Pelicans vs. Kings Pick
Are the undermanned New Orleans Pelicans going to get the win Thursday night at the Sacramento Kings? Tip-off is at 10:30PM EST.
Oddsmakers at sports book Bovada.lv have made the New Orleans Pelicans a 1-point favorite on the spread line. The over-under is 203 points.
New Orleans is 1-3 after a 103-93 loss at Portland. Sacramento comes in with at 1-3 following a 117-115 loss at Phoenix. The Kings won two of three meetings straight up and against the spread last season. The total stayed under in all three games.
The Pelicans were led by DeMarcus Cousins in the loss to the Blazers as he tallied 39 points and 13 rebounds. With fellow frontcourt mate Anthony Davis expected to be out with a knee injury Thursday night, Cousins will again be counted on heavily against his former team. Jrue Holiday chipped in with 14 points, seven assists and five rebounds. Jameer Nelson had 10 points off the bench. New Orleans was outscored 32-20 in the fourth quarter.
Garrett Temple paced the Kings with 23 points off the bench against the Suns. DeAaron Fox also had a strong night off the bench with 19 points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals. Skal Labissiere had 14 points in a reserve role as the Sacramento bench scored 78 of its 115 points. The Kings outscored Phoenix 39-30 in the fourth quarter, but were unable to rally all the way back.
New Orleans is 5-2 ATS in the last seven meetings, but the Pelicans are also 6-18-1 ATS in their last 25 meetings in Sacramento.
Davis is a huge loss any time he is absent from the Pelicans lineup, but expect Cousins to be highly motivated against his former running mates. New Orleans was hoping to be in the Western Conference playoff picture this year with its twin towers, so it can’t afford losses like this even with one of them out. Expect a huge night from Cousins and some key contriibutions from others such as Holiday and E’Twaun Moore.
NBA DAILY PREDICTION: NEW ORLEANS PELICANS -1