Can Home ‘Dog Kings Score Enough To Hang With Nuggets?

Denver’s been stifling opponents defensively all season… and now it has found the scoring touch. It is on the road Saturday against a Sacramento squad that struggles to score and is missing two of its best players. Denver at -4.5 is too good of an opportunity to bet on the surging favorite.

Sportsbook Odds Analysis

The Nuggets opened as 4.5-point road favorites due to their strong play, but sitting at 13-3 against a 7-10 Kings squad, the spread was only 4.5 points because both teams are so defense-oriented that blowouts rarely occur. Also in part to both teams being more defense than offense, the total opened at an extremely-low 205.5 points.

Denver News & Notes

Denver has the league’s best defense, allowing a paltry 101.9 points per game. But now that the offense is starting to wake up, it is truly looking like the championship contender everyone expected it to be.

The Nuggets handed Washington a 117-104 loss on Tuesday, tallying their sixth straight win and 10th win in their last 11 games. It also marked the third time they topped 116 in their past five games — something they only did once in their first 11 contests.

While Jamal Murray has continued to be the scoring catalyst, the supplementary scoring recently has come from the likes of Nikola Jokic, Will Barton, Paul Millsap and Jerami Grant.

With a number of offensive options, plus relentless defense, Denver is a tough challenge any night. Even being on the road, which they are Saturday, doesn’t seem to faze the, — the Nuggets are 5-1 SU away from home this season.

Sacramento News & Notes

The Kings were a preseason sleeper to make a playoff run in the Western Conference, but having to dig out of an 0-5 start has made this season an uphill climb.

They’re almost got back to .500, but after two straight losses, they currently sit at 7-10. In addition to their rough start, Sacramento has been hurt by major injuries to center Marvin Bagley III, who broke his thumb in the season opener and point guard De’Aaron Fox, who sprained his ankle three weeks ago.

The Kings are getting by thanks to star shooting guard Buddy Hield, who is averaging a team-high 20.5 points per game, as well as strong campaigns from Harrison Barnes and Bogdan Bogdanovic, who are chipping in 15.9 and 15.3 points per game, respectively.

Unfortunately, it isn’t quite enough, as Sacramento is 27th in scoring, and it will face a stingy Denver defense on Friday… meaning points will be very hard to come by.

Betting Pick: NUGGETS -4.5

With all their injuries, scoring is hard enough for the Kings as it is. Going against the Nuggets defense as well — I don’t see them scoring enough to stay in the game.