Game Time: 7:30 PM ET, Monday, April 17th, 2022 

Venue:   Chase Center, San Francisco, California

Where to Watch: TNT 

DraftKings:  Spread: Warriors -7; O/U 224.5

Fanduel:  Spread:  Warriors -7; O/U 225

BetMGM:  Spread: Warriors -7.5; O/U 223.5

Nuggets: 48-34, 6th place Western Conference

Warriors: 53-29, 3rd place Western Conference

Game 2 of the NBA Western Conference 1st round Playoff series between the Denver Nuggets and the Golden State Warriors.  This matchup was billed as more exciting than Game 1 turned out to be.  Yes, the Denver Nuggets have the best player in the league: Center Nikola Jokic AKA The Joker.  The Joker has an amazing combination of strengths… He scores, he rebounds, and he assists from the Center position at a historically great level… He is up there with Shaq, Kareem, Wilt… He is a do it all guy.  What he does not have that the other greats had is : Teammates of any quality.  At the moment the 2nd best player on the Nuggets roster is SF Aaron Gordon… a terribly disappointing player (15.0, 5,9, 2.0) when judged by his salary or the hype of his trade to Denver, or that he is in his 8th season and these are numbers in his supposed physical prime.  Gordon would not be a Starter on many of the teams in the Playoffs.  The reason Jokic is stuck with Gordon as his #2 guy is because SG Jamal Murray is out for the season and foreseeable future with a knee injury and PF Michael Porter Jr is out after having had his third back surgery since he was a teenager… and the writing is on the wall… even if Porter does come back (someday) he can never be planned on again to play a full season.  The team simply does not have enough quality pieces for Jokic to give them enough wins.  The Golden State Warriors on the other hand have plenty of quality pieces.  They have the trio of stars PG Stephen Curry, SG Klay Thompson, and PF Draymond Green.. Who because of injury only played 11 minutes together in the regular season… They also have a bunch of other really good players like third year player SG Jordan Poole, rookie PF Jonathan Kuminga, and first time all-star Andrew Wiggins (a former #1 overall draft pick).  The missing piece of this team that is once again threatening to return to Dynasty form… is at Center.  At Center the Warriors get noble play form C Kevon Looney… but he is in over his head… especially against the best Centers of the league… Of which the Joker is the best of the bunch.

The Nuggets lost Game 1 to the Golden State Warriors by a wide margin 123-107.  It was a loss AND a loss ATS.  That is why the point spread has jumped 2 points since Game 1. In Game 1 Nikola Jokic had 25 points, 10 rebounds, and 6 assists.  SG Will Barton had 24 points, 6 rbs, and 5 asts.  SF Aaron Gordon was invisible on the offensive end as was PF JaMychal Green and SG/PG Austin Rivers. The Nuggets are watching the Roman army advance and they simply don’t have enough arrows in their quiver.

The Warriors won Game 1 over the Denver Nuggets by a wide margin 123-107.  It was a win AND a win ATS.  The game had a funny feel to it as PG Stephen Curry volunteered to come off the bench (first game back from injury) to avoid messing with whatever Chemistry the team had built without him.  It was mostly a ceremonial gesture as a giant game from Steph Curry WAS NOT NEEDED and everyone on Golden State knew it.  The Warriors got a very big game from SG Jordan Poole (who will be up for a rookie extension this offseason) with 30 points while going  5 of 7 on 3-pointers.  Jordan was having a great time doing a Steph Curry impression… even throwing in some “peacocking” after making an extra deep THREE.  PF Draymond Green pitched in 12 points to go with his 9 assists and 6 rebounds… With Draymond playing the style of defense we have grown accustomed to seeing from him.  Klay Thompson had 19 points in 29 minutes.  They got extra defensive help from PF Otto Porter Jr on Nikola Jokic… sometimes when you look at a statline and see a guy like Porter Jr had only 4 pts in 25 minutes and went 0-3 from deep… you forget that maybe Steve Kerr left him in there because he was positively affecting the game in another way… he was.

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Denver is 48-35 on the season, but 36-46-1 ATS.  They have logged 45 overs, 36 Unders, and 2 Push.  They are 25-17 in road games.

The Warriors are 54-29 on the season, but 42-37-4 ATS.  They have notched 36 Overs, 45 Unders, 2 Push.  They are 32-10 in home games.

The Nuggets are 10th in scoring with 112.7 ppg, 17th in rebounds with 44.1 per game, and 6th in AST/TO ratio with 1.9.  On defense they rank 14th while allowing 110.4 ppg.  

Our prediction for Monday, April 18th is….. Warriors 120 - Nuggets 110

The Warriors are looking for the sweep of the Nuggets… and though it is very early in the series to say that… The Nuggets have nothing on the roster that can help Jokic prevent it.  I’m going to keep betting on the Warriors until the Spread rises to an outrageous double-digit number… Then I will consider a different course of action.  Also the Warriors got this blowout win without big scoring from Steph or Klay.  Steph is due to drop 30+ soon… and then where will the Nuggets be?

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These teams have gone 32 Over of 51 games played since 1996.

Denver is 84 Over and 54 Under after one or more consecutive Overs the last 3 seasons.

Golden State is 6 Over and 1 Under in the Playoffs the last 3 seasons.

Nuggets: SG Jamal Murray (knee) Out ** PF Michael Porter JR (back) Out

Warriors: C James Wiseman (knee) Out

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

Nuggets: Michael Malone

Warriors: Steve Kerr