Domantas Sabonis, Sacramento Kings
The Sacramento Kings’ offense is not among the best in the league in terms of efficiency, in fact it is the twelfth in terms of offensive rating in the entire NBA, however it is almost certainly the most particular and it owes this peculiarity to its fulcrum, the double double machine who goes by the name of Domantas Sabonis, one step away from an incredible record.
Domantas Sabonis records his 53rd consecutive double-double and ties Kevin Love (2010-11) for the longest streak of consecutive double-doubles since 1976-77:
Kevin Love – 53 (11/22/10-3/11/11)
Domantas Sabonis – 53 (12/2/23-3/23/24) pic.twitter.com/vGfVKYap6q— NBA.com/Stats (@nbastats) March 24, 2024
A living double double
The Lithuanian center has currently reached altitude 53 consecutive games with at least one double-double, matching Kevin Love’s record between November 2010 and March 2011. For Sabonis, only one of those 53 double-doubles came via assists and not rebounds. Furthermore, 22 times the Kings center added 10 assists to at least 10 points and 10 rebounds, thus also scoring 22 triple doubles in these last 53 matches, an already exceptional figure in itself even without counting all the double-doubles achieved in the remaining matches.
This nightwhen the Kings face Joel Embiid’s Sixers (still on the sidelines with his knee injury), we’ll see if Sabonis can beat the record of Kevin Love or if he too will stop at 53 consecutive games. The lack of Embiid could and should favor Sabonis, as he is the Cameroonian’s direct opponent, whose absence will make life under the basket easier for the Lithuanian.
Dominant Domas is the first player with consecutive seasons of 65 DOUBLE-DOUBLES since Kevin Garnett in 2003-04 (71) and 2004-05 (69). pic.twitter.com/Ycn8b9oPv6
— Sacramento Kings (@SacramentoKings) March 23, 2024
The very particular and beautiful Kings binding
Mike Brown’s team accustomed us last season to a basketball in great level, returning to the playoffs for the first time in 17 years after finishing the regular season in third place in the West. However this year, as we were saying, their attack is not among the best in the league, even if it is the most characteristic and one of the most beautiful of the entire NBA.
The Kings’ attack is made up of many hand-off (in Italian the delivered), continuous passages and constant cuts. It is no coincidence that in the ranking of top fifteen players for passes receivedben quattro sono dei Kings: Murray, Huerter, Monk and Fox.
Sacramento develops its attack on thedisproportionate use of the deliveredwhich can be exploited both at the beginning and at the end of the action: even when it seems like a useless pass, the hand-off, often combined with a block by the person carrying it out (almost always Sabonis), allows the attack of the Kings to create a minimum advantage for the ball carrier on the pick and roll, which forces the defender to make a choice. At this point the ball carrier can choose whether to go directly to the shot or attack the area if he has space, or to serve Sabonis in the short roll if the shot is marked.
Malik Monk caps an 8-0 Sacramento run in OT!
Grizzlies-Kings | Live on the NBA App
📲 pic.twitter.com/UFRekWKiIF— NBA (@NBA) March 19, 2024
Domas playmaking
Often the second option is chosen and the ball is then put in Sabonis’ hands, relying on the great offensive skills of the center on which the Kings’ attack develops.
The Lithuanian has a great vision of the game, with which he manages to reward the numerous cuts we were talking about before. By virtue of this, Sabonis’ touches per game have increased disproportionately (from 83.5 to 92.8) if we consider that he significantly decreased the number of possessions in the low post. Most of these touches derive precisely from hand-offs, from which the Kings manage to draw 11.6 points per game, also thanks to the spacing that the wingers maintain optimally, both through the cuts we were talking about before, and by remaining on the perimeter and opening up the area in many cases.
It’s no coincidence that Sabonis this season sta almost averaging a triple doublewith 20 points, 13.7 rebounds and 8.3 assists per game.
Wow. This is just a ridiculously impressive assist from Domantas Sabonis. pic.twitter.com/bQP19tojo5
— Brenden Nunes (@BrendenNunesNBA) March 22, 2023
At this point we just have to wait for tonight’s match to find out if Sabonis will be able to surpass Kevin Love’s record of consecutive double doubles or if the Lithuanian will also stop at 53, but continue to lead his Kings to a playoff bertha far from obvious deal in this year’s Wild West.
2024-03-25 09:52:39
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