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To begin Friday night’s nine-game slate in the NBA, we have the Denver Nuggets traveling to Ohio to play the Cleveland Cavaliers at 7 p.m. ET. These teams just played each other nine days ago, where the Nuggets blew out the Cavs 133-95 in Denver.
The Nuggets are coming into late night matchup on a two-game losing streak after falling to the Washington Wizards 130-128 on Monday night. They are also 4-6 in their last 10 games. As for the Cavaliers, they have lost eight-straight games, which includes a 129-98 defeat to the Golden State Warriors also on Monday night. Cleveland is 1-9 in their last 10 games and are allowing opponents to score 125.7 points per game.
Can the undermanned Nuggets snap their two-game losing streak and pick up their first win on their four-game road trip? Or will the Cavs play some defense and avenge their loss from last week? We’ll go over some ideal picks on DraftKings Sportsbook centered around the game here.
Denver Nuggets vs. Cleveland Cavaliers, 7:00 p.m. ET
Pick ATS: Nuggets -8.5
The line for Friday night’s game is currently set at 8.5 points, with the Nuggets being listed as the road favorite. Denver is coming into Friday night’s game banged up. Paul Millsap and PJ Dozier has been ruled out, while JaMychal Green is listed as probable with a shoulder injury. Then there’s also Gary Harris, who is day-to-day and Will Barton is listed as questionable.
That is a lot of question marks around a Nuggets missing some key components to their roster. The Cavs will not have Taurean Prince, who has been ruled out, which is a key player off of the bench for them. The Nuggets will likely have to lean on the duo of Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic to claw out a victory, which is not impossible. But it would also be nice to get some contributions from Michael Porter. In their last three games, MPJ is only averaging 7.3 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 1.7 assists. He is also shooting 26.7 percent from the field and 15.8 percent from the field.
In regards to the spread, the Cavaliers are 0-10 ATS in their last 10 games and 1-4 ATS in their last five home games. As for the Nuggs, they have also been not so hot against the spread recently. They are 2-6 ATS in their last eight games and 0-5 in their last five road games.
Player Prop: Jamal Murray O4.5 rebounds (+110)
When I look at who the Nuggets will be without on Friday night, I want to play Porter Jr.’s points prop. However, due to his recent struggles, the better bet might be Murray over 4.5 rebounds.
This season, the dynamic guard is averaging 4.3 rebounds per game and has gone over this number in 13 out of 26 games played. In the Nuggets’ last five contests, Murray is averaging six rebounds per game. And within those five games, the former first-round pick has gone over 4.5 boards in four-straight.
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