Phoenix Suns at Denver Nuggets Betting Preview/Player Prop
11 June 2021
Phoenix is the number two seed in the Western Conference, and they are playing like it. The Suns eliminated the Los Angeles Lakers in the First Round, and they look like a real threat to win the NBA Championship.
Denver was in the Western Conference Finals a season ago, but they now have work to do if they want to get back there. The Nuggets went 25-11 at home this season, and they should be more comfortable on their home floor.
The Denver Nuggets are two-point favorites at home in Game 3 against the Phoenix Suns.
Suns Making Some Shots
The Phoenix Suns have scored at least 122 points in both games of this series, and this team is lighting it up from deep. Phoenix wants to play at a much faster pace than the Nuggets, and they are tough to beat when shooting it well.
Devin Booker is averaging 27.1 points per game in the playoffs, and he is using this postseason to make a bigger name for himself. Booker has been getting plenty of help as the Suns are shooting better than 37 percent from deep.
The defense of the Suns continues to be extremely underrated, but that has played a role in this series. Phoenix has done little wrong against the Nuggets, but they enjoyed playing in front of a pack home crowd.
Nuggets Have to Defend
The Denver Nuggets are going to have to get some stops if they want any hopes of getting back in this series. The Nuggets aren’t going to score 120 points very often, and slowing down the Phoenix Suns is the priority.
Nikola Jokic continues to do everything for the Nuggets, but the Suns do have an answer for him, it seems. Jokic is averaging 30.5 points and 10.6 rebounds per game, but he has had to work much harder against the Suns.
Denver is making nearly 15 three-pointers per game during this playoff run, but they have to find other ways to score to keep this one close.
Denver Defeats Phoenix
The Nuggets simply have not been very competitive so far in this series, but things should change on their home floor Friday night. Denver has been a great team at home over the last few years, and this game will provide a great chance to get back in the series.
The Nuggets are going to have to find a way to get stops, but they have shown that they have this ability. Phoenix is not going to shoot this well in every game, and Denver has to win the games when the Suns are missing.
Expect this to be a much closer game than the first two games, but it will also have a different result. Take the Denver Nuggets -2.0 as they beat the Phoenix Suns on Friday night.
Player Prop
Nikola Jokic (-125) Over 6.5 Assists
The week hasn’t been a total bust for the Nuggets as Jokic became the first player ever taken in the 2nd round on the NBA draft to win the league’s MVP. His runaway selection over Joel Embiid was due in large part to his hybrid status as a point center.
In addition to recording a career-high 26.4 points per game, he also had a career high in assists with 8.3. His ability to distribute the ball ranked him 6th in the league this season in that department.
It’s an aspect of Jokic’ game that has been missing so far in the postseason. In his 8 playoff games, the 6-11 center has averaged just 4.5 assists. That’s also been his average through the first two games against the Suns. It certainly helps explain why the Nuggets find themselves in an 0-2 hole in the series.
Coming home should help correct that tonight as Jokic averaged better than an assist more (8.9 to 7.8) than he did on the road. He also had plenty of success (8.3 assists in 3 games) versus the Suns during the regular season. With the Nuggets looking to get more scoring out of the supporting cast, it should open up more opportunities for Jokic to up his assist totals and makes him a good pick at -125 to go over his 6.5 assist line tonight.
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