Atlanta Hawks to play Kings in Sleep Train one last time

The Atlanta Hawks will play their last game ever at Sleep Train Arena on Thursday night when they take on the playoff contending Sacramento Kings.

Before the Atlanta Hawks can play the Sacramento Kings in their brand-new downtown arena in the Golden 1 Center in 2016-17, Atlanta will have to play its final game at the antiquated Sleep Train Arena. Tipoff is at 10:00 PM ET and the game will air on Fox Sports Southeast.

Atlanta has had tremendous luck in recent years against the Sacramento Kings. The Atlanta Hawks already defeated the Kings in Atlanta earlier this season, 103-97. As a matter of fact, the Atlanta Hawks have won their last 15 meetings versus Sacramento, including an absolute decimation of the Kings’ perimeter defense last season when Atlanta hoisted up a franchise record 20 made three-point field goals.

While it would be nice to keep both of Atlanta’s winning streaks intact, their current three-game and their 15 straight over Sacramento, the Kings aren’t a bad team this season. Though the Kings are still a sub-.500 basketball team, the seventh and eighth seeds in the Western Conference will likely feature teams that won’t have winning records in 2015-16.

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Sacramento has a 0.5 game lead over the Utah Jazz for the eighth and final Western Conference playoff spot with an 18-23 record. Atlanta has moved into third place in the Eastern Conference at 26-17 after its close road victory over Portland, 104-98 combine with the Chicago Bulls’ embarrassing home loss to the Golden State Warriors Wednesday night.

The Kings are also riding a three-game winning streak, so there is no guarantee that Atlanta’s good fortune against Sacramento will continue. However, the Kings aren’t playing great ball at home with a 10-11 record at Sleep Train Arena, so perhaps that plays to the Hawks’ advantage as a road favorite in this game.

There are two key matchups to keep an eye on in this game: Al Horford versus DeMarcus Cousins at center and Dennis Schroder and Rajon Rondo at point guard.

Horford and Cousins are two of the best centers in the game. While Horford is a great stretch five, Cousins is a bruiser down low as the game’s most dominating traditional center. How Horford plays against the ultra-physical Cousins will go a long way in if Atlanta can keep its winning streak intact.

Schroder grew up in Germany idolizing Rondo and ultimately patterned parts of his game after the former Boston Celtics great. Look for Schroder to either shine or press too much in this game, especially when he is on the court at the same time as Rondo.

For as dysfunctional as the Sacramento Kings have been the last decade, they seem to have more going right for them of late than what we’ve come to expect in the post Chris Webber days in the California state capital. Sacramento has enough talent to at least hang around the Western Conference Playoffs discussion for most of the season.

Next: Atlanta Hawks win third straight, beat Trail Blazers 104-98

While they could end the second-longest NBA Playoffs drought behind only the Minnesota Timberwolves this spring, here’s to making it a sweet sixteen in a row over the Sacramento Kings for our Atlanta Hawks on Thursday night at the lovely Sleep Train Arena. Let’s Go Hawks!

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