Two of the stronger teams out west go toe-to-toe as the first-place Denver Nuggets travel to “Sac City” to take on the Sacramento Kings. It’s time to continue our NBA odds series with a Nuggets-Kings prediction and pick.
At full strength for the first time in a year and a half, the one-seeded Denver Nuggets definitely treated their home fans with the greatest Christmas gift of all after edging out the Phoenix Suns in thrilling fashion by a score of 128-125. The win was the Nuggets’ 21st win of the season as they now have sole possession of the top overall seed in the Western Conference.
Coming into this one with a 17-14 record and currently occupying the sixth seed in the conference, the Kings are finally showing glimpses of being a playoff team for the first time in a long time. In fact, the last time the Kings made it to the postseason in 2005, most of today’s high schoolers weren’t born yet. Although there is plenty of regular-season action to be played, Sacramento may be here to stay.
Here are the Nuggets-Kings NBA odds, courtesy of FanDuel
NBA Odds: Nuggets-Kings Odds
Denver Nuggets: -4 (-106)
Sacramento Kings: +4 (-114)
Over: 239 (-110)
Under: 239 (-110)
Why The Nuggets Could Cover The Spread
Participating in one of the most entertaining games of the young NBA season, it is hard to argue at this point that the Denver Nuggets aren’t a legitimate contending team with championship aspirations.
Of course, the absurd play of big man Nikola Jokic has been something the league has never seen before. On Sunday, the masterful Serbian center was in his bag as he dropped 41 points to go along with 15 rebounds and assists. While that may have been impressive, Jokic is also getting dangerously close to averaging a triple-double on the season through the teams’ first 32 games and doesn’t seem to be showing any signs of stopping anytime soon. Jokic has benefited greatly with the return of Jamal Murray and the surging play of Aaron Gordon, who may be hands down the best dunker in the game. Conversely, the national media is starting to run out of excuses for Jokic to be at the forefront of the MVP running for the third straight season.
At first glance, Denver possesses the proper amount of star power and depth to be a top team in the league, but the biggest X-Factor for this squad tonight and the rest of the season will come in the form of Michael Porter Jr. After missing the past couple weeks due to a bum heel, Porter Jr. has been plagued by inconsistency throughout his career and was mostly a non-factor against the Suns with seven points on only 27% shooting from the floor. However, the former Mizzou standout looks like one of the best pure scorers when he is clicking on all cylinders with his shot, and making Porter Jr. feeling comfortable from the get-go will give the Nuggets a great chance at covering the spread this evening.
Why The Kings Could Cover The Spread
Bafflingly enough, Sacramento’s lethal ways out on the hardwood come in the form of a high-octane offense that has been nearly perfect through the first couple of months of the season. As it stands, the Kings have scored the second-most points in the league per game with 118 a contest and often exploit opposing defenses who don’t take their defensive game plan very seriously.
Even though the news of Damontas Sabonis fracturing his thumb is discouraging, the Kings should be able to afford some setbacks due to an amount of depth that hasn’t been seen in Sacramento for quite some time. Of course, the heartbeat of this offense has been De’Aaron Fox, who serves as a worthy floor general for what looks like an exciting up-and-coming roster. At the ripe age of 23, Fox has taken his game to the next level this season with 23.2 PPG and hands down is one of the most shifty guards in the association.
As explosive as the offense has been thus far, the defense’s lackluster ways have prevented this team from obtaining a better record. First off, Sacramento is allowing 116.2 points per game which is the seventh-worst mark in the NBA and has not done a very good job in defending the perimeter to the best of their abilities. Not to mention, but the Kings are often hard-pressed to create turnovers to give their offense some room to breathe. In their most recent loss to the Wizards, the Kings could only come up with ten giveaways in the 23-point loss. Obviously, playing an aggressive brand of defense versus a Nuggets bunch that is prone to turning the ball over from time to time would go a long way on the scoreboard.
Final Nuggets-Kings Prediction & Pick
Facing off with each other for the first time this season, all eyes will be on both teams’ high-scoring offenses trading blows. Then again, the Nuggets have Nikola Jokic at their disposal which will end up being the glaring difference this evening.
Final Nuggets-Kings Prediction & Pick: Nuggets -4 (-106)
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