The Sacramento Kings play host to the Philadelphia 76ers at the Golden 1 Center on Monday night.
The Philadelphia 76ers have been in a real slump as they’ve lost six of their past seven games and they will be hoping to bounce back in this one after falling short to the Trailblazers in a 118-111 road loss on Saturday. Tobias Harris led the team with 28 points on 11 of 21 shooting, Tyrese Maxey added 28 points with nine assists on nine of 17 shooting while Georges Niang chipped in with 15 points. As a team, the 76ers shot 50 percent from the field and 10 of 28 from the 3-point line which aren’t bad numbers and they also poured in 63 points in the second half, but they were never able to put a lid on the Trailblazers’ Damian Lillard who broke out of a shooting slump to burn them with a season-high 39 points.
Meanwhile, the Sacramento Kings have been in terrible shape as they’ve lost seven of their past eight games and they will be hoping to arrest a three-game slide after getting routed by the Jazz in a 123-105 home loss on Saturday. Richaun Holmes led the team with 22 points on nine of 10 shooting, Harrison Barnes added 18 points with eight rebounds and five assists while Tyrese Haliburton chipped in with 17 points and four steals. As a team, the Kings shot 45 percent from the field and 10 of 31 from the 3-point line as they fought hard to stay in the contest, until the fourth quarter where the Jazz exploded for 39 points to run away with it in the end. The Sacramento Kings organization have since fired Luke Walton as the head coach.
Looking at the betting trends, the 76ers are 1-5 ATS in their last six games following a loss, 10-2 ATS in their last 12 games against a team below .400 and 1-5-1 ATS in their last seven games overall. The Kings are 0-4 ATS in their last four home games, 2-6 ATS in their last eight games against a team with a winning record and 1-7 ATS in their last eight games overall.
Head to head, the 76ers are 19-7 ATS in the last 26 meetings overall and the 76ers are 11-2 ATS in the last 13 meetings in Sacramento.
The 76ers have been a mess ever since they lost Joel Embiid, but the Kings have been in worse form which is why Luke Walton got fired. It’s always hard to pick between two struggling teams, but teams always seem to play better in the short term when there’s a new coach. I know Alvin Gentry is just the interim coach for now, but I think we’re going to see a motivated Kings team, which is why I’m taking them in this spot.