Two red-hot teams battle in Sacramento on Thursday when the Kings host the Houston Rockets.
The pregame narrative: Sacramento is surging under interim head coach Doug Christie but I’ll still back Houston to cover an alternate spread. Player prop bets on DeMar DeRozan and Fred VanVleet round out this +340 wager.
Check out my Rocket vs. Kings same-game parlay predictions for Jan. 16.
Rocket vs. Kings predictions
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Parlay: Rockets +10.5 + DeRozan under 19.5 points + VanVleet over 2.5 threes (+340)
Rockets +10.5 (-400): Sacramento’s season was in a tailspin before management made a bold coaching change.
The squad started 13-19 under Mike Brown, who was one season removed from bringing the Kings to the playoffs for the first time since 2006.
Replacing Brown seemed rash at the time, but it’s paid dividends so far.
Sacramento has won seven of its last eight and is sitting at .500 right before the midway point of the season. Still, I like Houston to cover this heavily teased spread.
- The Rockets are 13-6 straight up on the road this season.
- Houston has won five straight games and seven straight on the road.
- The Rockets have only lost by 11+ points three times this season (7.7%).
The Kings might be rolling but they’ve still only covered a -10.5 spread twice in their last 14 games.
SGP legs
DeRozan under 19.5 points (-122): DeRozan is having his best scoring month (23.1 PPG) of the season but you can chalk that up to volume.
Sacramento’s small forward is shooting 44.9% from the field and 35.7% from deep in January.
He is attempting 19.4 shots per game, which gives him a high floor as a scorer. But Houston is an incredibly tough matchup, and I can see him deferring to Domantas Sabonis and De’Aaron Fox.
The Rockets have the best mid-range defence (39.2%), according to Cleaning the Glass.
DeRozan takes 74% of his shots from that area of the court, which ranks in the 100th percentile for all NBA players.
VanVleet over 2.5 threes (+102): Sacramento’s 3-point defence was an issue under Brown, and it hasn’t gotten better under Christie.
The squad ranks 28th in opponent 3-point percentage on the season (38.5%) and 21st in January (38.2%).
VanVleet is shooting an abysmal 32.9% from deep this season, but he’s attempting 7.6 threes per game.
The former Toronto Raptor is also on a nice little heater, shooting above 40.0% from deep in three straight games, while clearing this line twice.
I’m hoping he can stay hot in a plus matchup.
Picks made at 11:24 a.m. ET 01/16/2025
Avery joined NorthStar Gaming as an intern in 2022 before stepping into a full-time role soon after. He loves betting on and analyzing golf — mainly because it’s easier than actually playing — but is a fan of all sports, from the NFL to the UFC.