Denver Nuggets at Sacramento Kings
January 6th, 2011 at 10:30 PM EST
Opening Line: Denver -5.5
Current Line: Denver -4.5
Opening Total: 208
Current Total 207
Opening Moneyline: Denver -200 / Sacramento +170
Current Moneyline: Denver -200 / Sacramento +170
Sacramento is playing typical Sacramento ball with the worst record in the entire league at 7-25. They aren’t even respectable at home (5-15), but Denver is on the second leg of a back to back and Sacramento is rested. DeMarcus Cousins has been coming up huge lately, going for 20 or more in 3 of his past 4 games including 52 over the last 2, 26.0 ppg for the two games. He’s been getting boards, too (23 in his past 3 games). He’s still turning the ball over too much with 2.3 turnovers per game, but rookies often make rookie mistakes, and he’s certainly no exception to the rule.
Remarkably, despite their clearly being a better team, the Nuggets have dropped their last three to the Kings at Arco Arena. Denver just did drop a game to the lowly Clippers, too.
“We weren’t good at either end of the court,” coach George Karl said. “Most nights this year we’ve had something going and tonight our defense wasn’t good enough and our offense wasn’t good enough.”
The Kings last loss wasn’t due to shortcomings on offense. They scored fine, but gave up 51% field goal shooting to the Hawks.
Some betting trends:
Denver has won 4 of their last 5 and are 1-4 in their last 5 road games. They have won 9 of the last 13 in Sacramento, but have dropped the last 3 there. They are 2-3-1 ATS in their last 6 against the Kings and the total has gone UNDER in 6 of the last 9 meetings between the teams. Denver is 5-10-2 ATS in their last 17 games in Sacramento. Denver has averaged a 10.5 point average win margin over the last two victories over Sacramento.
Sacramento has won only 3 of their last 21 games and they are 2-6-1 ATS in their last 9 games. They are 2-5-1 ATS in their last 8 home games and the total has gone OVER in 4 of the last 5 home games against Denver. Sacramento is 2-3-2 ATS in thier last 7 home games against the Nuggets.
Premier Matchup: DeMarcus Cousins vs Nene Hilario
Nene is one of the best defenders in the league but Cousins is finally starting to show how talented he is and what made so many GMs try to trade up to draft him, not the least of whom was Joe Dumars, who has a good track record of assembling teams (till his recent mistake big signings of Villanueva and Ben Gordon). Nene does have the strength to body up Cousins and keep him from getting set up too deep in the post, but Cousins has some nice moves to utilize as well. While Tyreke Evans may be the Kings’ best player, perhaps even indisputably, it is Cousins that has the potential to help the Kings cover the spread set by Nene is one of the best defenders in the league but Cousins is finally starting to show how talented he is and what made so many GMs try to trade up to draft him, not the least of whom was Joe Dumars, who has a good track record of assembling teams (till his recent mistake big signings of Villanueva and Ben Gordon). Nene does have the strength to body up Cousins and keep him from getting set up too deep in the post, but Cousins has some nice moves to utilize as well. While Tyreke Evans may be the Kings’ best player, perhaps even indisputably, it is Cousins that has the potential to help the Kings cover the spread set by NBA oddsmakers for tonight’s game.
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