LA @ Sacramento picks

The LA Clippers are riding a five-game winning streak and look for a season series sweep over the Sacramento Kings on Friday. A loss could drop LA from the top six seeds and force the Clips into the NBA Play-In tourney. LA easily covered the first two meetings but struggled against this Sacramento lineup featuring Zach LaVine. Sacramento recorded two massive away upsets in their last five and is trying to hold off Dallas for the home court in their likely play-in contest. I like the Kings SU, but I'll take the points.

The Kings have gone Over in three of their last four and have hit that mark in 44 of 80 games this season. Season-long trends favor a high-scoring game. The Clippers are 25-21-1 to the Over as favorites and 12-7 to the Over as road favorites. The Kings have hit the Over in nine of 14 against Pacific Division opponents and in seven of nine as the home underdog. The Kings can finish no better than the No. 9 seed, but they’ll still be motivated to win this one to keep that seed and avoid falling to No. 10. Winning one against the Clippers after dropping three straight to them in the season series should add some extra incentive. The Clippers are in the thick of the Western Conference playoff hunt, and each win is vital. I expect both teams to play their best basketball tonight, and that should mean plenty of scoring in a matchup with no shortage of star power.

Murray is listed as questionable with a back injury that has sidelined him the last three games. That said, his player props are available and could be ripe for betting the Under given that he could be limited in his return after missing the last week. Even before the injury, Murray had scored fewer than 13.5 points in six of his previous nine games and he's averaging 12.5 ppg on the season. He also has a tough matchup tonight against the Los Angeles Clippers who play at a slower pace and rank third in the league in defensive rating.