NBA Sunday Betting Action: Sacramento Kings at Denver Nuggets

Lawson is questionable for tonight's contest and hasn't played since Feb 8th — Lawson is questionable for tonight’s contest and hasn’t played since Feb 8th

Sacramento at Denver
Time: 8 PM ET, Feb 23, 2014
Spread: DEN -5
M/L: DEN -210; SAC +175
Total 210.5

Betting odds courtesy of 5dimes

The Denver Nuggets season hasn’t gone as planned. First-year coach Brian Shaw has had to deal with a litany of injuries, yet the Nuggets still are just four games under .500. In the East, that would put the team in the thick of the playoff hunt. In the West, however, the Nuggets trail the Dallas Mavericks by 7.5 games for the final playoff spot in the West.

It’s unlikely the Nuggets overcome that deficit, even if NBA oddsmakers do favor the Nuggets over the lowly Sacramento Kings in tonight’s action. The Nuggets enter the contest as 5-point favorites, despite missing several key players.

The Kings, conversely, are a lesson in underachievement and discontinuity.

Despite having a center with franchise talent offensively in DeMarcus Cousins (questionable, hip flexor), despite having a great playmaker in Isaiah Thomas, and talented wing scorers like Rudy Gay and Tyreke Evans; the Kings are just 19-36 and headed straight for another lottery pick. Offensively, it’s almost impossible for some of the talent not to shine through. The Kings rank 13th in the NBA in offense (101.1 points per game), but the Kings give up 103.4 points per game, 4th worst in the NBA. Despite having a middle of the road offense, the team ranks 2nd to last in assists per game, which only illustrates the isolationist nature of the offense.

The Kings were able to snare a win last night (Feb 22) over the Boston Celtics, but the Celtics are a bad team too. Rudy Gay dropped 22 points and grabbed seven rebounds. The Kings must find a way to translate the talent on the team to wins, because the team is replete with talent. Rookie Ben McLemore is still finding his way, but the Kings have the depth (seriously, they do) to be a .500-plus team. The team recently cleared playing time for McLemore by trading for Jason Terry who will not suit up this season.

SAC Trends: UNDER 3-0-1 in last 4 after scoring 100 points or more in previous game; UNDER 3-0-1 in last 4 vs teams with winning home records; OVER 5-1-2 in last 8 on 0 days rest.