Posted on 1/3/2008 5:34:19 PM

NBA Betting Action - Spurs (+ 1.5) vs. Nuggets (- 1.5)

By D.S. Williamson

The Spurs travel to Denver to take on a Nuggets team with two of the top five scorers in the NBA, Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony. For some reason, that stat hasn’t translated to actual wins as the Nuggets only stand at 18 and 12 this year. Sure, six games above five-hundred is better than being six games under, but as an NBA bettor I’m interested in the against the spread record for the Nuggets.

In that sense, these guys are absolutely atrocious. Denver is 14 and 16 against the spread so far this season. Boo to that. Here are some other trends, more specific to this game, which should help us in determining which way to go:

The Denver Nuggets are 1 and 9 against the spread in their last 10 versus a team from the NBA Southwest Division.

The San Antonio Spurs are 5 and 6 against the spread away from home so far this season.

The Denver Nuggets are 8 and 9 against the spread in their 17 home games so far this season.

The strange 1.5 point spread can only be attributed to the belief that the Spurs are a better team but the Nuggets deserve some point spread respect because they are playing at home.

Manu Ginobili, the Spurs sparkplug, is questionable tonight, but that shouldn’t matter. The truth about the Nuggets is that even though they have more talent than probably 90% of the teams in the NBA, they can’t put together a string of terrific games.

Their strange inability to actually play one of the elite teams in the league has nothing to do with Carmelo Anthony, Allen Iverson, and Marcus Camby. All three of those guys are in the top ten in certain categories. So, why do the Nuggets keep losing?

I’m not sure, but lose they keep doing. In their past four losses, the Nuggets have dropped games to the Golden State Warriors, the Portland Trailblazers (twice), and these same Spurs. Not good.

The truth about the Denver Nuggets may be that, even with their stellar line-up, they just aren’t good enough to compete against an overall well-rounded team like the San Antonio Spurs.

At least that’s what I’ll be wagering on.

The BetUS basketball betting line is San Antonio Spurs + 1.5 against the spread on the road versus the Denver Nuggets.

I like the Spurs to win this game straight-up. With or without Ginobili, their type of team play will be too much for the Nuggets to handle.

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