Arguably the pick of the matches on Wednesday morning in the NBA will see the Boston Celtics travel to Ball Arena to take on the Denver Nuggets.
The Nuggets (20-14) are now in fourth place in the Western Conference standings, while the Celtics (26-10) are in second place in the East.
Match preview
The Denver Nuggets are enjoying a solid run of form lately, winning four of their last five matches after beating the San Antonio Spurs 122-111 in overtime on the second leg of their back-to-back on Sunday.
Nikola Jokic turned in another masterful performance, leading the team with 46 points, nine assists and 10 rebounds, while Michael Porter Jr added 28 points and 10 rebounds, and Jamal Murray chipped in with 13 points.
Russell Westbrook had a fairly quiet night, finishing with nine points, 10 rebounds, six assists and three steals, but still made NBA history in the game, surpassing Nuggets legend Alex English into 22nd on the NBA's all-time scoring list.
The Joker scored nine points in the extra period to level the home-and-home series on consecutive nights, but the concern for Michael Malone will be that his bench players put up just 18 points, while the Spurs' reserves delivered 41.
With that result, the Nuggets are now the third-highest-scoring team in the NBA this season, averaging 120.8 points per game, but tey could use improvement on defence, where they are ranked 24th overall, allowing 117.2 PPG.
Meanwhile, the Boston Celtics have not been performing at their usual high standards, having now split their last 10 games five wins and five defeats after going down 105-92 to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday.
In what many considered a preview of this season's NBA Finals, Jayson Tatum led the C's with 26 points and 10 rebounds, Jaylen Brown contributed 21 points and three assists while Kristaps Porzingis added 19 points and nine rebounds.
The defending champions, at full strength for the first time this season, led the match by 10 at the half time interval, but fell apart in the second period, managing just 27 points over the final two quarters against the NBA's top-ranked defence.
Notably, Brown, Derrick White and Jrue Holiday all failed to score a single point in the second half, combining for 0 of 13 from the field and 0 of nine from beyond the arc over the final two quarters.
Following the defeat (which was OKC's 15th straight victory), Joe Mazzulla's side are still favourites to defend their title this season, but the gap in the betting odds have been slashed significantly, with the Thunder now second-favourite by a fraction.
Boston are still a top-10 side on both ends this season, though, third in the scoring charts (118.5 PPG) and sixth on the defensive end (108.3 PPG); however, they now have a cover rate of just 40% (14-21-1 ATS).
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Team News
The Nuggets are missing a few players at present due to injury, including Aaron Gordon, who missed his sixth straight match against the Spurs on Sunday due to a calf strain and remains listed as questionable.
Spencer Jones is also a doubt owing to a right adductor strain, Vlatko Cancar will remain sidelined for the foreseeable future as he continues rehabilitation following surgery to his knee, and DaRon Holmes II is ruled out with an injury to his right ankle.
For the Celts, Brown was cleared fit to play ahead of their match against the Thunder after missing the previous two games with a shoulder issue he suffered in the blowout win over the Raptors.
Porzingis played a second straight game after returning from injury, but Mazulla may consider bringing in Al Horford at centre for this match in an attempt to manage the Latvian's workload.
Denver Nuggets possible starting five:
Porter Jr, Braun, Jokic, Murray, Westbrook
Boston Celtics possible starting five:
Brown, Tatum, Horford, White, Holiday
We say: Denver Nuggets to win by 2+ points
When these two met in Abu Dhabi in preseason, the Nuggets barely laid a glove on the Celtics, but both sides have come a long way since then, and it is now Denver that have the momentum.
Boston have the personnel and ability to blow away any opponent on their day, but if Jokic can continue the form he has shown recently, we feel the hosts could edge the champs in this one. body check tags ::
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