Fans of the Portland Trail Blazers should be excited for this season. The team looked excellent in their opening game win over the Phoenix Suns 124-83. Ja Morant and Damian Lillard paired together easily with a combined 39 points on a combined 13-20 shooting. The exciting backcourt duo will have the chance to make it to two straight wins against a team projected to finish near the bottom of the Western Conference: the Sacramento Kings. The Kings were on the wrong side of a blowout in their opening game. They fell to the Clippers on the road 121-96. Zach LaVine led the team in scoring with 28 points, but it was not enough to overcome the Kings only shooting 29% from three, 57% from the free three line, and committing 17 turnovers.
It has already been a bad start to the season for Sacramento. On Tuesday, Ben Simmons' hopes of returning as an impactful player in the NBA was delayed after a season-ending surgery to repair a torn achilles. Simmons averaged 10.5 points in two appearances in the preseason, making the injury even more devastating before he even got a chance in the regular season. The Kings are hoping injuries don’t become a trend this year with former six man of the year, Malik Monk, also expected to miss Friday’s game against Portland with an ankle injury. His status is still day-to-day so it is worth monitoring up until tip-off. With these injuries, I don’t expect Sacramento to significantly improve their offensive performance from Wednesday to Friday. The Kings’ vibe early on is they are a team that is searching for an identity on offense. There were reports they were even considering making Simmons a captain on this roster. Compared to their team's offensive ranking last year, 26th in rating and 28th in points per game, I expect it will be a slow start offensively this year for Sacramento until they can find their footing. With some regression coming from Portland playing their first road game, I expect this game to stay under the total.
Trail Blazers vs Kings prediction: Under 232.5 (-105) available at time of publishing. Playable at 230 (-110).
