The Portland Trail Blazers used a key fourth-quarter surge to rout the Oklahoma City Thunder on opening night. They can make it two wins in a row this coming Friday when they face the Sacramento Kings who are looking for their first win of the season after losing their home opener against the Golden State Warriors.
Who will emerge victorious in this Western Conference showdown? Read on for a preview of this matchup and while you’re at it, you can check out our preview of the game between the San Antonio Spurs and Phoenix Suns here.
[sc:NBAArticles ]Portland Trail Blazers vs. Sacramento Kings Betting Preview
Where: Sleep Train Arena, Sacramento
When: Friday, October 31, 2014, 10:00 PM ET
Line: Portland Trail Blazers (-5.5) at Sacramento Kings (+5.5); total: 202.0 – view all NBA lines
Betting on the Portland Trail Blazers
The Portland Trail Blazers took advantage of Oklahoma City’s mounting injury problems as they beat the Thunder 106-89 to open their season in fine style.
[sc:NBA240banner ]The Blazers pulled away from the Durant-less Thunder in the fourth quarter, outscoring OKC 31-12 in the payoff period. LaMarcus Aldridge and Nicolas Batum top-scored for the Blazers with 27 and 16 points respectively as Portland secured its 14th straight home-opening victory.
That ties the mark set by the Boston Celtics which won 14 straight home openers from 1979-1992. The Blazers will look to build on the momentum from this season-opening win when they face the Sacramento Kings on the road this coming Friday.
The Blazers will be encouraged by the way they moved the ball around in the opener as they dished out an impressive total of 23 assists. As a result, more people were involved on offense with six different players scoring in double-digits in the lopsided win.
The Blazers will have to watch out, though, for a bounce-back performance from Sacramento star Rudy Gay. The 28-year-old had a miserable outing against the Warriors in their last game, scoring just 14 points on 5-of-15 shooting. He will definitely do much better against the Blazers whom he torched for 32 points in their last meeting at Sleep Train Arena.
The Blazers won their series against the Kings last regular season 3-1.
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Betting on the Sacramento Kings
The Sacramento Kings opened their 2014-15 season in disappointing fashion as they were beaten soundly by the Golden State Warriors on opening night 95-77. It was a sloppy performance all around for Sacramento as they had more turnovers (27) than field goals (24) in the match.
It wasn’t one-way traffic, though, as the Kings enjoyed a slim one-point advantage at the 5:40 mark of the third quarter. Then the Warriors turned on the speed, as Warriors coach Steve Kerr elected to use a much smaller lineup.
That proved to be the nail in the coffin for the Kings as the Warriors embarked on a 22-4 run to pull away from Sacramento. DeMarcus Cousins led the Kings in scoring with 20 points but was atrocious from the field, going just 4 of 14 the entire game. In fact, the entire Kings roster had a poor shooting night going just 24 of 78 from the field.
Their total of 77 points is way below their average last season of 100.5 points and is a major concern for them heading into their game against the Blazers this coming Friday. The Blazers’ lineup is packed with offensive talent and that showed in their win over the Thunder where they scored 106 points on 39-of-87 (.448) shooting.
Also, the Kings will have a more difficult time in handling the Blazers’ frontline. In the game against the Warriors, Sacramento won the rebounding battle, grabbing the edge in the battle of the boards 50-44. It won’t be that easy against Portland’s towering frontcourt of Aldridge, Kaman and Lopez who grabbed a total of 19 boards against the Thunder. Also the trio combined for 50 points in the win against OKC so the onus is on Cousins to hold his ground in the paint and stay out of foul trouble which bothered him the entire time against the Warriors.
Sacramento will take heart though in the fact that they defeated Portland the last time the Blazers visited their home court. The Kings edged past the Blazers 123-119 in a high-scoring affair last January 7. Cousins and Gay led the Kings attack scoring 35 and 32 points respectively in their only victory against the Blazers last season.
The Kings are 4-6 ATS in their last 10 home games.
Writer’s Prediction
The Blazers inflict a 107-90 drubbing.
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