Spurs vs Nuggets NBA Handicapping
Denver’s 15-game winning streak came to an end 2½ weeks ago, and since that unexpected defeat in New Orleans the Nuggets have been dealing with injuries to their two key players.
San Antonio Sours (57-20) at Denver Nuggets (53-24)
Wednesday, April 10
Pepsi Center, Denver
10:30 p.m. EST
Spread – Nuggets -3 at WagerWeb
O/U – 204.5
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Ty Lawson has been forced to cope with painful foot injuries that have caused him to miss 7 of the last 8 games, and leading scorer Danilo Gallinari is cooked for the season after suffering a knee injury.
So what’s next for the Nuggets? How about letting the bench start?
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That’s just one of the solutions rolling through the innovative mind of coach George Karl, who told the Denver Post that he has contemplated starting the scrubs when his team takes to its home court tonight against the San Antonio Spurs in that rarest of late-season NBA games that actually has some meaning.
While Karl may have been just toying with writers, he does have to figure out a game plan for the last 5 games of the season as the Nuggets try to hang on to the No. 4 seed and home court advantage in at least Round 1 of the playoffs.
Since Denver has lost only 3 times all season at the Pepsi Center, playing the odd game at home can be the difference between moving on or getting knocked out of the playoffs in the first round for the third straight time and 8th time in 9 years. [ad-6571516]
Karl, as always, is remaining calm while hurricane winds blow all around him.
“Don’t overreact,” he said when asked how he hopes his teams adjusts to the loss of Gallinari. “Do the things that we’ve asked you to do, do them better and do more of them.
Philosophically, how you fill in those minutes should be exciting to a lot of people, should be uplifting to a lot of people because there’s going to be more opportunity.”
The sample is small, but so far, so good. In their first game this season without either Gallinari or Lawson, the Nuggets rolled past the Rockets, 132-114, obliterating Houston’s early 10-point lead. But Karl has been around the block long enough to know that the regular season and playoff season are different animals, and it will be interesting to see how the high-intensity Nuggets – who always play hard – react when their opponents do the same.
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The Spurs have injury issues of their own. They’ll definitely be without Manu Ginobili, and Tony Parker is a likely scratch as he deals with a pain in the neck (not, not ex Eva Longoria). San Antonio is one of the few teams to have success in Denver, where the Spurs have won 4 of the last 6 meetings.
Not this time. Nuggets get it done, and cover the modest line.
