Denver Nuggets vs Golden State Warriors betting tips and predictions for Thursday’s NBA Western Conference Playoff game on TNT. It’s a must win situation for the Denver Nuggets as they find themselves in a 2-0 deficit against the Golden State Warriors ahead of Game 3 at Ball Arena. Read on for all our free predictions and betting tips.
Denver Nuggets
If there’s one thing we learned so far through 2 games in this series it’s that Nikola Jokic can’t do it all by himself, at least not in the postseason. Don’t get me wrong, the Joker is putting up solid numbers in 2 games with 25.5 points, 10.5 rebounds and 5 assists per game, but when you’re facing a contender to win it all you need a full team effort in order to stand a chance of winning on the road.
Now the series shifts to Denver and this is the Nuggets’ only hope of winning a game in this series if you ask me. There’s still no sign of Jamal Murray or Michael Porter Jr. coming back, I think it’s time Michael Malone closes to door on that and focuses on what he has. Denver has just 1 win in their last 5 vs West teams and they are only 1-4 ATS in their last 5 vs the Warriors.
Golden State Warriors
Having Stephen Curry come off your bench is a big luxury for the Warriors at the moment. Jordan Poole has been playing so well that coach Steve Kerr is hesitant to put his 2-time MVP back into the mix. Curry seems unaffected by that, he dropped 34 points on 12-for-17 shooting in Game 2 and right now he looks like the greatest player ever to come off the bench. Golden State should be very happy with the way they’ve performed so far, their big 3 is finally playing together and things have opened up for them now, especially after the injury to Devin Booker. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves though, they still have to win 2 more games vs Denver. They are on 7-game win streak vs West teams right now and in head-to-head meetings they’ve covered in 4 of the last 5 played at Ball Arena.
It might be an unpopular pick, but as we saw in Game 3 of Sixers vs Raptors, the higher seed is more than capable of winning a big game like this. The Warriors have their eyes on the big prize, taking care of Denver as quickly as possible would make their lives so much easier. I’m taking the road team to cover.
Denver Nuggets vs Golden State Warriors Predictions & Odds
With the Nuggets returning home here, they will have to shape things up and throw some new ideas at the Warriors as clearly, things haven’t worked out the way they’ve wanted to over the first 2 games. Increasing the tempo might be something to try, they’ve trended over the total quite a lot during the regular season in home games finishing with a 25-16 record on the O/U. The Warriors have also seen the over land in 10 of their last 15 on the road and in 4 of their last 5 overall.
With the way they’ve been playing on offence, this team looks capable of putting up 120 points on any given night, regardless of who the opponent is. Stephen Curry seems unphased by having to come off the bench, the Nuggets don’t have an answer for him and Jordan Poole in the backcourt so far.
The Altitude might work in Denver’s favour here as well, the total has cashed in 6 straight for them against Pacific division teams. With all those trends in mind, it’s hard to imagine anything but the game going over the total, so let’s back the points here.
