Game Time: 8:00 PM ET, Wednesday, January 26th, 2022 

Venue:  Barclays, Brooklyn, New York

Where to Watch:  NBA League Pass

DraftKings:  Spread: Denver -2; O/U 221.5

BetMGM:  Spread:  Denver -2.5; O/U 221.5

VegasInsider:  Spread: Denver -2; O/U 221.5

WynnBet: Spread:  Denver -2; O/U 222

Nuggets: 25-21, 6th place Eastern Conference

Nets: 29-18, 3rd place Eastern Conference

A mid-season non-conference battle between two NBA teams that have a trio of stars…. And those trios have both been whittled down to 1 star.  The Denver Nuggets have the current MVP in C Nikola Jokic… and that guy is playing better than he did last season.  Jokic is the real deal and he currently leads the Nuggets in EVERY statistical category that is reported on to the general public… Points, assists, rebounds, steals, blocks…. That’s great, but it is also why the Nuggets are sinking in the standings… Normally Jokic has SG Jamal Murray and PF Michael Porter Jr helping him along the way.  Both players are out with injuries that required surgery and will likely miss the entire season… making this a wasted year for the Nuggets and Jokic…. Still though, Jokic by himself with an assist from SF Aaron Gordon can win games.  The Nets have James Harden, a former MVP, who is struggling a bit with the league’s new  “lets only call a foul when a foul has occurred” rule.  Harden thrived on getting calls every time he dribbled or shot a basketball and this season has been quite an adjustment.. Still James is a great shooter with great court vision and he normally has help from two other stars… well, he normally should have help from two other stars.  SF Kevin Durant, also a one time MVP, is maybe the best pure scorer the game has ever seen, we all know it.  Kevin joined the Nets while injured 3 seasons ago and the Nets patiently waited for him to do rehab while paying him a max contract… KD is that good!  No one batted an eye.  Now KD is out for 4-8 weeks because of a partial MCL tear… and the Nets are sure to lose several games because…. Durant came to the Nets as a package with the extremely talented All-Star PG Kyrie Irving. Irving won a Championship with LeBron James in Cleveland and was a highly sought after free agent… anyone would have ponied up a max contract for him if he showed interest and they had the cap space.  Since joining the Nets, Kyrie has been very iffy… taking personal days off to go to birthday parties, cold shouldering the media, not always fully involved.  Then Covid-19 hit the world and Kyrie got worse.  Kyrie decided he would miss the season over not getting a vaccine, which is his right… but also very selfish and unscientific.  The Nets waited as Kyrie sat out the first half of the season and then finally relented to let him play in road games only.  Kyrie can’t play in New York because of Vaccine requirements.  If it was an ideological stance that is fine… but Kyrie won’t articulate what it is that he finds dangerous or offensive about getting the vaccine… Maybe he remembers how much of a clown he looked like when he articulated his belief that the world was flat?  Both teams are missing key players… this ends up as a battle of Jokic vs Harden and whatever the supporting casts can muster.

The Denver Nuggets beat the Detroit Pistons in back to back games this week.  Both games were ATS losses however… that should show you the Nuggets are struggling… They got played close by the Pistons twice in a row.  The Nuggets have 7 wins over their last ten games… yet there is a list of junk on that list of wins… The Portland Trail Blazers, the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Sacramento Kings, the Los Angeles Lakers (minus Anthony Davis), and of course the Detroit Pistons twice.  The only quality win was against the Los Angeles Clippers which was squeaked out in overtime and ended up being a loss ATS.  The Nuggets are struggling and it’s no secret, but Jokic keeps powering them to wins.

The Brooklyn Nets lost to the Los Angeles Lakers last night, in a game in which James Harden had a triple double.  James Harden is a great player that will be carrying too much on his shoulders.  This Nets team has traded away a ton of quality bench players over the last 4 years to make room for all these all-stars… and now that ⅔ of the all-stars are missing they will struggle.  The Nets have 5 wins in their last 10 games… opening the standings up for the Miami Heat to rise and the Chicago Bulls to try and maintain.  One thing is for certain… if Kyrie and KD are out the Nets will be vulnerable against everyone they play… There just isn’t enough left.

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The Nuggets are 25-21 on the season, but 18-28 ATS.  They have not been a safe bet to cover spreads.  They have logged 25 Overs and 21 Unders.  They are 12-12 in road games.

The Nets are 29-18 on the season, but 19-28 ATS.  They also have not been a safe bet to cover spreads.  They have notched 22 Overs and 25 Unders.  They are 12-12 in home games.

The Nuggets are 19th in scoring with 108 ppg, 26th in rebounds with 43.3 per game, and 5th in AST/TO ratio with 1.9.  They are shooting 5th in FG% thanks to Nikola Jokic, 17th in 3PT% since Jamal Murray is out and the guard play is sub-par, and 15th in FT%.  They are 11th on defense while allowing 106.8 ppg to opponents.

The Nets are 5th in scoring with 111.9 ppg, though they usually have Kevin Durant.  They are 11th in rebounds with 45.5 per game, and 11th in AST/TO ratio with 1.8. They are shooting 2nd in FG%, 14th in 3PT%, and 1st in FT%.  They are ranked 18th on defense while allowing 109.7 ppg from opponents.

Our prediction for Wednesday, January 26th is…. Nuggets 108 - Nets 102

Nuggets for the win and the cover.  The Nuggets have not been covering, but among winning teams that don’t cover the Nets are in a deeper hole.  The Nets will be missing KD and Kyrie which pits James Harden against Nikola Jokic… I take Nikola Jokic especially since he has Aaron Gordon to help him out. Also today James Harden admitted to being frustrated with his load in Brooklyn… expect him to have a bad, disinterested game to force a trade to Philly (he has done it before).

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Brooklyn is 5-18 ATS in home games this season.

Brooklyn is 1-5 ATS in back to back games this season.

Brooklyn is 3-0 ATS versus Brooklyn the last 3 seasons.

Brooklyn is 2-0 ATS versus Denver at Brooklyn the last 3 seasons.

Nuggets: SG Will Barton (hamstring) Quest ** SG Jamal Murray (knee) Out ** Michael Porter Jr (back) Out

Nets: PF Nic Claxron (hamstring) Out ** SG Joe Harris (ankle) Out ** PG Kyrie Irving (selfish) Out ** PF Paull Milsap (personal) ** SF Kevin Durant (knee) Out

Nuggets: PF Jeff Green, SF Aaron Gordon, C Nikola Jokic, PG Monte Morris, SG Austin Rivers

Nets: PF Kessler Edwards, SF DeAndre Bembry, C Day’Ron Sharpe, SG Patty Mills, PG James Harden

Nuggets

Points: Nikola Jokic 26.2

Assists: Nikola Jokic 7.6

Rebounds: Nikola Jokic 13.9

Steals: Nikola Jokic 1.4

Blocks: Nikola Jokic 0.8

Nets

Points: Kevin Durant 29.3

Assists: James Harden 10.1

Rebounds: James Harden 8.1 

Steals: James Harden 1.3

Blocks: Nic Claxton 1.1

Nuggets: Michael Malone

Nets: Steve Nash