Tip-off: Tuesday, 10:30 p.m. ET
Line: Los Angeles -1.5, Total: 217.5

The streaking Kings continue their push for the eight seed in Los Angeles on Tuesday night.

The Sacramento Kings are on a three-game winning streak and have won four of their last five games, with their most recent victory coming as a 105-99 triumph over the Pelicans at home on Sunday night (SAC -4). The Kings are 23-32 after their recent surge (27-26-2 ATS), only two games back of playoff positioning in the Western Conference. With recent wins against teams like Golden State and Boston, expect the ambitious management in Sacramento to pull out all the stops for a playoff push. They’ll take the court again on Tuesday night in Los Angeles, where they’ll be taking on an old rival in the Lakers. Los Angeles has won two of its last three, including its most recent game, a 122-114 win in Milwaukee (LAL +5.5). Road wins such as that are surprising for a Lakers team that has the second-worst record in the West and the NBA at 19-37 (27-28-1 ATS), and only 7-24 on the road. Over the last five seasons, teams that have allowed at least 105 points in three straight games are 79-42 ATS (LAL) against opponents coming off a win of six points or fewer. In the same timeframe, though, teams with a point differential in the range of +/- 3 PPG (SAC) are 69-39 ATS against teams with a differential between -3 and -7 when the game is played 42+ games into the season and the line is between +3 and -3. Lakers PG D’Angelo Russell is expected to play Tuesday night. SF Omri Casspi and SG Garrett Temple are out for the Kings, while PG Ty Lawson is questionable with a hamstring ailment.

The Kings rank in the middle of the league in offensive efficiency rating, as they are 15th in averaging 108.2 points per 100 possessions. They’re 23rd with a DEFF of 110.7 points allowed per 100 possessions. They average 94.5 possessions per 48 minutes, representing the fifth-slowest pace in the NBA. An otherwise-barren Sacramento roster has one of the NBA’s best players in C DeMarcus Cousins (27.8 PPG, 10.7 RPG, 4.8 APG, 1.4 SPG, 1.3 BPG). He’s sixth in the league in scoring and ninth in player efficiency rating (26.21). He’s second among NBA centers in assists and second in the same group in steals. He also leads the league by a mile with 19 technical fouls. The Kings took a significant hit recently when they lost SF Rudy Gay (18.7 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 1.5 SPG). With him out, veteran SF Matt Barnes (7.6 PPG, 5.3 RPG) has taken on increased minutes—he’s averaging 11.2 PPG in February. Lawson (9.0 PPG, 4.5 APG, 1.1 SPG) is the team’s second point guard behind Darren Collison (13.7 PPG, 4.1 APG, 1.1 SPG). Collison has played over 40 minutes in each of the two games that Lawson has missed and taken 16 shots in each, a significant increase on his average workload for the season. He has scored 20 points in three straight games and is averaging 19.8 in February. SG Ben McLemore (6.4 PPG) has recently shown flashes of the talent that made him a lottery pick, as he is averaging 16.6 PPG in his last three games.

The Lakers play the fifth-fastest pace in the NBA at 98.2 possessions per 48 minutes. Unfortunately, they have neither the offensive (106.6 OEFF, 21st in NBA) nor the defensive (112.6 points DEFF, 29th in NBA) abilities to take advantage of their youth and athleticism. Second-year PG D’Angelo Russell (14.2 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 4.8 APG, 1.2 SPG) is considered the centerpiece of the rebuilding effort in Los Angeles, but he still has a long way to go. He is not “qualified” to rank among field goal percentage leaders, but he would be last (among those qualified) if he did at 39.5% shooting from the field. His assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.86 is 39th among qualified point guards, which is, well, not so good. The brightest spot for the team this year has been the play of SG Lou Williams (18.4 PPG, 3.1 APG, 1.1 SPG), who is scoring at a career-high level and having his best shooting season (44%) in seven years. SG Nick Young (14.0 PPG) and PG Jordan Clarkson (13.7 PPG, 1.2 SPG) round out the team’s quadfecta of leading scorers, all of who operate from the perimeter. Aside from Russell, none may fit into the team’s future plans. More interesting is the development of players like SF Brandon Ingram (8.1 PPG, 4.1 RPG), PF Julius Randle (13.0 PPG, 8.0 RPG, 3.6 APG) and PF Larry Nance Jr. (7.0 PPG, 5.6 RPG, 1.2 SPG). Nance has impressed lately with Randle out of the lineup, but will likely see fewer minutes now that he has returned. Ingram is an even bigger project than Russell at this point, and doesn’t project to be an impact player until next season, at the very earliest. SF Luol Deng (7.8 PPG, 5.5 RPG) provides a stabilizing veteran presence.