NBA Betting – Kings Hope to Crown Warriors

Sacramento Kings at Golden State Warriors (-13.5, 220 o/u)

The Sacramento Kings (12-18, 4-10 Away) hope the third time is the charm when they face the Golden State Warriors (28-1, 14-0 Home) tonight at ORACLE Arena in Oakland (10:30 PM Eastern). The Kings have already lost twice – badly – to the NBA’s top team: 103-94 in early November and 120-101 at the end of the month. (Sacramento did manage a split against the spread, though, as the Warriors were 14 and 16.5-point favorites, respectively.)

Sacramento comes into the game 3-3 in its last six.  They dropped their last outing against the Portland Trail Blazers, 98-94, on Sunday despite 36 points from DeMarcus Cousins.  A bevy of turnovers, 22 to be exact (which led to 28 Trail Blazer points), killed the up-and-down squad.

Since losing their first game of the season two weeks ago, the Warriors have gotten right back to their winning ways, taking four straight including their NBA Finals rematch against Cleveland on Christmas Day (89-83). Draymond Green had 22 points and 15 rebounds in the victory over the Cavs.

The low-scoring win was unusual for the Warriors, who average over 114 points per game, but not unwelcome.

“It’s good to have one of those every so often,” reigning MVP Stephen Curry said in a press conference after the win. “If our defense shows up, we’re in pretty good shape to win games. We just show our versatility and try to win different ways.”

Curry only had 19 points on 6 of 15 shooting from the floor, but the Davidson product still leads the NBA with 30.9 PPG and is shooting over 50-percent on the year (51.3).

In the trends, Golden State is 5-0 SU and 4-0-1 ATS in its last five at home against the Kings. They’re also an impressive 18-10-1 ATS on the year (versus 14-16 ATS for Sacramento).

Pick: Warriors -13.5.

(Photo credit: Keith Allison (flickr) “Stephen Curry” [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/]. Photo has been cropped.)