By Charles Jay
The Denver Nuggets have had a great time of it in the month of January, with the offense humming. Well, it would have to be offense, because Mike Malone’s team isn’t much on the defensive end. But the Nuggets have won five out of their last seven games, and they’ll have a team that may not offer a lot of defensive resistance in front of them on Thursday when they play host to the Phoenix Suns in NBA betting action that is set to begin at 9:05 PM ET at the Pepsi Center in the Mile High City. America’s Bookie customers get a couple of options at their disposal to do live betting, so they can stay in the action throughout the game.
The Nuggets are coming off a 103-93 win over the Utah Jazz, and they have shot 50% or better in five of their last seven games, averaging 117 points a game this month. What’s important to take note of is that they have also averaged 30 assists a contest as well, so they are getting the ball around at about as high a level as anyone in the league. Let’s put it this way – the Golden State Warriors are, by far, the league leaders in assists, and they are at 31 per game.
The Suns have very productive guard play, as well as a presence in the paint with Tyson Chandler and Alex Len. This is a Kentucky Wildcat-heavy backcourt, with Devin Booker and Eric Bledsoe drawing the starting assignments, and Brandon Knight coming off the bench. They can also go bigger with the likes of PJ Tucker and Jared Dudley, who has been suffering from an illness but is listed as probable here.
In the NBA betting odds that have been posted on this game, the Nuggets are favored:
Denver Nuggets -6
Phoenix Suns +6
Over 229 points -110
Under 229 points -110
This is the front end of a home-and-home series, as the teams go to Phoenix on Saturday.
The Suns have to regroup after letting one slip away the other night, losing to Minnesota on a buzzer-beating shot by Andrew Wiggins. That nullified a great 22-point, 17-rebound performance by Chandler. At 15-30 straight-up (24-20-1 ATS), Phoenix is in last place in the West, but because there is such a closely-contested logjam of bad teams after the #7 spot in the conference playoff order, they are still very much in the race to get the final spot. That eighth position is occupied by the Nuggets, who are 19-25 straight-up and 23-20-1 against the number and are 4.5 games ahead of the Suns.
Emmanuel Mudiay is listed as doubtful for the Nuggets, as he is dealing with a back injury. Denver needs people to deal with the depth of the Phoenix backcourt, and it looks like yet another former Kentucky player, Jamal Murray, will get some extra time. Perhaps John Calipari will be watching?
Booker has risen like the Phoenix itself. He is in his second NBA season, headed to the Rising Stars Challenge on All-Star weekend, and he was the fourth youngest player to reach 1000 career points, behind only LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Kobe Bryant. These guys have some punch, and they have been doing well against the number, covering ten of their last 13 games. Like Denver, they have had their problems on defense, with both teams allowing about 47% shooting.
Neither of these teams has a problem stepping up the tempo, with Phoenix ranked third in the “Pace” category, and Denver sixth. You know, this is the fourth highest posted total of the season for the Suns, and the second highest for the Nuggets. But these teams trend very strongly toward playing “overs.” Phoenix has gone over in 28 of 45 games, while the Nuggets’ bias is even more pronounced, as they are 30-13-1 to the “over.” Denver has played 15 of 21 home games “over,” and here’s something really interesting – the Nuggets have played 23 overs in 29 games when the total posted by the oddsmaker is over 210 points.
While this is a big number, considering the matchup between scoring-oriented teams, it may not be unreasonable. So we will go OVER this total, as the Charles Jay / America’s Bookie Challenge continues.
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