San Antonio Spurs vs. Denver Nuggets Prediction, NBA Odds

Edgar Chaput | Updated Nov 26, 2023

NBA: Denver Nuggets at Houston Rockets

The San Antonio Spurs and Denver Nuggets are both surprisingly desperate for a win when they cross paths on Sunday evening.

San Antonio
22-60
AT
November 26, 2023, 8:00 PM ET
Pepsi Center
Denver
57-25
Pointspread +10.5 -110
Moneyline +375
Over / Under o +229.5
Pointspread -10.5 -110
Moneyline -500
Over / Under u +229.5

San Antonio’s struggles from last season have carried over into the current one. The club is living through a rebuilding phase for which the price to pay is a bucket load of defeats. Friday’s at Golden State was their 11thin a row. The Nuggets, somewhat surprisingly, have just concluded an atrocious road trip, going 1-4 in the process. They were defeated 105-85 by the Houston Rockets on Friday.

The NBA odds believe that some home cooking will do Denver good, as Mike Malone’s group is pinned at -11.5.

Spurs vs. Nuggets NBA Betting Odds

Despite how good the Nuggets have been for a few seasons and how the Spurs have experienced a cavernous drop in quality, the head-to-head matchups are rather even. Last year the Texan outfit managed to steal one of the three regular-season meetings, and the previous season, the sides shared the spoils over four contests. One of those Spurs wins, in April 2022, came in Denver.

What do betters do with San Antonio? They can’t really be trusted on the moneyline given the 3-13 tally. Against the spread the club doesn’t inspire much confidence either at 6-10. Victor Wembenyama is averaging 9-4 rebounds a game (it would be embarrassing if he were doing any less). Although Denver is one of the best teams defending against rebounds, this could be one of the few hopeful props.

Chalk it up to Jamal Murray’s absence and maybe a dose of champions fatigue, but the Nuggets aren’t shining like they used to. As defending champions, it goes without saying that they are favoured regularly. One can therefore imagine that the 10-6 straight-up record hasn’t done them favours with the spread, which it hasn’t at 5-11. Shockingly, the Nuggets have not covered for eight consecutive games.

San Antonio Spurs

San Antonio looked decent for about a quarter on Friday night when they visited the Golden State Warriors, then fell behind before mounting a modest comeback to make the 118-112 defeat interesting.

Greg Popovich, one of the great NBA head coaches of any generation, might want to remind his side that they aren’t a very good three-point shooting unit. Their efficiency is 28th yet they take the 10th most shots per game. On Friday this resulted in a paltry 25.5 per cent night off 47 attempts. Think about that. A whopping 47 shots from beyond the arc with only 12 going in against a team that has Stephen Curry (who drained seven of his 14 attempts). Wembenyama tallied 22 points and looked quite good in spurts with his mid-range shot. Keldon Johnson joind him with 22 points as well and funnily had more rebounds (12 to 9). Devin Vassell was a force off the bench, tallying 24 points of his own with a very good 10-for-19 evening.

All the same, this is not the time to expect much from this Spurs group. They’re growing and will lose a lot more before they start winning.

Denver Nuggets

The Nuggets are probably very happy to be back home. All in all it’s been a testy start of their championship defence. The road trip didn’t help in the slightest, with the group going 1-4, culminating with the 105-86 drubbing in Houston.

For one, Denver isn’t shooting well. To be fair, playing against Orlando and Houston in the same week won’t help because those are two of the NBA’s best defensive sides. Even so, a 34 per cent night from the field (23.3 from long range) makes the task all the more difficult against a team like the Rockets who are finally getting used to winning more than losing. It’s nice to see Nikola Jokic get 38 points, eight assists and an incredible 19 rebounds, but no one else came along with him. Reggie Jackson? Two points. Aaron Gordon? Two points. Michael Porter Jr? He put in 14 points. That’s not going to get it done.

NBA Prediction: Who Will Win Spurs vs. Nuggets?

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