Posted at 10:00 AM EST. Odds are subject to change.

Sacramento +6½ -110 over New Orleans

8:00 PM EST. Somebody has to win this one. Sacramento visits New Orleans tonight in a meeting of the NBA's two remaining winless teams, both 0-4 — and the question isn't which team is good, it's which team has earned the right to lay points. New Orleans hasn't. The Pelicans have lost 14 of their last 15 overall, their defense is among the league's worst, and tonight they're on the second night of a back-to-back after an overtime loss in Denver, flying home to host a Kings team that hasn't played since Tuesday. A winless team, on tired legs, laying 6.5 is a favourite in name only. Your +6.5 is also better than the board — the Pelicans are -5.5 at FanDuel and -6 at other books — so you're getting the extra point before the situational edge even kicks in.

The Kings have the rest and the top-end scoring to stay inside this number. Sacramento is averaging 107.8 a game behind Zach LaVine's 27.3 points a night, rookie Darius Acuff is adding 21.5, and Domantas Sabonis is doing his usual everything — 20 points, 14 rebounds and 8 assists in Tuesday's loss at San Antonio. New Orleans, for all its own offensive talent, has been competitive rather than convincing: three of its four losses came by six or fewer, including that overtime game in Denver, which tells you this is a team that plays close games and loses them late. Against a rested opponent with a real closer in LaVine, asking the Pelicans to win by seven is asking for something they haven't shown all season.

Sacramento's defense is a genuine problem, 125.5 points allowed a game on 49.5 percent shooting and the Kings have been blown out on the road, by 25 at the Clippers and 27 at San Antonio, where they were down 80-54 at halftime. The frontcourt is thin, also, Keegan Murray, Maxime Raynaud, Ben Simmons and Dylan Cardwell are all out, which is a lot of size to miss against Zion Williamson. New Orleans is home, Yves Missi is out but Jordan Poole is only day-to-day, the model makes the Pelicans a 63 percent favourite, and the market has actually moved toward New Orleans, from -5.5 to -6 in places. None of that erases the spot, though: a tired, winless home favourite laying a number it hasn't covered all year, against the rested team, with +6.5 in your pocket. 

Sportsinteraction