Tonight the scorching Miami Heat will head to the mile-high city and play the Denver Nuggets. Despite both teams having winning records, this is actually a matchup of one of the league’s best offensive teams and one of the weaker ones. The Heat have been seemingly unstoppable out of the gates while the Nuggets have failed to find the success they found last season. Who comes out on top tonight, the gritty Western Conference or the new and improved Eastern Conference?
Miami Heat (5-1) @ Denver Nuggets (4-2)
Opening Game Odds by PointsBet Sportsbook: Denver -4.5 Total 212
Miami
The Heat have continued their winning ways through 6 games, managing to lose only once. Since Jimmy Butler has finally joined the team, Miami hasn’t dropped a single game since then. Erik Spoelstra is definitely one of the best coaches in the league and he is leading his tough team to a great start to the season. Don’t take their early wins as a fluke, because there is a great chance that they’ll be a top 4 seed in the East this year. Tonight’s game should be a good test of how they’ll fare against one of last season’s better teams from the West.
- Justise Winslow has started the season off strong, but he is questionable for tonight’s game with back stiffness.
- Miami has won their last 3 games, including a pair of victories over Atlanta and a blowout against Houston last match.
- There are an astounding 8 players averaging double digit scoring for the Heat, including Kendrick Nunn (5), James Johnson (17.0), Goran Dragic (16.2), Tyler Herro (15.7), Justise Winslow (14.8), Jimmy Butler (14.7), Bam Adebayo (13.8), and Duncan Robinson (11.3).
- Miami is 2-1 on the road this year, losing only to Minnesota so far.
- The Heat to display one of the league’s best offenses, ranking in the top 6 for points, field goal percentage, and 3-point percentage. As a team they average 8 points on 48% shooting from the field and 40.1% from downtown.
- Their one weakness is turnovers, 2nd worst in the league with 7 per game.
- The Heat are still perfect when it comes to covering the point spread, currently at 6-0 for the season.
Denver
Considering that the Nuggets finished with the 2nd best record in the Western Conference last year, their relatively sluggish start to the season has been a little disappointing. Sure they have a 4-2 record, but one of their losses came to an extremely weak Pelicans team that blew them out of the arena. The biggest problem for Denver is that their best player seems to be extremely unmotivated to give 100% effort every single night. When locked in, Jokic is a top 10 player, but we’ve seen nothing of the sort so far this year.
- Will Barton has been a big contributor to start the year, but he is questionable to play tonight with inflammation in his left toe.
- After losing 2 in a row, Denver won their last game against Orlando.
- The Nuggets have a solid 5 players scoring in double digits, including Jamal Murray (5), Nikola Jokic (15.8), Will Barton (14.0), Gary Harris (12.7), and Paul Millsap (11.7).
- Denver has played just 2 home games this year, currently sitting even at 1-1.
- The Nuggets are a fairly good defensive team, ranking in the top 10 for lowest opponent scoring and 3-point percentage. They allow 2 points on 31.8% 3-point shooting.
- Unfortunately, they are one of the league’s worst offensive teams. They rank in the bottom 6 for total points, field goal percentage, and assists. As a team they average 5 points on just 41.8% shooting and 21.2 assists.
- The Nuggets haven’t been average at covering the point spread, sitting at 3-3 so far, but they did cover last game.
Pick: Miami Heat +4.5
Denver has not played very well in their last 3 games, but it’s pretty hard to say that they’ll keep that up in a 4th consecutive game. Unfortunately, they’re facing one of the best teams in the early stages of the season tonight. Miami has found great success from a variety of the roster, including two great rookies that are producing effectively. If this Heat squad is a legitimate top team in the East, then they’ll come out strong tonight with yet another big victory. From what we’ve seen so far, they are a great team and you shouldn’t expect anything different in this game. This is why you should lay the points tonight and bet against the spread by picking the Miami Heat to win.