NBA: Sacramento Kings vs. Golden State Warriors Preview, Odds, Prediction

The Sacramento Kings travel to San Francisco to meet with the Golden State Warriors. Less than24 hours since their game against the San Antonio Spurs, the Kings have one massive challenge ahead of them. Not only due to the Warriors’ power but because of all the absences, Alvin Gentry has to battle with. Overall, the Kings are mediocre this year, and it seems that they won’t reach the playoffs yet again. Meanwhile, the Warriors are after the No.1 seed and another championship title.

Preview

Sacramento Kings (12-18, +700) defeated the Spurs last night in the capital of California. The result of that game was 121-114, for the hosts who managed to break the rivals’ defiance in the final period. San Antonio was constantly near, but in the end, they didn’t have the power to rebuff the Kings’ surge.

Sacramento shot 50.5% from the field while hitting 14 of 25 three-point shots, catching up a remarkable 56% from downtown. They would also score 50 points from inside the paint but had only 6 fast-break buckets, most definitely due to De’Aaron Fox’s absence. By the way Marvin Bagley III, Terrence Davis, De’Aaron Fox, Louis King, Alex Len, and Davion Mitchell are out due to health and safety protocols, plus Richaun Holmes, who has other problems.

Buddy Hield had 29 points, Tyrese Haliburton scored 27 with 11 assists, while Damian Jones added 23 off the bench for the Kings. Harison Barnes had 14.

Golden State Warriors (23-5. -600) came home from the Eastern conference tour, posting four wins and two defeats. The latest one was in their previous event, against the Toronto Raptors, 119-100 in Canada.

Something like this was expected because there weren’t any big-time names involved in the Warriors’ lineup. Head coach Steve Kerr decided to rest Steph Curry and Draymond Green, while Jordan Poole, Klay Thompson, and James Wiseman weren’t in the team due to other issues. That’s why the Warriors posted 20 turnovers.

The rookie, Jonathan Kuminga, scored 26 points, hitting four threes in six attempts in 36 minutes. The next best scorer was Damion Lee with 14 points, while Gary Payton II added 13 with nine boards off the bench. The Warriors also had only five steals, which is way below their usual average.

Head to Head Games

We’ve seen these two division rivals already meeting once this season. It was in late October when the Kings hosted GSW and lost 119-107.

Steph Curry had 27 points with 10 assists, and Jordan Poole scored 22. Andrew Wiggins added 17. On the other side, Harrison Barnes had a team-high 24 buckets, Fox had 17, and Holmes 16 with 11 boards.

Prediction

The Warriors are the absolute favorites for several reasons. The first is their overall quality, which is far better than the Kings. The second is the fact that Sacramento has several players from the starting lineup out, among them Fox and Holmes, which is a great blow. And the third is Kings’ fatigue, as they played last night, and had to travel to the Bay Area. All in all, this is an easy job for the hosts, who will probably cover a -14.5-point spread.

Pick: Warriors -14.5