Nuggets vs. Warriors Prediction: NBA Odds, Point Spread
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Jeremy Perry
The Denver Nuggets and Golden State Warriors will square off on Monday in a contest between two teams that are beaten down. The Warriors are hurting as they’ve lost 13 of their last 19 games and just lost rookie centre James Wiseman for the season. As for the Nuggets, they had won eight straight before completely blowing a potential ninth straight win on Sunday. Let’s take a closer look at this contest.
NBA Point Spread and Betting Analysis
The Nuggets have done fairly well against teams with a losing record as they are 17-8 straight up against them this season. The challenge is they are only 12-13 against the spread in those games and 3-3 in the recent stretch.
As for the Warriors, they are just 8-13 ATS and SU against teams above .500. Injuries will be key as both Jamal Murray and Kelly Oubre Jr. are questionable for Monday’s game. That could be a huge factor here.
Denver Nuggets
The Nuggets had been on a roll heading into Sunday’s matchup with the Boston Celtics. They had won eight in a row and had yet to lose since acquiring forward Aaron Gordon at the trade deadline. Things were looking good through three quarters as they led 79-74, but the wheels completely came off in the fourth. The Celtics opened with an incredible 31-3 run and ended up outscoring Denver 31-8 in the quarter. If you had Denver at -3.5, you were looking good going into the fourth, but that bet went sour quickly.
One of the Nuggets’ big issues is that they got virtually nothing out of their bench. The entire unit combined for just 14 points while shooting 6-of-28 from the field. In fairness, the Nuggets were without point guard Jamal Murray, who is one of the key cogs on the team. That took some pop out of the starting lineup and required more production out of the bench, which did not happen. After such a disappointing effort on Sunday, the Nuggets should be a lot more focused on Monday.
Golden State Warriors
The Warriors have dropped 13 of 19, but had a little momentum after a win on Saturday. That gave them two wins in their last three games, and a little bit of momentum. The bad news came on Sunday as it was announced that rookie James Wiseman has a torn meniscus and will miss significant time. That’s big news as he has averaged 11.5 points per game on a team that desperately needs more scoring. The Warriors are just 18th in the NBA in terms of points per game at 112.2 and now they just lost a chunk of it. On top of that, Kelly Oubre Jr. is questionable for Monday’s affair.
The Warriors have struggled against competent, winning teams this season. This looks like another area where they are likely to labor a little bit.
DEN
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