NBA: Dallas Mavericks VS Denver Nuggets Pick and Predictions 12/06/2022

by James Q

Tuesday, Dec 06, 2022

NBA: Dallas Mavericks VS Denver Nuggets Pick and Predictions 12/06/2022


Game: 7:40 PM ET,  Tuesday, December 6th, 2022
Venue: Ball Arena, Denver, Colorado
TV: TNT

Season Record:

Mavericks: 12-11, 9th place Western Conference
Nuggets: 14-9, 4th place Western Conference

Opening NBA odds at USA Sportsbooks

BetMGM:  Point Spread: Nuggets -5.5, O/U 222.5
PointsBet: Point Spread: Nuggets -5, O/U 222.5
Fanduel: Point Spread: Nuggets -5.5, O/U 222.5

Starting Five:

Mavericks: PF Dorian Finney-Smith, SF Tim Hardaway JR, C Dwight Powell, SG Spencer Dinwiddie, PG Luka Doncic
Nuggets: PF Bruce Brown, SF Aaron Gordon, C Nikola Jokic, SG Kentavious Caldwell Pope, PG Jamal Murray

An NBA Western Conference battle between very similar rosters… The sort of similarity that has every other NBA team drooling over dream scenarios of suddenly finding someone as talented as each of these team’s perennial MVP candidates (2x winner in Denver).  A case can be made at any time that either Luka Doncic (Mavs) or Nikola Jokic (Nugs) is the best single player in the sport.  A similar argument can be made that each of these players are surrounded by the wrong role players who are failing to provide a solid #2 option to finally get over that Championship hill.  In Milwaukee Giannis has Holiday and Middleton… In Los Angeles LeBron James has Anthony Davis… In Toronto Kawhi Leonard (with the Clippers now) had Pascal Siakam, Fred VanVleet, Kyle Lowry… etc etc.  Great players need great pieces… the two great players in this matchup simply do not have that. What we get is amazing stat lines… but no rings so far. 

The Dallas Mavericks have only won 4 of their last 10 games, sinking them to just outside of the top-8 Western Conference Finals.  They did however win their last game against the Phoenix Suns 130-111… a big win against a really good team that was missing PG Chris Paul.  In the win PG Luka Doncic put up 33 points, 6 rebounds, and 8 assists… numbers that are great but also just another night in the office for Luka.  He got help from offseason addition C Christin Wood who had 18 pts, 9 rbs, and 5 asts in 27 minutes. The Mavericks have resisted or failed to install Christian into the starting lineup… It is starting to feel (especially since Christian came with a big yearly salary) as if the team wants Powell and/or Kleber to keep auditioning for other teams in case they can be inserted into a very necessary trade… but if those guys keep laying rotten eggs… the playing time may start to have the opposite effect.  Spencer Dinwiddie gave the Mavs 21 points on 5 of 8 from the 3-point line with a perfect 6 for 6 at the foul line.  Luke needs Dinwiddie to do that MORE OFTEN.

The Denver Nuggets have won 6 of their last 100 games but are on a two-game losing streak.  They lost their last game to the New Orleans Pelicans 121-106.  In the loss C Nikola Jokic had 32 points, 16 rebounds, and 9 assists.  Powerful statline gone to waste as SF Aaron Gordon put up 19 points and SG/PG Jamal Murray added 18 points… both of those guys landed a -7 on the +/- scale.  The bench provided absolutely nothing.  Bench shooter Kentavious Caldwell Pope had 6 points in 30 minutes with 1 rebound and 1 assist.. And he was the BEST Nuggets bench player of the night.  This team needs to come to a decision… because the blueprint is several seasons old by this point… Nikola will have huge game after huge game while his teammates will never give him enough support to make or win a Finals… So the choice is whether they trade Gordon, Murray, Pope, and the always injured Micheal Porter JR with some picks to try and give Jokic 1 single, real all-star to play alongside of… OR should they just trade Jokic for many players and many picks to reshuffle the deck and hopefully come out better for it. A big part of the Nuggets' delusion is of course that they are in 4th place. They think they are contenders… but I promise you the ceiling has been reached… and without a major move we are just wasting years.  



Brian Bitler is 24-13 in NBA picks the last 30 days for a profit of $9,600!! You should be following a handicapper all season long! Get Brian Bitler’s picks right now at the Shop Picks page, where you can find all of the Best Bets from our champion sports handicappers. BigAl.com can help you with all your bets from NCAAF, NFL, MLB, NHL… get positive value from all your bets! Remember: winning a bet is way more fun than making a bet!
 

Dallas Mavericks VS Denver Nuggets Preview and Analysis

DAL: 12-11, 7-15-1 ATS, 14-9 O/U, 2-8 in road games.
DEN: 14-9, 11-12 ATS, 11-12 O/U, 6-2 in home games.

Offensive Analysis

The Mavericks are 17th in scoring with 111.5 points per game, 30th in rebounds with 38.4 per game, 17th in AST/TO ratio with 1.7, and 28th in blocked shots with 3.7 per game.

Dallas Mavericks VS Denver Nuggets Prediction

Our prediction for Tuesday, December 6th is….  Nuggets 120-112

The Mavericks are bad on the road. Bet on the Nuggets.  The 5.5 point spread should not throw you. THis same Dallas team has lost to the Rockets and the Pistons in their last 10 games… They are not reliable enough to cover a spread against a winning team.

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NBA Betting Trends

Dallas is 371-289 as a road underdog since 1996.
Dallas is 0-9 ATS after a home win this season.
Denver is 58 Over and 33 Under when the total is 220 to 229.5 the last 3 seasons.
Denver is 5-1 ATS after a road loss this season.

Players To Watch

Mavericks: PF Dorian Finney Smith.  Smith’s best position is SF… but the Mavs have him playing PF out of necessity to keep shooting on the floor.  Dorian does lots and lots of the little things well.  He is a quality glue guy.

Nuggets: SF Aaron Gordon.  Aaron is not a great scorer but does play defense well.  His salary is part of what has prevented this team from making big moves to improve.  The Nuggets need to decide if what Aaron is giving them is ever going to be enough.  He doesn’t pass the eye test as a #2 option behind Jokic.  I know people think Jamal Murray is the #2 option… but he doesn’t pass that test often enough either.

Coaches 

Mavericks: Jason “Supervillian” Kidd
Nuggets: Michael “year after year” Malone


James Q

About the Author:

James Q. has been involved with sports and gambling his entire life. A former division 1 scholarship basketball player, James understands sports (and especially basketball) inside-and-out. Following his basketball playing days, James parlayed his gambling skills into a semi-pro poker career. James resides in Los Angeles, and especially loves the Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Rams, and Los Angeles Dodgers. And when he isn't betting on sports (and writing about it), James can be found performing stand-up comedy on the Sunset Strip.

All photographic images used for editorial content have been licensed from the Associated Press.

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