The Denver Nuggets suffered the worst defeat of this season on Tuesday and will look to bounce back against a team who know how they feel. The Chicago Bulls continue their miserable season with a trip to the Rockies and will look to improve their recent performance that hasn’t been on NBA standard.
Bulls at Nuggets
Spread: Denver -11.5 (-110) at BetDSI Sportsbook
Total: over/under 208.5 points (-110)
The Sixers suffer a blowout loss to the Cavaliers at home
The Chicago Bulls have lost six consecutive games, and 11 of their last 12. It’s fair to say that they aren’t very good. The most recent loss was to the Phoenix Suns, a team equally limited, so that was their best chance of snapping the losing streak. The Bulls scored the most in five games, but scoring 99 on the Suns is like scoring 79 on the rest of the league.
Three of the four quarters were actually just fine. It was the second period’s 14 points output that was disappointing. Even with it, the Bulls stayed in a close game until the mid-point of the third quarter. A dry spell with their reserves in pushed the deficit to 14 in the third, but the Bulls managed to bounce back with a run of their own. However, another 14-2 Suns run to start the fourth doomed them – the Bulls continued to chip away the deficit but ran out of time. Starting backcourt carried the most of the load. Dunn has established himself as the best option at the point guard, and Monday game further confirmed it. He finished the game with 24 points, 10-of-16 shooting, and 4 treys while dishing out eight assists. Ball security is sometimes an issue for him, and he had 4 turnovers but made up for it by 4 steals on the defensive end. Justin Holiday scored 25 points (6 threes) and had 5 assists and three blocks. During his court time, the Bulls outscored their opponent by 14. Markannen and Lopez each shot poorly, adding to the bench troubles. Overall, the Bulls shot just 40.4 percent. The guard duo of Dunn and Holiday were good for 19-of-31 shots. All the others shot a tragic 19-of-63 (30.1 percent).
Mirotic is yet to rejoin the team, and it’s not likely he ever will. LaVine is practicing, but need another few weeks before he can make the debut for his new team. The Bulls will pack their suitcases light, as they return home to play Sacramento and Cleveland next.
Place: Pepsi Center, Denver, Colorado
Date/Time: Thursday, November 30th, 2017. 7:00 PM ET
TV Coverage: Altitude, WGN-TV
The Nuggets humiliated in Utah, lose 77-106
The Nuggets are consistently inconsistent. Ever since the first week of this month, they were unable to string two wins, nor two losses. This trend continued in Salt Lake City, where they’ve come up empty against the Jazz, but it’s not the inconsistency that was concerning, but the lack of desire to compete.
And though Denver was missing all-star power forward Paul Millsap and fellow starter Wilson Chandler, Utah rolled with two-way star Rudy Gobert, leading scorer Rodney Hood and key reserve Joe Johnson all sidelined due to injuries. The game was close in the first half. The Nuggets didn’t play their best but managed to stay attached to Utah team missing their star center Gobert. The Jazz began the third quarter on a 20-6 run as a result of numerous defensive breakdowns and offensive miscues. Even without Gobert’s elite interior defensive presence, Utah’s physical approach forced the Nuggets into 18 turnovers. And even when Denver did not give away possessions, it finished with its second-lowest shooting percentage of the season (35.9), including a 7-of-34 mark from 3-point distance. Utah outscored Denver 58-28 in the second half, resulting in the Nuggets’ lowest point total of the season. Once it became clear that the win is improbable, the Nuggets just simply quit and lost the final frame 11-30. Gary Harris led the way with 18 points for the Nuggets, and Jokic had 7 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists, but nobody really stood out from a collective grey picture they painted.
It is unknown if Chandler will suit up Thursday against the Bulls. The Nuggets have started Hernangomez in Utah, but have been using Barton in his stead before, so those are two most likely options if he can’t go. Millsap is injured long term.
Chicago Bulls at Denver Nuggets Game Trends & Prediction
It’s very tough to hold the side of such poor teams as the Bulls, even with the help of large spreads, as they can get thrashed by an average team on any night. They’ve covered just twice in the last ten games, and are losing by 12.2 points on average this season. Considering this, their ATS record of 8-11 isn’t all that bad, but the trend is very disturbing. They also tend to play worse on the road, where they’ve gone 4-7 so far. The Bulls are also 7-12 on the total points market, but keep a good balance when traveling – they are 6-5 on the road.
The Denver Nuggets 5-5 against the spread in their last ten, with wild oscillations. The outcome largely depends on where they play – Pepsi Center is their fort with 6-4 ATS record, but they went just 2-8 outside it. They are also 8-12 against the totals, with three consecutive unders. Since Paul Millsap went down with an injury, the Nuggets have gone 2-2 against the spread, and 1-3 against the over/under, not counting the game he got hurt in.
Admi-Rank: The Nuggets have suffered ever since Millsap went down with an injury but this is the lowest they’ve reached this season. The Bulls are exploring new depths with each game and are by far the worst team in the league.
With Chicago, L.A. Lakers and Dallas next three opponents, this is a perfect time for the Nuggets to get on a roll. They would need to change focus so that the results of those games carry over to the games ahead, but a character of a team is not an easy thing to change. The Nuggets temporarily respond to the criticism, but soon revert to the usual laid-back style.
The good thing here is that they will fight, starters and reserves, and they have an obvious talent advantage over the Bulls. The odds setters have given Chicago only 11.5 points to try to cover. This is a great and rare opportunity to take a wager against the worst team in the league on a home side that will actually be motivated to give 100 percent and help erase a bad game, and the handicap isn’t all that scary. I’m not interested in totals, as the game will likely be a blowout, and it can happen both ways – either Denver scoring a ton, or Bulls not being able to score.
My Pick: Denver -11.5 (-110)
Total: (no wager on the spread)
