Denver at Minnesota
Time: 7 PM CT (NBA TV and NBA LP)
Spread: MIN -3.5
Total: 216
Odds c/o 5dimes
NUGGETS NEWS AND NOTES:
The Denver Nuggets have won five of its last 10 games but are just 12-23 on the road this season. Denver ultimately will face a team with that homeport disadvantage, in the first round, so that does not bode well if the Nuggets cannot find a way to win away from the Pepsi Center in Denver (where it has gone 27-10, conversely).
Denver is a team that many have suggested need a point guard, but the Nuggets rank No. 6 in offensive rating in the NBA, and they get it done through the sharp (and sometimes wizardly) passing of center Nikola Jokic. Jokic leads the Nuggets in assists per game with 5.5, which ultimately reduces the playmaking load of Denver’s bevy of shooting guards. The team really has no true point guard on its roster, though
The Nuggets as a team post 24.1 assists per game with 14.7 turnovers per night, so to criticize the team’s success on the base of its offense would be incorrect.?Defensively is where the Nuggets need the most improvement.
Denver ranks just No. 21 in defensive rating and Jokic is part of the issue there, strangely. While the center is a demon with the ball in his hands, he is slowly rotating and the Nuggets seem to prefer to almost never use Kenneth Faried, who is a defensive game changer at times. Denver has some tradeable pieces, and Mason?Plumlee leaves plenty to be desired defensively, too.
Even so, the Nuggets are a high scoring team that can play with the league’s dominant teams and steal occasional wins, it is just probably in need of a better secondary playmaker to play with Jokic—and also probably a defensive forward who can “quarterback” its defense to call it switches and better the defensive communication.
Minnesota Notes:
The Timberwolves have been so strong at home this season, where it has posted a 28-10 mark, but now it needs to get its act together on the road. Minnesota is just 15-23 on the road this season, and that is part of the reason Tom Thibodeau’s Wolves are just 6-point favorites against one of the league’s worst teams.?Moreover, Minnesota will not have home court advantage at any point in this season’s playoffs (unless they ascend to a top-4 seed before the final week), so winning on the road will be imperative to have any real chance at success this season.
Even so, this has been a major year of growth for Thibodeau’s team, and the acquisition of veteran Jimmy Butler has plenty to do with it. Butler emerged as a star under Thibbs in Chicago, and the Wolves were savvy to acquire him for Zach LaVine and Kris Dunn on 2017 Draft night. He has become something of a missing piece, and while his offensive numbers are down, the defensive presence and leadership he has brought to this young team has been invaluable.?Beyond the obvious, the Wolves have the pieces in place already to score points—that had never been the problem.
Minnesota is averaging nearly 110 points per game this season, but allowing 107.7.
That defensive blemish, as well as some issues executing late in games, is largely what has capped the Wolves’ progress in still what has to be considered an overwhelming season of progression.
Towns is averaging 21.2 points, 12.2 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game, while Butler does lead the team in scoring at 22.2 points per night. Andrew Wiggins has started to round out his game a little bit more, but still has a lot of growth to make before he can be called a ‘complete player.’ The Wolves also have got a little less from Jeff Teague than it might have hoped for. His 14 points and seven assists per game pretty much fill the role once occupied by Ricky Rubio, but there are times when his teammates may wish he were a little more assertive and greedy with the ball in his hands.
The Wolves also may need more from sixth man Jamal Crawford if it is to make a serious playoff run. We are all aware of how well Crawford can light it up off an NBA bench, but this season he is averaging just 10 points per game while shooting 41 percent from the floor and 33 percent from three-point range. Minnesota connects on “only” 8.1 threes per game while shooting 36 percent of a team, so its methodology differs somewhat from the likes of Houston and Golden State. That may end up being its secret strength if it is to succeed as young underdogs in the 2018 playoffs.
