NBA: Sacramento Kings vs. New Orleans Pelicans Preview, Odds, Prediction

The Sacramento Kings are in Louisiana, where they meet with the New Orleans Pelicans. After a long time, the team from California is competitive and has high hopes. The playoff drought should end this year, and all this increases the hype around this team. New Orleans played last night, and they beat the Lakers following a big battle. Yes, the Pels are tired, but on the other side, they have momentum, swing, and pressure due to their current situation in the standings.

Preview

Sacramento Kings (29-22, -115) look good. Right now, Fox and the crew are on a road trip through the West, and this will be the fifth in a row for the Kings away from Sacramento. For the moment, their record is two wins and two losses.

At first, they picked up a win and a loss against the T-Wolves in Minneapolis and defeated the Spurs in San Antonio before losing to the Pacers in Indiana, 107-104, following a tight finish. 

Both teams choked in the end, unable to score when needed the most, and the Pacers ended up on the winning side due to an earlier lead. Harrison Barnes scored 23 points, Kevin Huerter scored 16, missing six of seven three-point shots, while Sabonis scored 15 and had 16 boards. Fox was out.

New Orleans Pelicans (27-27, -105) defeated the Lakers, which was their first win in 11 events. The team from down south faced all sorts of problems during that stretch, but it is not late for them to get back into victorious mode and go up.

Last night, the Pels were better than the Lakers, 131-126. It’s very important that Brandon Ingram played well and left his injury behind him. The superstar forward had 35 buckets and, in some moments, was unstoppable for the purple and gold. CJ McCollum and he developed excellent chemistry last year, and the Pels’ fans hope to see the team reaching that level of play now.

McCollum ended the night with 23 points and seven boards, while Trey Murphy did an excellent job with 21 points, four threes, and five boards. Jose Alvarado was a spark off the bench with 18 buckets, the same as Jonas Valanciunas, with the note that the Lithuanian center had 14 rebounds on top of that.

Head to Head Games

The seasonal series were tied last year, with the Kings winning the opening two matches and the Pelicans the latter two. Both units had a win at home and on the road, proving that the event venue didn’t have such a massive influence on the final result. 

Prediction

The Kings are a bit tired, but the Pels are too. Still, the fact that Fox won’t play tonight is a big minus for the franchise from California, and we have to side with the home unit to triumph. The odds are -105, and we expect them to go down as time goes by, due to Fox’s absence. Ingram has a perfect matchup to deliver 30+ points, so keep an eye on that as well. There isn’t a player in Sacramento capable of slowing him down.

Pick: Pelicans win -105