Game Time: 9:00 PM ET, Thursday, April 7th, 2022 

Venue:   Ball Arena, Denver, Colorado

Where to Watch: NBA League Pass

DraftKings:  Spread:  Nuggets -3; O/U 232.5

Fanduel:  Spread:  Nuggets -3

BetMGM:  Spread: NL

Grizzlies: 55-24, 2nd place Western Conference

Nuggets: 47-33, 6th place Western Conference

An NBA Western Conference matchup between a loaded, talented, very deep team… and a team that relies entirely on the excellence of one player.  The Memphis Grizzlies have been on an absolute tear throughout the league.  They have been winning, winning, and more winning!  Also the Grizzlies have been missing their clear-cut best player. PG Ja Morant is out and he has been out for a long stretch.  The team cares enough to rise to the challenge.  SG Desmond Bane, SF Dillon Brooks (who used to be the shooting guard until Desmond became undeniable), PF Jaren Jackson, C Steven Adams, and the league’s best backup PG Tyus Jones kept them winning at a ridiculous level.  The Grizzlies find themselves firmly in 2nd place in the Western Conference and can let Ja simply relax until the first playoff series… when they will smash whoever gets them first.  The Denver Nuggets may be that smashed team.  At the moment they are missing SG Jamal Murray who is done for the season and playoffs AND PF Michael Porter Jr who is threatening to return for the playoffs but always just an injury away from missing next season too.  The result is that the Nuggets have one top notch player in last season’s MVp and MVP candidate again C Nikola Jokic.  All Nikola does is lead the team in Points, Rebounds, Assists, FG%, Steals, and Blocks.  It is actually depressing that SF Aaron Gordon can’t bring himself to take any category from his teammate to lighten the load… the rest of the roster is made up of interchangeable role players.  The sad future for the Nuggets is that they will have to do a deep rebuild if they ever want to put something around Nikola Jokic deserving of his talent.  The other option is to trade Jokic for a package that would revamp the entire team. Whispers at the trade deadline had Joklic going to the Warriors for Wiseman, Poole, Kuminga, another contract and picks.  That was just a pipe dream, but it turns out would have been best for Golden State in the short term and Denver in the long term. It would have been a game changer for the entire Western Conference.  We will never know now.

The Memphis Grizzlies have won 8 of their last ten games.  They went 7-2-1 ATS during that stretch.  They lost their last game in overtime to the Utah Jazz in overtime 121-115. It was an odd outing for the Grizzlies as they had just had 3 days off from playing… Jaren Jackson Jr, Desmond Bane, and Tyus Jones played great… the rest of the Grizzlies looked sleepy and underperformed. The Jazz spread out the scoring and stretched the Grizzlies defense by hitting 11 3-pointers. The loss snapped a 7-game winning streak for the Grizzlies.  Everyone is entitled to a bad game after a plethora of winning.  With the Grizzlies performance this season… I would not expect back to back bad games.

The Denver Nuggets have won 5 of their last ten games.  They rested C Nikola Jokic last game against the San Antonio Spurs.. The result is the Spurs hammered the Nuggets 116-97.  Had Jokic played he would have had a 35+ point game easily as the Spurs weakest spot is Center and Jokic is Jokic.  If the Nuggets rest Jokic again against the Grizzlies?... The result will be a much bigger smashing!  The Nuggets have little to no chance of advancing in the Playoffs… a quick glance of the last 30 games shows that the Nuggets beat bad teams and lose to good teams… the playoffs only have good teams the last time I checked.  

Al McMordie CASHED (for most bettors) his 5* NBA Game of the Month last night, and is on a 20-8 Basketball run (Big Al also won last night on the San Antonio Spurs and Milwaukee Bucks. Big Al's stepping out on Wednesday with his NBA Elite Info play out of a super 11-2 ATS angle. Go get it!Get Big Al’s Sports picks!   You can discover the best  picks right now at the Shop Picks page, where you can find all of the Best Bets from our champion sports handicappers. NCAAF, NFL, MLB, college football… get positive value from all your bets! Expert picks!  Fun fact… winning a wager is much better than making a wager!

Memphis is 55-24 on the season, but 51-27-1 ATS.  They logged 41 Overs, 37 Unders, and 1 Push.  They are 26-14 in road games.

Denver is 47-33 on the season, but 35-44-1 ATS.  They have notched 43 Overs, 35 Unders, and 2 Push.  They are 22-17 in home games.

The Grizzlies are 2nd in scoring with 115.4 ppg, 1st in rebounds with 49.4 per game, and 5th in AST/To ratio with 2.0.  On defense they rank 12th while holding teams to 109.4 ppg.

The Nuggets are 10th in scoring with 112.3 ppg, 18th in rebounds with 44.1 per game, and 7th in AST/TO ratio with 1.9.  On defense they rank 14th while allowing 110.0 ppg.  

Our prediction for Thursday, April 7th is….. Grizzlies 135 - Nuggets 112

The Grizzlies are going to bounce back with a big win just as they have done after almost every loss this season.  The Nuggets may rest Jokic again… but if they do not he will have to face Stevn Adams and Jaren Jackson Jr on that deadly Memphis frontline.

 

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Memphis is 19-8 ATS as an underdog.
Denver is 28-17 ATS versus Memphis since 1996.
3 of 4 games in this series at Denver have gone OVER.

Grizzlies: SG Dillon Brooks (hip) Quest ** PG Ja Morant (knee) Out ** 

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

Grizzlies: SF Ziaire Williams, PF Jaren Jackson Jr, C Steven Adams, PG Tyus Jones, SG Desmond Bane

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

Grizzlies: Taylor Jenkins

Nuggets: Michael Malone