The Sacramento Kings play host to the Miami Heat at Golden One Center on Monday.

The Heat (31-25) have always been known to play with a chip, and that was certainly the case on Friday. They got into a huge scuffle with the New Orleans Pelicans but were able to prevail in that testy road game. That gives Miami seven wins in their last nine games in total, which has skyrocketed the Heat up the Eastern Conference standings. The Eastern Conference champs from last year always seem to do this at the end of the season, and it's no surprise since Jimmy Butler is finally fully healthy. The next step is to get Terry Rozier and Tyer Herro back because this club needs those dynamic guards if they want to make another deep run. With that said, Butler will miss this game to serve a one-game suspension from that aforementioned scuffle.

The Kings (33-23) come into this matchup winning three straight games. The competition in these victories is what's most impressive, beating the Los Angeles Clippers and Denver Nuggets. That's a tough schedule to deal with, and it's moved the Kings up to fifth in the Western Conference. That might be this team's ceiling because the four teams ahead are at least four games ahead. That's a ton of teams to leapfrog, and it likely means that Sacramramento will be a road team for most of the playoffs. What's made them so good is the play of Domantas Sabonis. The big man leads the league in double-doubles and is only one triple-double behind Nikola Jokic for that crown as well.

These teams played on January 31, with Miami prevailing, 115-106. That gives the Heat three wins in their last four matchups with the Kings.