NBA Basketball: Phoenix Suns VS Sacramento Kings Pick and Predictions 03/24/2023

Game: 10:10 PM ET, Friday, March 24th, 2023

Venue: Golden 1 Arena, Sacramento, California

TV:  NBA League Pass

Suns: 38-34, 4th place Western Conference

Kings: 43-29, 3rd place Western Conference

BetMGM:  Point Spread:  Kings -3.5, O/U 239.5

PointsBet: Point Spread:  Kings -3.5, O/U 239

Fanduel: Point Spread:  Kings -3.5, O/U 239

Suns: PG Chris Paul, SG Devin Booker, SF Josh Okogie, PF Torrey Craig, C Jock Landale

Kings: PG De’Aaron Fox, SG Malik Monk, SF Harrison Barnes, PF Keegan Murray, C Domantas Sabonis

A Western Conference mismatch of Playoff bound teams.  That is odd to figure… #4 is playing #3 and it’s a mismatch?.  Yes.  The Phoenix Suns made a huge trade at the trade deadline to land SF Kevin Durant.  When added to SG Devin Booker, PG Chris Paul, and C Deandre Ayton… Vegas immediately scrambled to adjust the odds for the Suns winning the NBA FInals!  But then the Suns lost Kevin Durant to injury.. He will be back for the Playoffs BUT he will miss time.  Then the Suns lost C Deandre Ayton to injury.  He may be back for the Playoffs but he will miss some time.  This leaves the Suns completely vulnerable… especially since the Suns traded away a fair amount of their quality depth to make the Durant trade happen.  At the moment the Suns are on a horrible 1-5 over their last 6 games!  The Sacramento Kings are rarely mentioned as Finals contenders… but that may be because of the hangover from the Kings being 18 year doormats in the NBA… This year they are doormats to nobody!  The kings have a great roster with multiple leaders and lots of quality depth.  C Domantas Sabonis is the closest thing to an A- Nikola Jokic the Western Conference has… he packs the stat sheet.  PG De’Aaron Fox is the best PG from his draft class by far… and he has gotten better every year. Rookie PF Keegan Murray is displaying a skill set that will keep him an NBA starter for the next decade… defense, hustle, some scoring.  The Kings are for real and only people watching the Kings seem to know that.  The great betting opportunity here is all about the spread… Will it be too big for the Kings to easily cover?  The Kings will win BTW.

The Phoenix Suns have won 5 of their last 10 games… but are losing a lot since they lost Kevin Durant to injury.  They went 4-6 ATS during that stretch. Orlando (one of the worst teams in basketball) pushed them to the brink of just a 3 point win.  They lost their last game to the Los Angeles Lakers 122-111. In that game the Suns got 33 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists from SG Devin Booker and 18 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists from PG Chris Paul… The combo of Torrey Craig, Bismack Biyombo, and Josh Okogie is simply not good enough to get the job done.

The Sacramento Kings have won 6 of their last 10 games.  Going 6-4 ATS. They are on a 2-game losing streak.  They lost their last game to the Boston Celtics 132-109.  In the loss they got 16 points, 13 rebounds, and 12 assists from C Domantas Sabonis… 5 other kings scored in double figures but no one scored more than 18 points (De’Aaron Fox).  The problem in the Celtics game was that SF Harrison Barnes and backup SG (filling in for injured SG Kevin Huerter) could not stop… or even slow down the Celtics Tatum and Brown.  The Suns have Booker… but he has no Tatum or Brown alongside him.

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Our prediction for Friday, March 24th is….  Kings 122 - Suns 111

Bet on the Kings.  With Durant and Ayton on the bench in street clothes the Suns will have noone to handle Sabonis or Murray on the front line.  The simple answer here is that the Suns will get trucked.

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The Kings are 11-3 ATS coming off a home loss this season.

The Kings are 10-1 ATS after failing to cover the spread 2 games in a row this season.

Suns: PF Torrey Craig.  Torrey is a fine NBA role player… but nothing more.  He has shuffled around the league in the manner of Jae Crowder or Bobby Portis… Useful… quality.  Simply not good enough at anything to be a star in this league.  As a PF he needs Ayton to be in the game as the Center… without him he will be forced into an uncomfortable situation of having to do too much.

Kings: PF Keegan Murray.  Murray has worked out! His stats are not eye-popping or jaw-dropping.  They are a simple 13 points and 4 rebounds at home with an assist, a block, and a steal. His defense (especially as a rookie) is eye-popping.  He carries himself like a vet doing his job instead of a wide eyed rookie.  The points and the rebounds will go up over time as Keegan’s ceiling is somewhere between quality NBA starter and star. 

Suns: Monty “Mr Class… unless the refs piss him off” Williams

Kings: Mike “loving life” Brown