Denver Nuggets at New Orleans Hornets
Monday, 3/14/11, 8:00 PM EDT
Opening Point Spread: New Orleans -3
Current Betting Line: New Orleans -2.5
Opening Total: 200
Current Total: 200
Denver enters tonight’s contest having won seven of nine games since trading star Carmelo Anthony to the New York Knicks and are coming off an impressive 131-101 blowout victory over Detroit on Saturday. The Nuggets begin a four-game road trip at New Orleans and the players are interested in seeing how the team handles it. “Just a good test for us to see how good we really are,” guard Ty Lawson said of the trip. The team trails the season series 2-0 and is looking for revenge from an earlier loss at the Pepsi Center. “New Orleans beat us down there, so we owe them something,” guard J.R. Smith stated. Denver is 16-16 ATS on the road this season and the NBA lines page is available for the latest movement.
The Nuggets are 39-27 overall this season and have compiled a dismal 12-20 mark away from the Pepsi Center, including a 7-13 mark versus Western Conference foes. Denver has played well on the road against New Orleans in recent years, having won seven of the last 12 road games. The overall series between the Hornets and Nuggets has been very competitive over the last five-plus regular seasons, with Denver holding a 10-9 advantage. The squad is led by an offense that paces the league in scoring 107.7 points a night and just had eight players score in double figures last time out.
New Orleans was glad to have All-Star guard Chris Paul back in the lineup after a two game absence with a concussion by beating Sacramento 115-103. Paul had a season-high 33 points and 1 assists in the win, which impressed his head coach. “Any team that loses their best player, when they get him back, they’re going to have a number of things,” Monty Williams said. “From Chris, it’s a coach on the floor, energy, crowd excitement, everything.” Tonight is the third game of a five-game homestand and the squad is 23-9 overall on its home floor this year. New Orleans has struggled against the spread against Northwest division opponents, covering just 19 times in 55 chances.
The Hornets have not been a great team when leading off the week by playing on Mondays, notching a terrible 3-8 mark. New Orleans will have to do a great job on defense in order to pick up the victory, posting a 34-11 record when holding opponents to under 100 points, while going 5-18 when failing to do so.
Bettors will be interested in backing the Nuggets due to their 9-1 ATS mark over the last 10 games, while the Hornets are 2-7 ATS as a home favorite.
