Denver Nuggets at Los Angeles Clippers
Wednesday, 1/5/11, 9:00 PM EDT
Opening Point Spread: Denver -3.5
Current Betting Line: Denver -4
Opening Total: 211
Current Total: 210
Denver aims to win three games in a row tonight while beating Los Angeles for the fifth straight time when the two teams meet at the Staples Center on Wednesday night. The Nuggets will also be playing with star forward Carmelo Anthony for a third game since the death of his sister a couple weeks ago and he scored 33 points and 11 rebounds last time out. “I thought he was the best player on the court,” said head coach George Karl. The team is 20-13 overall and 4-5 on the road against Western Conference opponents. Anthony is currently averaging 24.0 points and 8.5 rebounds per game. Denver is 13-18 ATS on the season and currently a slight road favorite on the NBA lines page tonight.
The Nuggets have won 13 of the last 16 overall games against the Clippers in this series since the start of the 2006-07 campaign, with all three losses happening in Los Angeles. If Denver wins tonight, it would ensure a fifth-consecutive season series win over Los Angeles. The squad is on pace for 50 wins this season. Karl said it’s important to take advantage of January to get ahead of that pace for when the schedule becomes tougher later in the season. “If we want to get 50 wins this season, we’ve got to put up 10 to 12 up on the board this month,” he commented. The Nuggets are in third place in the division, three games behind leader Utah and two behind second-place Oklahoma City.
Los Angeles enters with a 10-24 overall record and 7-8 mark against Western Conference opponents at home. The Clippers are being led by the outstanding play of rookie forward Blake Griffin, who has recored 21 straight double-doubles. He has recently been focused on getting his teammates ready to play in the final quarter, as they’ve fallen flat in the final 12 minutes the last two times out. “We just have to do a better job of finishing out games,” said Griffin. “Our offense got a little stagnant and they hit some shots.” He is the only player in the NBA averaging 20-plus points and over 12 boards a game. Los Angeles is 8-12 ATS at home this season and 44-57 ATS at Staples Center over the past three years.
The Clippers fell 109-104 to the Nuggets on December 3 despite holding them to a opponent season-low 27 field goals. Since the 1986-87 season, it was just the sixth time that Los Angeles lost a game in which its opponent made 27 or fewer shots. The last four meetings between the two teams have been in Denver. Los Angeles won the last game at Staples Center, 106-99 on November 20, 2009, which was its only victory in the last 12 meetings.
Bettors will be interested in knowing that the Nuggets are 1-5 ATS as a road favorite, while the Clippers are 1-5 ATS as a home underdog of 0.5 to 4.5 points.
