The Kings’ 2-0 series lead is fueled by a mix of new and longstanding identities

Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/NBAE via Getty Images

Behind experimentation and adhering to the principles that guided them there, the Kings are in the driver’s seat against the Warriors.

When Domantas Sabonis subbed out of Game 1 between the Sacramento Kings and Golden State Warriors late in the first quarter on Saturday, a somewhat surprising face replaced him: Alex Len. The veteran backup center had only logged 161 minutes during the regular season. Sacramento typically opted for a mix of Trey Lyles, Chimezie Metu and (sparingly) Richaun Holmes to supplement minutes at the 5 when their superstar caught some oxygen.

Rather, through two games, head coach Mike Brown has tabbed the former Maryland Terrapin to assume those duties. Len’s seen 21 total minutes, tallying eight points (4-of-4 shooting), eight rebounds and two blocks. The Kings are plus-17 when he’s on the court. His 7-foot frame has periodically proven a nuisance for a small Warriors frontline granting 6-foot-9 Kevon Looney and 6-foot-6 Draymond its center gigs.

As this series shifts back to Golden State’s Chase Center, with the Kings touting a 2-0 lead, the theme of their success is a blend of new and old tricks. They’ve relied on various tenets that brought them the No. 3 seed, while simultaneously adapting to what the specific matchup presents and exploiting advantageous opportunities. It’s a testament to Brown and his staff, in addition to all the players adroitly implementing these different tactics.

The hallmark of Sacramento’s prolific, top-ranked offense is motion-heavy sets involving off-ball screens and dribble handoffs. There are plenty of those actions prevalent in Golden State’s scheme as well, given Brown’s history in the Bay Area. Led by Looney sagging off to deter cutters or Green applying pressure on Sabonis as the trigger man and perimeter defenders such as Andrew Wiggins, Gary Payton II and Stephen Curry top-locking, the Warriors have slowed those options. Usually, the Kings shrug their shoulders at that and enable Sabonis to cook one on one in space then. Yet, Looney and Green are qualified to stymie his drives and post-ups, as they did in Game 1 when he scored 12 points on 5-of-17 shooting.

To keep the offense humming, they’ve embraced a ball-screen-centric approach. According to Synergy, during the regular season, their 13.1 percent pick-and-roll ball-handler frequency ranked dead last among NBA teams. In the playoffs, that’s perked up to 20.7 percent and they’re generating 1.255 points per possession (88th percentile). With shooters aplenty and Sabonis setting bludgeoning screens, De’Aaron Fox and Malik Monk are excelling. Specifically, Monk’s reps have exploded. His pick-and-roll rate is up from 21.5 percent in the regular season to 47.5 percent against the Warriors. He’s yielding 1.421 PPP. The Kings identified a counter, deviated away from their modus operandi and still sport a 116.1 offensive rating in the series.

Neither the Warriors nor the Kings are flush with wing play in their rotations. The Kings are relishing that. Curry, Payton, Jordan Poole, Donte DiVincenzo and Klay Thompson is Golden State’s wide-ranging quartet. Fox, Monk, Kevin Huerter and Davion Mitchell represent the purple and black. The only veritable wings to record more than 30 minutes thus far are Wiggins, Harrison Barnes, and Keegan Murray.

Three-guard lineups have emerged as a mainstay for Sacramento, which closed with Fox-Monk-Mitchell-Barnes-Sabonis in Game 2. According to Cleaning The Glass, that unit shared the court for 11 possessions in the regular season. Ignore the frontcourt, and the backcourt triumvirate still only registered 194 regular season possessions together. It’s already seen 58 postseason possessions! Mitchell provides the Kings such novel, valuable dimensions — especially as a point-of-attack defender — among the four guards and discerning a path to increase his minutes not at the expense of the other three has been critical through two games.

Another one: Fox, Monk and Huerter enjoyed 378 regular season possessions in tandem. They’re at 43 against Golden State. Sacramento is plus-18 in 22 minutes when any iteration of those three-guard trios are featured throughout this series. Coach Brown is living in the funk, baby.

Throughout much of their initial 82-game slate, the inability to size up or play big inside seemed to plague Sacramento defensively. In Game 2, its faculty and willingness to downsize helped spur one of their most impressive defensive outings of the year (101.9 defensive rating) and secure the most crucial win of the season to this point.

The defensive creativity and efficacy extends to employing a Box and 1 on Curry both games and sticking Sabonis* to Payton. The latter prevented Golden State from spamming Curry-Green pick-and-rolls to produce 4-on-3s if/when Sabonis hedged and often incorporated rangier stoppers out there in Sabonis’ stead. It also kept Sabonis closer to the paint and didn’t excise the most impactful interior defender to the outside. Sacramento’s experimentation is unfolding as it intended.

*Sabonis’ defense was excellent in Game 2. He hedged ball-screens effectively, flew around on the perimeter and fended off swarms of defenders on the glass. The Warriors wanted to exploit him, aimed to do so repeatedly and couldn’t establish consistent success with it.*

Pillars of the Kings’ 48-win campaign persist as well in their 2-0 edge. Fox, who was named Clutch Player of the Year on Tuesday, is speeding, weaving and shooting his way toward profits in those moments this series. According to NBA.com, he’s netted 13 points on 66.6 percent true shooting in eight clutch minutes. With the calendar flipped to the playoffs, he’s been just as dynamite in the guts of the game as he was during the regular season.

Similarly, the Kings’ emphasis on pace and fashioning early offense chances is amplifying their attack. They held the third-fastest time of possession (11.3 seconds) in the regular season, per inpredictable, and are first in the playoffs (10.3 seconds). Their 17.2 percent transition rate is up to 19 percent and they’re scoring 125 points per 100 possessions on those opportunities. The haste, connectivity and multifaceted nature are regularly overwhelming the Warriors.

They don’t jolt the tempo to escape the confines of half-court sets. They jolt the tempo because they know they might create an advantage, can seamlessly preserve the advantage and flow into a half-court set if the first look is mitigated. An organized defense doesn’t exist as such for long against this team. Every King moves and aligns themselves in harmony with one another. It’s simultaneously choreographed and free-flowing basketball.

After four days of the 2022-23 NBA Playoffs, Sacramento is two wins away from its first playoff series victory since 2003-04. In those wins, signs of how they reached this level were evident, along with indicators of how they may further evolve if they continue to progress deeper on their journey. They could’ve easily been dogmatic in sticking to what earned them 48 wins. Instead, they’re merging the new and the old, and it’s been instrumental to their triumphs.