing to start Bobby Portis Jr. over Mitchell Robinson, in hopes it opens up the floor to get Randle going early. The starting five will be Frank Ntilikina, RJ Barrett, Marcus Morris Sr., Julius Randle, and Bobby Portis Jr.. The Kings will likely be starting De’Aaron Fox, Buddy Hield, Harrison Barnes, Nemanja Bjelica, and Richaun Holmes. Fox is their alpha, averaging 17.7 points and 6.3 assists per game. Fox is known for being unbelievably fast, having good sleight of hand, and attacking the rim. Buddy Hield is a very good shooter as is Harrison Barnes who both score the ball often for Sacramento. Bjelica and Holmes both shoot a high percentage and rebound well. Bjelica is a stretch four who can shoot the three well and Holmes is extremely athletic inside. The Kings also have Bogdan Bogdanovic off of the bench who is a very good, young, scorer. His name has been linked to the Knicks if the Kings made him available for trade. The Knicks will be without Elfrid Payton (hamstring) and Dennis Smith Jr. (personal) again tonight.

Matchup Of The Night

Ntilikina vs. Fox. Frank has played well, but got beat by Walker at the end of the last game. He will be tested yet again going against Fox, one of the toughest guards to cover in the league. Frank will need to keep Fox out of the paint and not turn the ball over, to win this matchup.

Keys To Winning

It’s the same old story for New York, they need to shoot the ball better and not turn it over. The Kings have given up over 100 points to every team they have played this year, giving the Knicks a good opportunity to turn their struggles on offense around. In five of the six games the Kings have played, the leading scorer for the other team has been a guard. RJ Barett is going to need to take advantage of Buddy Hield and score the rock if the Knicks are going to win this one.