Both the Los Angeles Lakers and the Sacramento Kings are coming off victories over the Minnesota Timberwolves as they meet for the first time this season at the Golden 1 Center. The two teams split their four-game season series last year and it is the Lakers as a 5.5-favorite in tonight’s game with the total Sportsbook at 240 points.
- The total has gone OVER in six of the Lakers’ last eight road games.
- The Kings are 6-1-1 ATS in their last eight games.
- The Lakers are 1-5 ATS in their last six games.
Sacramento has a high pace of play
The Kings have been shooting the lights out through the early stages of the season and because of this they had a five-game winning streak just a couple weeks ago and are now looking to string together two wins in a row for the first time since. Sacramento dropped two games following its winning streak against top Eastern Conference opponents the Milwaukee Bucks, 144-109, and the Toronto Raptors, 114-105, but are coming off a 121-110 win over Minnesota last night. As you can see by those scores, points aren’t hard to come by when the Kings hit the court and they lead the league in pace of play.
Sacramento likes to get its big man Willie Cauley-Stein involved in the play and this approach has paid off, as the seven-foot center is averaging 17.2 points per game and has led the team in scoring in five of its 12 games thus far. Because of this style of play, 48 percent of the Kings’ points are scored in the paint, averaging 56.5 points per game there, which bodes well against a Lakers squad that allows the most points in the paint per game at 56.7. There’s not much to talk about defensively for the Kings as they rank near the bottom in most defensive categories, except for creating turnovers as they average 17.3 takeaways per game which is the fourth-most in the league.
The Lakers’ Offense is rolling
Los Angeles has been in some barn-burner games already this year and finds itself on a bit of a good stretch recently, winning three of its last four games, falling only to East-leading Toronto 121-107. The Lakers have dared their opponents to run up and down the court with them, as have the third-fastest pace of play in the league and they take 93.5 shots from the floor which leads the NBA. Not only do they take the most shots per game, but they have the second-highest shooting percentage in the league, leading them to be the third-highest scoring team in the association averaging 118.5 points per game.
Much like the Kings, the Lakers do their damage under the rim as they lead the NBA in points in the paint per game averaging 60.4, and Sacramento allows the third-most points in the paint per game – see a trend yet? Los Angeles has done a good job causing turnovers, much like their counterparts, averaging 16.1 takeaways per game which is eighth-most in the NBA. Defensively, though, Los Angeles is allowing the third-most points per game and rank toward the bottom in most of the defensive categories.
Should you be on the OVER?
We have two offensive juggernauts colliding in tonight’s game and Sportsbook has the total Sportsbook at 240 points. Sacramento has pushed or gone OVER 240 points in half of their games this season, while Los Angeles has gone OVER 240 in four of its 11 games. When the Kings played the New Orleans Pelicans, a similar style of play as the Lakers, the game had 278 points with New Orleans scoring 149 points alone. I think we are going to see a back-and-forth high-paced game that should rack up a pile of points and I think you should be on the OVER.
My take on Lakers vs Kings
A popular saying I’ve heard early in the season is fade the Lakers and that’s exactly what I intend to do, I like the Kings +5.5 tonight. I think these two teams are so similar in their styles of play that I don’t see one team holding a huge edge over the other. I expect a barn-burner shootout that could result in the last possession wins. Everything the Kings do well at, the Lakers do poorly defensively in, and the same can be said the other way around. Lastly, Sacramento is 8-3-1 ATS this season while Los Angeles is 3-8 ATS.
