NBA Odds: Denver Nuggets vs Phoenix Suns Preview & Pick
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Denver Nuggets vs. Phoenix Suns
Date: Thursday, March 10, 10:30 p.m. ET
Venue: US Airways Center, Phoenix, AZ
Broadcast: ALT, SS
Nuggets vs. Suns lines from Sportsbook.com
Nuggets: +3
Suns: -3
Total: 216
Check Out Our Indepth NBA ATS Betting Stats For This Game —>
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The Denver Nuggets have played great basketball despite shipping Carmelo Anthony off to New York. They’ll face the stiff challenge on Thursday, however, as the Phoenix Suns are gunning for a playoff spot.
Since winning four straight games, Phoenix (33-29, 29-32-1 ATS) is just 2-2 in its last four games. The Suns came through on Tuesday, beating Houston 113-110—though they failed to cover as four-point favorites. That dropped Phoenix to 2-3 ATS in its last five games.
The big surprise was the play of Hakim Warrick and Vince Carter. With Channing Frye injured, Warrick drew his second start of the season and cranked out 32 points. He dropped 20 of those points in the first half and finished the game with eight rebounds. Warrick won’t deliver those kinds of numbers on a nightly basis, but he gives the team a nice stopgap measure until Frye can get back into the lineup.
Carter, meanwhile, is playing like its 2005. After dropping 29 points in a loss to Oklahoma City on Saturday, Carter torched the Rockets for 32 points. The back-to-back efforts are absolutely shocking since Carter hasn’t topped 17 points in a game since Feb. 4, a span of 12 games. Even crazier, the injury prone guard had scored just 23 total points in his last three starts. There’s absolutely no way Carter can keep this up, but a little more consistency would be nice.
At the other end of the floor, head coach Alvin Gentry is pushing Grant Hill for a spot on the All-Defensive team. After holding Kevin Durant to 18 points on 3-for-14 shooting two games ago, Hill kept Kevin Martin in check in the win over Houston (Martin went 5-for-16). Gentry’s praise is certainly deserved, and Hill even added 19 points against the Rockets.
As for Denver (37-27, 30-31-3 ATS), the team is proving that no Carmelo Anthony may be no problem. Since shipping Anthony to the Knicks on Feb. 22, the Nuggets have gone 5-2. Denver had won six consecutive games against the spread in the post-Anthony era before Saturday’s 100-94 loss to the Clippers.
Despite getting forwards Wilson Chandler and Danilo Gallinari in the trade, the Nuggets are playing some small ball. New guard Raymond Felton dropped 18 points against the Kings while Ty Lawson—the new starter with Chauncey Billups off to the Big Apple—has played fairly well since taking over. Lawson has scored in double figures in three straight games, and is averaging 12.1 points and 7.0 assists in his last seven starts.
If anybody has suffered since the trade, it is Al Harrington. Before the deal, the forward was averaging 11.3 points in about 25 minutes per game. Since then, he’s averaging 3.7 points in less than 15 minutes per game. Harrington was scoreless after going 0-for-8 in 18 minutes against Sacramento.
Perhaps the team should go back to Harrington despite a rough night against Sacramento, as the forwards that are stealing his minutes aren’t playing particularly well—or playing at all. Gallinari has missed four straight games with a broken toe, though he may make an appearance against Phoeinx. Chandler, meanwhile, has struggled since a hot start. He averaged 16.8 points on 59 percent shooting in his first four games with Denver, but Chandler has managed just 13 total points in his last two games after going 6-for-20 from the field.
Phoenix and Denver have already clashed three times this year, with Denver going 2-1 and a 1-1-1 record against the spread. This will be the first time the new Nuggets take on Phoenix, however. The Suns are a little banged up, and it is easy to see a Vince Carter stink bomb on the horizon. Denver has the size to bang around the Suns or go small ball if the game gets out of hand. Take the underdog Nuggets.
Trends:
DEN are 7-1 ATS in their last 8 games overall.
Over is 6-2 in DEN last 8 vs. Western Conference.
Over is 9-4 in DEN last 13 road games.
Under is 8-1 in PHO last 9 Thu. games.
Over is 6-2 in PHO last 8 vs. NBA Northwest.
PHO are 7-17 ATS in their last 24 Thu. games.
DEN are 1-8 ATS in the last 9 meetings in Phoenix.
Home team is 18-7-1 ATS in the last 26 meetings.
Denver at Phoenix pick: Nuggets
Ian Van Den Hurk has covered amateur and pro sports for years, including a successful run handicapping anything from football to mixed martial arts.
