NBA: Philadelphia 76ers vs. Sacramento Kings Preview, Odds, Prediction

The Sacramento Kings are looking perfect these days, and it is no wonder that they surpassed the .500 mark. Meanwhile, the 76ers have solid results as well, suffering just two defeats in the past 10 matches, which puts them atop the Eastern Conference. This even really promises to be fun due to its dynamic and talent on both ends of the court. Sacramento is looking ready to reach the playoffs, while the 76ers are, for the first time, appearing as a team that might attack the title. They’re strong, decisive, and above all consistent, which wasn’t the case before.

Preview

Philadelphia 76ers (17-7, -185) are favorites, solid favorites in this matchup. They defeated Brooklyn on Saturday night, but we need to say that the guests played without Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, which is why hosts routinely won that clash, 124-108.

As usual, Joel Embiid was in the middle of the attention, with the Process dropping 33 points, while shooting 10-for-21 and having 9 boards with three steals. Ben Simmons was all around with 16 buckets, 12 rebounds, and 8 assists, while Tobias Harris scored 21 points.

Shake Milton continues his pursuit of the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award, as he currently posts, 14.1 points, with 3 assists, and 45.2% percent of shooting from the floor. Embid’s numbers make him a frontrunner for the MVP award – 29.3 points, 10.7 boards, with 55.3% shooting. Pretty impressive, you need to admit.

The 76ers have a nicely balanced offense, which runs the floor when needed, but also has static, iso matchups, on occasions when the rivals aren’t expecting the same. It is needless to say that Embiid’s dominance in this area provides a massive edge to Doc Rivers’ team.

Sacramento Kings (12-11, +165) have one defeat in eight matches, and that was vs. Heat on the road, 105-104. After that match, Luke Walton’s side posted four straight wins, three against top teams in the league, Celtics, Nuggets, and the Clippers, in four days span.

De’Aaron Fox was harassing the Clips, with 36 points, and 7 assists, shooting 15-for-25 from the floor. Buddy Hield finally woke up scoring 22 points, while Harrison Barnes had just 4 points, but rebounded 12 times, contributing in other aspects of the game.

He became much better this season, recording 17.1 points and 6.5 boards with a superb shooting from downtown, 41.7%, and 49.6% overall. The match against LAC was the first one, following three straight in which he had at least 24 points.

Kings are a young and potent side whose offensive talent is incredible. Fox runs the floor with the intensity rarely seen in the NBA, and over the past months, he became an excellent one-on-one player in positional attack. Now that opened a lot of possibilities for the Kings, and the results immediately improved.

Head to Head

Philly won the past four games. The two from the previous year were 125-108 in Sacramento and 97-91 at Wells Fargo Center.

Prediction

With the line set for points at 230.5, we won’t be looking for other options. Two young and ferocious attacks will undoubtedly eclipse that number, and that would be our pick for tonight’s event – Over 230.5. The odds are -110.