First thought, best thought. This sort of reasoning would have made me a lot of money last night. Of course, the nature of gambling is such that the same philosophy could easily fall short tonight but it’s an idea I am going to try and follow for the rest of the season.
This includes days when my first thought is “ugh, nothing jumps out”. Today feels like one of those days.
With that being said…
Kings@Knicks is the most intriguing game to me. 3 straight losses for New York has them out of the top 4 and losing home court in the first round. They play 7 more games and after tonight’s home game will head on a 4 game road trip with two trips to Chicago and one to each of Boston and Milwaukee. Bucks have looked like trash recently but this doesn’t project as a trip with any “easy” games. Hart, Robinson, and OG are all GTD. Their availability could signal whether New York is more invested in winning tonight or tomorrow in Chicago.
Sacrmento is also on the first of a back to back. Tomorrow they will be in Boston. Again, it’s a little difficult for me to see which game is more important and the Kings are also dealing with injuries. I don’t rank the Huerter loss as high as most but the Monk injury is huge, IMO. Monk’s contributions go beyond the numbers which, by the way, should easily earn him 6th man of the year. One game separates 5th place Dallas from 8th place Sacramento. Sure it would feel great to beat Boston, but with 7 games left in such a tight race at what point do you start to strategize and maybe take a game off? The Kings really can’t afford to lose 2 in a row.
Sacrmento has a much better shot at a win tonight than they will tomorrow. New York has a better shot at a win tomorrow than they do tonight. Will they cooperate though? Again, it does seem like New York can afford the loss a bit more.
There’s also the fact that Randle was officially shut down today. I know this is “how Thibodeau teams do”, but at a certain point the thank has to run on E. The rest is about the same for these two teams coming in, when you look at days off, but not when you consider the minutes played by Brunson, McBride, and Hart (who again could be out tonight). Even Donte has logged big minutes the last two weeks or so. Thibs has a small circle of trust and the healthy bodies inside that circle are really dwindling.
Would love to get some earlier injury info 
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