Once again, we were reminded how important wing defenders are in today’s NBA. The Portland Trail Blazers have a real showstopper in the form of Toumani Camara. The 26-year-old second-round pick limited the two-time MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to just 17-for-42 from the field, and 0-for-11 from three in the two meetings against Oklahoma City, both resulting in double-digit Blazer wins. That’ll undoubtedly be a huge morale boost moving forward for this motivated Portland team; they’ve been one of the more pleasant surprises this season, winning 8 of 11 games and also going 7-4 ATS during this stretch. They are double-digit favorites against the Kings on Friday, and these teams actually met in the opening week of the season when Portland came out on top 128-120.
Aside from Darius Acuff Jr. doing his best Allen Iverson impression, chucking up as many shots as humanly possible in a 48-minute game, there’s really not much happening in Kings land these days. The team is in all kinds of shambles with their 1-10 record to start the season. They are yet to win a game in six attempts, and even their star power forward Domantas Sabonis said in an interview that “nobody wants to be here”, talking about the losing situation that the team is currently in. Despite all their flaws, this team is capable of scoring a ton of points. They rank ninth in pace of play with an average of 109.1 possessions per game. One thing that is working in the Kings’ favor here is the fact that they’ve had one extra day of rest compared to the Trail Blazers.
Backing a team to win by double digits while they’re playing their third game in four nights is a bit tricky in my opinion. Sure, Sacramento has been dreadful, but they are 3-3 ATS in six home games. Their last two games against the two Florida teams saw them lose by just seven and six points. They are slowly getting there; I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and back the Kings plus the extra points here.
Trail Blazers vs Kings prediction: Kings +10.5 (-113) available at time of publishing. Playable at that number.
