Denver Nuggets vs Charlotte Hornets 12/18/22 NBA Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Charlotte Hornets and the Denver Nuggets do battle at the Ball Arena on Sunday night.

The Charlotte Hornets have been ice-cold lately as they’ve lost 11 of their last 14 games overall and they will be hoping to avoid an eighth straight defeat after getting thrashed by the Hawks in a 125-106 loss on Friday. LaMelo Ball drained seven 3-pointers to lead the team with 27 points on nine of 18 shooting, Kelly Oubre Jr. added 16 points off the bench while Nic Richards chipped in with 13 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks. As a team, the Hornets shot just 39 percent from the field and 15 of 43 from the 3-point line but they had no answer for the Hawks’ Trae Young and were always fighting an uphill battle after leaking 75 points in the first half. The Hornets showed some fight to cut a 24-point deficit to just four points, but they couldn’t find their offense when it mattered most, scoring just 14 points in the fourth quarter to allow the Hawks to run away in the end.

Meanwhile, the Denver Nuggets have been a little below their best lately as they’ve lost four of their last seven games and they will be looking to bounce back here after getting routed by the Lakers in a 126-108 road loss on Friday. Nikola Jokic led the way with 25 points, 11 rebounds, eight assists and four steals, Jamal Murray added 23 points with six assists while Aaron Gordon scored 17 points on seven of 13 shooting. As a team, the Nuggets shot 48 percent from the field and nine of 27 from the 3-point line as they looked to be in control after leading by eight points midway through the third quarter, but the Lakers closed the third quarter with an 18-5 run and ran away with it in the end.

Looking at the betting trends, the Hornets are 4-1-1 ATS in their last six games following a double-digit loss at home and 0-4 ATS in their last four games overall. The Nuggets are 5-1 ATS in their last six games following a loss of more than 10 points and 1-6 ATS in their last seven games overall.

Head to head, the under is 8-3 in the last 11 meetings in Denver and the Hornets are 1-4 ATS in the last five meetings in Denver.

The Hornets are again missing Mark Williams, Dennis Smith Jr and Cody Martin, while the Nuggets are again without Michael Porter Jr and Jamal Murray is listed as day to day. The Hornets really haven’t been able to get anything going lately and even getting some players back hasn’t helped as they come into this one fresh off a bad loss to the Hawks. The Nuggets will surely come out firing after getting blown out in their last game and I expect them to get the job done against the slumping Hornets in this spot.