The defending NBA champion Denver Nuggets have hit an early bump in the road by losing four of their last six games, and now they will be without their reigning MVP for at least one game.
The Nuggets travel to Crypto.com Arena on Monday with no rest to face the Los Angeles Clippers in an intriguing matchup between two of the Western Conference’s top teams.
Nikola Jokić was a late scratch Monday with lower back pain. The line had already moved significantly earlier in the day when Denver’s MVP center showed up as questionable on the injury report. It opened at Clippers -3, went to -7 early Monday afternoon, and now currently sits at -10.5 with Jokić officially ruled out for tonight’s game.
The Clippers sit one game below .500 at 7-8 after beating Dallas on Saturday night, 107-88, as short home favorites. Paul George’s 25 points helped L.A. win for the fourth time in five games.
Denver entered Sunday’s game against San Antonio on an 0-8 skid against the spread but covered as 10.5-point favorites in a 132-120 victory. Overall, the Nuggets are just 6-11 ATS this season.
The Clippers aren’t much better at 6-9.
Jokić was averaging 28.2 points and 13.5 rebounds per game. Point guard Jamal Murray is close to returning from his strained right hamstring, but will join Jokić on the bench Monday night and miss his 11th straight game.
When these teams met in Denver on Nov. 14, the Nuggets edged the Clippers, 111-108, for their seventh straight victory in this series and 10th in the last 11.
However, L.A. cashed as a 4.5-point road underdog in the latest matchup.
Betting on the NBA?
The Clippers have also won straight-up in seven of their 11 times as a favorite this season.
Clippers at -7.5 was tempting, but making the defending champs a double-digit ‘dog, even with all the missing pieces and playing on the second leg of a back-to-back, is too much.
Instead of hoping the Clippers win this game by a blowout, let’s back them at -6.5 in the first half. They should be able to get out to a fast start before resting their stars.
Pick: Clippers 1H -6.5 (BetMGM)
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