Sacramento at Oklahoma City
Time: 6 PM CT (NBA LP)
Spread: OKC -11
Total: 220.5
Betting odds c/o Pincle
The recipe is in this game for an Oklahoma City Thunder blowout. The Sacramento Kings visit OKC on the second half of a back-to-back and the team is 0-5 this season in such games. NBA oddsmakers agree, setting the line 11-points in favor of the Thunder with a high betting total of 220.5 reflecting OKC’s acumen offensively.
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Or maybe that should read Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant’s acumens. The Thunder are struggling to get production beyond its top two scorers, and depth has been an issue for the 11-8 Thunder. With the L.A. Clippers also struggling, the West is starting to level off in talent comparatively to the Eastern Conference.
Durant and Westbrook combine for 55.7 points per game, but the Thunder are getting just 12.9 from Serge Ibaka, 11.8 from Enes Kanter and 10.7 from reserve Dion Waiters. The team still averages 108.2 points per game, however, while hitting 35.8 percent from three point range as a team.
Durant, in particular, has been lights out: He is hitting 45.7 percent of his 6.2 three-point attempts per game, and his overall field goal percentage is 51.4. He is nearly unblockable in mid-range and is more efficient than Westbrook. Russ is averaging 7.3 rebounds and 9.6 assists in addition to his 27.5 points per game though, and is a triple-double threat every night. Westbrook also gets 2.37 steals per game for an OKC team that averages 7.68 steals and 7.05 blocks per game.
Sacramento has benefited from the resurgence of league-leading assist man Rajon Rondo. Even so, the Kings linger low in the West at 7-14, and George Karl still has been unable to translate this team’s potential to what its record should ideally be.
The Kings are so talented on paper and so mediocre on the court, and coaching had been to blame, or so we thought. DeMarcus Cousins may not be an ideal team leader, but his talent is undeniable. What remains in question is whether a team can be built around the difficult-to-deal-with Cousins.
The All-Star center is averaging 26.2 points, 10.5 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 2.12 steals/blocks per game while posting a PER of 24.6, but his teammate Rudy Gay has been of middling efficiency and the Kings lack other scorers.
Darren Collison, Rondo, Marco Belinelli and Omri Casspi all average double figures, but Gay has to be a reliable second option. Sacramento is scoring 105.2 points per game, but its defense has been nowhere near as good as expected.
Former Kentucky Wildcat Willie Cauley-Stein is seeing just 18.9 minutes per game after having been drafted No. 6 overall, and WCS is averaging just 4.8 points and 5.2 rebounds per game. He does block over a shot per game, however, illustrating his playmaking potential on the defensive end. He is expected to miss six weeks with a finger injury, which will be a setback for the talented rookie. The Kings also are desperately in need of better defense and that is his calling card.
The Kings just have too many below average defenders, and a point guard that gambles on steals. The fact that Cousins is a mediocre rim protector sets the Kings up for disaster defensively so often, and it is really difficult to imagine the Kings slowing Westbrook in this contest. Durant, too, will feast on an average defender like Gay.
The Kings are going to have to get more production from at least one of its tertiary scorers to improve its prospects this season. Given the talent level is so high, this team should be far closer to .500, than .333. Expect OKC to take the initiative in getting this game into high gear where OKC’s talent will trump Sacto’s in a big way. Thunder do indeed win this one by double-figures.
