NBA: Sacramento Kings vs. Denver Nuggets Preview, Odds, Prediction

The Sacramento Kings and the Denver Nuggets meet again, only now, they’ve switched roles, and Mike Malone’s team is the host. The Nuggets visited the Kings two nights ago, and they won, clinching their 34th triumph this year. For the moment, they are sixth in the West, pressuring the Mavericks, who are one place ahead. As for the Kings, they are running out of time to start cutting the gap between them and the Trail Blazers who are 10th, sitting in the last place that leads to the play-in zone. Despite all the trades and new faces, we didn’t see any improvement in the Kings’ game. 

Preview

Sacramento Kings (22-39, +380) lost the last three games, and are overall, in poor shape. Two of the defeats came before the All-Star break, in Brooklyn, 109-85, and in Chicago, 125-118, while the most recent took place at the Golden One Center, where Denver triumphed 128-110.

Once again, we saw the Kings struggling with the defensive assignments. They are the 29th defense in the league in points allowed, 115.1 per game, and the way it seems, that isn’t going to change even after Sabonis’ arrival. Simply, Sacramento’s whole roster doesn’t care too much about the defense and that is it. 

Against the Nuggets, the Kings shot well from the field, 50%, but they made only nine threes in 20 attempts. Some analysts stated that giving up on Haliburton to keep Mitchel would be a big mistake, which proved to be correct, as the latter scored only seven points in this one. Fox had 20, Sabonis was superb with 33 and 14 boards, while Barnes added 14.

Denver Nuggets (34-25, -500) have four wins in a row, three of them on the road. Three were on the road, with the Nuggets beating the Raptors, Warriors, and Kings in front of their respective crowds. This is a push that may be the crucial factor in their playoff race, with the Nuggets targeting to stay above sixth place and earn a direct ticket to the postseason.

Will Barton had a nice performance in Sacramento, scoring 31 points, a team-high, shooting 11-for-17 from the field. Jokic was one assist short of a triple-double with 25 points, 12 boards and nine dimes, plus he had four steals. Monte Morris added 19 points, and Aaron Gordon 12.

Head to Head Games

The Kings and the Nuggets met twice this year. Apart from the above-mentioned contest, there was one on January 7, at Mile High, and the Nuggets won that as well, 121-111. 

Prediction

We should see a high-scoring affair in Denver, but we don’t have any doubts about the Nuggets’ victory. They are a far better team at this certain point than the Kings. Jokic is playing like no other center did in the past 10 years, and he is currently doing things unimaginable for any big guy. Because of him, the Nuggets’ chemistry is at a much higher level than the Kings, and we are betting that the hosts are going to beat the rivals and cover the spread as well.

Pick: Nuggets -8.5

Here is the preview for the game between the Memphis Grizzlies and the Chicago Bulls.