Game #5: Kings @ Heat Preview

Party in the city where the Heat is on!

What: Kings @ Miami Heat

When: 4:30 P.M. PT

Where: American Airlines Arena

How to Watch: CSN California

On the first stop of their five-game East Coast swing, the Kings fell 106-95 to the Atlanta Hawks. Just like their first three games, they showed some flashes. On Monday night, the team once again rallied from a double-digit deficit (14 points) and took the lead in the 3rd quarter. This time however, foul trouble, lack of discipline and some crucial turnovers cost them a victory. All in all, the game was a mix of intermittently good play and mostly bad play. Tonight, the Kings look to end one of the league's longest active road losing streaks against the Miami Heat.

New Look Crew

The "Heatles" are no more and all remnants of them are gone. This summer, Dwyane Wade elected to sign with his hometown Chicago Bulls. For the first time in 14 seasons, the Kings will not be facing the three-time NBA champion in a Heat jersey and for the second time in less than a week they will be playing against a team who bid farewell to one of their longtime franchise cornerstones. On top of the Wade departure, the Heat had to deal with a very difficult situation regarding star power forward Chris Bosh who has been trying to fight his way back on to the court after falling victim to two blood clots. The Heat franchise decided not to clear Bosh for team activities after repeated failed physicals and team president Pat Riley stated in September that his tenure with the club was all but over. Losing LeBron James a couple of summers ago was one thing, but unexpectedly losing their next two best players has left the Heat in a tough spot. For the first time in over a decade, this team looks like they're ready to go into rebuild mode instead of trying to contend for a title.

Take a Ride on the Whiteside

Hey this guy looks familiar! Hassan Whiteside is now the man in South Beach after the departures of Wade and Bosh and he's looking to build on a fantastic 2015-2016 campaign in which he averaged 14 points, 11.8 rebounds and led the NBA with 3.7 blocks per game. Whiteside signed a massive four-year, $98 million contract over the summer and will try to justify that big pay raise as well. It truly has been fascinating to see his rise to stardom since the end of his tenure in Sacramento in 2012. It was clear after the Kings selected him as a one-and-done player from Marshall University in the second round of the 2010 draft that he could have used more time in college to develop his game. He took the road less traveled and developed overseas before coming back to the NBA a couple of years ago and becoming one of the best stories you'll ever hear about in sports. Imagine that. A former Kings player that the team got rid of who ended up having an incredible amount of success elsewhere. Wuttttt??? That's totally never happened to anyone else.

South Beach Blues

The Kings haven't won in Miami since 2001. Literally, 2001. That's 14 straight losses! Everyone and everything around you back then has changed and/or gotten older. Your parents? Old. Your siblings? Old. Your dog? Old. Your favorite video game store that you and your friends used to hang out at after school? Shut down due to the recession (RIP Game Crazy on Watt). Also think about how in the immediate subsequent years following their last win in Miami, the Kings were a very good team and yet they still couldn't get a victory in the AAA. Also also, you're probably a lot older than the 14 years that have passed since that last win because watching the Kings be bad at basketball and stressing about whether or not the team would even be staying in Sacramento will add about 50 years onto you. So here's to hoping the Kings can finally break the losing streak tonight before we all die of old age.