Two teams riding two-game winning streaks in large part due to unheralded players will square off Friday night when the Los Angeles Clippers visit the Sacramento Kings.
The Clippers wrapped up what began as a potentially disastrous five-game homestand with a pair of wins, including a decisive 110-98 triumph Wednesday night in Paul George’s return to Los Angeles as a Philadelphia 76er.
Norman Powell continued his fast start with six 3-pointers and 26 points for the Clippers, who completed the five-game home stay with a 2-3 record.
The 31-year-old admitted after the win that seeing George was a reminder that the door has swung open for him to take on a greater role with a Clippers team also currently without injured Kawhi Leonard.
“I’ve been scratching, clawing my way to get this opportunity,” he said. “It’s been 10 years of playing different roles.”
Powell, who has started all eight games, leads the Clippers in scoring at 25.0 points per game. His 3-point shooting percentage (48.5) represents another improvement after last year, when he set a career-high at 43.5 percent.
With George, Leonard and Russell Westbrook on the roster, Powell made just three starts last season. Coincidentally, two came against the Kings, games in which he had 21 points in a February home loss and 17 points in an April road defeat.
With Powell contributing a total of just 18 points off the bench, the Clippers won last year’s first two meetings, one at each site.
No Clippers-Kings game was decided by fewer than 14 points last season.
Sacramento has gotten plenty of experience in nail-biters already this year. Four of its eight games have been decided by four or fewer points, including two straight before Wednesday’s 122-107 home win over the Toronto Raptors.
The Kings’ stars shined bright against the Raptors, with Domantas Sabonis recording a triple-double while De’Aaron Fox and DeMar DeRozan each went for 20-plus points.
A key fourth driving force in the win was a 22-point, 12-rebound performance chipped in by Keegan Murray, his fourth double-double of the season.
Kings coach Mike Brown singled out Murray after his team’s triumphant return from a four-game trip that produced three wins, including the finale at Miami on Monday.
“Keegan was a monster,” he said. “Seven offensive rebounds, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anything like it.”
Murray has had at least one offensive rebound in all eight games, and at least two in each of his four double-doubles. The seven offensive boards were a career high.
He said attacking the glass is done by design.
“We’re one of the smaller teams in the league,” Murray said. “Whenever I can just fly and use my athleticism to go up and get a rebound, I just go and see what happens.”
The third-year King demonstrated his prowess under the Sacramento hoop in last year’s two wins over the Clippers, grabbing a pair of offensive rebounds in each game. He contributed a total of 30 points and 13 rebounds to the victories.
