NBA: Sacramento Kings vs. New York Knicks Preview, Odds, Preview

The New York Knicks are looking solid lately, and they aim to improve the impression with a win over the sorry Sacramento Kings. Guests from California play awfully over the past few matches, recording loss after loss, and continuously slipping in the Western Conference standings. As for the Knicks, after a while, the team from the Big Apple has solid chances of entering the postseason, or catching the play-in tournament, which creates a positive atmosphere in the locker room.

Preview

Sacramento Kings (12-19. +115) have eight straight losses making them the unit with the worst form at the moment. The latest three defeats came on the road, against the Bulls, Bucks, and the Nets, and in all of them, Sacramento allowed 120 or more points.

That is not odd at all, because Luke Walton’s side has the worst defense in the league, conceding 119.9 points per night. Their offensive-minded approach provided some results earlier this year, but it appears that the opponents scouted them very well, finding their weak spots perfectly, and exploiting them big time.

De’Aaron fox had 27 points against the Nets, which was his first match after four in which he didn’t surpass the 20-point mark. Tyrese Haliburton added 23, and he is slowly improving his numbers as the season goes by. Over the latest 10 events, he has 16.7 points while shooting 52.8% shooting from the field and 47.5% for three.

New York Knicks (15-17, -130) are 4- in the past six games. They couldn’t restrain Steph Curry and the Warriors on Tuesday night, losing at home to GSW 114-106. What is important to say about the Knicks is that they have the best defense in the NBA, with 103.8 allowed points per night.

Tom Thibodeau tightened up things, demanding more urgency on the defensive side, while still creating a suitable game plan for the offensive part of the game. For the moment, everything revolves around Julius Randle when speaking about the attack, with the strong power forward leading the way in numerous categories.

He tops the team with 23.3 points and 10.9 boards, while shooting 47.7% percent from the field and an excellent 41.4% from downtown. On top of everything, Randle has 5.5 assists. The next best thing in the team is RJ Barrett with 16.2 points, and 6.3 rebounds, but just 2.9 assists, which isn’t good for a player of his skills and caliber.

Head to Head Games

Sacramento was better than the Knicks at the Golden One Center on January 22, 103-94. Fox had 22 points, Harrison Barnes 21, with 8 rebounds and seven assists. On the other side, Randle had a team-high 26 points with 15 rebounds, and Barrett added 21. The Knicks scored just five three-pointers in 22 attempts.

Prediction

This is a perfect opportunity for the hosts to get even for the loss from one month ago. The Kings are in a slump, while Knicks slowly head towards the upper part of the league standings, suggesting that this could be their best season in a long time. The spread on the home team is -2 points, and we advise you not to hesitate or think too much, but immediately put some money on NY’s win with three or more buckets.