NBA: Denver Nuggets vs Oklahoma City Thunder Pick and Predictions 11/03/2022

Game: 8:10 PM ET, Thursday, November 3rd, 2022

Venue:  Paycom Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Where to Watch: NBA TV

Nuggets: 4-3, 6th place Western Conference

Thunder: 4-3, 8th place Western Conference

DraftKings:  Point Spread: Nuggets -6, O/U 229

PointsBet: Point Spread: Nuggets -6, O/U 229.5

Fanduel: Point Spread: Nuggets -6, O/U 229

Nuggets: PF Michael Porter Jr, SF Aaron Gordon, C Nikola Jokic, SG Kentavious Caldwell Pope, PG Jamal Murray

Thunder: SF Luguentz Dort, SF Jalen Williams, C Jeremiah Robinson Earl, SG Shain Gilgeous Alexander, PG Josh Giddey

An insane Western Conference matchup between the young and the old.  The Fuggazi and the real deal.  Last season’s playoff team and last season’s lottery team.  The long and short of this matchup is that both the Nuggets and the Thunder are 4-3. The difference between 6th and 8th place is nothing.  The season is still so young that none of it matters except winning going forward.  The Denver Nuggets have the league’s best player over the last 2 seasons.. Do they have any rings? No.  Twice decorated League MVP C Nikola Jokic.. Just hasn’t had a healthy or complete team around him. At tipoff time he will have a healthy team, but is it a complete team?.  The Oklahoma City Thunder have been a lottery team for years and years.  They are not good… but at this point in their history they have amassed enough good young players to possibly ruin their own lottery odds!  Where will this game provide us with a Great Betting Opportunity?... The answer is found in the point spread.  Denver is supposed to be great with all their available players… yet Oklahoma City is surprisingly good in lots of statistical categories.

The Denver Nuggets lost their last game to the Los Angeles Lakers 121-110… and knowing just how bad the Lakers are… it was a big SNAFU.  They will be known as the team that gave the Lakers their first win.  They will be known as the team that allowed Russell Westbrook to shoot 50% from the field and 50% from the 3-point line.. That won’t happen again until Haley;’s comet comes around.  But Denver has an obvious problem… C Nikola Jokic is averaging a little lower in every category.  Nikola has been the MVP in the last 2 seasons… and now he is sharing the ball with PF Michael Porter JR and PG Jamal Muray who have been mostly absent because of injury for the last year… the pressing need for the Nuggets is to get Nikola’s averages back to where they were.. And then the other players start complimenting his game.  Anything else is subtraction by addition.  A worthy moment for pause against the Thunder is the fact that the Nuggets have lost to the Utah Jazz, the Portland Trail Blazers and the Los Angeles Lakers… all teams that don’t have much on the roster and should finish at the bottom.  The problem with this game is that the Thunder fit that description.  I blame SF Aaron Gordon, a guy that needs to up his game across the board to justify his huge salary.

The Oklahoma City Thunder have amassed some great young talent in the draft and trade market over the last several seasons. PG Josh Giddey is the real deal.  It’s not even a contest.  At 12.5, 6.5, and 6.3 the very young guy is a pure stat stuffer… the question is whether or not he has a next level in the scoring department?  PG/SG Shai Gilgeous Alexander leads the team in points 31.5, Assists 6.8, and steals 2.5.  On a good team the world would know who Shai is… which is better than Russell Westbrook ever was with the Thunder.  Shai should have been the deal breaker for the Clippers in the Paul George trade.  Had the Clippers held firm they still would have pulled off the trade, but now Shai would be the Clippers best player. 2nd year player Tre Mann should be starting… but where?... Tre is a guard and Josh Giddey is a guard and Shai Gilgeous Alexander is a guard.  If they go to a 3 guard line-up someone will be dropping the defensive ball.  It’s almost as if this team is perfectly suited to trading Shai the moment they land the #1 pick in the lottery… but to do that they would need to lose more games.

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DEN: 4-3, 3-4 ATS, 4-3 O/U, 1-3 on the road.

OKC: 4-3, 6-1 ATS, 4-3 O/U, 3-1 in home games.

Denver is 13th in scoring with 114.1 points per game, 9th in rebounds with 45.7 per game, 7th in AST/TO ratio with 1.9, and 25th in blocks per game with 4.1.

The Thunder are 20th in scoring with 112.9 points per game, 6th in rebounds with 46.4 per game, 5th in AST/TO ratio with 2.0, and 9th in blocks per game with 6.0

Our prediction for Thursday, November 3rd is….  Denver 112 - Thunder 109

A close game.  The Thunder are great this season at covering the spread.  Bet on the Thunder and you get 6 points in your pocket.  The Thunder have such guard versatility that they can hang with anybody.

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Denver is 56 OVER - 30 UNDER when the total is 220 - 229.5 the last 3 seasons.

OKC is 5-1 ATS as an underdog this season.

Nuggets: C Nikola Jokic.  The 2 time MVP is the engine of the Nuggets… They go as far as he takes them.

Thunder: PG/SG Shai Gilgeous Alexander.  Shai is having a monster year and should be an all-star.

Nuggets: Michael “eminem” Malone

Thunder: Mark “3 seasons and noone has ever heard of me” Daigneault