Minnesota Timberwolves at Denver Nuggets
Saturday, December 18th, 2010 at 9:05 PM EST
Opening Line:  Denver -11
Current Line: Denver -11
Opening Total: 225
Current Total: 225.5
Moneyline:  Undefined at time of Issue (4:57 AM)

Not unusually, the Timberwolves enter tonight’s game with a losing streak, having dropped their past four games and 8 of their last 10 games.  Denver is coming off an impressive win over Orlando in which they outscored the Magic 36-18 down the stretch to turn what was a close game into a blowout.  Carmelo Anthony dropped 35 points against a team that is desperately in need of his services and desiring to work a trade for him.  Despite another good game from Howard, and a career high from backup shooting guard J.J. Redick, who scored 29, the Magic just didn’t have enough firepower or defensive will to handle the Nuggets down the stretch.

Needless to say, the 6-21 Timberwolves are not the challenge that the 16-9 Magic were.  And Denver is 11-2 at home, as well.  That’s why NBA oddsmakers have set the line at 11 points in Denver’s favor.

While Minnesota has an imposing and talented frontline, their backcourt is weak and their bench/depth is non existent.  Trading a second round pick for Michael Beasley worked out brilliantly.  Beasley has upped his scoring average 6.7 points per game up to 21.5 points a game, and is hauling in 6.1 boards a night, too.  Kevin Love has been nothing short of unstoppable, even having the first 30 point, 30 rebound game in over 30 years.  Darko Milicic has almost looked as though he was worth a lottery pick (we won’t say the #2 pick just quite yet though!).  The Wolves have undoubtedly missed Johnny Flynn, who recently rejoined the team after a rehab stint in the D-league.  He should be an upgrade over incumbent starter Luke Ridnour.

Some betting trends:  Minnesota is 1-15 on the road this season and the total has gone UNDER in 4 of Minnesota’s last 5 games against Denver and it has gone UNDER in 4 of their past 6 road games in Denver.

Denver is 2-6 ATS in their past 8 games and is 2-6-1 ATS in their 9 home games this year.  The total has gone OVER in 8 of Denver’s last 11 home games and they hae won 12 of their past 13 games against Minnesota overall.  They are also 2-3-1 ATS in their last 6 against the T Wolves.

The key matchup for tonight’s game:

Michael Beasley vs. Carmelo Anthony

This is the marquee matchup between the two leading scorers.  It should be interesting to see which one of them plays better defense as neither are known as particularly strong defenders.  Beasley has length on ‘Melo, but Carmelo is stronger than Beasley.  They will go at each other early and often and expect both to score 20, if not 30 for Carmelo.  He’s been playing great basketball despite all the trade rumors and is up to the challenge of winning as many games with Denver as he can until a trade happens.