The Denver Nuggets and the Portland Trail Blazers duke it out at the Moda Center on Monday night.
The Denver Nuggets will be aiming for a third straight win after beating the Thunder in a 122-117 home win on Saturday. Michael Porter Jr. led the team with 22 points on eight of 15 shooting, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope added 21 points while Nikola Jokic racked up a triple-double of 19 points with 16 rebounds and 13 assists. As a team, the Nuggets shot 49 percent from the field and a sizzling 20 of 38 from the 3-point line but they committed a total of 18 turnovers which just kept the Thunder in the contest right till the end.
Meanwhile, the Portland Trail Blazers will be looking to stay undefeated after outlasting the Lakers in a 106-104 road win last night. Damian Lillard led the team with a game-high 41 points on 15 of 25 shooting, Jerami Grant added 16 points while Anfernee Simons chipped in with 12 points. As a team, the Trail Blazers shot 44 percent from the field and 10 of 27 from the 3-point line as they squandered an early 12-point lead, before escaping late in the game thanks to Grant who made the game-winning layup with just 3.0 seconds left on the clock.
Looking at the betting trends, the Nuggets are 9-3 ATS in their last 12 road games against a team with a winning home record. The Trail Blazers are 2-5 ATS in their last seven home games, 2-8 ATS in their last 10 games against a team with a winning record and 3-10 ATS in their last 13 games overall.
Head to head, the over is 20-8 in the last 28 meetings overall and the Nuggets are 5-1 ATS in the last six meetings overall.
The Nuggets have yet to hit their stride this season, but they’ve won two in a row and Jokic looks to be in midseason form after tallying a triple-double on Saturday. The Trail Blazers have hit the ground running and they will be playing on zero days’ rest after sneaking past the Lakers in a gritty 104-102 win over the Lakers. I would be tempted to take the Trail Blazers if we were getting more points, but with the line so short, I’d lean towards the Nuggets who clearly have more firepower across the roster.