Sacramento @ New York preview

Last Meeting ( Mar 9, 2019 ) Sacramento 102, New York 94

The two teams with the worst record in their respective conferences in the early going meet up Sunday in New York, where the Knicks host the Sacramento Kings. Both squads opened 1-5 and entered Saturday alone in the basement of their conference standings, although the Kings finally broke into the win column Friday with a 102-101 victory over Utah at home.

De'Aaron Fox finished with 25 points and Harrison Barnes scored on a putback with 2.9 seconds left to give head coach Luke Walton his first victory with the team. "We were hungry tonight? Yes. Have we been hungry most games to start? Yes, and then it fades out," Walton told reporters. "But that's the intensity that we have to have for an entire game. Hopefully we feel that, we build on it and we continue to go in the right direction." The Knicks finished an 0-2 road trip with a 104-102 loss at Boston on Friday. Marcus Morris had 29 points in his return to TD Garden but it wasn't enough as New York fell to 0-4 on the road.

TV: 6 p.m. ET, NBCS California (Sacramento), MSG (New York)

ABOUT THE KINGS (1-5): Sacramento became the last team in the NBA to win a game despite committing 17 turnovers and having some issues from the foul line (12-of-17) and the 3-point line (8-of-29), showcasing an ability to overcome lapses that was lacking during the 0-5 start. "It was probably the first time all season we put together a full game," Barnes told the media. "Everyone down the line came in and contributed, and that was the team effort that we needed, the energy, the fight when they made runs, that we needed." Buddy Hield chipped in 18 points on 9-of-16 shooting after going 11-for-42 over his previous three games.

ABOUT THE KNICKS (1-5): New York's players tried to take some positives from pushing the talented Celtics to the finish line, and they hope that drive can lead to some victories down the road. "We stayed locked in all game long," Knicks rookie RJ Barrett told reporters. "The whole fourth quarter we was fighting, and that's the identity of our team. We did that tonight." Barrett scored 15 points but is 9-of-28 from the field over the last two contests.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. The teams entered Saturday tied for 27th in the NBA in assists per game (19.3).

2. Knicks PG Frank Ntilikina had 10 points and three steals Friday in his first start of the season with fellow guards Elfrid Payton (hamstring), Dennis Smith Jr. (personal) and Kadeem Allen (knee) all unavailable.

3. Sacramento won the last three meetings.

PREDICTION: Knicks 109, Kings 105