San Antonio Spurs at Denver Nuggets, Pepsi Center, Denver, CO
Wednesday, March 23, 2011, 10:30 pm Eastern, TV: ESPN
Opening Line: Nuggets -3
Current Line: Nuggets -4
Opening Total: 210.5
Current Total: 210.5
Money Line: Nuggets -170 / Spurs +150
The San Antonio Spurs (57-13) will play without future Hall of Famer Tim Duncan for the second time in three games on Wednesday when they visit the Denver Nuggets (42-29). Duncan suffered a sprained left ankle early on in a 111-86 home win against Golden State on Monday and could miss the rest of the regular season, starting with this opener of a three-game road trip.
The Spurs still cruised to an easy victory against the Warriors despite losing Duncan and also beat Charlotte 109-98 two days earlier without him so he could simply rest. It turns out he should have rested a bit longer and will now get that opportunity as San Antonio begins to prepare for the playoffs as the likely top seed in the Western Conference. Surprisingly, the team has won seven of its last eight games without Duncan, who is expected to be replaced by Tiago Splitter.
The Nuggets (-3.5) actually have more to gain or lose at this point of the regular season regarding the playoff race. They currently reside in the fifth spot in the West, four games behind Oklahoma City and just one game ahead of Portland. A matchup with the Thunder in the first round is far from desirable, as Denver would probably rather face #3 seed Dallas instead.
Regardless, the team has played some of its best basketball without former star Carmelo Anthony since he was traded away to New York on February 21. The Nuggets are 10-4 since making the blockbuster deal with the Knicks and an incredible 13-1 against the spread. In fact, they have failed to cover just one game in their past 15.
Defense has become a much higher priority in Denver sans Anthony, with the team seeing the UNDER cash in nine of its last 11 games. In fact, only four opponents have managed to score more than 101 points against the Nuggets in the 14 games since the trade compared to six in the last eight games Anthony played with them. They are holding opponents to 94.7 points per game during that stretch, which is 8.4 lower than their season average.
If series trends continue in this matchup with the Spurs, bettors can expect another low-scoring game. The UNDER is 6-1 in the last seven meetings with the loser held under the century mark five times. San Antonio has also seen the UNDER cash in three of its last four games overall. The underdog and road team is 10-1 ATS in the last 11 meetings.
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