It’s a potential NBA Finals preview Tuesday as the Boston Celtics complete a long road trip when they visit the Sacramento Kings. Yes, we said potential NBA Finals preview. Everyone knows the Celtics are good enough to get there, but don’t overlook the Kings, who third in the West and have clinched their first winning record since 2006 – the last time they made the playoffs, the longest drought in the NBA. Boston is a 4.5-point favorite on the NBA odds.

NBA News: Robert Williams, Marcus Smart Back As Celtics Full Strength Vs. Kings Tuesday

Odds: Celtics 4.5
When: Tuesday, March 21, 2023 at 10:00 pm ET
Where: Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, CA
TV / Streaming: NBA TV, NBCS Boston & CA

Boston was short-handed Saturday in playing its third game in four nights with the likes of reigning NBA Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart, Robert Williams and Al Horford all out but the C’s will be fully healthy tonight other than reserve guard Payton Pritchard. Williams is the big news as Time Lord has missed the past eight games. The 25-year-old has appeared in 28 games this season, averaging 8.4 points, 8.6 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.2 blocks over 24.3 minutes per game.

Rebounding has been one of Boston’s biggest sore spots lately. The Celtics have been bitten by second-chance points, which have aided opponent rallies. Boston’s rebound rate spikes to a team-best 54.3 when Williams III is on the court, a 3.7 percent increase over the team’s season average.

The Celtics look to complete their road trip at 4-2 following a 118-117 loss in Utah on Saturday. Grant Williams, who had 23 points and a career-high seven 3-pointers, was driving for a potential game-winner but ran into Walker Kessler, who blocked his shot just before the final buzzer. The play was designed to go to Jayson Tatum on a dribble handoff, but Williams had 12 points in the fourth quarter and took it to the hoop. He got the starting nod with both Smart and Horford sidelined.

“I’m not frustrated at Grant. If he made it, everybody would be happy. It’s not why we lost, that last play,” Tatum said. Tatum had a quiet night Saturday with 15 points on 4-for-12 shooting. Tatum had one of his worst scoring nights of the season in this game, and he took a season-low 12 shot attempts. This was the third time in his last four games that he shot below 40% from the field. Tatum is slumping at the wrong time as the Celtics have now slipped 2.5 games behind Milwaukee in the East.

Tatum is one of three players in the league averaging 30.0 points (30.0) and 8.0 rebounds (8.9) this season and he owns the most wins out of that group with 49. Tatum would become the first Celtic in franchise history to record those averages in a single season, beating out the previous best mark held by Larry Bird when he averaged 29.9 points and 9.3 rebounds per game during the 1987-88 season.

Tatum has scored the most total points in the NBA this season with 2,008 points and has made the fifth-most three-pointers with 218. He is one of two players in the league averaging at least 30.0 points per game with less than 3.0 turnovers (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander). The only Celtic to lead the league in total points scored was Paul Pierce, who scored 2,144 points in the 2001-02 season.

The Kings might have been looking ahead to this game as they were solid favorites in Utah on Monday but lost 128-120 to see a three-game winning streak snapped. De’Aaron Fox had 37 points, the most Fox has scored in a game since Feb. 24 (42 vs. Clippers) and seven more than Fox’s total in the prior two games combined.

Fox has scored 20+ points in 14 of his last 16 games, including 25 points or more in 13 of those outings, averaging 30.3 points and 6.5 assists per game on 55.0% shooting in that span. Fox has shown dominance as a fourth quarter scorer, scoring 10+ points in the final frame in 25 games this season, ranking first in the NBA. Starting guard Kevin Huerter (15.0 ppg) was out injured and is iffy for Tuesday.

The Celtics look for the season sweep as they beat visiting Sacramento 122-104 on Nov. 25. Tatum had 30, Jaylen Brown 25 and Derrick White 16 for Boston. Fox led Sacramento with 20 points. Domantas Sabonis had 18 points and 10 rebounds, and Davion Mitchell scored 13.

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