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Indiana Pacers vs. Denver Nuggets Monday NBA Preview & Free Pick

Pacers vs Nuggets NBA Handicapping

The top teams in the NBA all take care of business at home. San Antonio 20-2. Clippers 20-5. Oklahoma City 19-3. Miami 18-3. When the best teams lose at home, eyebrows are raised.

Indiana Pacers (26-18) at Denver Nuggets (27-18)
Monday, Jan. 28
Pepsi Center, Denver
9 p.m. EST
Spread – Nuggets -5.5
O/U – 194.5 at Bovada

Matchup | Preview

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We can add Denver to the list now. The post-Carmelo Anthony Nuggets have become legitimate beasts at the Pepsi Center, and they take a 17-3 home record into tonight’s game against the Indiana Pacers.

Denver has been beaten at home only by Miami (no crime there) and in letdown losses to Washington (the Wizards are doing that to a lot of teams) and Minnesota.

And the good news for George Karl & Co. is that the Nuggets’ 28-point offing of Sacramento/Seattle on Saturday night was just the first game of a seven-game homestand. The Nuggets should be able to able to establish plenty of street cred over the next 10 days.

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Denver has been getting it done with a racehorse style of play that makes like difficult for less-balanced teams to hang with them. Over the last four games the Nuggets have averaged 114 points, and longtime Denver fans were even comparing the team to the Paul Westhead Nuggets of a few decades ago when his teams averaged nearly 120 points a game.

The Nuggets’ talents were on full display against the woeful Kings. Denver had 71 points on the board by the intermission, Ty Lawson finished with 26, Andre Iguodala had 20 and by the start of the third period everyone in the arena knew that the only the final score was in doubt. [ad-6571516]

Denver’s depth – six players are scoring in double figures – enables Karl to keep starter minutes at a minimum, and only Iguodala and Lawson are playing as many as 34 a game. That should keep everyone fresh for games down the stretch when the Nuggets might be playing for a 4 seed in the playoffs, which would enable them to avoid the Clippers, Spurs and Thunder in the first round.

Indiana, meanwhile, will be redoubling its defensive efforts after allowing both Portland and Utah to go over 100 (the Pacers lost both). “It’s tough to beat good teams in their buildings when you aren’t tied together on defense,” Pacers coach Frank Vogel said, no doubt thinking ahead to tonight’s game.

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Objects in motion tend to stay in motion, and the Nuggets are on the move. The Pacers’ best shot tonight lies in controlling tempo, keeping things reasonable for three quarters, then make some late plays and steal one.

The NBA is not kind to Eastern Conference teams at the end of road trips out west, so we’re liking the Nuggets to cover the 5.5 at home and keep the train on the tracks.

By Lawrence Paul

Lawrence Paul is back in the saddle as a regular contributor to the Cappers Picks Blog. He's got an AMAZING knack for predicting when a team will have a letdown! Stick with our resident gambling experts sports betting tips all season long!