NBA Betting – San Antonio Spurs at Denver Nuggets

San Antonio Spurs (-7.5, 203 o/u) at Denver Nuggets

The San Antonio Spurs have looked more like themselves since the return of last year’s NBA Finals MVP, Kawhi Leonard. Tonight, the Spurs will go for a fourth straight win when they take on the Denver Nuggets at the Pepsi Center (9:00 p.m. Eastern).

“He always impacts a game,” San Antonio head coach Gregg Popovich said of Leonard. “Whether it’s the person he’s guarding or giving help and making a steal, rebounding the basketball, scoring; he always has an impact on the game.”

The Spurs’ current win-streak includes victories over the Charlotte Hornets, Portland Trail Blazers, and Utah Jazz.

The defense (97.6 PPG) has carried the Spurs all year, and the team allowed a season-low 69 points against the Jazz on Sunday.

Tonight, the Spurs will be facing a Denver team which can score the ball, but really struggles on the defensive end (104.2 points against per game). The Nuggets shoddy defense has the team sitting 11th in the Western Conference at 18-23.

After inching close to .500 with a five-game win streak, the Nuggets have now lost three in a row (Dallas Mavericks, Minnesota Timberwolves, and Golden State Warriors).  They suffered their worst loss of the season, 122-79, against the Warriors in their last outing.

“We didn’t compete. We looked like we were scared,” head coach Brian Shaw said. “I’m trying to be guarded in what I’m saying because I don’t want to throw anybody under the bus, but I just don’t understand how as a team we can’t come out and compete when you’re playing the best team in the league.”

The Spurs are 7.5-point favorites despite playing away from home.  Denver is 2-10 ATS in its last 12 home games against San Antonio.

(Photo credit: Zereshk (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons.)