Oklahoma City Thunder vs Sacramento Kings Prediction, 12/14/2023 Preview and Pick

Game: Oklahoma City Thunder vs Sacramento Kings

Date: Thursday, December 14, 2023

Location: Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, CA

TV: NBC Sports California

The Sacramento Kings (13-9) will play the Oklahoma City Thunder (15-7) at Golden 1 Center on Thursday.

The Thunder stepped onto the hardwood against the Jazz and walked away with a win by a score of 134-120 in their last game. Oklahoma City finished the contest having earned a 52.1% field goal percentage (50 out of 96) and buried 18 of their 38 shots from distance. At the charity stripe, the Thunder converted 16 of their 17 attempts for a percentage of 94.1%. In relation to rebounding, they collected a total of 39 with 7 of them being on the offensive end. They also dished out 35 assists in this game while forcing the other team into 15 turnovers and having 9 steals. When discussing the defense, Oklahoma City let their opponent shoot 47.8% from the field on 44 of 92 shooting. Utah recorded 32 dimes and had 9 steals in this matchup. Additionally, Utah pulled down 41 boards (9 offensive, 32 defensive) and added 7 blocks. Utah finished the game shooting 95.2% from the free throw line by burying 20 of their 21 shots. They converted 12 out of their 38 tries from long range. In relation to personal fouls, the Thunder ended up with 17 while the Jazz totaled 21 personal fouls.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is a player who was a contributor for this game. He had 30 points on 12 of 17 shooting. He saw the court for 28 minutes and collected 4 rebounds. Gilgeous-Alexander went 70.6% from the field and totaled 7 assists.

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Oklahoma City comes into this contest with a win-loss record of 15-7 this year. They currently have an average of 120.4 pts per game (5th in the NBA) while hitting 49.2% from the floor. The Thunder are shooting 39.1% on shots from 3-point land (283 of 723) and 85.3% from the charity stripe. As a unit, Oklahoma City is grabbing 41.0 boards per contest and has earned 558 dimes this season, which ranks 22nd in the NBA in terms of passing the ball. They lose possession via turnover 13.0 times per game and as a unit they commit 20.2 personal fouls on a nightly basis.

When they are on the defensive end, the Thunder are able to force 16.9 turnovers per game and they draw 20.2 fouls. They are currently ranked 14th in the league in allowing assists to the opposition with 585 surrendered so far this season. The Thunder defense is allowing an opponent FG percentage of 44.0% (875 of 1,987) and they surrender 46.8 rebounds per game as a basketball team. They are giving up 35.2% on 3-point shots while they are 12th in the league in PPG from their opponents (112.8).

When they last played, the Kings took a loss by a score of 119-99 when they played the Clippers. The Kings collected 31 defensive boards and 7 offensive boards for a total of 38 for the matchup. They gave up possession 14 times, while getting 8 steals for the game. The Clippers were called for 17 personal fouls in this matchup which got the Kings to the charity stripe for 24 attempts. They were able to make 17 of the free throw tries for a clip of 70.8%. With respect to shooting from downtown, Sacramento made 10 of 37 attempts (27.0%). When this game wrapped up, the Kings shot 36 out of 86 from the field which gave them a shooting percentage of 41.9%. The Kings allowed the Clippers to bury 44 of 84 attempts from the field which had them sitting at 52.4% for this game. They finished 37.9% from distance by connecting on 11 out of 29 and walked away from this one shooting 20 of 21 at the free throw line (95.2%). When talking about how they rebounded, Sacramento allowed Los Angeles to grab 49 in total (6 on the offensive glass).

Keegan Murray ended up having an impact for the Kings in this game. He knocked down 6 of 14 in the matchup giving him a field goal percentage of 42.9%, and had 7 rebounds. Murray accumulated 17 points in his 31 minutes of playing time and earned 1 assist for this contest.

Sacramento has a record of 13-9 for the season. The Kings are committing 20.9 personal fouls every game while shooting 74.2% from the charity stripe. They are earning an assist 27.7 times per game (5th in the NBA) and they are giving up possession 13.6 times per game. Sacramento has accounted for 2,558 pts for the campaign (116.3 per game) and they snag 43.7 boards per contest. As an offense, the Kings are shooting 46.4% from the field, which is 20th in the NBA.

The Kings on defense are ranked 21st in the league in points allowed per contest with 116.9. They are able to force 14.1 turnovers per game and allow teams to shoot 49.2% from the floor (27th in the league). The Sacramento defense allows 38.0% on shots from behind the 3-point line (264 of 695) and their opponents are knocking down 79.7% of their shots from the free throw line. They give up 27.1 assists and 43.9 rebounds per game, which has them ranked 22nd and 17th in the league.

Who will win tonight's NBA game against the spread?

Guy Bruhn's Pick: Take Sacramento

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