Game Time: 3:30 PM ET, Sunday, February 6th, 2022 

Venue: The Ball Arena, Denver, Colorado

Where to Watch:  NBA League Pass

DraftKings:  Spread:   

BetMGM:  Spread:  

VegasInsider:  Spread: 

WynnBet: Spread:  

Nets: 29-23, 6th place Eastern Conference

Nuggets: 28-24, 28-24 Western Conference

A non-conference matchup between two teams in similar boats.  The Brooklyn Nets will not survive an injury to Kevin Durant… and Kevin Durant is injured.  The Denver Nuggets will not survive an injury to Nikola Jocic… and everyone of any importance except Nikola Jocic is injured.  It has been a strange last couple of years for both ball clubs. The Brooklyn Nets made a ton of furious, roster impacting, moves to make room for SF Kevin Durant, PG Kyrie Irving, and then SG/PG James Harden. The thinking was clear… get a couple former MVP’s at the height of their games and pair them with a great, multiple time all-star point guard.  The result will be Championship after Championship.  What they didn’t know or didn’t want to acknowledge was that any injury to Kevin Durant would sink the team’s prospects… and that Kyrie Irving is the worst teammate/employee in the history of the NBA and will do whatever it takes to ruin anything good.  Also James Harden will smell the trouble coming and sandbag in hopes of a trade to Philly.  We are feeling all of that right now!  The Brooklyn Nets are swooning fast and the only takeaway is that Kevin Durant should have never left Stephen Curry.    The Denver Nuggets have made very few impactful moves over the last few seasons… Oh sure they added forward Aaron Gordon… but we were talking about impactful moves.  The Nuggets knew exactly what to do the minute they laid eyes on Nikola Jokic in practice against Jusuf Nurkic… Nikola Jokic, a second round pick, will end up in the Hall of Fame… The Nuggets were set! All they had to do was slowly build around him and the Championship rings and the banners would rain down on them like so much “manna from heaven”.  That particular fantasy almost came true… Jokic got better and better until he won the NBA’s MVP award last season… and this season he is even a little better.  Only problem is that the team Denver built to be “around” Jokic was made up of PF Michael Porter JR and SG Jamal Murray as the two other stars… the two other offensive forces.. The two other of the trio.  Only now Jamal Murray is out with a torn left ACL and will not be back this season… and Michael Porter Jr is out with “back surgery”, like he had in high school, and may never ever be back. Also that SF/PF I mentioned Aaron Gordon is sitting out games with Hamstring tightness, insiders tell me it is not serious but could lead to a shut down if the Nuggets decide to start jockeying for draft position instead of playoff position.  All hope is lost for both these teams.  That is not hyperbole… all hope is lost.  However they are still playing and the Nuggets are still trying… so there is a great betting opportunity for gamblers.  Do you want in?  Let’s look at the numbers.

The Brooklyn Nets are on the road in this game.  That means that the little boy standing in the corner holding his breath (Kyrie Irving) will be allowed to play… which means that James Harden will be especially hands off.  Since the trade deadline is closing fast, Harden will not want to hurt his stock, but will also want to let Brooklyn know he wants out (as he has been doing). So, Harden will play kind of… and support his team kind of.  The Brooklyn Nets are on a 7 games losing streak…. They are only 1-5-1 ATS over their last 7 games.  This means Harden’s silent protest is working.  The Nets are barely competitive let alone always losing.  They have lost to a variety of teams BTW.. it’s not a rough patch in the schedule.  They have lost to the Utah Jazz, the Sacramento Kings, the Phoenix Suns, the Golden State Warriors, the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Los Angeles Lakers, and yes,.. They have lost to the injury deprived Denver Nuggets.  That is a mix of good teams, mediocre teams, and awful teams… all in the same stretch.  Another noticeable thing about the stretch is that the Denver Nuggets game was also a road game for the Nets… Kyrie played in that loss… the result was a PUSH ATS… and the injured Nuggets were injured then too.

The Denver Nuggets are on an awful three-game losing streak.  C Nikola Jokic missed two of them and was laboring in the game he didn’t miss. Fortunately the Nuggets losing streak has not prevented them from winning 6 of their last 10 games.  Also Jokic is back in the lineup… which can be best expressed for importance the moment you know that he leads the team in points, assists, rebounds, FG%, steals, and blocks. C Nikola Jokic is literally the most important player on his team in every aspect of the game… It’s not like LaMelo Ball who can rely on Miles Bridges to do the scoring and Mason Plumlee to do the losing… or like Stephon Curry who can rely on Draymond Green to do everything else and Klay Thomspon to help him anyway.  When it comes to the Nuggets Nikola Jokic is everything.  That is why he is the best trade target in over a decade.  Seriously… the Nuggets should know that the roster injuries are what will tie them to mediocrity and Jokic to a sad “ring of honor ceremony” in their own building instead of banners from Championships… or they could trade Jokic.  A Dozen teams right now would give multiple young quality players and a record haul of picks for Jokic.  The return could set the Nuggets up to be competitive for the next decade.. And if Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr ever return to form?... The host of new roster players could theoretically make them a Championship contender again.  Big ideas maybe… but still necessary to consider.  

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Brooklyn is 29-23 on the season, but 20-31-1 ATS.  They have logged 24 Overs and 28 Unders.  They are 17-10 in road games.  

The Nuggets are 28-24 on the season, but 21-30-1 ATS.  They have notched 28 Overs and 24 Unders.  They are 13-10 in home games.

The Nets are 10th in scoring with 110.4 ppg, 12th in rebounds with 45.1 per game, and 11th in AST/TO ratio with 1.8. They are shooting 5th in FG%, 16th in 3PT%, and 1st in FT%.  Pretty good shooting numbers like a team of vets would be expected to do.  On defense they rank 19th while giving up 110.6 ppg from opponents.  These numbers have to be viewed through very dark rose colored glasses… SF Kevin DFurant built them and is now out… PG Kyrie Irving plays in only road games and only recently and not in road games with the Knicks or Raptors… so we are never going to be sure exactly which numbers will hold up.

The Nuggets are 15th in scoring with 109 ppg, 26th in rebounds with 43.1 per game, and 5th in AST/TO ratio with 1.9.  They are shooting 4th in FG%, 14th in 3PT%, and 10th in FT%.  They rank 12th on defense while allowing 107.5 ppg from opponents.

Our prediction for Sunday, February 6th is….  Nuggets 118 - Nets 110

The Nuggets should win if the Brooklyn Nets show up in the manner that they have since Kevin Durant went down.  The spread should determine how you play this.

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Brooklyn is 1-6 ATS versus Northwest Division opponents this season.

Brooklyn is 3-1 ATS versus Denver the last 3 seasons.

Brooklyn has failed to cover 4 of their last 5 spreads while losing all five games.

Nets: SF Kevin Durant (knee) Out ** SG James Harden (hamstring) Out *8 PF Nic Claxton (hamstring) Quest ** SG Joe Harris (ankle) Out ** C LaMarcus Aldridge (ankle) Out 

Nuggets: SG Jamal Murray (knee) Out *8 PF Michael Porter Jr (back) Out ** PF Aaron Gordon (hamstring) Quest

Nets: PF Kessler Edwards, SF James Johnson, C Nic Claxton, PG Patty Mills, SG Kyrie Irving

Nuggets: SF Davon Reed, PF Jeff Green, C Nikola Jokic, SG Will Barton, PG Monte Morris

Nets

Points: Kevin Durant 29.3

Assists: James Harden 10.2

Rebounds: James Harden 8.0

Steals: James Harden 1.3

Blocks: Nic Claxton 1.1

Nuggets

Points: Nikola Jokic 25.9

Assists: Nikola Jokic 7.8

Rebounds: Nikola Jokic 13.7

Steals: Nikola Jokic 1.4

Blocks: 0.7

Nets: Steve Nash
Nuggets: Michael Malone