![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/gettyimages-2258351897.jpg\"\/)
<\/a><\/p>\nDomantas Sabonis NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Celtics Reserves
Anfernee Simons
Hugo Gonzalez
Xavier Tillman
Josh Minott
Jordan Walsh
Luka Garza
Chris Boucher
2-Way Players
Ron Harper, Jr
Max Shulga
Amari Williams
Injuries\/Out
Jayson Tatum (Achilles) out
Jaylen Brown (knee\/hamstring) doubtful
Neemias Queta (illness) probable<\/p>\n
Kings Reserves
Devin Carter
Nique Clifford
Keon Ellis
Drew Eubanks
Doug McDermott
Maxime Reynaud
Dario Saric
Dennis Schroder<\/p>\n
2-Way Players
Dylan Cardwell
Daeqwon Plowden
Isaiah Stevens
Injuries\/Out
Malik Monk (ankle) questionable
Keegan Murray (ankle) out
Russell Westbrook (foot) questionable<\/p>\n
Key Matchups
Payton Pritchard vs Zach LaVine
LaVine is averaging 19.5 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 2.3 assists. He is shooting 48.6% from the field and 39.9% from beyond the arc. He missed the first game against the Celtics and came off the bench for the Kings on Thursday after missing the previous 2 games. I\u2019m guessing that he will return to the starting lineup for this game. If he doesn\u2019t, Nique Clifford will likely get the start.<\/p>\n
Baylor Scheierman vs DeMar DeRozan
DeRozan is averaging 19.1 points, 3.3 rebounds, 3.9 assists, and 1.3 steals per game while shooting 50.5% from the field and 33.7% from beyond the arc. Over his career against the Celtics, he has averaged 21.3 points, 3.7 rebounds and 4.1 assists. In the first game against the Celtics, he finished with 25 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists, and 1 steal while shooting 56.3% from the field and 33.3% from beyond the arc. DeRozan especially needs to be defended for mid-range shots where he excels.<\/p>\n
Honorable Mention
Neemias Queta vs Domantas Sabonis
Sabonis is averaging 15.5 pointds, 11.4 rebounds, 4.2 assists, and 1.0 steals per game. He is shooting 53.9% from the field and 19.2% from beyond the arc. He is not a 3 point shooter but he can hit them if left wide open. The Celtics need to keep him out of the paint and off the boards.<\/p>\n
Keys to the Game
Defense – Defense is always the key to winning every game. The Kings have a defensive rating of 119.5 (28th). The Celtics defensive rating is 113.7, 12th in the league. The Celtics need to defend the paint as the Kings average 48.5 points in the paint per game. The Kings average 30.1 three pointers attempted per game, which is 30th in the league and they are last with 10.5 3 pointers made per game. The Celtics need to play tough lock down defense both inside and out.<\/p>\n
Rebound – The Celtics have to put out extra effort to grab the rebounds on both ends of the court. By doing so, they limit the second chance points and fast breaks for the Kings and also give themselves extra possessions. The Celtics are averaging 44.9 rebounds per game to 40.9 rebounds per game for the Kings. The Celtics have to beat the Kings to rebounds and not allow them to get second chance points and extra possessions.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t Underestimate – Once again, the Celtics are facing a team that is under .500. It would be easy for the Celtics to underestimate the Kings and expect an easy win against a 12 win team. That would be a mistake because this Kings team has beaten Denver, Minnesota, Miami and Houston so they aren\u2019t an easy team to beat if you don\u2019t bring the effort. The Celtics have to come out strong from the start and play hard right up until the final buzzer. The Kings are very capable of beating them if they don\u2019t play their best.<\/p>\n
To 3 or Not to 3 – The Celtics are 2nd in the league, attempting 42.3 threes a game. When they fall, the Celtics are tough to beat. But, when they aren\u2019t falling, the Celtics struggle. Against the Hawks, the Celtics shot just 26.5% on threes. If the Celtics aren\u2019t hitting their 3s, they have to go to Plan B and take the ball to the basket or shoot from midrange. If the 3s are falling, great!! If not, go to Plan B. Most of all, they need to focus on taking good shots and making them.<\/p>\n
X-Factors
Home Court Advantage – The Celtics are at home and need to use that to their advantage. They are playing in front of their own fans and on their own familiar court while the Kings are playing on the road and have travel and a hostile crowd and road fatigue to distract them. The Celtics need to bounce back from their loss at home against the Hawks and start a home win streak with a win here.<\/p>\n
Officiating – Officiating can always be an x-factor. Every crew will call the game differently. Some will call every little thing and the game will have no flow. Others will let a lot go and let them play. Some crews favor the home team while others call it evenly or have a personal agenda. The Celtics need to adjust to how the game is called and not let the officials take away their focus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sacramento Kings (12-37) at Boston Celtics (29-18)Friday, January 30, 20267:30 PM ETRegular Season Game #48, Home Game #23TV:…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":571617,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3766],"tags":[7,45,75,3798,46,38331,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-571616","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boston-celtics","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-boston","10":"tag-boston-celtics","11":"tag-bostonceltics","12":"tag-celtics","13":"tag-celtics-game-previews","14":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115986406291680065","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=571616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571616\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/571617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=571616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=571616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=571616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/platform.celticsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/63\/2026\/01\/gettyimages-2258172864.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0,0,100,100\")
<\/a><\/p>\n