Dutiful task for the league leaders

The San Antonio Spurs are expecting a big visit: The Denver Nuggets, the top team in the Western Conference, are dropping by in Texas. Instead, the home side will start the encounter in second-to-last place in the West and have also lost both of their two previous meetings against head coach Michael Malone’s team.

San Antonio Spurs – Statistics & current form

San Antonio lost twice recently and this would not be worth a line yet considering the Spurs’ very weak season, but the two defeats came against the bottom of the table Houston. Even against the last-place team, head coach Gregg Popovich’s squad was unable to win twice and once on home soil.

The recent 110-142 loss to the Rockets was an absolute indictment of the home side’s defensive effort. Moreover, San Antonio cannot rely on a home bonus: Only ten of the 32 games played in front of their own fans were won by the hoopsters from the Lone Star State.

Denver Nuggets – Statistics & current form

Denver also suffered a defeat against Chicago last time out. The gap to the second from Memphis is still comfortable, which is why Colorado does not have to worry about defending the top of the table.

The franchise from the Mile-High-City is also strong away from home. Only the Kings from Sacramento have a higher win percentage away from home than Denver, at around 52 percent.

San Antonio Spurs – Denver Nuggets Tip

For the clash between the San Antonio Spurs and Denver Nuggets, the forecast aims for less than 22.5 points by Nikola Jokic. The centre of the visitors has recently declined in scoring and has not exceeded the selected limit for four games.

While he is still in a fundamentally strong shape and delivered three triple-doubles within the past five games, at least in scoring he was recently far away from his seasonal value of 24.3 points at times.

In addition, a clear victory for the visitors against the underdog is to be expected, which is why the two-time MVP will probably not have to be used for the entire game. Instead, it can be expected that he, as a top player, will receive a comparatively early closing time in Texas as a minor breather.