The Sacramento Kings (22-31) are in the Big Easy Monday for a 9 p.m. ET tip-off with the New Orleans Pelicans (24-29) at Smoothie King Center. Below, we analyze the Kings-Pelicans odds and lines, with NBA picks and predictions.
Sac Town lost its sixth straight game Saturday against the Utah Jazz (1-5 against the spread) and sit 3 games back of the Golden State Warriors for the 10th and final seed in the Western Conference postseason play-in.
The only team between the Kings and Warriors are the 11-seed Pelicans who have won back-to-back games including a 116-109 victory vs. the Cleveland Cavaliers last night. NOLA is 4-4 overall and 3-5 ATS in the last two weeks.
This will be the Kings-Pelicans rubber match as they’ve split the first two meetings with the road team winning and covering both games.
Kings at Pelicans: Odds, spread and lines
Odds via BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated at 3:50 p.m. ET.
- Money line: Kings +110 (bet $100 to win $110) | Pelicans -135 (bet $135 to win $100)
- Against the spread/ATS: Kings +2 (-110) | Pelicans -2 (-110)
- Over/Under: 236.5 (O: -115 | U: -105)
Kings at Pelicans: Key injuries
Kings
- PF Marvin Bagley (hand) out
Pelicans
- PG Lonzo Ball (hip) questionable
- SG Nickeil Alexander-Walker (ankle) out
- SG Josh Hart (thumb) out
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Kings at Pelicans: Odds, lines, predictions and picks
Prediction
Pelicans 121, Kings 117
Money line (ML)
PASS because NOLA has played down to its competition all year and is awful vs. bad teams.
The Pelicans are 5-11 as a home favorite, 5-10 ATS at home against teams with a losing record and have lost five of six ATS vs. below-.500 teams.
I “lean” to NOLA covering here but, at the same point, there’s no way I’m laying it with Pelicans (-135).
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Against the spread (ATS)
On paper, NOLA is a tough matchup for Sac Town. The Pelicans score the third-most paint points and second-chance points per game.
While the Kings are 24th in second-chance points allowed and dead-last in paint points allowed per game.
Also, NOLA should dominate Sac Town on the boards tonight. The Pelicans have the highest rebounding rate in the Association, and the Kings have the fifth-lowest defensive rebounding rate.
Slight “LEAN” to the PELICANS -2 (-110) for a quarter-unit only because NOLA rarely handles business against bad opponents.
Over/Under (O/U)
“LEAN” to the OVER 236.5 (-115) for a half-unit since the Over has cashed in seven of the previous nine Kings-Pelicans games.
Also, both teams play matador defense with the Kings ranked dead-last in defensive rating and the Pelicans sitting at 28th.
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