Utah Jazz at Sacramento Kings: Keys to the Game

Key Match-up – George Hill and Darren Collison

Excluding newcomer Buddy Hield, with the departure of Cousins and the injury to Rudy Gay, the Sacramento Kings leading scorer is now Darren Collison. And although he’s leading the team with a paltry 13.5 points per game, he’s still a solid scorer and a dangerous shooter.

At 47.6 percent from the field and 42.9 percent from deep, Collison is more than capable of filling it up if given the chance. Oddly enough, he hasn’t exactly risen to the occasion with heightened opportunity after the Cousins trade and has only averaged 11.5 points per game in the Kings’ four games following the All-Star break.

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Thus while he’s definitely capable, his lack of assertiveness should provide little problem for a daunting defender such as George Hill. Setting the embarrassing loss to Minnesota aside, Hill has been phenomenal over the course of the last six games, most notably in the aforementioned win over Brooklyn.

If he’s able to prevent Collison from having a rare aggressive and confidence-raising night while maintaining his own efficient shooting himself, today’s game should end very well for the Jazz.