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The Denver Nuggets will travel to face off the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday. It's time to continue our NBA odds series and make a Nuggets-Thunder prediction and pick.
These two teams have been having different seasons. The Denver Nuggets are 15-14, coming off a solid win. The Oklahoma City Thunder, meanwhile, are 10-19 and hoping to build off impressive back-to-back wins. This should be an interesting match-up.
Here are the odds for Wednesday's game between the Nuggets and Thunder, courtesy of FanDuel.
NBA Odds: Nuggets-Thunder Odds
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Denver Nuggets -6.5 (-112)
Oklahoma City Thunder +6.5 (-108)
Over 214 (-110)
Under 214 (-110)
Why The Nuggets Could Cover The Spread
The Denver Nuggets have been having an underwhelming season. They've barely managed a winning record through their first 29 games, with 15 wins and 14 losses.
The Nuggets are coming off an impressive 18-point win over the Atlanta Hawks. OKC should be an easier opponent than the Hawks, but the Thunder are gaining momentum. As with every team, the Nuggets need to overcome injuries to win this game. They put up a solid performance on Friday and if they can mimic that outing on Wednesday then they should be able to walk away with a win.
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In the Nuggets' win over the Hawks, Denver was dominant across the board. The Nuggets made nine more shots than the Hawks despite taking two fewer attempts. Denver was impressive beyond the arc, taking 38 three-pointers and making nearly 45% of them. Atlanta, on the flip side, struggled from deep, only launching 24 threes and making less than 30% of their attempts. The Nuggets narrowly had more rebounds and steals than the Hawks. They also had significantly more assists, 35 compared to 22.
All around, Denver was playing much better basketball than Atlanta and that is reflected in the statistics. If the Nuggets can put together a similar effort on Wednesday, then they should have no problem dominating OKC as they did Atlanta.
While COVID is impacting every team in the league right now, the Nuggets don't actually have any players in health and safety protocols. They will be missing a handful of players due to injury, but none due to COVID. Most importantly for this team, Jokic will be playing on Wednesday. The Joker has become the face and leader of this Nuggets team and just his presence on the court has a tremendous impact on the outcome of games. If the big man brings his A-game on Wednesday then the Thunder are in trouble.
Why The Thunder Could Cover The Spread
The Oklahoma City Thunder started off this season as arguably the worst team in the NBA, but have seemed to somewhat flip the script. Through their first 29 games they've only managed to win 10, yet are clearly gaining momentum. OKC has won its last two games, the most recent win coming over the Memphis Grizzlies by three. The Thunder are on a bit of a hot streak right now, and with an almost completely healthy roster they will look to take advantage of other crippled teams. If OKC can keep up the hustle and drive shown in the last two games, then it could potentially pull off this upset.
The Thunder and Grizzlies were nearly even across all statistics on Monday. OKC shot the ball at a higher efficiency, converting nearly 43% of its shot attempts compared to Memphis' 38%. However, the Grizzlies made three more shots than OKC. Both teams made 11 three-pointers, but Memphis took six fewer than the Thunder. The real difference maker in this matchup was free throws. The Thunder shot 15 more free throws than the Grizzlies and made nine more. OKC only won this game by three points, so those nine free throws were clearly impactful. If the Thunder can keep up that competitiveness then they could walk away with a win on Wednesday.
OKC is truly lucky to have zero players impacted by COVID. Tre Mann is questionable for Wednesday's contest and Mike Muscala will be out, but that's it. The rest of the Thunder's roster will be available and ready to upset the Nuggets. The Thunder are heading the right direction, and with an almost fully healthy roster and coming off back-to-back wins, they could have what it takes to win on Wednesday.
Expect OKC to put up a serious fight and maybe even win this game.
Final Nuggets-Thunder Prediction & Pick
This is a tough decision. The Nuggets are definitely the better team, but with both Aaron Gordon and JaMychal Green questionable for Wednesday's game it's tough to side with Denver. On the other hand, the Thunder are playing well right now and have shown they want to win games. With all that said, this seems like the time to side with the underdog.
Pick OKC to cover and get ready for a scrappy game.
Final Nuggets-Thunder pick: OKC +6.5 (-108)
Final Nuggets-Thunder score prediction: Nuggets 108 – Thunder 106
