The list of winless teams in the Western Conference will get cut in half Thursday night when the Sacramento Kings and New Orleans Pelicans tangle in Louisiana.
The Pelicans joined the Kings and the Brooklyn Nets of the Eastern Conference in the four-loss column Wednesday, beaten 104-91 at home by the Denver Nuggets.
The one-sided loss was the first of the season for the Pelicans, who took the court hoping lessons learned from three previous losses by a combined 10 points would inspire them to treat the home fans with a first win.
“We can make a run and go on a streak and see what happens,” Saddiq Bey optimistically said before Wednesday’s game. “It’s a long season. We can’t get down.”
The good news for the Pelicans has been the play of Zion Williamson, the oft-injured big man who has averaged just 47.8 games the last four seasons after sitting out the entire 2021-22 campaign with a foot injury.
Williamson has played in all four New Orleans contests this season, scoring upward of 20 points three times, including a season-best 25 in Wednesday’s loss.
The No. 1 pick of the 2019 draft has gone head-to-head with Kings star big man Domantas Sabonis just eight times in their careers, with the Pelicans winning five of them. Williamson has outscored his rival by an average of 25.9 to 18.4 in those games, but Sabonis has gotten the better of the rebounds (11.3-5.6) and assists (5.9-5.1).
Like Williamson, it’s been hard to blame Sabonis for the Kings’ slow start. He has snatched at least 14 rebounds in all four games, scored 20 or more points twice and recorded a triple-double with 27 points, 19 rebounds and 10 assists in a home loss to Portland.
That game – a 128-120 defeat – was the Kings’ most competitive of the season. Their total margin of defeat in the four losses is 71 points.
“Stay the course,” Sabonis stressed after Tuesday’s 130-103 blowout loss at San Antonio. “Lot of ball left to be played.”
Thursday night’s game pits a Pelicans team playing for the second time in a three-game homestand against a Kings club whose loss to the Spurs tipped off a four-game trip.
One of each team’s major shortcomings was on display in its most recent game.
With Dejounte Murray, Jeremiah Fears and Jordan Poole combining to make just one 3-pointer, the Pelicans shot just 7-for-30 (23.3%) from beyond the arc against the Nuggets. New Orleans had entered the game 24th in the NBA in 3-point shooting percentage at 30.9%.
The Kings, meanwhile, watched as the Spurs buried 17 shots from deep in their meeting Tuesday. At the beginning of play Wednesday, Sacramento had allowed the league’s seventh-highest percentage from deep, 37.3%.
The Pelicans won two of three in the season series last year, taking advantage of the absence of Sabonis, who missed all three games with injuries.
