NBA Betting Trends - San Antonio Spurs vs. Denver Nuggets

Western Conference basketball playoffs contenders take the court on Thursday night, when the newly healthy San Antonio Spurs visit the new-and-improved Denver Nuggets in an online sports betting affair.

Offshore sportsbooks have set the betting line at 4.5 in favor of the host Nuggets, with a sports betting line total of 191.5.

San Antonio enters this game at 9-8 on the year with a slightly worse 8-9 mark ATS. Denver, meanwhile, is 13-6 and has been terrific for Nuggets bettors, sporting a 12-6-1 record ATS.

San Antonio’s last game saw the return of Manu Ginobili to the starting lineup, marking the first time this season that he, Tim Duncan, and Tony Parker have all been starters in the same game. That wasn’t enough to propel the Spurs to victory, however, as they blew a 17-point lead with 15 minutes left in the game to fall to the visiting Detroit Pistons, 89-77.

Ginobili scored 13 points, Parker added 18, and Duncan led the way with 23. San Antonio shot just 33 percent from the floor in the fourth quarter in scoring a dismal 14 points, and Roger Mason didn’t provide his usual boost, scoring a season-low six points. Head coach Greg Popovich was disappointed with his team’s performance, and if San Antonio struggles the way it did on Tuesday night, it could find itself back at .500.

Denver has been one of the league’s hottest teams since acquiring Chauncey Billups, winning six of its past seven games to raise its record to 12-3 since the sweet-shooting point guard arrived in Colorado. Billups recorded 24 points and 14 assists his last time out, leading the Nuggets to a 132-93 spanking of the Toronto Raptors. And despite a nagging elbow injury, Carmelo Anthony found a way to add 23 points in the victory, which was by the fifth-largest margin in franchise history.

There’s no doubt that the Nuggets are clicking right now, and not only because of Billups and Anthony. Center Nene is having a career year thus far, averaging over 15 points and seven rebounds per contest, becoming the force NBA handicappers expected him to be years ago, before injury problems started to plague him.

Denver bettors, as well as those who lean toward the ‘under’, will be pleased with the head-to-head NBA betting trends. The ‘under’ is 4-1 in the past five games in Denver, and 21-6 in the past 27. The favorite is also 7-2 in the past nine, while those who have placed a sports wager on the Spurs have found their wallets less heavy each of the past four games in this matchup.

San Antonio has been among the NBA elite for years and now that it’s healthy, should eventually return to prominence this season. But will the tide start to turn on Thursday night against a Denver team brimming with confidence? When you’re ready to answer that question, log on to BetUS.com and place your online wagers. BetUS Sportsbook is the premiere online sportsbook for NBA investing.