New York Knickerbockers at Sacramento Kings
Time: 9:30 PM CT (TNT)
Spread: SAC -6
Total: 209
Betting odds c/o Bovada
The New York Knicks turned some heads by beginning the season better than expected, but those preemptive playoff hopes appear to be as premature as non-Knick fans felt they had been all along. New York has dropped three straight games and will try to avoid a fourth as it travels to face the Sacramento Kings in NBA action on TNT Thursday night.
NBA oddsmakers set the line 6-points in favor of the equally as woeful Kings, a reflection of oddsmakers lack of faith in a Knicks team that is still pretty poorly composed, beginning with team cancer Carmelo Anthony.
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Last night the Knicks were fairly humiliated by the Utah Jazz, losing 106-85 on the first night of this back-to-back. New York scored an abysmal 11 points in the first period and things never really got that much better as the Knicks trailed by 25 at the half. What could save New York is that the game was so out of hands even Anthony saw just 26 minutes.
Melo shot 3 of 11 from the floor, and the Knicks were 39.7 percent as a team. Even super rookie Kristaps Porzingis (or “Porzingod” as some are dubbing the Latvian) was just 2 of 8 from the field in 13 minutes of play. Overall, he has impressed, but there was nothing impressive about anything the Knicks did in last night’s contest.
Porzingis, for his part, is rather hard to blame. The No. 4 overall pick has scored 16.5 points and grabbed nine rebounds in the past 10 games while rejecting 2.8 shots per contest. His PER of 20 is nearly unheard of for first-year players, and the 7-foot-3 forward gives Knicks fans a reason for hope on a team otherwise mostly devoid of such.
Before last night’s four point effort, he had scored 28 in the loss to Dallas on Dec. 7 while hitting 13 of 18 from the floor and coming up with two swats. He brings some excitement to the Big Apple, if nothing else. New York is still pitiful, if that has not been made clear enough already.
The Sacramento Kings have done their fair share of disappointing its fanbase as well. With the Hiring of George Karl over the summer, most expected the Kings to turn things around. There is certainly no lack of talent on the roster, but it is becoming more clear that DeMarcus Cousins may never be able to lead a team—at least not a winning one.
The loudmouthed cry baby is posting excellent, if hollow numbers. He is good for 25 points and 10 rebounds per game but hits just 41 percent from the field while leading the Kings in turnovers from the 5-spot (3.2 per game). Not since Dwight Howard has a more disastrous offensive center been seen, given his raw talent and utter lack of basketball IQ.
Rajón Rondo has continued to post great assist numbers, but the rest of his team has not. The former Boston Celtic champ has averaged 11 dimes per game while the rest of the Kings average just 13.3. He is still coming up with 1.87 steals, too, but the Kings really are not able to generate a lot of offense necessarily from that. Then again, Sacto is posting 105.2 points per game so offense has hardly been its biggest concern.
The Kings rank third-to-last in defensive rating while the offense is good for No. 13 in the league. In other words, middle of the pack offense plus a horrible defense is going to win a team about one-third of its games, at best. It is a safe assumption that Karl only leads this team back to the lottery, not that it is necessarily his fault. No one has been able to save Sacramento since Mike Bibby and Chris Webber, and Kings fans have been audibly groaning at watching the horrible play continue even with a proven and competent head coach.
Make no mistake, this is a battle between two really bad teams, the Knicks are just more likely to come out flat in what promises to be an ugly enough game to satisfy anyone who loves turnovers and poorly executed basketball.
