Oklahoma City Thunder – Denver Nuggets TIPS, PREVIEW & PREDICTION (19.12.2017)

Oklahoma City Thunder lost to Denver Nuggets in their first match with eight points difference away from home. Denver Nuggets / NBA. Now the Thunder are playing in front of their own fans, but this time around one of the best Nuggets players, Millsap, will be out injured compared to the first match. The Nuggets had more time to recover before this match, and their center Jokic is expected to be back.

Oklahoma City Thunder
The Thunder will welcome Denver Nuggets at home following their defeat in New York, where Carmelo Anthony first appeared after his move from NY Knicks to Oklahoma, from which they received a 94-102 defeat in the first match. Mostly Westbrook failed in the match as he only scored 13 points (throw 6/22), while even six Nuggets players (including three reserve players) had double-digit points. The Oklahoma team game was also not up for grabs in the first match (16 assists, Denver 27) and so the Nuggets retaliated at the Thunder defeat in their last regular match of the season, leaving them out of the playoffs.
With this triumph, the Nuggets have completed their series of five home defeats in a row against Oklahoma, but now they travel to Oklahoma City, where the Thunder have celebrated in nine of thirteen matches. We must not forget that Anthony has just started his career in Denver, where he spent seven and a half seasons and then switched to the Knicks. Oklahoma have recorded 14 wins and 15 defeats to date and play defensively much better than the Nuggets. The numbers do not mean much, if you can not confirm that on the floor.

Denver Nuggets
Center player Jokic is back in the team (without him, the Nuggets scored three wins and four defeats), but coach Malone has testified that this Serbian player will have limited deployment time in the near future, about 20 minutes per match. This has been enough for Jokic to score 13 points and 11 rebounds against the Pelicans, helping his team to their 16th win of the season (13 defeats). As far as the guest appearances are concerned, they celebrated in five out of eleven matches (they have had to do without the winger Millsap for a long time, which is very noticeable).
Especially important for the game of nuggets is that all players make a full contribution. They are well covered in all positions and though Mudiay injured in the duel against the Pelicans, coach Malone believes he will be fit for the match against Oklahoma. On the reserve bench, they have brilliant Joker Barton, who’s been playing great lately, and all players together are responsible for Denver currently having the eighth best attack in the league, while they are in seventh place in the rebound and assists range.

Oklahoma City Thunder – Denver Nuggets TIP
Although 196 points were scored in their first direct duel, we believe this duel will be more point-efficient. Oklahoma is unlikely to repeat the poor attacking game from the first duel (especially Westbrook), while the Nuggets have recently made point-efficient appearances.