It’s officially a rest-off tonight in Denver. They’ll host the OKC Thunder at 9 PM EST. The injury report for this game tells the story. The Nuggets have listed their entire starting lineup as Questionable; all of Nikola Jokic, Christian Braun, Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon, and Cameron Johnson are listed. They’ll be without Spencer Jones and Peyton Watson. The Thunder will be without Alex Caruso, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Isaiah Hartenstein, Chet Holmgren, Isaiah Joe, Ajay Mitchell, Cason Wallace, Jalen Williams, and Jaylin Williams.
The Nuggets are 11.5-point favorites on DraftKings Sportsbook with the total for this game set at 231.5 points.
Nuggets vs. Thunder prediction, preview
OKC has certainly earned a night off. The Thunder are 64-16, they have already clinched both the No. 1 seed in the West and the NBA’s best regular-season record, and they come in on a seven-game winning streak after locking that up Wednesday against the Clippers. This is obviously a preservation game for most of Oklahoma City’s real rotation. The bigger season picture explains why they can afford it: the Thunder have been the best team in the conference from wire to wire, averaging 119.4 PPG while allowing 107.3, and they already own the season series 3-0 against Denver. Under normal circumstances, this is a deep, relentless team that wins with pressure defense, clean spacing and constant advantage creation. Their offensive is powered by a high end, hyper-efficient guard in Gilgeous-Alexander who’s shooting a career-high 55.3% from the field. Tonight, though, the responsibility falls on whoever is left from the Jared McCain, Nikola Topic, Aaron Wiggins, Kendrich Williams, and Branden Carlson tier. The champs are ready to defend their title.
Denver’s situation is different, which is what makes this game a little strange. The Nuggets are 52-28, they have won 10 straight, and they still have real seeding business left because they lead both the Lakers and Rockets by just one game for the third seed. This seed matters, because it likely keeps Denver away from Oklahoma City until the conference finals if both teams advance. So unlike the Thunder, the Nuggets are not in pure coast mode. But the injury report suggests otherwise, with all of their current starters pegged as questionable. So perhaps they’re willing to gamble on getting a win anyway, or dropping a seed for a specific matchup. Season-long, Denver has been one of the league’s best offensive teams, averaging 121.9 PPG, with Jokic at 27.8 PPG, 12.9 RPG and 10.9 APG, and they have finally hit a surge at the right time after spending much of the season wobbling between dangerous and sloppy. But tonight may not look much like the real Nuggets either. If Jokic, Murray, and Gordon all sit, the game turns into a Julian Strawther/Bruce Brown/Tim Hardaway Jr./Valanciunas kind of night.
Nuggets vs. Thunder pick, best Bet
Best Bet: Denver Nuggets Moneyline (-600)
Due to the special circumstances tonight, it seems as if the Nuggets are willing to potentially rest their players. Even so, it’s unlikely they’ll lose this game, since OKC is sitting every single one of their key pieces. It feels a bit dangerous to gamble here when the Nuggets are also angling towards doing the same thing, but OKC quite literally have nothing to play for.
