NBA Basketball: Portland Trail Blazers VS Sacramento Kings Pick and Predictions 02/23/2023

Game: 10:10 PM ET,  Thursday, February 23rd, 2023

Venue:  Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, California

TV:  NBA League Pass

Trail Blazers: 28-20, 12th place Western Conference

Kings: 32-25, 3rd place Western Conference

BetMGM:  Point Spread: Kings -5.5, O/U 239.5

PointsBet: Point Spread: Kings -5.5, O/U 239.5

Fanduel: Point Spread:  Kings -5.5, O/U 239.5

Blazers: PG Damian Lilliard, SG Shaedon Sharpe, SF Cam Reddish, PF Jerami Grant (DD), C Drew Eubanks

Kings: PG De'Aaron Fox, SG Kevin Huerter, SF Harrison Barnes, PF Keegan Murray, C Domantas Sabonis

A Western Conference battle between a great player with little help… and a greatest roster with 2 guys who can be combined to equal a great player.  It is not a secret that the Portland Trail Blazers have been cursed.. Horribly horribly cursed… when they do have a great guard they simply can't get him enough help.. When they try to find a big man?.. That guy always suffers drastic injury problems that derail the team. Sometimes they have a great or very good player and simply let that guy walk because they do not see it (see Zach Randolph, Jermaine ONeil).. It may have something to do with Native American Burial Grounds.. Or the humidity, Or the Pine trees, or they simply have never had good management?... No one knows.  At the moment the Blazers have and have had for several season the Pride of Weber State PG Damian Liliard… when that guy isn’t killing the 3-point contest, he is in his role as the best PG in regular season basketball for nearly a decade running… he is fiercely loyal… he is fiercely proud… and his team has done nothing to correctly build around him.  The Sacramento Kings experienced the greatest thing in sports last season… Participating in a trade that works FOR BOTH TEAMS. Sacramento traded the fantastic Tyrese Haliburton, pieces, and picks for C Domantas Sabonis.  Domantas immediately changed the direction of the team AND when paired with PG De’Aaron Fox have created a solid Western Conference contender.  They haven’t made the Playoffs in 18 years and currently sit in 3rd place!!  BUT the Kings have a thin line to balance on.. They need to keep winning after the Suns, Lakers, Clippers, Warriors, and Mavericks have gotten better at the trade deadline.  They also still need to build for the future.  The great betting opportunity here is in knowing full well where these teams are NOW.

The Portland Trail Blazers won 5 of their last 10 games before the All-Star break. They went 3-6-1 ATS during that stretch. They were NOT a good team to gamble on and they have not been all season.  They lost their last game against the Washington Wizards 126-101… a blow out against a bad team. In the loss they got 39 points, 10 rebounds, and 6 assists from PG Damian Lilliard … and that is the problem, has been the problem and will continue to be the problem if they don’t luck out in the draft and free agency in the coming summer.  If one guy can keep dominating while his entire team gives very little?... The future is bleak.

The Sacramento Kings won 5 of their last 10 games also.. Though they were in a much better position to go .500 over ten games.  In their last game they lost to the Phoenix Suns 120-109 who had not yet added SF Kevin Durant to their lineup!  In the loss the Kings got 24 points & 15 rebounds from All-Star C Domantas Sabonis AND 35 points from PG De’Aaron Fox!  That is normally a wonderful recipe for a win…. BUT this team had 5 bench players who DID NOT score. A total of 5 Kings played 32 minutes combined without scratching even a single foul shot! And certainly not lifting the defense any.  The Kings NEED a deeper roster if this place in the standoings is to ever mean anything.  

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The Blazers are 12th in scoring with 114.9 points per game, and 25th in rebounds with 41.6 per game.  On defense they rank 18tyh while allowing 115 points per game… The - 0.10 does way more damage in the standings than it ought to.  It simply means that when they win they win BIG.. but they do not often win.

The Kings are 1st in scoring with 119.5 points per game, and 23rd in rebounds with 41.8 per game. On defense they rank 23rd while allowing 117.2 points per game. This is a team that should have traded the sweet shooting yet defensively challenged SG Kevin Huerter. An uptick in defense while not losing too much on offense would make this team a true contender.

Our prediction for Thursday, February 23rd is…. Kings 133 - Blazers 112

Bet on the Kings… Do it now, do it again!  The Kings lead the league in scoring and will be playing a beaten and injured Blazers team. I do not care what the spread winds up being.  It is better to make this money than to shun this money.

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(will update)

Blazers: SF Cam Reddish. Cam was one of the top ranked high school players in the nation when he chose to go to Duke!  He ended up the third best prospect on his own college team! He very much shrank in the face of the competition.  It carried over to the Pros. This kid has failed at multiple teams over his first four seasons.  He starts.. Then loses that position.. Then gets moved.  The last chance for him is his NEXT 22 GAMES!  Nothing else.  If someone is ever willing to put big money into Cam Reddish, it will come from whether or not he can play on a terrible team in the second half of a useless season.  If you see him falter on defense?... So will every NBA GM!

Kings: PF Keegan Murray.  This rookie is killing it!  He is a starter on the 3rd place team in the Western Conference.  He is a quality defender as a rookie.  He is ready for more in the offense, but he will have to take it.  He is a rookie.  Taking it is how he will find the next level.

Blazers: Chauncey “all that smoke” Billups

Kings: Mike “I been everywhere man” Brown