2018th just began and it will bring us some good basketball, that is sure. Some good basketball should be played on the 3rd January at Denver, where The Nuggets will host Phoenix Suns for a 2018th opener. This will be the first game for Nuggets this year, and 3rd game for Suns in just 4 days. Physical strength should be the key here. But, let’s hear the voice of the statistics. Denver Nuggets are scoring average 107 points, while Phoenix Suns are scoring 106 averagely. Denver Nuggets are the 10th best offense of the league, and they are playing against the 30th defense of the league. If we have in mind that even much bigger teams than Suns had hard trips to Colorado, this should be a slight and easy win for Denver Nuggets. Turnovers are also on their side, they are averagely turning over 12 balls, while Suns are losing 18 balls per match averagely. Phoenix Suns are a young and talented team, they are sometimes really nice team to watch with their fast offense. They are the 2nd pace of the league with 101 possessions per game. Nuggets are 3 possessions down per game, and that is significantly slower. If you ask me, Coach Mike Malone will try to slow down the game as much as possible because Suns are the most danger from the transitional offense, while Nuggets are dangerous in positional attack. When we talk about individuals from both team, the situation is very interesting. Suns have Devin Booker as their top player coming back from injury (groin) and it is questionable is he 100% fit. While he was away his role was taken by TJ Warren, who scored 27 points against Grizzlies a few days ago with 60% of field goals made and 8/10 free throws. It is no longer secret that Nikola Joker Jokic is more than a half of the Denver Nuggets team. Great Serbian center is improving his game on daily basis. After he missed EuroBasket this year to work on the physical strength it is paying off. Nikola is averaging 16.3 pts this year with 10 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game. His statistic would probably be even better if he improves his defense and doesn’t get into foul trouble easily. Garry Harris is also playing important role in Nuggets offense, with 16.2 points per game. Denver Nuggets matches attract betting. Bookies can visit online and check the online free bets offers. Punters can also get the latest betting offers and best free bets here. You can get £30 free bet by William Hill or £60 free bet offer by BetFred. You can check all the top betting brands here and bet accordingly.
Betting tips:
Denver Nuggets – Phoenix Suns 1 (Nuggets win) Nuggets are a better team and in better shape, than the Suns currently are, Suns could be tired after 2 games in 3 days and Nuggets will try to use it.
Denver Nuggets – Phoenix Suns – (under points) Nuggets will probably go to slow down the game and use their big guys Nikola and Garry to score easy baskets and disallowing Suns transitional offense.
Nikola Jokic – (under points) Nikola is a good guy. He likes to compete, but he likes to assist more. This is great chance to improve this segment of the game and I think he will pass the ball to Garry rather than shooting all the time.