Portland Trail Blazers vs Sacramento Kings NBA Picks, Odds, Predictions 10/20/2021
Sacramento Kings (0-0) vs. Portland Trail Blazers (0-0)
October 20, 2021 10:00 pm EDT
The Line: Portland Trail Blazers -5 ; Over/Under: -231.5
(Get latest betting odds)
The Portland Trailblazers kick off their season against the Sacramento Kings at the Moda Center on Wednesday night.
The Sacramento Kings will be hoping for some improvement this season after tallying just 62 wins in their last two seasons. De’Aaron Fox will be the leading scorer for the Kings once again along with Harrison Barnes, but it remains to be seen where Buddy Hield will end up as the trade rumors are already circling. Tyrese Haliburton was effective in his rookie season, so I expect him to continue his progression and the same can be said for Marvin Bagley III.
Meanwhile, the Portland Trailblazers will be looking to bounce back from another disappointing early playoff exit last season. Terry Stotts has been replaced by new head coach Chauncey Billups, Norman Powell was re-signed while Larry Nance Jr, Tony Snell and Ben McLemore were all added to the roster. The Trailblazers didn’t make any moves to improve their defense and it remains to be seen if Jusuf Nurkic will remain with the team.
Looking at the betting trends, the Kings are 21-5 ATS in their last 26 games playing on three or more days rest and 8-1 ATS in their last nine road games. The Trailblazers are 2-8 ATS in their last 10 games playing on three or more days rest and 3-8 ATS in their last 11 games as a home favorite.
Head to head, the over is 4-1 in the last five meetings overall and the over is 5-0 in the last five meetings in Portland.
I’m sure the Kings will want to improve on their record from the last two seasons, but I don’t see them getting close to .500 unless they can drastically improve their defense. The Trailblazers have had their own issues on the defensive end, but I’m sure their new head coach Chauncey Billups will preach defense, so there’s plenty of reason to be optimistic if you’re a Trailblazers fan. It’s hard to split these two teams at this stage of the season, but Lillard always starts the season hot and I think so will the Trailblazers in this one.
