The Oklahoma City Thunder play host to the Denver Nuggets at the Paycom Center on Wednesday night.
The Denver Nuggets have been in a rut as they’ve lost four of their past six games and they will be hoping to bounce back here after falling just short to the lowly Pistons in a 110-108 home loss last night. Nikola Jokic led the team with 31 points, nine rebounds and 10 assists, Michael Porter Jr added 18 points while Aaron Gordon chipped in with 17 points on seven of 10 shooting. As a team, the Nuggets shot 50 percent from the field and a miserly five of 19 from the 3-point line as they kept pace with the Pistons in a tight contest, until the fourth quarter where the Pistons opened with a decisive 11-3 run to pull away and steal the game in the end. Jamal Murray had a quiet game of just 10 points on three of 12 shooting while Bones Hyland scored just two points on one of five shooting.
Meanwhile, the Oklahoma City Thunder have been in a real funk as they’ve lost seven of their last 10 games and they will be hoping to avoid a third straight defeat after getting beaten by the Knicks in a 129-119 loss on Monday. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the team with 30 points and seven assists, Luguentz Dort added 24 points, eight rebounds and three assists while Josh Giddey tallied 18 points with nine rebounds and seven assists. As a team, the Thunder shot 48 percent from the field and eight of 24 from the 3-point line, but they weren’t focused on the defensive end and were always fighting an uphill battle after allowing 69 points in the first half alone.
Looking at the betting trends, the Nuggets are 3-8-1 ATS in their last 12 games playing on zero days’ rest, 2-6 ATS in their last eight games against a team with a losing record and 2-5 ATS in their last seven games overall. The Thunder are 7-2 ATS in their last nine games against a team above .600 and 5-1 ATS in their last six home games against a team with a winning road record.
Head to head, the Nuggets are 1-5 ATS in the last six meetings overall and the Nuggets are 8-3 ATS in the last 11 meetings in Oklahoma City.
The Nuggets could again be missing Ish Smith and Jeff Green, while Bones Hyland is listed as questionable. The Thunder will also be shorthanded here as Aleksej Pokusevski and Mike Muscala are still both out. The Nuggets have struggled to win games without Jokic in the lineup and his return to the lineup didn’t seem to help last night against the slumping Pistons. The Thunder are coming into this one in similar form, but they are a solid 7-2 ATS in their last nine games against a team above .600. The Nuggets are only 3-8-1 ATS in their last 12 games playing on zero days’ rest and I expect that trend to continue as the Thunder get the win in this spot.
