Betdistrict.com
The Detroit Pistons will travel to Sacramento on the second night of a back to back, in order to face the Kings at the Golden 1 Center Arena on Thursday night.
The Kings (20-21, 11-10 home) have dropped out of the playoff picture in the West after losing 5 of their last 6 games, but it can`t really be said that they are out of form. The Kings played pretty well during this 6 game stretch (in which they met 3 top notch teams), and all of their 5 losses came by less than 7 points! A combination of bad luck and inexperience cost the Kings in those losses. They played well, but had some silly mistakes and some minutes of confusion which determined the losses. Last time out, the Kings blew a 21 point second half lead for a very bad loss in Phoenix.
The Pistons (17-21, 6-11 away) are trying their best to make the playoffs in the weak Eastern Conference, and they might, but this team will not go anywhere anytime soon. The Pistons are not built for the current NBA, relying heavily on their two big guys (Drummond, Griffin), around which they have put no consistent shooters. Like the Kings, the Pistons also lost 5 of their last 6 games, but they did it by playing bad basketball.
Bet on Kings vs Pistons and get your 100% (120 Eur) welcome bonus at LSbet now!Team news: The Kings are expected to get back star rookie Marvin Bagley, which would be a big boost. Iman Shumpert remains doubtful. As for the Pistons, they only have Zaza Pachulia and Ish Smith questionable, unless somebody else gets injured in their game against the Lakers tonight.
The Pistons play the Lakers tonight in LA (after the publishing of this text), and will have to take on the Kings in less than 24 hours on Thursday night. The game against the Lakers can`t have any negative impact on this tip, only “positive”, if someone gets injured for Detroit (of course, I am not wishing that on any Pistons player). As such, it`s safe to write this up and bet even before the Lakers game.
Being back to back on the road is one of the worst things in the NBA, so the Pistons will definitely be hurt by the scheduling – especially as they are not very deep, and that it will also be their 3rd game in 4 nights. When they arrive in Sacramento they would have traveled over 4300 kilometers in 3 days, from Detroit to LA to Sacramento.
The road back to back situation for the Pistons definitely gives the Kings a massive advantage, and they should be able to capitalize.
The Kings are the better team anyway, they played better basketball recently than the Pistons (despite the losses), and should also match up well against their opponents. The speed, youth and shooting of Sacramento should work well against an immobile Pistons side which is very poor in the backcourt.
When you also add the home court advantage, you really have to fancy the Kings to take this one.
All in all, my tip here will be Sacramento to win. The -5 point handicap on them looks tasty, but I will stick with the simple victory, given than 9 of Sacramento`s last 10 games were decided by single digits. I wouldn`t be surprised at all if odds on the Kings will drop. Prediction: Sacramento Kings – Detroit Pistons 120 – 109.
Pick: Kings
Odds: 1.50 @ William Hill
Stake: 10
Possible profit: 5
Event date: 11 January
