Tonight’s game between the Lakers and Mavericks has been circled on the calendar ever since Luka Doncic was traded for Anthony Davis before the NBA trade deadline.
I’ll dive deeper into that game and one other and provide my top bets and predictions for Nuggets vs. Kings.
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Wednesday’s Best NBA Bets: Nuggets vs. Kings
(Odds courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook)
Nuggets vs. Kings
The Denver Nuggets fired Michael Malone, an NBA champion head coach, just a week before the NBA Playoffs. While the Nuggets certainly underachieved this year, this firing came out of nowhere. It was suggested Malone was too easy on Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray, and didn’t play younger guys, for example, instead of Russell Westbrook.
The Nuggets will make David Adelman the interim head coach. He’s been with the team as an assistant since 2017. Depending on how the Nuggets play, he could earn the actual position by the end of the year.
While change this late in the season stinks, it sounds like most Nuggets players are happy with this decision. This could help them play better down the stretch. After all, the Nuggets rank second in the NBA in effective field goal percentage and will play a Kings defense ranked 27th. The Nuggets should be able to keep turnovers down and hit a bunch of quality looks throughout this game. You can also expect the Nuggets to get to the foul line at a high rate, especially since the Kings rank 22nd in defensive free-throw rate.
On the other hand, the Nuggets haven’t been nearly as good defensively. They won’t force many turnovers in this game. However, Denver is much better at limiting teams from getting to the foul line. In addition, the Kings are not even close to as good of an offense, shooting an effective field goal percentage of 54.8%.
Therefore, let’s back the Nuggets at -3.5 on the road.
Pick: Nuggets -3.5 (-110)
