NBA Betting Picks: New Jersey Nets at Sacramento Kings

Added on Nov 19, 2010 by Jack Thurman in

NBA

A pair of NBA bottom feeders face off on Friday night as the Sacramento Kings host the New Jersey Nets. The Nets are just 4-7 SU but that’s good enough for 2nd place in the woeful (besides Boston) Atlantic Division. Sacramento is 3-7 and in fourth place in the Pacific Division thanks to struggles of the LA Clippers who have taken residence in the basement.

New Jersey Nets at Sacramento Kings
November 19, 2010 7:00 PM Pacific

The records of these two teams may be similar but the way they’ve played isn’t. New Jersey is still not a very talented team but to their credit they do work hard. The Nets show up and exert a solid effort on most nights and that’s reflected in their winning pointspread record which includes a 4-1 ATS mark on the road. In fact, they’re just one point shy of being undefeated against the spread away from home–they lost by 10 at Utah in their last game as +9′ point underdogs. They’ll enter this game having covered 6 of their last 8.

Sacramento, meanwhile, looks like a team that doesn’t care. We’ve talked about this on several occasions this year but for someone who remembers when Arco Arena was one of the toughest home courts in the NBA their decline has been shocking and precipitous. The Kings are 8-25-1 ATS in their last 34 home games including an 0-6 mark this season. Since 2008 they’re 33-53 ATS at Arco and 22-41 ATS in non conference play. Sacramento is currently on a 6 game SU losing streak to go with a 7 game ATS streak. And it’s not like Sacramento is losing to title contenders during that run–they’ve dropped games at home to Detroit, New York, Minnesota and Memphis.

New Jersey played against the Clippers earlier in this road trip, winning by 14. They can not only compete here against the Kings but win outright. A victory here would guarantee no worse than a .500 record on this road trip and with the Nets’ struggles in recent years that’s a significant accomplishment. If New Jersey plays with their usual effort they’ll get the outright win.

Bet New Jersey Nets +4 over Sacramento Kings