Monday Evening Rush: Team chemistry building as Lakers return to Arco

Contributed by Blake Ellington of bleedblackandpurple.

Purple is a great color.

Well, at least combined with another color it is. By itself, purple is often associated with flowers and a people eater. Combined with black it is a perfect accent. Combined with yellow, it is a putrid mix signifying arrogance and poor foul calling.

The Kings, who sport purple and black jerseys, play the Lakers, who sport purple and yellow, tomorrow night at Arco Arena. It will be the final meeting in Sacramento between the two rivals this season.

No matter what the record of either team, when the Kings play the Lakers at Arco Arena it usually makes for great entertainment. The Lakers are on their way to defending a championship, the Kings are a young, rising team. If you have tickets to the sold-out game, or if you just plan on viewing it on the tube, enjoy.

Here are some things Kings fans should watch for this week:

1. Team chemistry – Watching the Kings play recently has been entertaining (aside from the beat down courtesy of the Blazers). The games have been close and the brand of basketball has been exciting. This is because this is a team that no longer resembles a group of guys who got together for a pickup game. It all started after Carl Landry joined the squad and Paul Westphal began to go with a consistent rotation that featured Landry at power forward. As a fan, and mainly for a player, this provides a sense of predictability that is healthy for the chemistry of the lineup. When guys know their role, they can perform that role to perfection. Look for the steady play to continue.

2. Home cooking – The Kings need to cook while at home. With three of the four games this week at home, they should have a relatively successful stretch of games. The Kings are still above .500 at home (17-16), so they are prime for it. (We won’t discuss the road record). The teams coming in (Lakers, Bucks and Grizzlies) are no cake walk, but this young team has enough fight in them to compete.

3. Evans v. Jennings – When the Kings faced the Bucks back in December and Tyreke scored the game-winning layup, the race between the two stellar players for rookie of the year was still up for grabs. Since then, Tyreke has separated himself from Jennings in the race. The two will meet for the final time this season on Friday. Jennings’ numbers have slipped slightly – he is averaging 15 points, 6 assists and 3 rebounds per game – but the competitive nature of both of these young players will surely come out.