Play-In Time: Kings vs Pelicans NBA Betting Lines & Predictions

Two teams battling for playoff positioning in the Western Conference and trying to avoid the play-in tournament face off Thursday night as New Orleans visits Sacramento with the Kings as short favorites on the NBA odds in the second game of a national TV doubleheader

2024 NBA Expert Analysis New Orleans vs Sacramento | MyBookie Sportsbook NBA Week 25

How to Bet Pelicans at Kings NBA Odds & TV Info

When: Thursday, 10 PM ET
Where: Golden 1 Center
TV: TNT
Stream: TNT app
Radio: Tunein.com
NBA Odds: Kings -1.5 (total 220)

Pelicans vs Kings Season Series

These teams will play a rare five-game series this season because one was part of the In-Season Tournament. The Pelicans lead 4-0 but they haven’t played since Jan. 7 in Sacramento, a 133-100 Pels rout. CJ McCollum scored 30 points, making seven 3-pointers, and the New Orleans Pelicans led by as many as 50 points. Jonas Valanciunas added 15 points and 12 rebounds for the Pelicans. Zion Williamson was out. Domantas Sabonis had 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Kings, but star guard De’Aaron Fox scored just three points on 1-of-10 shooting. The Pelicans lead the all-time series 42-33 but are 15-21 as the road game.

Why Bet on New Orleans Pelicans?

New Orleans will play extra basketball next week most likely either as the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference playoffs or as the No. 7 seed in the play-in tournament. Depends what the Pelicans and Phoenix Suns, who currently sit seventh, do the rest of the way.

The Pelicans won their second game in a row Tuesday, 110-100 in Portland, which turned the ball over 22 times leading to 33 points for the Pelicans, while New Orleans only had nine miscues leading to 15 points for the Trail Blazers. The Pelicans outscored the Trail Blazers 19-4 in fast break points.

Zion Williamson was in question but played and had 22 points and seven rebounds. Zion scored 20-plus points for the 14th time in his last 16 games. This has been the healthiest season of Williamson’s career — he’s already suited up for 67 games, a personal best — and he’s finishing it with some strong play, averaging 25.6 points, 6.9 boards and 4.4 assists over the past 16 games while shooting 57.8 percent from the floor. Since March 1, Williamson is ranked 4th in field goal percentage in the NBA, shooting 57.9% from the field.

Trey Murphy had a game-high 31 points for New Orleans along with eight rebounds and three assists. Murphy was making his ninth straight starts but he had more than 16 points only once in the prior eight, a 21-point effort against the Suns on April 1. The forward has averaged 15.9 points, 7.5 boards, 2.9 assists, 2.8 threes and 1.3 steals during his stint in the starting five, but even if Brandon Ingram returns to the lineup Thursday from his knee injury, Murphy should still hang onto a significant workload in the Pelicans’ frontcourt.

Since March 1, Murphy is ranked 6th in three-point percentage (minimum eight attempts per game) in the league at 39.4%. Ingram has been out since March 21, after suffering a bone bruise in his left knee. He has progressed to on-court workouts and has begun taking contact again.

CJ McCollum added 29 points in the victory. He has scored at least 29 in four straight games and more than 20 in nine of the last 10. Over that stretch, the 32-year-old has averaged 26.7 points, 5.6 assists and 5.2 rebounds. This season, McCollum is ranked 1st in the league in three-point percentage at 41.7% (minimum eight attempts per game. He is also the only player in the NBA to average 18-plus points, 1.7 or less turnovers per game and shooting 41% or better from three-point range this season.

This season, the Pelicans have won the second-most road games in the NBA with 26. On the road, the Pelicans are ranked 2nd in three-point percentage (38.9%), 2nd in plus/minus (plus-5.2) and 3rd in field goal percentage (49.1%). It also ranks 2nd in net rating (5.3), ranked 4th in defensive rating (111.6) and 7th in offensive rating (116.9) in away games.

Why Bet on Sacramento Kings?

Sacramento currently sits eighth in the West but easily could get to No. 7 but probably not catch New Orleans for No. 6 to avoid the play-in tournament. The Kings have only one path to the No. 6 seed with three games to go. They have to go 3-0 in their remaining games against the Pelicans, Suns and Blazers, and the Pelicans have to go 0-3 against the Kings, Warriors and Lakers.

The Kings lost for the third time in four games Tuesday in their road finale, 112-105 at Oklahoma City. They shot 34.4% from the field and 34.5% from 3-point range against the Thunder while jacking up a franchise-record 58 3-point attempts.

Sacramento led 64-45 at halftime but Shai Gilgeous-Alexander hit a 3-pointer to open the scoring in the second half. He scored 17 points in the third quarter as the Thunder outscored the Kings 39-23 to get back into the game and eventually steal it. Sacramento coach Mike Brown said his team got away from what worked in the first half. He said the Kings stopped taking open shots and played too much individual ball.

“Tough game,” Brown said. “I thought in the first half, our ball movement was beautiful and I thought we got bored with it in the second half. We touched the paint and took some tough shots, got our shot blocked a couple of times, even off our offensive rebounds.” Brown thought the officials missed a traveling violation by Gilgeous-Alexander at a critical moment late in the game. Brown also noted that Gilgeous-Alexander went to the free-throw line 20 times.

De’Aaron Fox finished with 33 points, eight rebounds and six assists in 42 minutes and has scored at least 30 points in two of his last three games. In 22 games after the All-Star break, De’Aaron Fox is averaging 25.9 points, 5.6 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 2.2 steals per game. During that time, Fox ranks 10th in scoring and tied for first in steals per game. Fox has scored 20+ points in 21 contests since the break, including 30+ points in five outings. Over his last 41 games, Fox is averaging the most steals per game (2.3) and ranks tied for second in deflections per game (3.8).

Fellow guard Keon Ellis had a career-high 26 points along with six rebounds and five assists. He has stepped up big in the injury absences of Malik Monk (knee) and Kevin Huerter (shoulder). Over his last 10 games, Ellis has averaged 10.1 points, 4.6 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.0 steals.

All-Star big man Domantas Sabonis had eight points and 13 rebounds to see his streak of 61 straight double-doubles end. That’s the seventh-longest streak of double-doubles in NBA history. Sabonis had just moved past Elvin Hayes’ stretch of 60 straight from Oct. 30, 1968, to Feb. 22, 1969, on Sunday in a win over the Brooklyn Nets. His streak was the longest since the NBA and ABA merged for the 1976-77 season. He broke Kevin Love’s mark of 53 straight since the merger last month. Wilt Chamberlain set the record with 227 straight double-doubles.

“I mean, it’s awesome,” said Sabonis, who is the first player since Kevin Garnett (2003-04: 71) during the with 70+ double-doubles in a season and the fifth player since the ABA-NBA merger. “You’re mentioned with some of the greats. At the end of the day, you’re just out there trying to play your game and go out there and win. That’s my job as a big man — to get rebounds and to finish.”

Since Dec. 1, Sabonis is averaging 19.8 points (59.8 FG%), 14.4 rebounds and 8.7 assists per outing. He leads the NBA in rebounds per game and total rebounds in that span. He is the only player since the 1975-76 season to average 19.0 points, 14.0 rebounds and 8.0 assists per game on 60.0% shooting over a 50-game span.

Pelicans vs Kings Expert Prediction

Pelicans 113, Kings 112