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New York Knicks at Sacramento Kings Betting Preview

Monday night features an East versus West battle of struggling teams as the New York Knicks (25-38, 12th in East) square off with the Sacramento Kings (24-42, 13th in West). The Kings will host this one at the Golden 1 Center, with tipoff scheduled for 10:30 pm ET.

This will be the second of a back-to-back for New York. Heading into the first leg Sunday night, they were in the midst of a seven-game losing streak and looking absolutely abysmal throughout it. After facing a tough Clippers team Sunday, they will be on tired legs against Sacramento Monday night.

The Kings enjoyed a day off Sunday after losing 114-113 on the road to the Mavericks Saturday. In the loss, De’Aaron Fox had a game-high 44 points while Domantas Sabonis had a double-double with 15 points and ten rebounds.

The Kings are the slight favorites playing at home Monday. They are -158 to win while the Knicks’ moneyline sits at +134. The spread features New York +3.5 (-114), and the over/under for total points is 229.5.

More Odds

With the season winding down, the Knicks are +37000 to win the Eastern Conference while the Kings are +49000 to win the West.

In terms of the NBA Finals, both teams are tied for the worst odds in the league of winning it all at +50000.

By The Numbers

Sacramento has the stronger of the two offenses this season. They rank 14th in the NBA in scoring averaging 110.1 points per game. The Knicks rank 27th averaging 105.2 points.

Defensively, the Knicks hold the advantage. They rank ninth in the league in scoring defense, allowing opponents an average of 107.4 points per game. The Kings rank second to last in scoring defense, allowing 115.1 points per game.

Knicks Trying To Get Back On Track

Heading into their front side of their back-to-back Sunday night, the Knicks had lost nine of their last ten and seven in a row. Part of their struggles has been poor road play, as they were just 12-19 on the road. On Monday, they will try to get another notch in the win column as they travel to Sacramento.

Leading the Knicks this season has been power forward Julius Randle. On the season, he is averaging 19.8 points on 41.7% shooting. He is also averaging ten rebounds and 5.2 assists per game.

RJ Barrett has also played well this season. The shooting guard is averaging 18.9 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 2.8 assists per game.

The Knicks have two others averaging double digits, including Evan Fournier (14.5 points, 2.9 rebounds, 1.8 assists) and Alec Burks (10.9 points, 4.6 rebounds, 2.7 assists).

Sacramento Hoping To Make Run At Postseason

Crazily, at 24-42, the Kings are not entirely out of the playoff hunt. With the current format extending to 10 teams (four of which will play play-in games), the Kings are just 4.5 games out of a position. If they hope to make a push, though, they will have to improve on their 15-18 home record.

Leading Sacramento offensively is point guard De’Aaron Fox. This season, he is averaging 22.5 points, 3.8 rebounds, 5.4 assists, and 1.1 steals per game.

Harrison Barnes has been the second-leading scorer for the Kings averaging 17.2 points to go along with six rebounds and 2.5 assists.

Other contributors include Domantas Sabonis (17.2 points, 12.8 rebounds, six assists), Richaun Holmes (10.8 points, 7.3 rebounds), Davion Mitchell (9.9 points, 3.3 assists), and Justin Holiday (9.2 points, 2.6 rebounds).

Take Sacramento On The Moneyline

Usually, with teams that have played this poorly throughout the season, the smart bet would be to take the points. However, New York has been just brutal over the last several weeks, and this could continue Monday in the second game of a back-to-back.

Sacramento has not been good, but they have been better at home overall. Furthermore, they have played a little better as of late and return home after a five-game road trip.

It may not be pretty, but there is a lot of value in taking Sacramento to win on the moneyline Monday night.

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