NBA Basketball Picks – San Antonio Spurs at Denver Nuggets
One team coming off its best performance of the season and another coming off one of its worst will get together on Thursday when the San Antonio Spurs (9-8 SU, 8-9 ATS) lock horns with the Denver Nuggets (13-6 SU, 12-6-1 ATS) in NBA pro basketball sports betting action that is scheduled to take place at 10:30 PM ET at the Pepsi Center in Denver.
BetUS NBA Basketball Sports Betting Odds: DENVER -4, Total 191.5
Here are some of the NBA pro basketball sports betting trends as they relate to this matchup:
* SA has won and covered seven of its last ten games SU
* SA has played ten of its last 13 games OVER the total
* SA has won four of its last six road games SU
* SA has played four of its last five road games UNDER the total
* DEN has won 12 of its last 15 games SU
* DEN has covered four of its last six games
* DEN has played its last six games OVER the total
* DEN has won seven of its last eight home games SU
* DEN is 6-2-1 ATS in its last nine home games
* DEN has played its last five home games OVER the total
Also…
* DEN has covered the last four meetings
* Eleven of the last 13 meetings have gone UNDER the total
* SA has won and covered six of the last nine meetings SU as the road team
* Four of the last five meetings in Denver have gone UNDER the total
* DEN has had the rebounding edge in five of the last six meetings
* SA has made more three-pointers in six of the last eight meetings
San Antonio has really taken it on the chin in the last two games. On Saturday the Spurs shot just 38% in falling by 19 points to the Houston Rockets, and then coming back after a couple of days rest on Tuesday, they lost an 89-77 decision at home against the Pistons, with just 39% field goal accuracy. In that game, San Antonio went into the fourth quarter with a two-point lead, then was outscored 28-14 the rest of the way. Manu Ginobili scored only 13 points. Roger Mason and George Hill, who had been making up some of the scoring slack in the absence of Tony Parker (who is back in the lineup), combined for only six points.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday the Nuggets shot a blistering 60% in scoring a 132-93 knockout of the Toronto Raptors in a game that was over early in the third quarter, and which wound up losing Toronto coach Sam Mitchell his job. Denver had 37 assists in the game, including 14 by Chauncey Billups, who also had 24 points. Chris Bosh had 24 points for the Raptors, but aside from that, the Toronto offense was stymied.
Denver’s fortunes have really taken an upturn since the addition of Billups, who came over from Detroit in a trade for Allen Iverson. The Nuggets have won 12 of 15 games since then, and they’re playing better defense as well. In fact, George Karl’s team is allowing just 42.9% shooting, which is lower than the Spurs’ figure.
As we mentioned, Tony Parker has returned to the lineup for the Spurs. In three games, he’s scored 15, 15 and 18 points, well down from the 27 points he was averaging before going down with an ankle injury. Manu Ginobili, who missed the season’s first dozen games, has averaged only 13 points, though he hasn’t logged a load of minutes.
It’s tricky to go against the Spurs here, because as a veteran team whose nucleus has won championship, they are just the kind of team who can respond to such a humiliation. Indeed, they were spirited off to practice by coach Gregg Popovich yesterday. My guess is that this team will respond, and since the Spurs are no strangers to winning games on the road (capturing four of their last six in that role), it would be no surprise to see them redeem themselves. Let’s take the points with San Antonio, the four-point underdog in the BetUS NBA pro basketball sports betting odds.
