Despite suffering from an embarrassing 104-111 loss on Tuesday night against the Charlotte Hornets, the Sacramento Kings get a chance to rebound in their second leg of a back-to-back against the Orlando Magic.
Orlando has gotten off to a great start during the 2023-24 NBA season with a 19-14 record, which lands good enough for the 5th spot in the Eastern Conference. However, this team is also looking to bounce back from a loss from yesterday, falling 121-115 to the Golden State Warriors.
Thankfully for the Kings, it looks to be a pretty healthy rotation entering tonight’s matchup. Each team has their injury reports set before tipoff in, with the Magic revealing a few key inactives:
Sacramento Kings:
NONE
Orlando Magic:
Jonathan Isaac- OUT (hamstring)
Markelle Fultz- OUT (knee)
Joe Ingles- OUT (ankle)
While Sacramento will continue their streak of good health, the Magic are dealing with a few injuries. F Jonathan Isaac will be sidelined with a hamstring injury, G Markelle Fultz is out with a knee injury, and veteran F Joe Ingles will not play due to an ankle injury.
All three are usual rotation pieces for the Magic, with Isaac and Fultz bringing a defensive presence and Ingles stepping in as a player who provides spacing and veteran leadership. Without them, expect coach Jamahl Mosley to make some lineup adjustments. It could potentially vault younger guys like Anthony Black and Jett Howard into increased playing time and responsibility.
The Kings can't afford to come up short in this one when considering the tight race going down in the Western Conference. As it stands, Sacramento is 5th place in the West, only three games ahead of the 10th-place Los Angeles Lakers. These are the types of matchups the Kings need to capitalize on, especially coming off a loss like Tuesday’s.
Tipoff between the Kings and Magic is set for 7 PM at Sacramento’s own Golden One Center.
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