NBA Basketball: Los Angeles Clippers VS Denver Nuggets Pick and Predictions 02/26/2023

Game: 10:10 PM ET,  Sunday, February 26th, 2023

Venue: Ball Arena, Denver, Colorado

TV:  ESPN

Clippers: 33-29, 5th place Western Conference

Nuggets: 42-19, 1st place Western Conference

BetMGM:  Point Spread: Nuggets -3.5, O/U 233.5

PointsBet: Point Spread: Nuggets -3, O/U 234

Fanduel: Point Spread:  Nuggets -3, O/U 234

Clippers: PG Russell Westbrook, SG Paul George, SF Kawhi Leonard, PF Marcus Morris SR, C Mason Plumlee

Nuggets: PG Jamal Murray, SG Kentavious Caldwell Pope, SF Michael Porter JR, PF Jeff Green, C Nikola Jokic

All eyes on deck!  The matchup of the night will take place late at night on the East Coast. A Western Conference battle of a stacked roster against a 1st place team with a historically great player and a fair amount of depth as well.  The Los Angeles Clippers have finished building it for good or for bad. They now have Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, Norman Powell, and Russell Westbrook to score the basketball.  They have a deep bench to help on defense.  Their one problem in this game will be C Mason Plumlee, who is filling in for injured C Ivica Zubac, who will have to battle Nikola Jokic down low.  The Clippers will need to dominate the wings if they are to have any chance,  The Denver Nuggets keep on winning… It helps that they have a 2X MVP who may be in line to become a 3X MVP in C Nikola Jokic… But that is not all.  The Nuggets have PG Jamal Murray hitting his stride and a finally healthy PF Michael Porter Jr putting up points as well.  The problem the Nuggets will have is that SF Aaron Gordon will be missing the game… and the Nuggets will be missing his defense especially against SF Kawhi Leonard…a 2X Finals MVP.  The great betting opportunity here is in figuring out if Center play or Wing players will ultimately decide the outcome of this game.  Each team has an advantage and each team has a hardship… which will be better?

The Los Angeles Clippers have won just 5 of their last 10 games.  Going 5-5 ATS. They lost their last game, which was Russell Westbrook’s debut, to the Sacramento Kings 176-175 in overtime.  Look at that score AGAIN!!  176-175.  Everyone and their mother scored and scored again and scored some more. In the loss the Clippers got 44 points from SF Kawhi Leonard, 34 points from SG Paul George, 24 points from bench SG/SF Norman Powell… plus 17 from PG Russell Westbrook, 19 from bench G/F Nicholas Batum, … The chink in the armor of course was that hustle player and 2-way guy PG/SG/SF Terence Mann only got 17 minutes… in which he had 10 points, 3 rebonds, and 4 assists.  Westbrook and his weak defense got 10 minutes too much run.  That allowed King's guards De’Aaron Fox and Malik Monk to get 42 and 45 points respectively!!  

The Denver Nuggets have won 7 of their last 10 games. Going 7-3 ATS during that stretch.  They lost their last game to the Memphis Grizzlies 112-94.  The Joker had a very quiet game with only 15 points, 13 rebounds, and 3 assists… and he only played 26 minutes.  That is very surprising. The jig was up for the Nuggets whe Michael Porter Jr could not handle the Sf Spot in the absence of SF Aaron Gordon and wound up shooting 2-10 from the field and 1-7 from 3-point.  Porter finished with 5 points in just 18 minutes.  The playing time wildly indicates that the Nuggets threw in the white towel early…. As deep bench guys started pulling down 20+ minutes each.  It was the worst Nuggets game of 2023 and may be the worst all season if the competition wasn’t so good.

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The Clippers are 24th in scoring and rising with 112.5 points per game, and 15th in rebounds with 43.5 per game. On defense they rank 10th while holding opponents to 112.2 points per game.

The Nuggets are 8th in scoring with 116.7 points per game, and 19th in rebounds with 42.9 per game.  On defense they rank 13th while holding opponents to 112.7 points per game.

Our prediction for Sunday, February 26th is…. Clippers 123 - Nuggets 115

Bet on the Clippers. The Nuggets are going to spiral for a bit while they are missing Aaron Gordon and unsure who to put at the SF spot… The crux of it though is that Kwhi Leonard plays the small forward for the Clippers. Clippers Center Mason Plumlee may not be the best to go against Jokic, but the Clippers can feel free to double team him with such weak shooting at the wing. Plus you get 3-4 points to put in your pocket.

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The Clippers are 5-1 ATS after 3 or more consecutive OVERS this season.

The Nuggets are 19-8 ATs after winning 2 of 3 of their last games this season.

The Clippers are 5 OVER and 1 UNDER when playing 6 or less games in 14 days this season.

Clippers: PG Russell Westbrook.  Russell had 17 points & 14 assists in his Clipper debut. Pretty good numbers, but the defense will have to step up.  It really is a matter of effort at this point. We all know Russ’s mind is programmed to see the offensive opportunities during the game, but for Clipper success he needs to at least hold his own on defense…Or he should come off the bench for scoring.

Nuggets: C Nikola Jokic.  Nikola is set up for a very big game after taking an early rest last night.  He is truly GREAT.  He is built for Hall of Fame numbers. However from here on in further greatness and permanence in history needs to be built off of landing a Championship ring.  Nothing else.  

Clippers: Tye “what is happening?” Lue

Nuggets: Mike “The Joker is my hero” Malone