Denver Nuggets vs Phoenix Suns betting tips and predictions for Thursday’s NBA Playoffs game on ESPN. It’s do or die time for Kevin Durant and his Phoenix Suns as they host Game 6 of their series against the Nuggets being in a 3-2 deficit. Read on for all our free predictions and betting tips.
Phoenix Suns
Devin Booker finally cooled off and it couldn’t come at a worse time for the Phoenix Suns as they lost Game 5 on the road 118-102. For Game 6, ESPN’s Analytics are giving them a 38.7% chance to win and avoid elimination, that number gone down a bit after it was confirmed Chris Paul would not be available to play on Thursday.
Without him the Suns do have 2 wins on their home court in this series, however it took a super human effort by Booker and really good games by Kevin Durant for that to happen. Can they string together another one of those games to keep their season alive? It’s tough to say, but history is on their side as they’ve won 5 games in a row vs the Nuggets at Footprint Center. They are also 13-6 SU in their last 19 games overall.
Denver Nuggets
Nikola Jokic overtook Wilt Chamberlain on the all-time triple-double list for the postseason as he recorded his 10th with 29 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists in the Game 5 victory. He also got a ton of help from Bruce Brown, Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr., the Nuggets finally looked great on defense after a couple of sub-par efforts on the road in Games 3 and 4.
They know what will take for them to eliminate the Suns here, but with just 1 victory in 8 road games they’re going into tonight’s game with a lot of skepticism. They did win in Minnesota once in Round 1, but Phoenix is a completely different animal. What should give the Nuggets some optimism here is the fact that they’ve gone 11-2 ATS in their last 13 games vs Pacific Division opponents.
I still see Phoenix as the favorite to win Game 6, they are yet to lose a home game in this series and they still have Kevin Durant and Devin Booker. I think the Nuggets will look to close them out in Game 7 on Saturday. Take Phoenix to cover.
Phoenix Suns vs Denver Nuggets Predictions & Odds
Both games in Phoenix were high scoring and the Suns have no other choice but to stick to that strategy in order to extend this series. Devin Booker flourishes when the pace is fast, we saw him shoot under 50% in Game 5 when things slowed down a bit. CP3 not playing help the Suns in a weird way here. He is no longer capable of playing a fast tempo at his age and with a groin injury, without him they’ll be able to speed things up significantly.
The bench will have to step up though, that’s what made the difference in Game 4 in this arena. Phoenix might also consider benching Deandre Ayton here, they have a -59 point differential in this series when he’s on the court. The over has cashed in 6 of 9 for Denver and in 9 of 13 games for Phoenix. I’ll take the points once again.
